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Research Data Management (RDM)

Data management plan (DMP): what, why, and how?

A data management plan (DMP) is a formal document that specifies what and how the research data will be handled for your research project and identifies the key actions for ethical and legal compliance and FAIR data production before, during, and after the project. 

A DMP is created before you start the research project, and is updated when necessary during and after the project.

You can use Hanken's DMP guidance and DMP template in DMPTuuli (next section below) to help you create and update a DMP.

Hanken's DMP guidance and DMP template in DMPTuuli

DMPTuuli logo

The tool DMPTuuli offers a Finnish national central channel for guidance and support for making a DMP at all stages. It is free to use DMPTuuli.

You can find both Hanken's DMP guidance and Hanken's DMP template in DMPTuuli to help you make your DMP.

You can share your DMP with your research partners. Under "Share," your DMP can be shared and sent directly to your research partners. You can choose to grant different permission to each of the partners.

You can also request comments and feedback on your DMP under "Request feedback."

 

1. Hanken's DMP guidance in DMPTuuli:

DMPTuuli integrates different funders' and organizations' DMP instructions and templates. To get access to Hanken's DMP guidance in DMPTuuli, please follow the following steps:

  • Open DMPTuuli and register an account with your Haka user account.
  • Click “Create plan” on the right. Fill in the information about your research project, and choose a funder template.
  • Next, on the right side, under "Select guidance," remember to choose "Hanken School of Economics" and click "Save."
  • Then under "Write Plan," after clicking each “+” sign, you can see the content and complete the sections of a DMP.  Within each section, Hanken’s specific guidance will show after you click "Hanken" and then "expand all" or the "+" sign:      

           Screenshot from DMPTuuli

  • Do not forget to click “Save” after you finish answering each section.  

 

2. Hanken's DMP templates in DMPTuuli:

You can find various Public DMP templates to meet the specific funder requirements on DMPTuuli pages. 

Hanken's DMP template has also been integrated in DMPTuuli. When creating a new DMP, select “Hanken’s DMP template” instead of a funder template. 

Under “Write plan,” you can write a DMP by using Hanken’s DMP template. After clicking each “+” sign, you can see the content and complete the sections of a DMP. Hanken's DMP guidance will be shown after you click "expand all" or the "+" sign on the right side.      

Do not forget to click “Save” after you finish answering each question.

DMP guides and checklists

A DMP generally addresses the following six aspects:

1. General description of data: Data types and formats, estimated data size, and how to control the consistency and quality of data.

2. Ethical and legal compliance: Describe how you will maintain high ethical standards and comply with relevant legislation when managing your research data. See Eth­ical and legal com­pli­ance.

  • Ethical concerns: e.g., how to handle (sensitive) personal data, when and how to apply for an ethical review. 
  • Legal issues: e.g., data protection laws, data-sharing agreements, data ownership, open data licenses, secondary data usage copyright permissions and other IPR issues.

3. Documentation and metadata: How to describe your data to make them findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) for you and others. See Metadata and data documentation.

4. Data storage and backup during the research project: Where and how to store and back up your data, how to transfer your data securely, and access control. See Data storage, backup and transferral.

5. Data publishing after the research project: What part of the data to be made openly available and published, where and when to make the data or their metadata publicly available. See Data publishing and pre­ser­va­tion.

6. Defining roles and responsibilities and estimating resources required for data management: Who are responsible for data management tasks including data collection, metadata production, and data archiving? Who takes care of ethical and legal issues? What are the time periods, workload, and possible costs? See Costs of data management by Utrecht University.

 

More information about how to create a DMP, see: