Data-analysis service policy

Service version: data-analysis-v1

Purpose and permission

Managed Data Analysis delivers an agreed analysis of customer-supplied data. Guided Support provides teaching, explanation and feedback instead. You must have authority to share the data and obtain the requested assistance. For research, assessed or institutional work, check the applicable rules, obtain any required permission and disclose assistance as required. We record your declaration and its version when you submit or revise a request. The declaration does not override an explicit restriction.

What we will not do

No fabrication of data or participant responses, manipulation to guarantee a desired result, impersonation, exam-taking or writing assessed submissions for you. Requests that disclose prohibited outside assistance will not be accepted. We may request clarification or decline a project that cannot be responsibly supported.

Data handling

Remove direct identifiers, confidential credentials and restricted information before uploading. Only authorised participants and permitted staff can access project files. Intake inspection is local and bounded. Data rows, cell values and uploaded files are not sent to generative AI services. If you choose the optional Genesis check, your written request and the file facts shown to you (and column names only if you choose to share them) are sent to our AI provider (currently OpenAI) to draft a summary and questions, after email addresses, links and long numbers are removed; you can see exactly what is sent before agreeing, and you can continue without it. Genesis suggestions are not a scope, method approval, permission decision or price. Unsubmitted drafts are deleted after 14 days without changes; submitted requests become the project record. Scripts and formulas are not executed by the intake. This inspection is not a guarantee that a dataset is anonymous, accurate or free of harmful content. Original uploads are retained as the project record; working copies must document transformations.

Scope, price and start

Before payment, staff check feasibility, permissions, data suitability and validated specialist coverage. You receive a written scope, exclusions, acceptance checks, effort breakdown, a milestone plan the named analyst has accepted, and a quote. Pricing depends on analytical effort, the level of analysis, any software you require, review and urgency, not word count. You must explicitly accept the current quote before checkout. Changed questions, data or urgency invalidate the previous quote. For new assurance-version requests, secured payment records the agreed delivery deadline and opens a two-hour specialist acknowledgement window. Late acknowledgement does not reset that deadline. Existing accepted quotes retain their recorded timing terms. A missed acknowledgement or progress milestone triggers staff attention; it does not count as work performed. Intake availability does not imply payment activation.

Delivery, review and acceptance

The package includes cleaned or checked data, a transformation log, a reproducible workbook/script or steps, and findings with methods, assumptions and limitations. Agreed editable outputs and handover instructions form part of the scope. A second person checks material outputs before customer access: someone independent of the analyst and approved to review this service, either an approved specialist or a named Helpal staff reviewer. AI and plagiarism scores are not substitutes for analytical review. Your payment is taken at checkout and held by Helpal; the analyst and reviewer are paid only after you explicitly accept the latest cleared package. Release is not triggered by silence or the passage of the delivery period.

Corrections and changes

Corrections address missing or incorrect agreed requirements and return through independent review. New datasets, questions, methods or deliverables are scope changes and require a new quote. Where a question cannot be answered reliably, the findings must state that limitation rather than invent a conclusion. The scope review must specify the handover and correction arrangements.

Payments and disputes

The Terms of Service, Refunds & Disputes Policy, and Privacy Policy also apply. Data-analysis scope and customer acceptance checks do not remove any applicable rights or the ability to raise an issue.