To make your data reusable in the European infrastructure you must let the European Commission know that you want to publish a dataset. This is done in the Qualification Dataset Register (QDR).

The QDR offers different ways to provide the files containing the datasets so that any infrastructure approach you may have is supported.

The possibilities are:

• Hosted on your server - Automatic Update

With this method, you host the data on your server and have the data automatically retrieved by the QDR. You specify a URL where the data will be continuously maintained and where the QDR can regularly check for updates.

• Hosted on your server - API update

With this method, you host the data on your server and notify the QDR using an API call any time there is an update. You would be given an API key by the QDR which authenticates your calls.

• Hosted on your server - Manual Update

With this method, you host the data on your server and manually notify the QDR using the web platform user interface any time there is an update. You need to provide a unique URL of the hosted dataset every time you publish new data.

• Manual upload

With this method, you host the data only on the QDR server and upload it manually using the web platform user interface. You would need to upload a unique file every time you publish new data.

The first two options above are preferable over the last two, as they will ensure that information published through Europass is updated information.

As a publisher, it is recommended to maintain one dataset for Accreditations, another one for Qualifications, and another for Learning Opportunities, but you can decide to publish more than one dataset for each data type if necessary.

When you publish data, it is important to keep your data stable by:

• Keeping your data accessible;
• Keeping your identifiers persistent and unique;
• Keeping your data up to date;
• Keeping your data versioned.