"Data Management Assessment and Planning Tools," by Andrew Sallans and Sherry Lake

Andrew Sallans and Sherry Lake. "Data Management Assessment and Planning Tools," In Research Data Management: Practical Strategies for Information Professionals (West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 2014. 436 pages. ISBN 9781557536648):87-107.

Sallans and Lake start off by discussing some of the challenges of data management. Data management has gotten a lot of attention lately. Funding agencies are driving a lot of this attention, and are making recommendations regarding the existence of a data management plan, but their requirements are often vague and can result in researchers simply doing the minimum to meet funding requirements. In this chapter, Sallans and Lake describe several efforts to assess specific data management plans.

The University of Virginia began their efforts in this area by conducting data management interviews. They hoped to identify "common research data problems and needs," identify the types of data being created, identify communities and researchers under pressure from grant requirements, identify partnerships for "institutional repository data deposit," and "develop opportunities to provide data management recommendations and training" (p. 91). However, they needed to use the information they learned in their interviews to develop recommendations and weigh assessment factors. This led to the development of the DMVitals Tool, an Excel spreadsheet designed to collect information and produce reports. The authors provide guidance on how this tool can be used at other institutions.

The DMPTool was subsequently developed through a collaborative effort with many other institutions. While the tool was not completed at the time of publication, it shows promise in helping researchers manage their data and improve their research data management practices.