Data Management Plans (DMPs) are foundational to good RDM, an international best practice, and are increasingly required by institutions and funders, including the Tri-Agencies as outlined in their Research Data Management Policy.

When to Start Planning

It's never too late to start thinking about your research data. However, ideally, data management planning should start before you collect any data. UBC's research support network can help identify concerns and solutions that speak to your research and any unique needs you and your team may have.

What to Consider

As you write a DMP, you should consider several facets associated with the data you will be collecting, such as: 

• Legal, ethical or commercial agreements or obligations
• Indigenous data sovereignty
• Data collection and analysis methods, tools, and techniques
• Data reuse and validation
• Data storage and sharing
• Data protection
• Long-term data management 

At the outset, you are not necessarily expected to be able to address all of these considerations in detail. If a simplified DMP is required with a grant application, once awarded a grant, you may be required to provide a comprehensive update to your plan that articulates more detail.

Writing a DMP

You may come across many examples and templates for writing a DMP; most granting agencies will provide some framework to help you initiate the process.

UBC supports the DMP Assistant, an intuitive, saveable, online tool with inline, UBC specific guidance and connections to additional support to help you create a DMP both when planning your research before applying for funding (simplified template), and once you have been awarded funding (comprehensive template). For information on the DMP Assistant, follow the link below.

DMP Assistant