Getting Started with OSFI
Welcome to OSF Institutions. Read on below to get started with your membership.
OSFI Orientation Materials
COS periodically does a formal orientation webinar for new members. The information found in this guide is covered during these sessions. A video of the last orientation session and slides from the presentation are available. Find out about the next session on our Community Events page.
Membership Set Up
In order to set up your membership, OSF requires some basic information to get started. There is a form to fill out online here. A preview of all of the questions on the form is at: https://osf.io/qzmyj. The form asks for information about:
- Your institution's primary contact
- Branding:
- Your institution's full name
- The URL slug for your institution's home page (e.g. https://osf.io/your_institution)
- Default storage location desired
- Logo and banner to be used on your home page
- Any text you would like to appear on your home page
- Any text you would like to appear in responses from the OSF help desk
- Authentication information
In order to complete the questions on the form about authentication you may need to be in contact with someone at your institution's central IT office. This document goes over the information needed to set up your affiliation. If necessary, we can meet with you and your colleagues to answer questions about the configuration before getting started. Just send an email to institutions@cos.io if you have questions.
Under the section entitled "Single Sign-on Information" you will only need to answer the questions that correspond to your configuration. For example, if you are a member of the InCommon federation, you will need to respond to those questions, but will not be asked the questions under the "Other SSO Providers section."
Onboarding Process
Once you have submitted the form, staff at COS will reach out to you to verify any information or arrange for testing of the authentication set-up.
When the setup is completed, users will see your institution listed among the institutional login options. We can send you a link to share with your community that will lead to the sign-in form with your institution preselected. As users sign-in through the new login, their content will begin to appear on your new home page.
Email Campaigns
COS is also eager to help you let people know about the new service. We can send a message to any OSF user with an email address that matches your institution (e.g. @university.edu), or you can send emails to all of your users (or both). There is a template for a standard email that we have sent in the past at https://osf.io/65q9v
We can update that text any way you would like and send it out when you would like us to.
Newsletter sign up
The primary contact for your institution will automatically be added to the list to receive monthly OSF Institutions newsletters. These emails are the best way to stay informed about events, new OSF features, and other opportunities as part of your membership. You can also see the archive of previous OSFI newsletters if you are interested.
You can have as many people from your institution subscribed to the newsletter as you would like. Just contact institutions@cos.io with the emails of the individuals to be signed up.
Metrics Reports & Dashboard Access
All institutional members will receive quarterly metrics reports with information on their users' activity on the platform. By default, these reports will be sent to whomever is indicated as the primary contact, but you can have the report sent to additional members of your institution. Just contact institutions@cos.io with the emails of the individuals to be signed up.
Training or Intro Session
As part of your membership, COS staff are happy to do a session of up to an hour for your institution's users or staff on either the use of OSF generally, or the OSF Institutional membership. We are happy to repeat a session like this up to two times per year. Contact institutions@cos.io to talk about scheduling. You are also eligible for discounts on our more in-depth training services.
Renewals & Billing
Your Institutions Membership Service Agreement will have information about what options you selected for renewal. Our standard agreement indicates an automatic renewal, but we still reach out every year 6-8 weeks before renewal to ensure that you want to maintain your membership and to confirm that we have the correct contact for invoicing. We will send this renewal email to the primary contact as indicated on your set up form. If you would like to designate another email address to be involved in this process, just contact institutions@cos.io with the emails of the individuals to be signed up.
Questions or Other Help
Please let us know when you have questions, need to make changes to basic information, or are experiencing an issue with your membership. Your satisfaction is a priority and our staff will always respond to your question as quickly and completely as we can. As is outline in the Membership Support page, you can also contact us to set up a presentation or demonstration to members of your community at any time. We can also help you take advantage of your discount in setting up more in-depth OSF/Open Science training. You can always get in contact with someone about your membership at institutions@cos.io.
Getting Started Checklist
This list will help you make sure you have completed all of the portions of the onboarding process
Signed Agreement
Signing the Agreement of Services will formally kick off your onboarding process
Provided COS with institutional logo and other information via the set up form
Your institutional logo will be added in several places: the institution landing page, the COS members page, at the top of projects affiliated with your institution’s members. You may also provide COS with some limited text for your institution landing page and to add to emails sent from our support desk to your users.
Identified Institutional contacts
At minimum, COS needs a primary contact for your institution which is provided via the set up form. Other contacts specifically for technical issues or billing issues are also appreciated.
Provided COS with necessary SSO information
You may need to collect information from others in your organization. Check the OSF Institutions Setup Questions for more details.
Created text for email to existing OSF users - optional
COS will send an email to any existing users with an email from your institution to let them know they can now affiliate themselves with you. A sample email is at: https://osf.io/65q9v. Please notify COS if you would like any changes to this text.
Signed up appropriate individuals for newsletters, metrics reports, and dashboard access (if applicable) - optional
You can sign up anyone at your institution for the monthly OSFI newsletter and quarterly OSFI metrics reports. If you have joined at a membership level that includes metric dashboard access, you can also give users access by notifying COS staff
Schedule an orientation with COS staff - optional
COS staff are ready to do an orientation meeting with you to make sure you are ready to go with your new membership. The orientation meeting will cover the basics of your membership and answer any initial questions you may have.
If you are interested in seeing help guides intended for general OSF users, please see our OSF support center Help Guides