This document discusses data management plans (DMPs), which are required by many research funders to outline how research data will be managed and shared. It explains that DMPs describe what data will be created, how it will be documented and shared, and how it will be preserved long-term. The document also notes that developing a DMP involves multiple stakeholders, and outlines tools like DMPonline that can help researchers create DMPs by guiding them through the required sections.

1.  Data Management Plans:
a gentle introduction
Martin Donnelly, Digital Curation Centre, University of Edinburgh
Royal Holloway University of London, 22 August 2014

2. OVERVIEW (60 mins)
 What is data management planning?
 What’s required?
 Who’s involved?
 Short exercise, inc. feeding back (30 mins)
 What resources are available to help?

3. 1. Data Management Planning (DMP)
 Data management planning is the process of planning,
describing and communicating the activities carried out during
the research lifecycle in order to…
 Keep sensitive data safe
 Maximise data’s reuse potential
 Support longer-term preservation

4. What is a DMP?
 Research funders (and other bodies) often ask for a short
statement/plan to be submitted alongside grant applications
 HEIs increasingly ask their researchers to do this too, as do
some publishers…
 In general, they want to know:
- What kinds of data will be created, and how
- How will the data be documented and described?
- Are there ethical or Intellectual Property issues?
- What are the arrangements for data sharing and reuse?
- What is the strategy for longer-term preservation?
 But they all have different requirements and emphases,
and express them in different ways…

5. Benefits of Data Management Planning
 It is intuitive that planned activities stand a better chance of
meeting their goals than unplanned ones. The process of
planning is also a process of communication, increasingly
important in multi-partner research. Collaboration should be
more harmonious if project partners (in industry, other
universities, other countries…) are in accord
 In terms of data security, if there are genuinely good reasons
not to publish/share data, in whole or in part, you will be on
more solid ground if you flag these up early in the process
 DMP also provides an ideal opportunity to engender good
practice with regard to (e.g.) file formats, metadata
standards, storage and risk management practices, leading
to greater longevity of data and higher quality standards

6. 2. DMP requirements
 6 of the 7 RCUK councils require data management
plans at the application stage
 NERC also expect an expanded DMP during the
project, prepared in collaboration with the
appropriate NERC data centre
 Other major funders such as Cancer Research UK
and the Wellcome Trust also require DMPs
 Horizon 2020 includes a data management planning
pilot, spanning three phases… more on that later

7. Funder policies
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/policy-and-legal/overview-funders-data-policies

8. 3. DMP roles (and exercise)
 I mentioned earlier that RDM is a hybrid activity, involving
multiple stakeholder types.
 So who’s involved?
 The principal investigator (usually ultimately responsible)
 What about the research assistants? (they may be more
involved in day-to-day data management)
 And the institution’s funding office?
 And the Library/IT/Research Funding office?
 What about partners based in other institutions?
 And commercial partners?
 Etc

9. Researcher
Research
Support Office Data Library / Repository
Computing
Support
Faculty Ethics
Committee
Etc...
DATA
MANAGEMENT
…PLAN?
UNRULY
DATA

10. Interactive exercise: data management planning
In pairs or individually…
 Select one of the DMP Checklist headings
(left), and brainstorm all the stakeholders
you think might be involved (and how/why)
– be specific!
 Remember to think of different stages of
research: pre-award, in-project, post-project
 We’ll have a short reporting/discussion
session at the end
N.B. There’s a newer version of this document,
the Checklist for a Data Management Plan, v4.0
(2013) www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/data-management-
plans - the coverage is much the
same, but the arrangement is different
SECTIONS
§1: Introduction and Context
§2: Data Types, Formats,
Standards and Capture Methods
§3: Ethics and Intellectual Property
§4: Access, Data Sharing and Re-use
§5: Short-Term Storage and Data
Management
§6: Deposit and Long-Term
Preservation
§7: Resourcing
§8: Adherence and Review
§9: Agreement/Ratification by
Stakeholders
§10: Annexes

11. Data management planning exercise: outcomes
 It’s not necessary – or even desirable – for every
researcher (or research administrator) to become an
expert in every aspect of data management
 Universities have an increasing obligation to provide
infrastructure and support
 RHUL update after this session
 Specific expertise may be available from the research
office, library, IT, departmental support staff, legal
services, etc…

12. 4. Tools and resources
 Book chapters
 Donnelly, M. (2012) “Data Management Plans and
Planning”, in Pryor (ed.) Managing Research Data, London:
Facet
 Sallans, A. and Lake, S. (2014) “Data Management
Assessment and Planning Tools”, in Ray (ed.) Research Data
Management, West Lafayette: Purdue University Press
 DCC Checklist for a Data Management Plan:
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/data-management-plans/
checklist
 Guidance, e.g. “How-To Develop a Data Management and
Sharing Plan”
 Links to all DCC DMP resources via
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/data-management-plans
 DMPonline: https://dmponline.dcc.ac.uk/

13. DMPonline
 A free Web-based, Open Source data management
planning tool
 v1 (April 2010)
 v2 (March 2011) added scope for multiple versions
of plans and templates
 v3 (May 2012) added functionality for sharing plans
 v4 (November 2013) changed relationship with
Checklist, improved usability
 Technologies involved: Ruby on Rails, JavaScript,
MySQL database
 Quick walkthrough…

14. Creating an account
Asks for email,
organisation and
password
Auto-fills uni options
as you type
Can select ‘other
organisation’ if yours
is not listed

15. Creating a plan
Select funder (if any)
Select relevant
organisation for DMP
questions and guidance
Select other sources of
guidance

16. Tailoring at multiple levels
Options to have guidance at
organisation and ‘unit’ level
e.g. by discipline, group,
department, institute…

17. Coverage

18. Overview of sections
Summary page with
dropdown buttons to
expand and answer
each section
Enables multiple phases

19. Questions and guidance
Easy-format text boxes to answer
Can provide examples / suggested
responses, and pre-populate text
boxes with default format for reply

20. Answering questions
Notes who has answered
the question
Progress bar updates how
many questions left

21. Sharing plan with collaborators
Allow colleagues to read-only,
read-write, or become co-owners

22. Exporting plans
Screencast version of
walkthrough at
http://www.screenr.com/PJHN

23. Other features
 Export formats: TXT, PDF, HTML (DOCX & CSV in preparation)
 Institutions can customise the tool by…
 Profiling local support via custom guidance and boilerplate text
 Selecting from, and adding to, the standard question set
 Add logo, change colour scheme, custom URL, etc
 www.dcc.ac.uk/news/customising-dmponline
 We’ve created a template for Horizon 2020 based on the annexes
in the Guidelines for Data Management. This has three phases -
one for the initial plan due within 6 months (based on annex 1)
and another two for a DMP at the mid-term and final review
stages (based on annex 2). The FOSTER (Facilitate Open Science
Training for European Research) project will be offering training on
this: http://www.fosteropenscience.eu

24. Thank you
Questions?
Digital Curation Centre
University of Edinburgh
martin.donnelly@ed.ac.uk
Image credits
Slide 1 – http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/LernaeanHydraRephael.jpg
Slide 2 – http://assets.worldwildlife.org/photos/934/images/hero_small/forest-overview-HI_115486.jpg?1345533675
Slide 9 – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hercules_slaying_the_Hydra.jpg
All images used under Creative Commons licenses
Martin Donnelly
This work is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution
2.5 UK: Scotland License.
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