Data Management Planning Tool
GRO.plan is the data management planning tool for the Göttingen Campus.
Across all disciplines, research data becomes more and more valuable to ensure valid and reproducible research results. Adressing proper data management throughout all research phases starting from data acquisition through data analysis to data storage is not only an effective way of managing one’s own research results, but also required by an increasing number of funders in project proposals, known as Data Management Plans (DMPs). GRO.plan offers to create such a DMP for proposals according to requirements from the DFG or the European Commission.
Create, modify, share or reuse existing DMPs which are stored in user-specific workspaces
GRO.plan simplifies the complex task of creating a DMP by guiding researchers through all relevant questions step by step. Researchers can choose between various question catalogs for different funders and disciplines.
The status and progress of the ongoing DMP is visible, versioning allows users to save the information about a project at a certain point in time. A DMP can also be updated throughout the course of a project, when specifications become clearer or responsibilities change. Plans can be exported in different formats including doc(x), odt, rtf and pdf.
Technical Details
GRO.plan is based on the open source tool RDMO and has only slight modifications on the user interface. It is a web-based tool running in the browser.
The Göttingen eResearch Alliance is continuously working on improving and extending this service, e.g. by providing more question catalogs and adaptations to the Göttingen infrastructure services, as well as the integration with other services in the context of Göttingen Research Online.
The service is hosted by the GWDG, which also takes care of data security and safety, including backups and access control as well as the availability and reliability of the service.
Usage and Support
GRO.plan currently provides templates for funding proposals to be submitted to the DFG or the European Research Commission under Horizon 2020. If you need to write a Data Management Plan for a funding proposal currently not covered by GRO.plan, please contact the Göttingen eResearch Alliance to assist you with your DMP. RDMO-based services are also in place in an increasing number of research institutions across Germany, so when you move to a different institution, you will likely be able to take your DMPs with you and easily adapt them for future proposals.
GRO.plan is available free-of-charge to all researchers of the Göttingen Campus. The service can be used with any Göttingen Campus related email (university, MPI or GWDG email addresses). If you don’t have such email address, you can create one at account registration.