JISC

This project will support the JISC 07/09 projects’ use of research data management planning tools including DAF, AIDA, DRAMBORA, LIFE and the DCC’s new Data Management Plan Template. The IDMP team will also work to support projects wishing to reuse the DCC’s training materials as a basis for disciplinary and institutional training materials. In the longer term, the IDMP team will work towards integrating core aspects of the aforementioned toolkits into a modular and expandable data management planning framework.

Aims and objectives

In the first instance, the Integrated Data Management Planning (IDMP) Toolkit and Support project will provide dedicated training and support to the funded 07/09 Research Data Management Infrastructure projects in their use of the DAF, AIDA, LIFE and DRAMBORA toolkits. The provision of this support will realise mutual benefits: the 07/09 projects will receive tailored support and practical guidance on implementing the toolkits, while the support project will be able to draw feedback directly from current users to scope requirements for the improvement of the individual tools and for the new IDMP toolkit. Over the longer term, this project aims to provide proof of concept, interoperability specifications and a methodology for the ongoing, modular integration of existing and emerging tools to produce a sustainable and expandable IDMP contextual framework.

Project methodology

The support project will have two main strands of activity.

1. 07/09 Research Data Management Infrastructure projects support and training
2. Toolkit integration and interoperability work (DAF, DRAMBORA, AIDA, LIFE)

The support strand of IDMP will involve tailored, on-demand assistance and dedicated training in applying the DAF, AIDA and DRAMBORA methodologies and toolkits provided through site visits and bespoke training courses. A key focus for the support project will be to build capacity amongst 07/09 RDMI project staff in utilising the various toolkits to best effect. These individuals will then be able to serve as data champions within their institutions and/or disciplines and advise colleagues on applying the toolkits.

For the IDMP toolkit development strand, a basic roadmap will be produced initially which maps out the scope and coverage of each toolkit. This will serve as a precursor to the more in-depth concept mapping undertaken as part of the tools integration work. The iterative development of IDMP will be heavily informed by ongoing contact with our focus group comprised of 07/09 RDMI project staff and members of the UKDA.

It is likely the integrated toolkit will draw together key elements from each of the four toolkits (e.g. the requirements gathering approach from DAF or the risk analysis aspect of DRAMBORA) to present researchers or organisations with a suite of approaches they could apply to develop a strategy for managing research data. The toolkit will help them identify present strengths and weaknesses, plan for and project future activity, and benchmark progress to demonstrate ROI.

Anticipated outputs and outcomes

Outputs

• Support site visits 
• User requirements for tools integration work 
• Participation in spring workshop (May 2010) 
• Project reports 
• Interoperability requirements for integrating additional tools 
• Mapping of 07/09 tools to DCC curation lifecycle model 
• Embedding of 07/09 outputs into DCC and other relevant training courses

Outcomes

• Increased capacity on using different methodological approaches to plan and assess data management activity. 
• Knowledge transfer between 07/09 RDMI projects. 
• Enriched functionality in IDMP toolkit than that which is currently offered individually by the separate toolkits.

Technology / Standards used

Interoperability between the DAF, DRAMBORA, LIFE and AIDA tool will be essential for the realisation of the IDMP toolkit. During the first two months of the support project, a detailed review of the functionality and standards used by each of the toolkits will be undertaken. From this point, the project partners will produce a detailed technical specification for the IDMP drawing upon feedback gathered from the 07/09 project staff.