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More in depth guidance on how to use DMPonline.be.

Understanding the Dashboard

After logging in, you will arrive at DMPonline.be’s landing page titled My Dashboard.

The dashboard displays all the DMPs you have access to, that is:

  • The DMPs you own or co-own,
  • The DMPs that have been shared with you,
  • The public DMPs of your institution (at the bottom of the page).

Those DMPs are shown in the form of a table with each line corresponding to a DMP. The last column lets you perform one of the following actions on each DMP:

Action Purpose
Edit Open a plan for viewing or editing
History Overview of a history of the Versions of a plan
Share Manage collaborators and visibility
Download Export and download the plan in various formats
Copy Create a new plan based on an existing plan
Remove Remove a plan (please note that removing a plan from your dashboard
  does not remove it from other collaborator’s dashboards)


The dashboard is also the landing page of your DMPonline.be profile and the starting point for creating new plans.

Creating a New Plan from Scratch

  1. Click Create Plan from the dashboard (button at the bottom of the page) or navigation menu, in the top navigation bar.
  2. Enter project information in the form that has appeared.
  3. Select the appropriate funder and template in the drop-down menus. Please be aware that selecting a funder automatically selects the funder’s template.
  4. Choose any additional guidance sources if available.
  5. Click Create Plan.

The new plan will open in the DMP editing interface.

Creating a New Plan from a copy of an Existing Plan

You can create a new plan based on an existing plan that uses the same template.

  1. Select the My Dashboard tab.
  2. Find the DMP you want to use as a basis.
  3. Click on the Actions field of the DMP you wish to duplicate.
  4. In the drop-down menu, select Copy.
  5. Review and update the project information.
  6. Save the changes.

The copied plan will contain the content of the original plan and can be edited independently.

Note: While it is possible to change the institutional guidance provided for the DMP, it is not possible to change the template in this process.

Choosing a Template

Templates determine the questions that will appear in your Data Management Plan. They can only be chosen when creating a plan and not be changed afterwards.

To choose an appropriate template:

  1. Select the appropriate funder where applicable.
  2. Choose the template that corresponds to your project or funder requirements.
  3. Confirm your selection.

The selected template determines the questions you will answer as well as the structure of the plan. Additional guidance can be displayed by selecting more guidance under Project Details.

After selecting a plan from the Dashboard or after creating a new plan and selecting its template, you will be led to the plan editor. The plan editor uses the following tabs to organize information:

Project Details

This tab contains administrative project information:

  • Project title
  • Project abstract
  • Project start and end dates
  • Funding information

In addition, the Project Details tab permits you to select up to six organizations from a list on the right side of the screen. This choice permits you to access their DMP guidance throughout the DMP writing process. It is recommended to include your own institution’s guidance (if existing) in this choice.

Plan Overview

This tab provides a quick overview of the phases and sections that are part of the Data Management Plan template you have selected. It states:

  • The name of the selected template
  • The version number and publication date of the template
  • The different phases of the plan with sections and questions collapsed in a header bar.
  • When de-collapsing a phase by clicking on the “+” button on the right, a list of sections and questions can be seen, that may include shrot descriptions of the sections depending on the template.

Please note that the template selection is part of the DMP creation process and cannot be edited in this stage anymore. If you are unhappy with your selection, you can create a new DMP and select another template.

Phases of the template

The phases of the DMP template presented in “Plan overview” can be seen as tabs in the top bar of the plan editor. These tabs contain the actual DMP editor, where the DMP questions can be filled out in a form-filling manner.

Depending on the template, questions may be grouped into sections or sub-sections. Each section appears as a collapsible header bar and can be de-collapsed by clicking on the “+” button on the right, to make its questions appear. For further instructions on how to fill out a DMP, please see “Filling out a DMP”

Share

This tab helps you manage collaborators and visibility settings of the specific plan you’re working on. Here, you can change the plans visibility between

  • Private
  • Visible only within your organisation
  • Public

The plans visibility is set to “private” by default. Please note that you must have answered at least 50% of the plans questions to change the visibility to public. Public or organisational visibility is intended for finished plans.

The collaboration settings offer the following possibilities:

  • invite or delete collaborators as
    • Principle investigators
    • Data Manager
    • Project Administrator
    • Other
  • add or change their permissions
    • Co-owner
    • Editor
    • Read only

Invitees will receive an email notification that they have access to this plan. Plan (co-)owners are listed as “creators” on plan exports, and “Principal investigators” are also included in some export formats. JSON exports include all types of contributors.

Collaborators can be anyone, they do not need to belong to the same organisation or even any organisation in DMPonline. If the collaborator does not belong to any organisation within DMPonline they are considered a ‘guest’, meaning they can work on plans they’ve been invited to but cannot create their own. While administrators can view their users plans, they cannot invite themselves as editors, the users themselves need to do that if it is desired.

Validations

This tab takes you to the Topic Validation feature and the plan’ s history of validations. It makes it possible for DMP collaborators to provide formal validation on certain topics on a DMP. Topic Validation is a process to ensure that your plan meets the required standards and guidelines of the organisation. Validation workflows may differ depending on institutional processes. Please see Submitting a Plan for Validation.

Download

This tab provides the export of the plan in available formats: csv, html, pdf, txt, docx, json.

The default settings will download the full DMP with all possible information.

It is however also possible to specify which phases ) to download, and which of the additional information should be excluded:

  • product details as a cover sheet
  • question text and section headings
  • unanswered questions

For exports as PDF, it is additionally possible to choose formatting options such as character font and size. Plan (co-)owners are listed as “creators” on plan exports, and “Principal investigators” are also included in some export formats. JSON exports include all types of contributors.

Answering DMP Questions

To answer the DMP questions:

  1. Open a phase of the plan (see Navigating a Plan).
  2. If necessary, de-collapse a section of the DMP
  3. Enter responses in the available fields. Most templates will include open questions that can be addressed in a text field, as well as multiple choice questions including tick boxes or radio buttons. Only invited collaborators can see the responses you provide in this form-filling interface.
  4. Save your response by clicking on the Save button below each question. Answers are autosaved periodically.

Between the Phases tabs and the sections, at the top of the screen, a progress indicator is displayed to help track completion.

On the right side of the plan editor, Comments and Guidance panels can be found. For more instructions on how to use these panels, please see Guidance and Comments.

Setting Plan Visibility

Plan visibility controls who can view a plan. Available visibility settings include:

Private

Only the owner and invited collaborators can access the plan.

Organisational

Members of your organisation can view the plan under the Organisation’s Plans list below your own dashboard.

Public

The plan is visible publicly through the public DMPs list at the bottom of the dashboard page.

The plans visibility is set to “private” by default. Please note that you must have answered at least 50% of the plans questions to change the visibility to public. Public or organisational visibility is intended for finished plans.

Guidance and Comments

Select Guidance

Guidance consists of thematic information, issued by institutions and funders, to support you in writing data management plans. It may include best-practice recommendations, institution-specific procedures, and references to relevant policies, standards, or resources. On the right side of the DMPs “Project details” tab, you can select up to six organizations The guidance provided by these organisations will then be available throughout the DMP writing process via the Guidance panel in the editor. We recommend including your own institution’s guidance, where available, to ensure that your DMP aligns with local requirements. .

Guidance

In the plan editor, when navigating between questions (see Navigating a Plan), , you will find two separate elapse-able “Comments & Guidance” panels on the right side of the screen, through which you can access the thematic guidance from the institutions you selected, for each question.

You can switch between guidance sources to view recommendations from different organisations depending on your choice of sources in the “Project details” tab.

Comments

The comments panel allows discussion between collaborators around specific questions. They can be used during co-edition and mutual review processes when preparing a DMP.

In the plan editor, when navigating between questions (see Navigating a Plan), you will find two separate elapse-able “Comments & Guidance” panels on the right side of the screen, through which you can access the comments section for the respective question.

Commenting on an Existing Plan

To add a comment:

  1. Scroll to the relevant question.
  2. Select the Comments panel.
  3. Enter your comment.
  4. Save or submit the comment.

Comments remain associated with the corresponding question and are directrly associated with the commentor. Comments need to be saved manually by clicking on the Save button right below the comment text field, and will not autosave.

Sharing a Plan

You can invite collaborators to contribute to your plan.

  1. Open the Share tab.
  2. Enter the collaborator’s email address under “invite collaborators”.
  3. Select the appropriate permission level.
  4. Submit the invitation.

The invited user will receive an e-mail notification and can access the plan from their dashboard . For more details about permission levels, please see “Share” under “Navigating a plan” and “Collaborator Permissions”.

Collaborator Permissions

DMPonline.be allows for different levels of permission when collaborating on a DMP. Permissions determine what collaborators can do, such as:

  • View the plan
  • Comment on the plan
  • Edit the plan

DMPonline.be allows for three levels of permissions:

  • Co-Owner: Can do everything the Owner can, except taking the Owner’s permissions and deleting the DMP
  • Editor: Can read and edit the DMP, but cannot change permissions or add further collaborators
  • Read-Only: Can only read and comment

Select the most appropriate permission level when inviting collaborators.

Changing Collaborator Permissions

To modify permissions:

  1. Open the Share tab.
  2. Locate the collaborator in the collaborator list.
  3. Select a new permission level.
  4. Save the changes.

The updated permissions take effect immediately and the collaborator gets an e-mail notification.

Removing a Collaborator

To remove a collaborator:

  1. Open the Share tab.
  2. Locate the collaborator.
  3. Select the remove option.
  4. Confirm the action.

The user will no longer have access to the plan and the collaborator gets an e-mail notification.

Versioning a DMP

The practice of Versioning a DMP consists in creating a snapshot of its content at a given time, allowing collaborators to document the evolution of the plan, refer to previous states, and maintain an audit trail of its progress according to feedback, project developments, or decisions.

Creating a Version of a DMP also enables its co-owners to submit it for Validation.

A Version is a read-only snapshot of a DMP at a specific point in time. Once created, it can no longer be edited. However, work on the DMP can continue in the Live Version (the working version), allowing the plan to evolve while preserving previous states. There is no limit to the number of Versions that can be created, although we recommend creating them at key project milestones to keep the version history meaningful and manageable.

Versions are numbered automatically and sequentially. Versions can be assigned a Plan Stage tag for further tracking of DMP writing progress. For more information about Plan Stage, please see Tracking the stage of a DMP.

Creating a Version

To create a Version of a DMP, click on the Create Version button at the top right of the DMP editor interface. A pop-up window will appear, prompting you to provide a brief description (10-500 characters) of the reason for creating the Version. the reason that justifies the versioning, this is how you document a DMP history. This description serves as a record of the DMP’s evolution and helps collaborators understand the context of the changes made over time.

You may also assign a Stage tag to the Version in the drop-down list at the bottom of the pop-up window. This tag indicates the stage of the project that the Version represents and helps distinguish between snapshots created at different milestones. For more information, please refer to Tracking the Stage of a DMP.

Accessing Version history

To get an overview of the successive versions of a DMP, select the plan from your dashboard, open the plan editor and click on the History tab in the top navigation bar. This opens a table displaying all Versions of a DMP, ordered from most recent to oldest.

For each version, the table shows: the Version number, the creation date, the rationale provided when the Version was created, the Version completion rate, and the associated Plan Stage. Please note that the Plan Stage of a Version can be updated directly from the History page by clicking on the current stage and selecting a new value from the drop-down menu.

Accessing versions

From the History table, click View to open a specific Version in read-only mode. When viewing a Version, note that the Edit button in the top-right corner will redirect you to the LIVE Version (the working version of the DMP), as archived Versions cannot be modified. Versions can also be downloaded or exported using the same options available for the LIVE Version. For more information, please refer to “Exporting a Plan”.

Comparing Versions

To compare two Versions of the same DMP, open the DMP from your dashboard and click the Compare button located above the top navigation bar in the DMP Editor. This opens a drop-down list containing all available Versions, including the LIVE Version (the working version of the DMP).

The comparison view displays two selected Versions side by side in read-only mode, making it easy to review changes over time. You can navigate through the DMP Versions by phase. When a phase is selected on one side, the corresponding phase is automatically displayed on the other side to facilitate comparison. Sections, however, can be navigated independently in each panel.

To switch between different Versions in comparison view, click on the Version number displayed at the top of a panel and select another Version from the drop-down list. You can also swap the left and right panels using the double-arrow button located between them.

To return to the editable DMP, click Return to LIVE Version in the top-right corner of the page.

Tracking the stage of a DMP

To document the progression of a DMP throughout the lifecycle of a project and between Versions, you can assign a Stage tag to any Version of a DMP. Stages represent key milestones in the development of a DMP, from initial drafts to finalized versions ready for submission or implementation, depending on organisational practices. They help distinguish between successive versions of a DMP and provide a clear record of its progress over time.

To assign a Stage to the Live version of a DMP:

  1. Open the DMP
  2. On the upper right corner of the screen, locate the Select Stage button and de-collapse the drop-down menu
  3. A pop-up appears to let you select a Stage in the drop-down list. Please note that this list can be custom to your organisation.

To assign a Stage to a Version of a DMP upon version creation, please refer to Creating a Version.

To assign a Stage to any other version of a DMP after Version creation:

  1. Open the DMP
  2. Browse to the History
  3. On the History table, you can see a list of all Versions created for this DMP. In the Stage column, you can see the Stage currently assigned to each Version. To change that Stage, de-collapse the drop-down list by clicking on the cell that corresponds to the Stage you want to change.
  4. A pop-up appears to let you select a Stage in the drop-down list. Please note that this list can be custom to your organisation.

Topic Validation

The Validation feature can be found in all DMPs under the Validations tab. It makes it possible for DMP collaborators to provide formal validation on certain topics on a DMP. Topic Validation is a process to ensure that your plan meets the required standards and guidelines of the organisation.

Submitting a Plan for Validation

To request validation, the validator must first have access to the DMP as an Editor or Co-owner. Once a validation request has been submitted, the validator can approve or reject the topic and provide feedback if needed. All validation requests and their outcomes are available in the Validations tab.

Each validation request results in a Validation Status being assigned to a specific topic within the DMP. A Validation can only take place on a non-LIVE Version of a DMP, to ensure traceability.

To request Topic Validation:

  1. Open the plan
  2. First, make sure the validator(s) have access as Editors or Co-Owners of the DMP via the Share tab (see Sharing a Plan)
  3. Browse to the Validations tab
  4. Click on Request Validation
  5. A pop-up appears that lets you select for which topic and which version of the DMP you are requesting a specific validation. Please note that the list of topics can be custom to your organisation.
  6. Click on Request Validation.

Providing validation outcome

Validation workflows may differ depending on institutional processes. Please note that validation topics and validation statuses lists may be configured at institutional level.

Any collaborator with access to the DMP as a Co-Owner or an Editor can provide a validation review. If you need a specific collaborator to provide a validation review, please notify them directly that they are expected to be the validator.

Once a validator logs in, they can access the DMP that is pending review. They can do so through their dashboard, either by directly accessing the plan in question, or by using the dashboard filters to easily locate DMPs that are waiting for their review, using the default tag “pending review” or any other tag configured locally.

To provide a Validation outcome:

  1. Open the plan
  2. Browse to the Validations tab
  3. On the table, you can see the Validation requests history. Locate the Validation request you want to address and click on the Review button in the last column of the table.
  4. A pop-up appears that let you select a Validation status or outcome. Please note that the list of topics can be custom to your organisation. Fill out the Rationale and Conditions fields to document your Validation decision if applicable.
  5. Click on Save review

All DMP collaborators then have access to the Validation history of a DMP. The significance and consequences of the validation outcome depend on the processes and practices in place within the organisation. For example, a successful GDPR validation may indicate that the information is ready to be exported from DMPonline.be to the GDPR register, or to proceed assign an ulterior Stage to the DMP. The validation feature has been intentionnally designed as flexible and configurable to support different possible workflows. To inquire about local validation practice at your institution, please contact your organisational Admin or local helpdesk, which can be usually found through the organisational information provided in the grey banner at the top of any DMPonline.be page.

Requesting Feedback

Some organisations offer a feedback service through DMPOnline.be. The Request Feedback feature enables all users to request feedback for a specific plan. It sends a notification to Admins, or to a general research data management helpdesk if any, that a user needs feedback on their plan. Unlike Validation, Feedback is an informal review process: it does not result in a Validation status, approval decision, or other structured metadata associated with the DMP. Feedback may be provided within the application via comments, if the person giving feedback has access to the DMP, or through other communication channels, depending on the organisations practices. Feedback can take place before a Validation is requested, for example.

If the functionality is enabled, to request feedback:

  1. Open the plan.
  2. Browse to the Request Feedback tab.
  3. Provide any requested information.
  4. Submit the request.

Exporting a Plan

Plans can be exported and downloaded in a variety of formats. For more information about Downloading a plan, please see “Download” under “Navigating a plan”,

To export a plan:

  1. Open the Download tab.
  2. Select the desired export format.
  3. Configure available export options.
  4. Download the generated file.

Available options may include:

  • Export format selection
  • Cover sheet inclusion
  • Section selection
  • Inclusion of questions
  • Inclusion of unanswered questions
  • Inclusion of comments

Exported files can be used for a variety of purposes, including but not limited to;

  • Uploading the DMP as a deliverable on a funder platform
  • Adding a provisional DMP to a grant application
  • Contributing to institutional reporting
  • Project documentation
  • Sharing with collaborators outside of the DMPonline.be software

Getting Help

If you need assistance:

  • Consult the guidance available within your plan.
  • Contact your local DMPOnline.be support team or institutional support service (organisations provide contact info that you can access in the top ribbon at any point in DMPonline.be).
  • Use the feedback, validation and commenting features where available.