Introduction to data management plans

 

DMP : Definition

The Data Management Plan is a living summary document that provides assistance with organising and planning all the phases in the lifecycle of data. It explains, for each dataset, how project data will be managed, from creation or collection to sharing and archiving.

The Data Management Plan is based on the data lifecycle, which refers to the different stage of data processing during a research project.

The Data Management Plan is developed before the project starts, to plan for the different project stages. This document should change, adapting to project progress, by specifying and developing different parts. It defines the different management methods, in order to adhere to the principles of FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable).

The issues to be addressed in a Data Management Plan are :

 

For software, a Software Management Plan (SMP), whose purpose is similar to that of a DMP, can be used. The PRESOFT project provides a SMP template to the research community.

The Data Management Plan is a document that several funding agencies now request. This is the case for the European Commission regarding H2020 projects in the context of the Open Research Data Pilot and the French National Research Agency (ANR), in the context of its Generic Call for Proposals 2019.

Several tools are available to help in developing a DMP or SMP, including templates for predefined frameworks.

These can be either simple Word or Excel files containing the various required fields, or online applications open to the research community. In France, the most widely used tool is Opidor, developed by the CNRS. It provides several outlines for Data Management Plans or Software Management Plans, with the possibility of customising it for French research

Certain centres at Université Paris-Saclay (CEA and INRAE) provide Data Management Plans that can be found via the website of your documentation department.