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stack-604 - Release Notes

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Summary

Stack-604 focuses on maturing the electronic Data Use Certificate (eDUC) workflow and closing out several data access and account-management gaps, alongside a batch of reliability and UX fixes.

Key areas of work in this release include eDUC signing and administration (template management, signer decline reasons, correcting which email address is used), data access request (DAR) improvements, account and authentication support for unlinking NIH RAS accounts, and groundwork for aggregate data access ahead of the upcoming Cohort Builder 2.0. Several file preview and display bugs were also resolved.

This release includes 16 completed tickets: 4 new features and 12 fixes and improvements.

No breaking changes or required user actions are included in this release.

Affected Users & Systems

Who/What

Impact

ACT (Access and Compliance Team) staff

New template management tab on the Access Requirement Dashboard; new configuration options for aggregate data access

Researchers submitting or signing Data Access Requests

More accurate email routing on eDUC documents, visibility into decline reasons, and a simplified signer form

Users previewing files (PDFs, Jupyter notebooks) in Synapse

Preview reliability fixes

Users resetting their password with 2FA enabled

Clearer, safer guidance when both credentials need attention

Deprecated or Breaking Changes

None in this release.

New Features

eDUC Template Management for ACT New

ACT staff now have a dedicated tab on the Access Requirement Dashboard for viewing electronic Data Use Certificate (eDUC) templates, including their validation status. Templates are still created and managed in DocuSign, but ACT can now confirm a template's validity directly from Synapse.

Who benefits: ACT staff managing eDUC templates.

Visibility into Signer Decline Reasons New

When a signer declines to sign an eDUC and provides a reason, that reason is now surfaced in the signature status. Previously, a decline gave no context to the person who initiated the request.

Who benefits: Data Access Request creators and signature coordinators.

Foundation for Aggregate Data Access New

This release lays the backend groundwork for a new "aggregate data" access type, allowing ACT to configure restricted tables so authenticated users can see aggregate counts and statistics without full download access. This supports the upcoming Cohort Builder 2.0 initiative.

Who benefits: ACT administrators and, eventually, researchers using cohort-building tools on restricted data.

Fixes & Improvements

Correct Email Address Used on eDUC Documents

eDUC documents now use the institutional email address entered for the Principal Investigator on the Data Access Request, rather than their Synapse account email, ensuring the document is routed and addressed correctly.

Simplified Signer Information on Data Access Requests

Removed the PI and Signing Official title fields from the Data Access Request form, since signers can already provide this information themselves within DocuSign, reducing redundant data entry.

Fixed eDUC PDF Preview Failure

Resolved a CORS-related error that prevented eDUC PDF previews from loading.

Fixed Truncated Filenames in Expanded Columns

Filenames that were expanded in table columns now display in full instead of remaining truncated.

Restored Jupyter Notebook Previews

Fixed an issue where Jupyter Notebook file previews were not rendering, even though the underlying content was being generated correctly.

Safer Password Reset Flow for 2FA Users

Users can no longer attempt to reset their two-factor authentication at the same time as their password when they only have one verification method on file. They are now guided to Service Desk to verify their identity through an alternate method, avoiding a previously silent error.

More Reliable Data Access Request Lookups

Data Access Request summaries now include the associated access requirement identifier, enabling more direct links to request and signature status pages.

Backend Reliability Improvements

Addressed several backend issues with no direct user-facing impact, including an intermittent file-download error caused by transient S3 permission delays and an investigation into a schema-deletion error observed on a prior stack.

Infrastructure & Maintenance

Ongoing maintenance work including dependency update automation (dependabot) for a notebook-conversion service and related build tooling, plus initial data model definitions supporting a future schema-based Data Access Request system. These changes have no direct user-facing impact.