# Feedback-Based Integration of the Whole Process of Data Anonymization in a Graphical Interface
## 3 Conclusions  
In this work we have presented the interactive, web-based GUI of sdcMicro that also allows nonexperts in R to perform statistical data anonymization of microdata. In this work we showed that the GUI is not restricted to apply disclosure limitation techniques but rather facilitates the entire anonymization process from uploading and preparing microdata as discussed in Sections 2.2.1 and 2.2.2, setting up and defining a problem instance that is suitable for sdcMicro, as shown in Section 2.3.1, to interactively applying disclosure limitation techniques to the data (Sections 2.3.3 and 2.3.4) and analyzing the impact of the methods in terms of a risk- and data utility assessment as presented in Section 2.4. The dataset to be anonymized can (but not necessarily must) have a complex hierarchical structure (e.g., persons in households), could be sampled with a complex sampling design, can include continuous and categorical scaled key variables (quasi-identifiers) and can include stratification variables. Using such variables, it is possible to apply several methods to each strategy independently. Once these complexities are specified in the problem instance, these specialties are automatically considered for all internal risk-, utility and anonymization computations. The possibility of setting up complex problem instances goes much beyond what other tools, such as Arx, PARAT, OpenAnonymizer, SECRETA, Amnesia, Cornell Anonymization Toolkit, and TIAMAT, offer.  
Finally, facilities are provided to not only save the final micro-dataset to disk, but also to create summary-reports that give an overview of the anonymization process (Section 2.5). Even though the GUI is meant to be interactive in the sense that users are changing values and parameters using the mouse or the keyboard, it has been made sure that the process itself is reproducible. The R-code that is required to reproduce the anonymized can be viewed and downloaded as shown in Section 2.5; it is also possible to export and import the current state of the GUI.  
Throughout the GUI, question mark icons are displayed that contain additional useful information of users once they hover over the icons with their mouse. The Undo-feature explained in Section 2.4 was also proven useful because it allows easily reverting the application of a method if the specific parameter settings showed that the achieved improvement in terms of risk reduction were too low or the impact on the usefulness of the data measured in terms of data utility was too high. Method-richness, reproducibility and features like this Undo button and extensive reporting facilities as well as instant changes and display of risk, utility and data are only implemented in sdcApp and not (or only very limited) available in tools like \(\mu\)-Argus.  
sdcMicro and its GUI are still actively developed and maintained, and feature requests or reporting issues via the issue tracker at [[https://github.com/sdcTools/sdcMicro/issues](https://github.com/sdcTools/sdcMicro/issues)]([https://github.com/sdcTools/sdcMicro/issues](https://github.com/sdcTools/sdcMicro/issues)) are welcome for further improving the software.  
[PERSON] mainly wrote Section 2 while [PERSON] mainly wrote Sections 1 and 3. Both authors contributed equally to the conceptional design of the app. The app was written by [PERSON] and tested by both authors.  
**Funding:** The development of the shiny-based GUI was funded by the World Bank Group ([[http://www.worldbank.org](http://www.worldbank.org)]([http://www.worldbank.org](http://www.worldbank.org))) and the Department for International Development DfID ([[https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-international-development](https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-international-development)]([https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-international-development](https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-international-development))).  
**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.