Tools and infrastructure
The Tools and infrastructure pillar covers research tooling, procurement, integration, support, access, automation, resilience and operational ownership.
INFRA-PROV 1.0.0
Tools and infrastructure operating model
How research tools, platforms, infrastructure, support and ownership fit the research operating system.
INFRA-PROV 1.1.1
Infrastructure should make good practice easier
Research tools and infrastructure should make responsible research easier to run by reducing manual work, protecting participant data and supporting the agreed operating model.
INFRA-PROV 1.1.2
Assign ownership before a research tool is used
Every research tool must have a named owner, approved use case, data handling position, access process, support route and lifecycle plan before it is used for live research.
INFRA-PROV 1.1.3
Maintain a research tooling register
Use a tooling register to record each tool's owner, purpose, data types, user groups, integrations, suppliers, costs, assurance status, support model and review date.
INFRA-PROV 1.1.4
Do not normalise unmanaged workarounds
People supporting research must not treat personal spreadsheets, private accounts, unapproved recording tools or unsupported scripts as acceptable infrastructure for live research.
INFRA-PROV 2.0.0
Tool evaluation, procurement and adoption
How tools are assessed, approved, introduced and adopted without creating hidden risk.
INFRA-PROV 2.1.1
Evaluate tools before procurement or use
A research tool must be evaluated for user need, accessibility, privacy, security, data residency, integration, cost, support and exit before it is procured or used.
INFRA-PROV 2.1.2
Tool choice should follow operating need
Tools should be selected because they support a defined research operation, not because a team prefers a feature, supplier or existing habit.
INFRA-PROV 2.1.3
Pilot adoption with support and controls
When introducing a tool, pilot it with clear entry criteria, user support, feedback routes, risk controls and a decision point before wider rollout.
INFRA-PROV 3.0.0
Access, identity and permission management
How people receive, change and lose access to research tools and infrastructure.
INFRA-PROV 3.1.1
Control access by role and research need
Access to research tools must be granted by role, project need, data sensitivity and training status, with admin access treated as exceptional.
INFRA-PROV 3.1.2
Review access when teams or projects change
Review tool access when someone changes role, leaves a team, finishes a study, changes supplier status or no longer has a live research need.
INFRA-PROV 3.1.3
Do not share credentials or participant data through informal channels
People must not share tool credentials, recordings, transcripts, participant contact details or exports through personal accounts, chat messages or unsupported storage.
INFRA-PROV 4.0.0
Integration, automation and workflow reliability
How research tools connect to workflows, data, repositories and automation safely.
INFRA-PROV 4.1.1
Document integrations before live use
Integrations that move research data, participant records, consent states, repository entries or operational status must document source, destination, owner, permissions, failure mode and audit route.
INFRA-PROV 4.1.2
Standardise before automating
Automation should be added to stable, understood and repeatable operations rather than used to hide unclear ownership, poor process design or missing governance.
INFRA-PROV 4.1.3
Design for visible failure
Automated workflows should expose errors, retries, missing permissions and data mismatches so teams can recover without silent loss of research records.
INFRA-PROV 5.0.0
Support, service health and incident response
How tools are supported, monitored and recovered when they affect research delivery.
INFRA-PROV 5.1.1
Define the support route for each critical tool
Critical research tools must have a support route that states who responds, what counts as urgent, how incidents are escalated and how users are updated.
INFRA-PROV 5.1.2
Track service health in research terms
Monitor tool reliability by its effect on recruitment, sessions, consent, repository access, analysis, reporting and participant communications rather than uptime alone.
INFRA-PROV 5.1.3
Tell affected teams when tooling risk changes
People responsible for tools must communicate material outages, security issues, permission changes or data problems to affected research teams quickly and plainly.
INFRA-PROV 6.0.0
Security, compliance and resilience
How tooling protects participants, research data, service continuity and organisational assurance.
INFRA-PROV 6.1.1
Complete assurance for tools handling sensitive research material
Tools that handle sensitive participant data, recordings, transcripts, consent records or unreleased findings must complete security, privacy and compliance assurance before live use.
INFRA-PROV 6.1.2
Plan continuity for live research moments
For tools used in recruitment, consent, sessions, incentives or participant communications, define manual fallback, recovery steps and participant-facing messages before disruption happens.
INFRA-PROV 6.1.3
Resilience is part of participant care
Infrastructure resilience should protect participants from confusion, repeated requests, lost consent, missed payments and failed communications when tools break.
INFRA-PROV 7.0.0
Lifecycle review, retirement and improvement
How tools are reviewed, improved, consolidated or retired over time.
INFRA-PROV 7.1.1
Review tool value and risk on a fixed cycle
Research tools must be reviewed on a fixed cycle for usage, cost, duplication, support burden, data risk, accessibility, user satisfaction and alignment with the operating model.
INFRA-PROV 7.1.2
Plan for tool exit as part of adoption
When adopting a tool, document export options, retention effects, replacement triggers and what happens to stored research data if the tool is retired.
INFRA-PROV 7.1.3
Good infrastructure makes responsible research easier to run
A mature tools and infrastructure system should make research more reliable, secure, inclusive and scalable while reducing unmanaged effort and local workaround risk.
Glossary
- Tool owner
- The person accountable for a research tool's approved use, access, support, assurance, lifecycle and escalation route.
- Critical research tool
- A tool whose failure or misuse could materially affect recruitment, consent, participant care, data protection, evidence quality or research delivery.
- Integration record
- The documented source, destination, data, owner, permissions, failure mode and audit route for a tool or workflow integration.
- Lifecycle plan
- The plan for adopting, reviewing, supporting, changing and retiring a research tool or infrastructure component.
Change history
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2026-07-02
Expanded INFRA-PROV into an end-to-end tools and infrastructure lifecycle covering operating model, tool evaluation, access, integration, support, security, resilience and retirement.