How to Create a DMP

If you’re new to preparing a DMP, we encourage you to use the DMP Assistant, a free tool from the Digital Research Alliance of Canada (DRAC) designed for Canadian researchers. The DMP Assistant will lead you through a series of questions in order to develop a DMP for your project.

The resulting plan will take the shape of your answers to a set of questions, similar to the following (courtesy of DRAC’s Primer - Data Management Plan).

Data collection:	Describe the data that you will be collecting, including the type, format, and volume. Describe how you will be collecting your data. Establish standards for naming and organizing data files, folders, and versions.
Documentation and metadata (description of data):	Describe how you will ensure that your data are understandable, interpretable, and usable both by current and future researchers. Provide descriptive information for your data to be discoverable once deposited at the end of your project.
Storage and backup:	Describe storage methods and backup procedures for the expected data volume to ensure data security and integrity, and to avoid data loss during the active phase of your research. Describe how collaborators will access and work with the data.
Preservation for long term access:	Decide which data to keep and for how long. Address any obligations to retain or destroy certain data. Describe the resources required to preserve the data for long-term access.
Sharing and reuse:	Describe where and how data will be shared (if permissible). Decide in what form (raw, processed, analyzed, final) data will be shared. Select options for sharing agreements or data licenses for reuse.
Responsibilities and resources:	Identify who will be responsible for each data management task. Consider resources and costs required both during and after the project.
Ethical and legal compliance:	State how you will store, share, and preserve data in a way that ensures ethical and legal requirements are met.