One of the primary services RDS offers to researchers on campus is guidance for generating Data Management Plans as part of grant applications. RDS experts are available to help you write your DMP at any stage of the process. Contact us here.
To further help researchers, UW-Madison is a member institution in DMPTool, which is a powerful resource for helping you write your DMP. DMPTool provides instructions and resources for every stage of the writing process, custom guidance, and the ability to share the DMP with your collaborators, and get feedback from RDS.
We have updated our resources for DMPs and the DMPTool. Below we have listed the improvements and we hope you find them helpful.
Updated Guidance:
DMPTool is such a powerful tool because customized guidance from your funding agency, RDS experts, and DMPTool allows you to leverage the knowledge of information professionals as you compose your plan. To ensure you’re getting the most current advice, we have updated our guidance. This includes data-related topics such as:
- Access, sharing, and security
- Data archiving
- Data stewardship
- Description of data
- Data standards
- Data storage and backup
The RDS guidance is specifically designed to provide you with the state-of-the-field best practices for data management. This includes information on intellectual property, security, and privacy policies, file and folder naming conventions, data sharing requirements, file and software sustainability, metadata and README information, and a wealth of other useful topics. All of this information is designed to put you in the best possible position as your research team prepares to submit your grant applications.
Flow Chart:
We’ve also created this helpful flow chart to give you a sense of the stages involved in creating a DMP with DMPTool. There is a lot to know at every stage, and we’ve broken it into the major components so you can gather the necessary materials before you start. Use the interactive features to access more information about each stage below and on our DMPTool page.
Preparing to write your DMP:
We’ve also expanded and streamlined the information on the RDS DMP webpage to help you prepare to write your DMP. Here, we provide guidance on what items to collect, where to look for further information, and of course, contact information for RDS experts who can help you at any stage in the process.
Coming Soon: Example DMPs:
Finally, we are in the process of generating some sample DMPs to help you get a sense of the level of detail, format, and structure you should use to describe your data management procedures. Remember that different funding agencies have different DMP requirements. This means that your DMP could look significantly different from the examples when completed. It’s also important to keep in mind that requirements and best practices change over time, so be sure to check in with RDS for further guidance as you write your DMP.