CESSDA has four working groups with the main function of providing advice and support to the Board of Directors and Managing Director in conduct of the work plan. They were formally established in December 2015.
CESSDA Trust Support Group
This group was established within the CESSDA SaW project. The CESSDA Trust Support Group consists of a core group of five persons representing five CESSDA Service Providers (SPs) with comprehensive experience with certification, and a wider assessment group representing all CESSDA members and aspirant members. The goal of the activities of the group is to support and advise members and aspirant members in all trust issues (DSA, Annex 2 and more). This group acts as an advisory Body to the CESSDA Managing Director and Board of Directors concerning all matters regarding DSA certification, and in particular supporting new members; it cooperates with other working groups regarding the Annex 2 obligations; it assists all SPs (including those of aspiring members) in acquiring and prolonging the DSA certification and complying to the Annex 2 obligations.
CESSDA Technical Group
This core group aims to monitor and advise on needs regarding technical services. CESSDA’s technical infrastructure and services will be technology intensive but decentralised, requiring a common platform to ensure interoperability and an efficient and sustainable model for the future. The group aims to review the state of the 2015 Work Plan Tasks and the output from the active CESSDA Technical Framework project in the work plan, as well as prioritise and suggest different schedules for launching new tasks, with advice on allocation of budget. The group is also in place to provide input for the revised 2016 Work Plan and monitor and contribute to future work plans. Furthermore, it monitors activities in CESSDA’s ongoing external and internal projects regarding technical services and advancements. In this respect, the group will cooperate closely with and serve as advisors to the future Chief Technical Officer in the Main Office.
CESSDA Training Group
The new training group for CESSDA acts as an advisory body to the work of CESSDA Training and has three main functions: identifying the training needs of the CESSDA community and its users and supporting CESSDA Training to prioritise these needs; promoting training harmonisation across training providers within the CESSDA community; identifying new trends in training across the community. This group will maximise the potential of each SP’s training offering and promote harmonisation and knowledge transfer amongst these SPs.
CESSDA Communication Group
The need for close and effective collaboration between CESSDA Main Office and its national data Service Providers in terms of communication activities across CESSDA quickly became apparent, which led to the setting up a Communications Group. The purpose of this group, as well as the other working groups, is ultimately to help deliver the vision and mission of CESSDA, and making the CESSDA collaboration more visible to its target audiences is a key part of that. The Communications Group consists of one representative working in communications from each country that is a Member or an Observer that represent the CESSDA Service Provider(s) as well as other potential members of CESSDA. When such a person is not employed, the member of the group may also be a member of CESSDA’s Service Providers’ Forum.
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