Data Management and Project Planning

The DMPTool is a very useful tool for both writing DMPs, and reviewing example DMPs. DMPTool is a free resource which enables researchers to easily compose DMPs. Users can choose from a variety of templates which reflect DMP requirements of dozens of research funders, including the National Institute of Health, National Science Foundation, Gates Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and many others. DMPTool is user-friendly and easy-to-use.

DMPTool was developed by the University of California Curation Center of the California Digital Library.

• What does the data represent?
• How will you name and organize the files you create?
• What methods are you using to capture data?
• What types of data will you be using and/or generating? (Examples: physical specimens, a relational database, a digitally annotated manuscript).
• What digital data types will you be using and/or generating? (Examples: .jpeg, .csv, .xml)
• When converting data formats, are you checking to ensure there is no loss of data, annotations or internal metadata?
• What is the volume of each type of data to be used and/or generated?
• What kinds of additional documentation and/or metadata is needed to understand the data?

• Who is responsible for each component of the data management process?
• What resources (time, money, equipment) are needed to implement your DMP?
• What resources are needed for long-term preservation of your data?

• Who owns the rights to your data?
• Do you intend to make your data available for sharing?
• Is any of your data sensitive?
• Are there legal or ethical constraints on your ability to share your data?
• How can you work within legal or ethical constraints to share your data? Examples: anonymization, de-identification, sharing only aggregate data.

• How are you storing your data? (Examples: Morgan Google Drive, on a personal server at home, a flashdrive locked in your office desk drawer).
• Are you saving at least two copies of your data in two different places/platforms?
• What is the process and frequency of data backup?
• If your data is kept in multiple places, how do you keep track of versions?
• How do you regulate who can access your data?
• Is sensitive data adequately protected?

This section provides you with guidelines for composing a Data management Policy.  Granting agencies may have guidelines different from these.

• What kinds of data are you going to generate? Consider everything, from notes you take in a physical notebook, to all the different kinds of digital files.
• Is any of your data sensitive? Sensitive data requires additional security.
• Where will you store your data?
• How will you back up your data?
• How will you name and organize your files? Be clear and consistent.

Religious studies technical plan  A technical plan submitted from the University of Bristol, also including comments from the reviewers

Language studies technical plan A technical plan from the University of Glasgow about developing the Scots syntactic atlas

Virtual holocaust memory technical plan An example plan from the University of Leeds with some reviewer feedback

Mapping metaphor technical plan A language example from the University of Glasgow

Trevor Jones technical appendix (2012) A plan from a large project digitising an archive of film music that was highly rated by peer reviewers. The plan has been shared by the University of Leeds.

Mackintosh architecture technical appendix (2009) Technical appendix and addendum from the University of Glasgow

Example poor DMP with pointers Fictional AHRC technical plan with suggestions for improvements, developed by Brian Aitken for a DCC workshop

Reflections from an AHRC reviewer Pointers suggested by Brian Aitken, a technical reviewer for the AHRC. These were drafted for a workshop on reviewing DMPs.

Draft evaluation rubric for assessing AHRC technical plans Assessment framework developed by Sarah Jones at the DCC

BBSRC

Plan for a BBSRC Tools and Resources Development Fund (TRDF) Grant DMP published in the RIOjournal by Dr Laurent Gatto at the University of Cambridge

Sample BBSRC data sharing statement (2014) Example shared by Dr Christos Ioannou in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Bristol. See p8 in the guide.

Drosophila Genetics Example plan shared by the University of Glasgow

Evaluation rubric for assessing BBSRC data sharing plans Assessment framework developed by Mary Donaldson at the University of Glasgow

EPSRC

Synthetic chemistry example Plan shared by the University of Glasgow

Water supply and remediation project Example covering interview data and ethical approval

ESRC

Z-proso DMP A longitudinal study exploring the life-course of 1,400 youths and the pathways that lead to violence and delinquency. Plan shared by Dr Aja Murray at Cambridge University.

Two social science DMPs Example plans shared by the University of Leeds as part of the Leeds RoaDMaP training materials

Data management plan for Realist Evaluation of Adapted Sex Offender Treatment Programs for Men with Intellectual Disability This plan looks at managing quantitative and qualitative data, including audio interviews. The plan discusses ethical issues around a very sensitive dataset, including using consent and anonymisation to generate data which can be shared and reused. It was shared by the University of Leeds.

Data management planning for ESRC researcher Guidelines from the UK Data Service to help applicants respond to the specific ESRC requirements

Data Management Plan: Guidance for Peer-Reviewers An explanation of what the ESRC is looking for in data management plans

Horizon 2020

AtlantOS Data Management Plan A 2016 DMP covering the concept of FAIR data for an Altalntic Ocean observation systems project

Centre of Excellence in Simulation of Weather and Climate in Europe (2016) DMP provided by the German Climate Centre (DKRZ) 

FREME Data Management Plan Plan developed by the Open framework of e-services for multilingual and semantic enrichment of digital content project

Helix Nebula open science cloud A High Energy Physics example covering the Large Hadron Collider experiments

Open Sea Operating Experience to Reduce Wave Energy Costs First version of a DMP by the opera project

Tweether An engineering based micro-electronics example

AutoPost An example DMP from an industry-driven innovation action that will deliver ICT-based solutions to enhance established post-production workflows.

Evaluation rubric for assessing H2020 plans Assessment framework developed according to the original H2020 template

MRC

Trypanosome Cell Processing (2014) Example shared by the University of Glasgow

Wellcome Trust

Writing a Wellcome Trust DMP A guide by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) explaining how to write a DMP, illustrated by a worked example

Wellcome Trust Developing a data management and sharing plan An excellent FAQ from the Wellcome Trust outlining what its data plans should contain, and providing notes on how to answer the questions.

Other examples and guidance

Data management plans from successful grant applications (2011-2014) (opens in a new window) 108 DMPs from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Office of Digital Humanities

UCSD Example Data Management Plans Over 20 example plans submitted to the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the United States by academics at UC San Diego

Colorado School of Mines examples A variety of US example DMPs from Mines and elsewhere

NSF data management plans 5 DMPs submitted to the NSF, shared by the DataOne initiative

Biology and chemistry DMPs Three example DMPs from the USA shared by NECDMC, an instructional tool for teaching RDM to undergraduates, graduate students, and researchers in the health sciences, sciences and engineering.

ICPSR Guidelines for effective data management plans Suggestions of what elements to include in data mangement plans and a useful list of example plans and guidance resources

Developing an Institutional Research Data Management Plan Service EDUCAUSE ACTI Data Management Working Group (ACTI-DM) white paper

Humboldt University Anleitung zur Erstellung eines Datenmanagementplans (DMP) in Horizon 2020 Instructions [in German] for creating a DMP in Horizon 2020 using DMPonline. The guide walks through the process of creating a DMP with the tool and notes the specific requirements in the Horizon 2020 open data pilot.