Common Questions
Who can I contact with questions?
For any questions or inquiries regarding the Cold Chain Data Interchange, please contact New Horizons at datatools@nhgh.org.
How do I request an account on the Data Interchange?
To request a new account on the Cold Chain Data Interchange, please identify the role -- from the list of descriptions, below -- that best describes how your organization participates in the Cold Chain ecosystem. Review and follow the sign-up instructions on the corresponding Resources page:
Telemetry Provider Your organization will transmit cold-chain data into the Data Interchange. Telemetry Provider resources
Data Owner Your organization is responsible for overall management of Cold Chain data on behalf of a country, geographic region, or public health program. Data Owner resources
Telemetry Consumer Your organization will consume from the Data Interchange for the purposes of analysis and reporting. Telemetry Consumer resources
It is common for some Telemetry Providers also to be Telemetry Consumers. If this describes your organization, begin by requesting a Telemetry Provider account. A separate account can be provisioned for your organization's Telemetry Consumer activities.
For questions about this process, please contact datatools@nhgh.org.
Who gets access to my data when I have it routed through the Data Interchange?
Only Telemetry Consumers that you choose (and authorize) can access your data. Your data is encrypted during transmission through the Data Interchange, and during those temporary periods when the data is stored in the Interchange. In addition, Telemetry providers have visibility into the metadata (although not the payload) of recent events they have published; this is important during initial system integration and to provide ongoing support.
Does the Data Interchange permanently store my data?
No. You can think of the Data Interchange as a post-office: It simply forwards the data to the appropriate recipient(s) as determined by the Data Owner. Data are never stored for longer than 14 days.
Who developed the Data Interchange?
The Data Interchange was developed by New Horizons, a division of Global Health Labs. Global Health Labs is a nonprofit entity funded entirely by philanthropic donors.
Is there one Data Interchange globally, or an Interchange for each country?
There is currently one Data Interchange, which supports multiple Countries. Each Country maintains its own Data Owner account on the Interchange, which ensures that data for each country are managed and routed independently. In the future, the Data Interchange software could be made available so that individual Countries could manage and maintain their own independent instance of the Interchange.