Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

• If your request is publicly funded and sponsored by public sector health organization such as the BC Ministry of Health or provincial health authorities - use Organizational Request Type. These also include academic researchers affiliated to an academic institution AND are also an employee or contracted service provider for a public sector health organization such as the BC Ministry of Health or BC Health Authority.
• If your request is initiated by academic researchers affiliated to a post-secondary institution in Canada and who are NOT an employee or contracted service provider to a public health sector organization - use Academic Research request Type.

To initiate your application, you will be required to provide a set of documents with your Data Access Request (DAR) form. These documents are:

1. Proof of completion of organizational privacy training
2. Your formal project proposal for the project related to your HDPBC Organizational Data Access Request (preferred formats: DOCX, PDF)
3. Acknowledgment of Approvals
   • Approval obtained from the organizational designate. To obtain a signature, please reach out to the sponsoring organization’s HDP Point of Contact.
     
     Note: Applicants for projects sponsored by the BC Ministry of Health should reach out to MOHAnalytics@gov.bc.ca for assistance.
   • Principal Applicant Acknowledgement – (Part D.1. the DAR form) signed by the principal applicant.
   • Organizational Approval – (Part D.2. of the DAR form) signed by the organizational approver.
4. Attestation and description of service provider status with the sponsoring organization (Part A.2. of the DAR), if applicable.
5. Funding Documentation (Part B.3. of the DAR), if applicable.

The DAR (Data Access Request) form is a mandatory requirement for applying for HDPBC data access. It is crucial when submitting an organizational request. For a detailed guide on how to apply, refer to the Apply for Data Access section of our website.

If you're familiar with the process, download and fill out the HDPBC Organizational Data Access Request (PDF, 241KB) form.

The definition of a Principal Applicant (PA) is an individual who will:

a) be responsible for the direction of the proposed activities, and

b) assume the administrative and financial responsibility for the proposed activities;

c) be the project’s ethical conscience, responsible for the conduct and compliance with HDPBC policy and applicable legislation, and

d) must be a regular employee of the sponsoring HDPBC Data Council member body.

HA or MoH Employees (Employee) is a Person as per the FOIPPA definition of employee which includes – contracted service provider, medical practitioners, students, and volunteers.

A contracted services provider leading the organizationally sponsored project should be listed as the project lead contact, rather than the Principal Applicant (PA).

• To get information about the Health Authority's Organizational Designate, please review this list. 
• To get information about the Health Authority's Point of Contact, please review this list. 

To initiate your Academic Research Application, you will need to submit several documents along with PopData's DAR form. For a comprehensive list of the required paperwork, please contact DataAccess@popdata.bc.ca.

The Data Access Request (DAR) form is a mandatory requirement for accessing research data. It must be accurately completed to outline all data requirements for a research project. This includes specifying the study population, providing a comprehensive list of data files, fields, and years required. The DAR form is essential for evaluation by the Data Steward (-s), facilitating precise retrieval for the project. 

To learn more about the DAR submission process, please visit Stage 2: Completing and submitting a DAR.

If you are not familiar with the process, please review the PopData/HDPBC Data Access Request (DAR) process. 

To apply for data access, first review the PopData/HDPBC Data Access Request (DAR) process. Population Data BC will provide support during the application process.

Please contact dataaccess@popdata.bc.ca with any access-related questions. 

Unfortunately, researchers do not have the option to select their preferred data provisioning stream.

Requests that meet the criteria for the Health Data Platform BC (HDPBC) or Population Data BC (PopData BC) will follow the same submission process through PopData BC. Presently, there are three streams available, and the selection of the appropriate stream for a researcher is based on the specific datasets and analytical tools necessary for their project. Researchers will be automatically directed to the stream that best accommodates their analytical needs based on the nature of their research.  

Application processing times can differ significantly, making it difficult to provide a definite timeframe. It could take anywhere from a month to several months to gain access.

To minimize potential delays in processing your application, we recommend reviewing the Application Processing Guide. This guide outlines causes of delay and offers advice on how to avoid them.  

Your access credentials will be sent directly to you by email. You will receive two separate communications including your official access email address, temporary password, and detailed instructions for further steps.

During the initial login, you will be required to create a new password and further secure your account by implementing two-factor authentication, in accordance with the platform’s security protocols. 

Before you login to the HDPBC desktop, ensure that you meet the following prerequisites:

1. You have been approved to access HDPBC;
2. You have an HDPBC access credential (PHSA or other acceptable), and
3. You have a multi authentication set up (this step requires the installation of the MS Authenticator app on a mobile device).

 There are two setup processes that new HDPBC users must complete, only once, before attempting to log in to the HDPBC Desktop:

• Register for PHSA Credentials - if you don't already have PHSA credentials or alternate HA credentials 
• Setup Multi-Factor Authentication for HDPBC credentials with MS Authenticator phone app. 

 Once the Multi-Factor Authenticator credentials are setup, you should be able to login to HDPBC using a browser of Horizon client as described in the onboarding instructions (sent to new users after the project verification stage). 

Navigate to this page. Insert your user name and temporary password. The system should prompt the user to change the password by confirming the old password (or a temporary one) and creating a new password. Using the new password the user should be able to login and authenticate the MS token. The credentials are case sensitive. Please be mindful of the location of the capitals in the email given.

HDPBC training is supported by the training platform, Moodle. There are five self-paced training modules, with a short knowledge check at the end of each one. To access the course, please visit our Education and Learning Platform.

To activate your PHSA credentials, you must complete the verification process for access to HDPBC. The next step in this process is resetting the temporary password that will be assigned to you and configuring two-factor authentication.

Your temporary password, along with instructions, will be sent to your email address. Please follow these instructions carefully to change your password. Ensure that your new password meets the following criteria: it should have at least 12 characters, include at least one capital letter, and include a number.

After successfully resetting your password, you will be prompted to visit MyAccount Microsoft. Use your PHSA email and the newly created password to access this site and follow the prompts to configure two-factor authentication using your smartphone. It's important to note that when accessing this link, you should use incognito mode if using Google Chrome or InPrivate Window if using Microsoft Edge.

Please contact us at MoHAnalytics@gov.bc.ca and provide a screen shot of the issue. This error is usually because the credentials have been blocked in one or more areas in the approval process.

To Install

• From a web browser, navigate to this page. Click on the Account Icon in the top right hand corner of the webpage. Utilize the install link to install.
• *If you don't have administrative privileges to install this application, please use the process provided by your organization for installing software.

To install

• From the HDPBC Desktop: Click on 'How-to Documentation' Icon in the left corner of the welcome page. Then, scroll down to the 'Working with Analytic Tools' section, and click on the language on your choice - R and RStudio. 
• You will be directed to a GitLab page with information about working with that analytical tool in the desktop. Select 'Installing Packages' from the list and follow the provided instructions.

If the packages you're trying to install aren't available in the list, please contact MoHAnalytics@gov.bc.ca for assistance.

No. Due to the volume and variety of Bring Your Own Data (BYOD) imports, we cannot offer customized encryption for each import. The HDPBC team will apply the same encryption approach to all BYOD cohorts. Personal identifiers that have either null, or proxy values will be encrypted. Please add additional description columns to use in your analysis.

The Health Data Platform BC offers diverse health sector datasets. To learn more about the available data, metadata information, and the latest data refresh timelines, go to Data Sets.

If you are an academic project researcher looking to explore available datasets through the three available data paths (Health Data Platform BC, Population Data BC, or Data Innovation Program), please go to Data available.

 The frequency of data uploads can differ across various datasets. To obtain the latest information on the HDPBC datasets, including data loading schedules and metadata specifics, please visit Data Sets page.

For information on datasets available through Pop Data, please visit Data available.

For HDPBC projects, you can find metadata information for a specific dataset by accessing its corresponding tab. For more in-depth details, please go to the Data Sets page and select the dataset you are interested in.

For datasets available through PopData, metadata information can be found in Metadata Central on the my.popdata.website.

If you cannot find a dataset that aligns with your needs, there is an option to import your own data. For existing HDPBC users, we recommend referring to HDPBC Desktop for comprehensive guides. The types of data you can import include small files, large files, cohort data, and Git imports.

If you need to extend your project term, you will need to submit an HDPBC project amendment request.

Project amendments must be approved by the HDPBC Organizational Designate who is sponsoring the project. Additional approval may be required from the HDPBC Data Council.

To submit an HDPBC project amendment, download the Project Amendment Form (PFF, 399KB) and submit the completed form to MOHAnalytics@gov.bc.ca.

To add or remove new project team members, you will need to submit an HDPBC project amendment request.

Project amendments must be approved by the HDPBC Organizational Designate who is sponsoring the project. Additional approval may be required from the HDPBC Data Council.

To submit an HDPBC project amendment, download the Project Amendment Form (PDF, 399KB) and submit the completed form to MOHAnalytics@gov.bc.ca.

To make changes to your project's scope, you will need to submit a new HDPBC data access request. For a detailed guide on how to apply, go to the Apply for Data Access web page.

• Organizational projects may use the HSIAR RMS to submit a new data access request. If you don't have access to HSIAR RMS, download the Data Access Request form (PDF, 241KB) and submit the completed form to MOHAnalytics@gov.bc.ca.
• Research projects apply through Population Data BC.

Yes, publication of research outcomes is often permitted. Ensure you review the HDPBC Pre-Publication Process page.

You can find the Pre-Publication attestation form on the "HDPBC Resources" page of the HDPBC website in the Pre-Publication Process section. The form can also be accessed directly here.

Please contact the HDBPC Front Counter if your temporary password has expired. HDPBC contact: MoHAnalytics@gov.bc.ca

To update your temporary password, you will need to navigate to this page. You will be asked to insert your user name and temporary password. The system should prompt you to change the password by confirming the old password (temporary one) and creating a new password. Using the new password you should be able to login and authenticate the MS token.

Please note: The credentials are case sensitive. Please be mindful of the location of the capitals in the email given.

Please contact the Front Counter (MoHAnalytics@gov.bc.ca) and provide a screen shot of the issue. This error is usually because the credentials have been blocked in one or more areas in the approval process.

The issue with this error may stem from a VMware syncing problem. To address it, kindly send a screenshot of the error to the HDPBC Front Counter (MoHAnalytics@gov.bc.ca).

All academic research projects are subject to a base project fee, with optional additional services available based on the research data provider.  

Projects provisioned by Health Data Platform BC follow a separate fee structure, which can be accessed here: HDPBC Fees.

For Population Data BC projects, please refer to applicable fee structure available at: PopData Fees.

For questions or concerns about organizational requests, please reach out to us at MoHAnalytics@gov.bc.ca.

For inquiries regarding academic research requests, please contact dataaccess@popdata.bc.ca.