Using the Data Stewardship Wizard tool

The Data Stewardship Wizard (DSW) tool is used by NERC grant holders to summarise a grant's data management activities and agree a data management plan with the relevant NERC data centre. Grant holders are encouraged to additionally create in-grant documents to detail how research data will be created, processed, analysed, preserved, made accessible and reused.

Having a detailed and updated data management plan will:

• Save you time and effort
• Reduce the risk of accidents such as loss or mis-management of data
• Preserve the integrity of your research
• Ensure data is preserved
• Meet funder requirements

Accessing the DSW tool:

Soon after a NERC grant is approved, the relevant NERC data centre will contact the Principal Investigator and invite them to complete the data questionnaire in the DSW via a secure link.

DSW Data Questionnaire quick start guide:

Unanswered questions that need your attention are shown in red, with a pencil icon. Completed questions are shown in green, with a tick. The number of unanswered, mandatory questions is shown against each chapter title in the left-hand panel.

You can share the questionnaire with a colleague by sharing the link you were provided by the NERC data centre.

Each question has a set of useful tools; click the ‘+’ icon to add the question to a to-do list, click the ‘speech bubble’ icon to add comments for others or to make notes.

Use the ‘preview’ tab to view the Data Management Plan generated from your answers.

To let the Data Centre know if you have questions, updates or have completed the questionnaire, please select the relevant option from the 'Let the data centre know...' question in Chapter 6 (VI).