Research Data Management (RDM)

Data Management Plan (DMP)​

A Data Management Plan (DMP) contains all the information related to managing the data for your project.

Every research project that involves the collection and use of data should have a Data Management Plan (DMP).

A DMP can enable you and your project team to:

• Work efficiently
• Identify requirements
• Manage risks
• Apply appropriate solutions

Funders's and Institutions's requirements for a DMP

Many funders and institutions also require a DMP to be attached with the funding application and individual funders may have different requirements. To determine whether your funder has a specific template they require you to use, you may want to view Funder guidelines, or the Digital Curation Centre (DCC) overview of funder's data policies 

Generally the DMP provides a description of the following aspects:

• dentification of data to be collected/generated/created
• How research data will be collected/generated/created
• How research data will be processed and analysed
• The stakeholders and roles in the data collection, processing etc. during the project
• How research data will be shared and/or disseminated
• Sharing, ownership and privacy aspects
• Ethical and legal compliance
• The measures that will be put in place in order to facilitate the reuse of research data
• The handling of the data during the project and the long-term archiving solutions

Benefits of a DMP

• It saves time and effort and makes the research process easier
• By considering what data will be created and how, you can check you have the necessary support in place
• Planning also enables you to make sound decisions, bearing in mind the wider context and consequences of different options
• There is continuity if project staff leave or new researchers join
• You can avoid unnecessary duplication e.g. re-collecting or re-working data

SA-DMP Tool

The National Research Foundation (NRF) has a DMP template you can use. Partnering with the Data Intensive Research Initiative of South Africa (DIRISA), the SA-DMP Tool is a tool that is created to assist users to be able to create Data Management Plans (DMP's) that meet the funder's requirements.

The tool has a number of templates in it that have requirements from different funders and institutions. 

Get started with SA-DMP Tool. 

DMPonline

DMPonline  helps you to create, review, and share data management plans that meet institutional and funder requirements. It is provided by the Digital Curation Centre (DCC). 

It provides funder-specific templates for use in grant applications, but you can also select the 'No funder' option when you create a new plan to generate a standard template that is suitable for any project. Plans can be saved, shared with co-applicants, commented and edited, and exported in a variety of formats.

Checklist for a DMP

The Digital Curation Centre (DCC) provides a Checklist for a Data Management Plan. This is broken down into sections, with guidance to help you address all relevant requirements.

Data Stewardship Wizard

Researchers can also use the Data Stewardship Wizard software to create DMP's