Hi Dataverse Users,
I have a question regarding the integration of Dataverse with our internal information system.
We are trying to configure Dataverse as an institutional research data repository that could support researchers also in storing active (or almost finalized) datasets.
We have programmed a script that uses APIs to automatically create dataverses for each research lab in our institution and grant permissions to users' group in the corresponding dataverses based on their affiliation to the labs. Research labs in our information system have a persistent alphanumeric code that allow us to track them also when the name, description, or PI name change (this is the key in our internal DB). We would like to save this key in the Dataverse database as well, to associate the created dataverses to the corresponding labs in an unambiguous way, in order to avoid duplication errors in our script. At the same time, we don't want users to see this field or accidentally modify it (e.g., we don't want to use it as dataverse-alias, because it would be shown in the dataverse url, or as dataverse-description), so we ideally need to use a hidden field, that could be modified and be searchable via APIs.
Is there any way to do this without custom modification of the Dataverse application code? Is there any custom descriptive field for dataverses we could use?
Best regards,
Valentina Pasquale
Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia
Genova, Italy