A Data Management Plan (DMP) is a document that answers certain questions about handling data. It is practical to develop a Data Management Plan before the project begins, if only because it may help answer questions you may not immediately think of. It can prepare you for what data are likely to be produced and in what volume.

Although it may seem so at first glance, the Data Management Plan is not a constant document – it is often updated during the course of the project in the context of possible changes or actual practice. Usually the first version is prepared at the beginning of the project, e.g. at the time of application.

Developing a Data Management Plan is ideal not only for large projects, but also for smaller projects with expected smaller volumes of data to be produced. We recommend to use some of the tools when developing the plan, primarily the Data Stewardship Wizard.

The main questions are:

• What data will be generated and subsequently collected and stored within the project?
• If and how will these data be made available for verification and re-use? If some data cannot be made available, what is the explanation?
• What standards will be used to store the data?
• How and where will the data be managed and stored?