Tool Note Schema

Schema version: 1.2 Last updated: 2026-03-05

Every file in /tools/ must begin with the following YAML frontmatter block. All fields are required unless marked optional.

---
schema-version: "1.2"
 
# ── Identity ────────────────────────────────────────────────
name: ""                        # Full product name
vendor: ""                      # Company or organisation
url: ""                         # Primary product URL
last-reviewed: YYYY-MM-DD       # Date this note was last verified
 
# ── Fit ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
capability-areas:               # List — see controlled vocabulary below
  - ""
generality: ""                  # One of: specialist | cross-disciplinary | general
faculty-relevance:              # List — any of: Arts & Humanities | Social Sciences | Science | Engineering | Health | All
  - ""
 
# ── Maturity & Timing ───────────────────────────────────────
maturity: ""                    # One of: experimental | emerging | production-ready
viable-from: ""                 # YYYY or "now" — when broad adoption becomes realistic
 
# ── Impact & Value ──────────────────────────────────────────
research-impact: ""             # One of: low | medium | high
ease-of-implementation: ""      # One of: low | medium | high
learning-curve: ""              # One of: low | medium | high
documentation-quality: ""       # One of: low | medium | high
 
# ── Sustainability & Cost ───────────────────────────────────
licensing-model: ""             # One of: open-source | freemium | subscription | institutional | unknown
institutional-pricing: ""       # Free text — note any known HE/Jisc pricing (optional)
cost-per-user-gbp: ""           # Approximate annual cost per user in GBP, or "unknown"
existing-university-license: false   # true if covered by existing Sheffield license
ongoing-maintenance: ""         # One of: low | medium | high — operational burden to keep the tool running
 
# ── Trust & Governance ──────────────────────────────────────
data-training-policy: ""        # One of: no-training | private-training | public-training | unknown
gdpr-compliant: ""              # One of: yes | no | unclear
data-residency: ""              # e.g. "EU", "US", "UK", "unknown"
sso-supported: false            # true if supports institutional SSO/SAML
output-explainability: ""       # One of: low | medium | high — whether the tool cites sources or explains its reasoning
accessibility-statement: ""     # One of: yes | no | unknown
 
# ── Strategic Alignment ─────────────────────────────────────
vendor-roadmap-confidence: ""   # One of: low | medium | high
jisc-chest-available: false     # true if available via Jisc CHEST procurement
community-ecosystem: ""         # One of: small | growing | established
 
# ── Human Oversight & Fairness ──────────────────────────────
human-oversight-required: true  # Always true — all outputs require staff verification
bias-risk-notes: ""             # Free text — known bias concerns (optional)
 
# ── Classification ──────────────────────────────────────────
# Ring vocabulary adapted from the Thoughtworks Technology Radar
# (https://www.thoughtworks.com/radar). Rings: Adopt → Trial → Assess → Hold.
catalogue-status: ""            # One of: adopt | trial | assess | hold
ring-movement: ""               # One of: new | moved-in | moved-out | no-change
last-ring-change: ""            # Quarter of last ring change, e.g. "2026-Q1"
tags:                           # Optional free tags for Obsidian search
  - ""
---

Controlled vocabulary: catalogue-status

The adopt / trial / assess / hold ring vocabulary is adapted from the Thoughtworks Technology Radar.

Value	Meaning
adopt	Recommend for immediate use — proven value at Sheffield scale
trial	Use on real work — evaluate actively before committing institutionally
assess	Worth investigating — no commitment yet
hold	Avoid new adoption; flag existing users

ring-movement tracks change since the previous review: new (first appearance) / moved-in (ring improved) / moved-out (ring declined) / no-change.

Controlled vocabulary: capability-areas

A tool may appear in multiple capability areas — list all that apply. This field drives Dataview queries in each capability area index note. Use tags for finer-grained classification within an area (e.g. systematic-review, vector-database, eln).

• ideation-and-grant-writing
• literature-review
• hypothesis-generation
• data-collection
• automatic-transcription
• autonomous-laboratories
• data-analysis
• scholarly-writing
• qualitative-coding
• knowledge-bases
• research-data-management
• image-and-media-analysis
• coding-and-development
• presentation-and-visualisation

Stubs exist for all of the above. Stubs created Q1 2026: qualitative-coding, research-data-management, knowledge-bases.

To add a new capability area, update this list AND the corresponding /capability-areas/ index note simultaneously.