Release Date:
Summary
This release lays groundwork for more flexible data access and a new way to build cohorts, while smoothing out the day-to-day experience of curating data and browsing Synapse project pages.
Key areas of work include data governance (a new form-based access requirement and support for updating electronic Data Use Certificates mid-signature), cohort building (an early preview of the new Query Builder), data curation (clearer task status tracking and more reliable date entry), visual polish on entity pages, and several behind-the-scenes reliability and performance improvements.
In total, 13 tickets were completed across the Synapse web client and platform.
No breaking changes or required user actions are included in this release.
Affected Users & Systems
|
Who/What |
Impact |
|---|---|
|
Data curators |
Curation tasks now show as In Progress as soon as work begins; date fields in the curation grid validate and save correctly; task creation is more reliable. |
|
Access & Compliance Team (ACT) and data governance staff |
New form-based access requirement type available; groundwork for updating data access requests while a Data Use Certificate signature is underway. |
|
Researchers exploring data for cohorts |
Early preview of the new Query Builder available through Experimental Mode. |
|
All Synapse web users |
Cleaner, more compact entity and project page headers and navigation. |
|
Platform infrastructure |
Improved database performance and resilience; no user-facing impact. |
Deprecated or Breaking Changes
There are no deprecated features or breaking changes in this release.
New Features
Query Builder Preview for Cohort Builder 2.0 New
An early version of the new Query Builder — part of the upcoming Cohort Builder 2.0 — is now available in Synapse for users who turn on Experimental Mode. This lets the team and early testers try out a new way of assembling data queries before a wider rollout. It is hidden from everyone else, so there is no change to the standard experience.
Who benefits: Researchers and program staff interested in previewing and giving feedback on the next generation of cohort building.
Form-Based Access Requirements New
Synapse now supports a new kind of access requirement that is built from a reusable form template. It works just like existing managed access requirements (approvals, accessors, and expirations), but lets governance staff define the information requesters must provide using a structured form. Templates are versioned, so an access requirement can be moved to a newer version of a form deliberately without affecting others that still use an older one. Only the Access & Compliance Team can create or edit these requirements.
Who benefits: Data governance teams who need more flexible, customizable data access request forms.
Updating Data Access Requests During eDUC Signing New
As part of ongoing work on electronic Data Use Certificates (eDUCs), Synapse can now check whether changes to a data access request can still be applied after a signature process has already started. This helps avoid situations where edits made mid-signature would otherwise force the process to restart or leave the request in an inconsistent state.
Who benefits: Data requesters and governance staff managing data access requests that require signed certificates.
Fixes & Improvements
Curation Tasks Show "In Progress" When Work Begins
When a curator clicks Open Curator on a task that has not yet been started, the task is now marked In Progress immediately. Previously, the status only changed once data was synced, which could be an hour or more after work began — leaving task lists looking out of date.
Who benefits: Curators and coordinators who rely on task lists to see what is actively being worked on.
Reliable Date Entry in the Curation Grid
Fixed an issue where valid dates entered into date fields in the curation grid were being converted to incorrect values and flagged as errors after syncing. Dates now save as entered and pass validation correctly.
Who benefits: Curators entering date information for portal data.
More Reliable Curation Task Creation
Resolved errors that occasionally caused requests to create new curation tasks to fail. Creating tasks should now work consistently.
Who benefits: Curators and project managers setting up curation work.
Cleaner, More Compact Entity Page Design
Several visual refinements bring entity and project pages in line with the updated Synapse design system. The navigation bar now uses a thin divider line instead of a drop shadow, spacing between navigation items is tighter, the blue page header has trimmer margins and rounded corners, and button sizes are now consistent, with smaller buttons in the page headers. Together these changes make better use of space and reduce buttons wrapping onto a second line on narrower screens.
Who benefits: All users browsing projects, folders, and files in Synapse.
Faster Background Job Handling
Improved the efficiency of how Synapse looks up the status of background jobs, which previously slowed down gradually over the life of each release. This reduces load on the database and helps keep the platform responsive.
Who benefits: All Synapse users, indirectly, through a more responsive platform. No user-facing change.
Improved Database Resilience
Corrected a configuration issue so the production database is deployed with redundancy across multiple data centers, as intended. This protects against outages if a single data center has problems.
Who benefits: All users, through improved platform reliability. No user-facing impact.
Portal Availability Fix
Resolved a permissions issue that briefly prevented a portal from responding during the rollout of this release. The portal is fully available again.
Who benefits: Portal users. No ongoing user-facing impact.