Help

On DMPonline
On data management planning

When you log in to DMPonline you will be directed to the 'My Dashboard' page. From here you can edit, share, download, copy or remove any of your plans. You will also see plans that have been shared with you by others.

Create a plan

To create a plan, click the 'Create plan' button from the 'My Dashboard' page or the top menu. Select options from the menus and tickboxes to determine what questions and guidance you should be presented with. Confirm your selection by clicking 'Create plan'.

Write your plan

The tabbed interface allows you to navigate through different functions when editing your plan.

'Project Details' includes basic administrative details.
'Plan Overview' tells you what template and guidance your plan is based on and gives you an overview to the questions that you will be asked.
The following tab(s) present the questions to answer. There may be more than one tab if your funder or university asks different sets of questions at different stages e.g. at grant application and post-award.
'Share' allows you to invite others to read or contribute to your plan.
'Download' allows you to download your plan in various formats. This may be useful if you need to submit your plan as part of a grant application.

When viewing any of the question tabs, you will see the different sections of your plan displayed. Click into these in turn to answer the questions. You can format your responses using the text editing buttons.

Guidance is displayed in the right-hand panel. If you need more guidance or find there is too much, you can make adjustments on the 'Project Details' tab.

Add research outputs

Using this feature you can:

Enter a data type (e.g. dataset, software, image, etc), size of output and other information, for example, whether it contains sensitive info or not, what the initial access level will be (e.g. open, restricted, closed) and the anticipated publication date.
Select the repositories you intend to preserve the data object in (e.g. Dryad, Zenodo). List of repositories comes from the RE3DATA registry.
Select metadata standards (e.g. Dublin Core). Options come from the RDA Metadata standards catalog.
Select an appropriate licence. Options come from the SPDX license registry.

Fields such as repositories, metadata and licences are machine actionable, while fields such as data type follow glossaries in established RDM resources such as DataCite and the RDA metadata.

The information you enter here will provide your organisation with statistics on data generated by its users, e.g. how much data containing sensitive information is generated, where it is stored, size, etc.

This feature may be optional. Please contact your research support office to know more.

Share plans

Insert the email address of any collaborators you would like to invite to read or edit your plan. Set the level of permissions you would like to grant them via the radio buttons and click to 'Add collaborator'. Adjust permissions or remove collaborators at any time via the drop-down options.

The 'Share' tab is also where you can set your plan visibility.

Private: restricted to you and your collaborators.
Organisational: anyone at your organisation can view your plan.
Public: anyone can view your plan in the Public DMPs list.

By default all new and test plans will be set to 'Private' visibility. 'Public' and 'Organisational' visibility are intended for finished plans. You must answer at least 50% of the questions to enable these options.

Request feedback

There may also be an option to request feedback on your plan. This is available when research support staff at your organisation have enabled this service. Click to 'Request feedback' and your local administrators will be alerted to your request. Their comments will be visible in the 'Comments' field adjacent to each question. You will be notified by email when an administrator provides feedback.

Download plans

From here you can download your plan in various formats. This may be useful if you need to submit your plan as part of a grant application. Choose what format you would like to view/download your plan in and click to download. You can also adjust the formatting (font type, size and margins) for PDF files, which may be helpful if working to page limits.

Help for Administrators

For additional information, including subscription packages, please visit the DMPonline service pages on the Digital Curation Centre website.

Useful resources on Data Management Planning

UK funder requirements for Data Management Plans [webpage]
Downloadable templates based on the requirements of UK Research Councils and other charitable or health funders.
US funder requirements for Data Management Plans [webpage]
A summary of requirements from the NSF, NIH and other key funders in the USA.
DCC Checklist for a Data Management Plan [webpage]
A list of 13 questions and associated guidance, that represent the main issues to come up in Data Management and Sharing Plans. The Checklist is used as a generic template in DMPonline, and is presented when no funder or organisational requirements are applicable for the user.
How to develop a Data Management and Sharing Plan [PDF, 8 pages]
A guide by the Digital Curation Centre that outlines typical funder requirements for DMPs and the types of considerations to make when responding.

Example Data Management Plans

RIOjournal Data Management Plan collection [webpage]
A selection of DMPs published in the Research Information and Outcomes journal.
Technical plan submitted to the AHRC [PDF, 7 pages]
A DMP submitted by a researcher from the University of Bristol, also including comments from the reviewers.
Two social science DMPs [PDF, 7 pages]
Example plans from researchers at the University of Leeds, shared as part of the Leeds RoaDMaP training materials.
NSF data management plans [webpage]
5 DMPs submitted to the NSF, shared by the DataOne initiative.
Further examples are available on the DCC website.

Useful guides on Research Data Management in general

Research Data MANTRA [online resource]
An online training course designed for researchers or others planning to manage digital data as part of the research process. The course includes a number of software practicals on using SPSS, R, ArcGIS and NVivo.
Managing and Sharing Data: best practice for researchers [PDF, 36 pages]
A guide by the UK Data Service covering a range of topics including data formats, documentation, ethics, copyright and data sharing.
How to Cite Datasets and Link to Publications [PDF, 12 pages]
A guide by the Digital Curation Centre giving practical guidelines on how to cite data and the different tools and infrastructure that can be used to support data citation.
How to License Research Data [PDF, 16 pages]
A guide by the Digital Curation Centre that outlines different types of licenses, the pros and cons of each and how they can be applied.
How to Appraise and Select Research Data for Curation [PDF, 8 pages]
A guide by ANDS and the Digital Curation Centre on how to select which data to keep for long-term preservation, sharing and reuse. The guide puts forward several criteria to aid selection decisions.