The FAQ

Author: fungiboletus

faq.md

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+# DataGraft FAQ
+
+#### What is DataGraft?
+
+DataGraft is a cloud-based service for data transformation and data access.
+
+#### Who are DataGraft's target users?
+
+DataGraft is aimed at data workers and data developers interested in simplified and cost-effective solutions for managing their data. Example users include open data publishers, linked data developers, data scientists.
+
+#### Why was DataGraft developed?
+
+DataGraft was developed to provide better and easier to use tools for data workers and developers who consider existing approaches to data management and access too costly and technically complex.
+
+
+#### Why is DataGraft special?
+
+DataGraft offers an integrated, flexible, and scalable cloud-based solution for data transformation and data access. Key features include flexible management of data transformations (e.g. creation, execution, sharing, reuse) and scalable data services. DataGraft offers GUI and API access to data transformations and data services. 
+
+#### Are all my data and/or transformations on DataGraft public?
+
+When creating transformations or publishing data you can choose whether you want them to be public (i.e. visible on the DataGraft portal) or private (i.e. only you have access to them).
+
+#### What can I do with DataGraft?
+
+The current version of DataGraft allows you to:
+
+ * Transform tabular data and share transformations: Edit, host, execute, and share data transformations
+ * Publish, share, and access data: Scalable data hosting and reliable data access / data querying
+
+
+#### What kind of data formats does DataGraft support?
+
+The current version of DataGraft handles tabular data (CSV) and RDF data (i.e. you can upload CSV and RDF data to DataGraft). Data transformations (e.g. data cleaning) can be performed on tabular data, which in turn can be transformed to RDF data. For RDF data, live data services are created that allow querying using SPARQL. More data formats are expected to be supported in the future.
+
+#### What skills do I need to have to use DataGraft?
+
+ * If you are interested in tabular data transformations (e.g. cleaning of tabular data, sharing of transformations, etc.), no special skills are required, depending on the complexity of the transformations you want to perform. Currently DataGraft supports an number of predefined data transformations, with more to be added in the near future.
+ * If you are interested in publication of RDF data and access to RDF data, familiarity with RDF and SPARQL are needed.
+
+#### I am a developer and interested to transform and host my data with DataGraft. Do I have API access to DataGraft capabilities?
+
+Yes, most DataGraft capabilities are accessible at the API level. These include programmatic access to datasets and data transformation catalogues (adding, removing datasets and transformations), querying data, and executing data transformations. See the [API documentation](http://dapaas.github.io/documentation/) for further details.
+
+#### Who developed DataGraft?
+
+DataGraft has been developed by [a consortium of 6 companies](http://project.dapaas.eu/dapaas-partners) as part of [the DaPaaS project](http://project.dapaas.eu/).
+
+#### Who funded DataGraft?
+
+DataGraft has been primarily funded by the European Commission (EC) through [the DaPaaS project](http://project.dapaas.eu/) under the Grant Agreement 610988. Other EC-funded projects such as [SmartOpenData](http://www.smartopendata.eu/) and [OpenCube](http://opencube-project.eu/) contributed to the development of some components.
+
+#### Who is the owner of DataGraft?
+
+Currently DataGraft is owned by the DaPaaS consortium. Discussions are ongoing on future development of DataGraft after the completion of the DaPaaS project at the end of October 2015. Most likely the development will continue under [the proDataMarket project](http://prodatamarket.eu/) or a commercial entity will continue the maintenance and development.
+
+#### Is it free to use DataGraft?
+
+For now, yes. Though, there are certain limitations (e.g. hosting up to 1GB of data). If you find DataGraft useful and you are interested to use it beyond its current limitations please [get in touch with us](http://project.dapaas.eu/dapaas-contact-us). 
+
+#### What is the status of the DataGraft development?
+
+DataGraft is currently under iterative development. The current version of DataGraft is the first release.
+
+#### What features are planned for future releases?
+
+Future releases of DataGraft will focus on enhancing, among others, the data transformation library.
+
+#### I need feature XYZ but it is not supported by DataGraft. What can I do?
+[Contact us](http://project.dapaas.eu/dapaas-contact-us) and we’ll be glad to assist!
+
+#### Whom can I contact if I have further comments and questions about DataGraft?
+Should you have any comments or questions don’t hesitate to [contact us](http://project.dapaas.eu/dapaas-contact-us).