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Guide to Finishing and Reporting

This guide supports Working Groups as they close the active period and prepare final records. The goal is to leave behind a clear account of what was done, where outputs live, and what can be reused.

Closeout Goals

By the end of the Working Group period, the group should leave behind:

  • a clear summary of the work completed
  • documentation of outputs and where to find them
  • citation and attribution guidance
  • data and software reuse notes
  • known limitations and unfinished work
  • maintenance or archive expectations
  • communication products or public summaries, where appropriate

Role-Based Closeout

Use the Working Group Team Roles page as the canonical role description.

Role Closeout Focus
Tech Lead Repositories, containers, workflows, software, cloud computing records, reproducibility notes, and technical support handoff.
Collaboration Lead Final meeting process, team reflection, unresolved collaboration questions, and inclusive recognition of contributions.
Transition Lead Intellectual property discussions, authorship expectations, transition planning, open science, communication products, science communication, and long-term impact.

Final Report Outline

Adapt this outline to the reporting format required by ESIIL.

  1. Working group title and participants
  2. Original goals and any major scope changes
  3. Activities completed
  4. Outputs produced
  5. Data, software, or infrastructure used
  6. Outcomes, impacts, or community benefits
  7. Challenges and lessons learned
  8. Future work or maintenance plan
  9. Links to repositories, websites, releases, publications, or archives

Output Inventory

Create a final inventory of products.

Output Location Status Citation or Attribution Maintenance
[Name] [Link] Draft, released, archived [Citation] Active, limited, archived

Outputs may include papers, code, workflows, educational materials, datasets, reports, presentations, communication products, or other resources that serve the larger environmental data science community and other audiences.

Repository and Website Cleanup

  • Update the homepage or README with final status.
  • Confirm links work.
  • Remove or label obsolete instructions.
  • Add citation information.
  • Document licenses and reuse constraints.
  • Document known privacy, permission, sovereignty, or intellectual property considerations.
  • Archive releases where appropriate.
  • State who to contact after the active period ends.

Intellectual Property and Reuse

The FAQ includes a TODO to confirm final public intellectual property language with ESIIL and CU Boulder before relying on that answer. Until confirmed language is available, closeout documentation should avoid presenting uncertain materials as openly reusable.

The FAQ also states: "We ask everyone to be as open as possible, and as private as necessary." Document any conditions that limit availability, reuse, or publication.

Do not leave reuse ambiguous

If data, code, images, or other materials have unclear permissions, document the uncertainty and avoid presenting them as openly reusable.

Final Meeting

Use the final meeting to confirm:

  • what has been completed
  • what remains unfinished
  • what should be archived or maintained
  • who owns follow-up tasks
  • what ESIIL should know for final reporting
  • whether authorship, attribution, intellectual property, or reuse expectations are documented clearly enough for future users

See Also