Uploading investigation data to the CSSI DCC Portal allows you to curate, manage, and reuse datasets in a standards-compliant way. The ISA-TAB specification describes this standard and how to structure your investigation data to create an Investigation-Study-Assay tab-delimited (ISA-TAB) archive file. This may involve configuring it using open-source software made for this purpose.

An ISA-TAB archive file is a compressed (.ZIP) file containing multiple text files and data files. Each tab-delimited text file in an ISA-TAB file describes the structure, meaning the column headers and row values when considered in spreadsheet format, of the investigation, study, and assay components of the archive. The data files correspond to each assay and are included in the archive in their native format, for example, Microsoft Excel. An ISA-TAB archive file may also contain images.

Only users who have registered for and logged in to the CSSI DCC Portal can upload investigation data. 

Registering to Use the CSSI DCC Portal

Before you can log in for the first time, you must register.

To register on the CSSI DCC Portal

1. Navigate to the CSSI DCC Portal.
   The home page appears.
   
2. Click Login.
   The Please Sign In page appears.
   
3. Click Register.
   The Registration page appears.
   
4. Provide information in all of the following required fields:
   • First name
   • Last name
   • Institution
   • Email address
   • Password
   • Confirm password
5. If you want to upload investigation data to the CSSI DCC portal in the future, select the I would like to upload investigation data box. Doing so ensures that your future submissions are correctly tracked.
6. Select the I'm not a robot box.
7. Click Register.
   A message box appears.
   
8. Check your inbox for an email with the subject line "CSSI DCC Account Activation." Click the link in the email to complete account activation.
9. Get started using the CSSI DCC Portal.

Logging In to the CSSI DCC Portal

Before you can upload investigation data, you must register and then log in.

You do not need to log in to browse, search, and download investigation data.

To log in to the CSSI DCC Portal

1. Navigate to the CSSI DCC Portal.
   The home page appears.
   
2. Click Login.
   The Please Sign In page appears.
   
3. Enter your email address and password you specified when you registered.
4. Click Sign In.
   The CSSI DCC Portal home page appears.

Uploading ISA-TAB Files

To upload ISA-TAB files

1. Log in to the CSSI DCC Portal.
2. Select Investigations > Upload.
   The Upload ISA TAB Files page appears.
   

3. Click New Project.
   The Project Properties page appears.

   A project is simply a container for the ISA-TAB file. It allows you to track multiple versions of the same ISA-TAB file.

   It is a best practice for each investigation to have its own project.

   
   
   

4. Enter a title for your new project. Note that this title and the compressed ISA-TAB file that the project contains can be different.
5. Click Save Project.
   The page expands to allow you to specify the file to upload.
   

6. Select the file you want to upload in either of the following ways:

   • Drag and drop the ISA-TAB archive file from your computer to the Drop your files here box surrounded by the dashed lines:
     

   • Click the Drop your files here box image and browse to where the file is stored.
     Template files must be in one of the following archive formats: .zip,.rar,.tar,.gz. The file can be no larger than 500 MB.

7. Click Upload files.
   The status of the file becomes Ready.
   
8. Click Upload files.
   The file begins processing and the status moves through the following stages:
   • Processing Queued
   • <need other statuses>
     
   • Success: file processed successfully
     
9. Refresh the page to see the new upload listed in the Investigation Projects section.