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Research Data Management: Plan

Data Management Plan

Data management plan (DMP) is a document in which a researcher or a RDI project in TAMK will outline the life cycle of the data during and after the research. DMP should be made before the actual research process starts. Still, ideally DMP would be a document that would reflect the changes in the research, thus being a document that evolves during the research process. Tampere higher education community requires that every researcher should make a data management plan at the research planning phase, regardless of whether the data being produced will be opened.

The contents of the data management plan can be presented in various ways. These are the 6 components of DMP's as defined in the General Finnish DMP Guidance 2019:

DMP components DMP questions
General Description of Data
  • What kinds of data is your research based on? What data will be collected, produced or reused? What file formats will the data be in? Also give a rough estimate of the size of the data produced/collected.
  • How will the consistency and quality of data be controlled?

Ethics and Legal Compliance

  • What ethical issues are related to your data management, for example, in handling sensitive data, protecting the identity of participants, or gaining consent for data sharing?
  • How will data ownership, copyright and Intellectual Property Right (IPR) issues be managed? Are there any copyrights, licenses or other restrictions which prevent you from using or sharing the data?
Documentation and Metadata
  • How will you document your data in order to make it findable, accessible, interoperable and re-usable for you and others?  What kind of metadata standards, README files or other documentation will you use to help others to understand and use your data?

Storage and Backup during the Research Project

  • Where will your data be stored, and how will it be backed up?
  • Who will be responsible for controlling access to your data, and how will secured access be controlled?

Opening, Publishing and Archiving the Data after the Research Project

  • What part of the data can be made openly available or published? Where and when will the data, or its metadata, be made available?
  • Where will data with long-term value be archived, and for how long?
Data management responsibilities and resources
  • Who will be responsible for specific tasks of data management during the life cycle of the research project? Also estimate the resources(e.g. funding, time, and effort) required for data management.

Contact us

Is there something you did not found in this guide? Or is some important information missing? You can always contact us for further information, and we will help you with the research data management.

Help and guidance

Use DMPTuuli to draft your data management plan. DMPTuuli hosts updated funder templates and guidance. You can also find Tampere higher education community's DMP guidance in the tool. If you have any questions about DMPTuuli, don't hesitate to contact

General guidelines
Example DMPs

Look at these if you need to get an idea what a DMP could be, but don't copy the contents as such.

EU Horizon 2020 DMP example