Protected Virtual Computing Environment (PVCE)

What is PVCE?

PVCE is a HIPAA-compliant research computing environment for securely analyzing health data.

All datasets retrieved by the UCI Health Honest Broker based on IRB-approved research protocols are deposited in this environment.

Many commonly used analytical tools are readily available in PVCE. These include SAS, SPSS, Stata, R, Python, ArcGIS, and Excel. You may request new software, or new packages/libraries/procedures of the existing software, to be installed by sending an email to ori@uci.edu.

PVCE is also where researchers access the self-service research data warehouses. These include LDS OMOP RDW, a partially de-identified research copy of the UCI Health patient care data; and UC CORDS, a UC-wide research dataset of patients tested for SARS-CoV-2.

How to request access

If have been granted access to the self-service research data warehouses such as LDS OMOP RDW or UC CORDS, you will be automatically granted access to PVCE.

If you want to use PVCE to access a dataset retrieved by the UCI Health Honest Broker, send an email to ori@uci.edu with the PI(s) of the study cc'd, if applicable.

The data folders for IRB-approved research projects are accessible to authorized users only. If you can connect to PVCE, but cannot access a folder that you believe you should be able to access, send an email to ori@uci.edu with the PI(s) of the study cc'd, if applicable.

PREREQUISITES:

If you do not have a health system (HS) account, you will need to sign and attach the UCI Health Confidentiality Agreement in the email so we can request an HS account for you.

An HS account is needed because accessing the UCI Health network requires a separate login credential that is different from your general campus UCINetID account.

Note that for security reasons, your HS password may be forced to expire after a period of time. To reset it, use the HS Self-Service Password Manager Portal.

Once your access is granted, you can connect to PVCE using the Microsoft Remote Desktop. The software is generally built into Windows PCs. If not, you can obtain a copy here. For macOS, you can download from the Mac App Store.

Then, follow the instructions provided by the UCI Health Information Services to create a new Remote Desktop Connection. The Computer to connect to is pvce5001.hs.uci.edu.

As of November 11, 2024, all users are required to submit a one-time Cisco Anyconnect VPN Access Request prior to using HS Remote Desktop Gateway or HS VPN.

Troubleshooting for connection issues

If you get stuck at a "Please wait" blue screen, it is most likely because you have an inactive session that cannot be properly terminated by the server. If this happens, please email ori@uci.edu and we will manually log off your previous session.

If you cannot connect at all, and you are certain your access to PVCE has been granted, try the following steps:

  1. Check in the HS Self-Service Password Manager Portal to see whether your HS password has expired. If so, reset it.
  2. Make sure the Computer you are connecting to is pvce5001.hs.uci.edu, and the Remote Desktop Gateway is tsgate.hs.uci.edu. More instructions on how to set up Remote Desktop access can be found here.
  3. Submit Cisco Anyconnect VPN Access Request here.
  4. If you get stuck on the Windows authentication screen ("Other user"), wait for about 10 seconds for the DUO push to arrive. It may take longer than usual under some circumstances.
  5. If the above step does not work, try disabling the Gateway server, connecting to the HS VPN, and then connecting to PVCE.
If the issue persists, send an email to ori@uci.edu.

How can I share files with my team members

You can send an email to ori@uci.edu to request a shared folder to be created accessible to designated users.

Can data be moved out of PVCE?

Analytical scripts, aggregated results, and charts/diagrams can be exported out of PVCE provided that (1) they do not contain patient-level data, and (2) any patient counts reported must be equal to or larger than 10 (otherwise, the risk of patient re-identification is high). If less than 10, you can substitute the exact patient count with "less than ten." Send an email to ori@uci.edu to describe the file(s) that need to be exported.

You may also bring external data files or analytical scripts into PVCE. Drop the files here, and send an email to ori@uci.edu.

Patient-level data can be exported only if one of the following three conditions is met: (1) the data must be submitted to a third party (e.g., the NIH, the CDC), and the proper data transfer/use agreement and the Health Data Governance Committee (HDGC) approval have been obtained; (2) researchers need to import the data into another UCI Health-operated HIPAA-compliant system (e.g., REDCap, OnCore) for valid reasons (e.g., to support participant recruitment, to administer patient surveys); or (3) PVCE is not adequate enough to accommodate the storage or computing needs (e.g., dataset is too large, specialized analytical tools cannot be installed in PVCE due to hardware or licensing reasons, requiring GPU computing).

"I prefer to analyze the data on my own computer" is not a valid reason for requesting data export.