Data Management Plans:
Elements of a Data Management Plan
Ruth Duerr
National Snow and Ice Data Center
Version 1.0
Review Date
Data Management Plans: Elements of a Data Management Plan; Version 1.0, Reviewed ????
Overview
• As discussed in the module "Why do a data
management plan?" it is as important to plan for
managing your data as it is to plan the rest of your
research activities.
• This module provides an overview of the data
management-related topics you should think through
when creating you data management plan.
• Once documented, these topics become the
elements of your data management plan.
Data Management Plans: Elements of a Data Management Plan; Version 1.0, Reviewed ????
Elements of a Data Management Plan
-1
• Identify the materials to be created during your
research
• Think about whom other than yourself these materials
may be useful to (i.e., your audience(s))
• How are you going to organize your data?
• Who is going to do your data management activities?
Data Management Plans: Elements of a Data Management Plan; Version 1.0, Reviewed ????
Elements of a Data Management Plan
-2
• How will you describe and document your data so
that you (and others) understand it in a few years
• What standards will you use (file formats, naming
conventions, documentation, metadata, etc.)
• Data access, sharing, and re-use policies
• Backups, archives, and preservation strategy
Data Management Plans: Elements of a Data Management Plan; Version 1.0, Reviewed ????
References and Resources
• For a detailed questionnaire with most of the issues you may
need to address in an NSF data management plan see:
http://dmp.data.jhu.edu/sites/default/files/Questionnaire.doc
• MITLibraries have a fairly comprehensive site about data
management and publishing in general at
http://libraries.mit.edu/guides/subjects/datamanagement/index.html
• The Digital Curation Center in the UK has a variety of
information on data management plans at
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/data-management-plans
Data Management Plans: Elements of a Data Management Plan; Version 1.0, Reviewed ????
Other Data Management Plan Modules
• Why create a data management plan
• Identify materials to be created
• Identify your audience(s)
• Data organization
• Roles and responsibilities
• Describing and documenting your data
Data Management Plans: Elements of a Data Management Plan; Version 1.0, Reviewed ????
Other Data Management Plan Modules
• Standards for data formats, metadata, vocabularies, data
conventions, etc.
• Data access, sharing, and re-use policies
• Backups, archives, and preservation strategies
• Estimating effort and resources
• Hardware, software capabilities required
• Personnel resources and skills
• Some available resources to help with developing your plan
Data Management Plans: Elements of a Data Management Plan; Version 1.0, Reviewed ????
Other Relevant Modules (continued)
• The case for data management
• Local data management
• Preservation strategies