The data management plan (DMP) is a central instrument of research data management. It is ideally created at the beginning of the project during the project planning and continued during the entire project period. The data management plan helps you to think about how you can organise your data, files and other materials and documents. It covers the time during and after the project, that is to say the entire lifecycle of research data. The DMP delivers a systematic description of which data types and format arise in the context of the research process. It contains details of when, how and from whom they are accessed, as well as if and how they should be stored sustainably and made available after project completion. Planning and documentation is important to make your data interpretable and reusable at a later date and also for third parties. Research funding organisations sometimes also demand that a DMP is presented when you apply for funding. Further advantages of a DMP: It makes discussions on data exchange easier in joint projects, makes documentation easier when you have an obligation to report and also helps you to reuse your own data. Furthermore, it reduces the danger of data loss.

A guide from the Utrecht University offers an overview of the data management plans: Data Management Planning