CGIAR Recipe:
Complete the Direction Setting section

How to set goals as part of your data management and access plan, and increase your investment's FAIR maturity

What is a Data Management and Access Plan?

Follow this recipe if you are using the Guided FAIR workflow. If you are using the Independent FAIR workflow, follow this recipe for the Direction Setting.

 

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A Data Management and Access Plan (DMAP) is—above all—a living document outlining how data will be managed during and after a research project. It provides a place to document the project’s commitments to optimizing data to adhere to FAIR principles thus aligning with best practices, enhancing the research’s quality and impact while promoting open and reproducible science.

 

Download the DMAP template.

 

The DMAP contains the program’s FAIR Data Management plans actions and commitments in 3 sections:

 

1. Getting Started: For completion during the grant application process

2. Direction Setting: For completion once grant is approved (and updated regularly thought the program)

3. Implementation: For completion during the execution of program

 

  • The Direction Setting and Implementation sections will evolve and grow throughout the program and be a single point of truth for all grantee members.
  • The DMAP will be available for review according to agreed program milestones.

This video demonstrates how setting goals will help ground your project in good FAIR practice from the beginning.

 

 

This segment will help you understand how to complete the Direction Setting part of the data management and access plan template by demonstrating how to set goals, and statement how you intend to achieve those goals.

 

You will need to have completed a FAIR Potential Assessment before moving onto these steps. If you haven’t done that, go to the ‘How to assess FAIR potential’ recipe, navigate to the section called ‘How to’ and complete your assessment before continuing on with this recipe.

 

Follow the instructions to complete your Direction Setting.

Starting out

 

  • Open up your completed FAIR Potential Assessment and navigate to the results page. The chart will indicate where the project’s FAIR maturity levels are in the five thematic areas: Support, Resourcing, Technical, Policy and Culture, alongside an overall FAIR maturity score. The overall FAIR maturity score is based on the lowest scoring theme.
  • For more information on the themes, revisit the assessing FAIR potential recipe.

 

Identify areas for stretch goals

 

  • A conversation needs to be had between the members of the project to decide the areas to focus upon. Stretch goals can be made in all areas, or some areas, depending on the project’s resources. Focus on bringing the lower scoring levels up, while evidencing that the higher scoring areas are meeting their maturity level.

Understanding the FAIR potential results

 

  • Below the chart and summary table, you will find 10 tables, one for each question. Each table outlines your answer to the corresponding question and explains its implications for your current maturity level in terms of People, Process, Technology, and Content.
  • These details are formatted using a maturity scale, ranging from dark red (low maturity) to dark green (high maturity).
  • Additionally, each table includes a progression suggestion, describing what the next highest maturity level would entail and suggesting goals you might consider setting to achieve that level.

 

Where to focus

 

  • Focusing on questions to themes that have a low maturity score (for example those formatted in red), consider setting targets like those that are suggested in the Progression section of the report for the corresponding question.
  • If the suggestions seem too much of a stretch, revisit the answer for your current level, and consider how this could be evidenced in your project, instead of creating a goal to move up a level.

Repeat for all areas of improvement

 

  • Repeat task 2 – 4 for every question in the thematic areas that need to improve.
  • Make notes as you go along and come back to them when writing your outcome statements in the DMAP, or alternate goal setting and writing outcome statements until all the questions have been answered.

Access the Data Management and Access Plan

 

  • Open up the project data management and access plan (DMAP).
  • A template can be downloaded here.
  • The Direction Setting section of the DMAP has 10 questions, and each question maps directly to a question in the FAIR Potential Assessment.
  • For example, Question 1 in the DMAP, relates to Question 1 in the Assessment. Question 2 in the DMAP related to Question 2 in the Assessment, and so on)

Write a statement for question one

 

  • Start with Question One, and the notes made earlier on progression in the goal setting (step 4).
  • In the DMAP, write an outcome statement on how you will achieve those goals that you set. A statement can be a paragraph of text, or a bullet pointed list, or any other structure that is helpful.
  • But it must contain the following aspects:

Action: a verb indicating what is to be done. (e.g. ‘assign’, ‘develop’, ‘design’)

Subject: the object of the action. The thing that is being acted upon

Outcome: the result or goal of the action, the reason why

Deadline: a specific date, the time bound aspect as to when the action will be completed

 

 

  • For example, an outcome statement for Question 1 to move from Level 2 to Level 3 might look like this:

 

We will….

1. People: have data related roles assigned to individuals, and their responsibilities will be clearly defined in documentation provided to support those roles, so that the investment delivers FAIR data outcomes for future agriculture research

2. Processes: review the documented processes currently in place and update them to align with FAIR principles so that, we achieve our FAIR data commitments more efficiently

3. Technology: adopt and document recommended tools for; data management, data collection and design, so that we meet FAIR commitments for associated metadata  and align with organisational goals for FAIR data

4. Content: have libraries of metadata templates, supporting documents for processes and tools for data management,  and documented role definitions, so that our data is interoperable with other research programmes

by 3rd May 2025.

 

 

Write statements for the remaining questions

 

  • Work through the ten questions until an outcome statement has been written, for each one, that covers People, Process, Technology and Content. This may be up to four statements for each question, depending on the goals.
  • Once the ten outcome statements have been completed, we recommend sharing the DMAP with your FAIR advisor (email:fair@cabi.org) to update them and get feedback if needed.
  • Keep this document saved in a central project folder which is easy to access and revisit by all team members.

Quick reference

Next activity for the Guided FAIR workflow: Activity G4

 

  • How to document changes after review
  • This recipe takes you through the process of regularly reviewing your DMAP and recording updates to ensure goals and FAIR data outcomes are being achieved.
  • Alternatively select the workflow tab in this section to see the full list of workflow activities.

Next activity for the Foundational FAIR workflow:

 

  • This recipe isn’t part of the Foundational FAIR workflow.

Next activity for the Independent FAIR workflow: Activity I3

 

  • How to complete the Implementation section
  • This section takes you through the process of documenting the practicalities of the investment as a result of your direction setting.
  • Alternatively select the workflow tab in this section to see the full list of workflow activities.

Next activity for the FAIR data assessment workflow:

 

  • This recipe isn’t part of the FAIR data assessment workflow.

Back to CGIAR workflows page

Guided FAIR workflow

Activity G1

 

  • How to complete the Getting Started section.
  • This section takes you through the process of answering a core set of questions to provide a basic description of the data management practices that the investment will adopt.
  • Your PO will either grant approval for investment, or request more information. In both situations, proceed to Activity G2

Activity G2

 

  • How to assess FAIR potential
  • Using the output from the FAIR potential tool will provide data and recommendations for goals which feeds into the “Direction Setting” section of the DMAP

You are here > Activity G3

 

  • How to complete the Direction Setting section
  • This section takes you through the process of setting goals and recording an overarching direction to increase the FAIR maturity of the investment
  • If your investment has not been approved, send the completed Direction Setting section within the DMAP to the PO for approval.
  • If your investment has been approved, we recommend sharing the DMAP with your FAIR advisor (email:fair@cabi.org) to update them and get feedback if needed.
  • If no edits are needed, go to Activity G5
  • If you have been asked to make edits, proceed to Activity G4

Activity G4

 

  • How to document changes after review
  • This recipe takes you through the process of regularly reviewing your DMAP and recording updates to ensure goals and FAIR data outcomes are being achieved.

Activity G5

 

Activity G6

 

  • How to document changes after review
  • This section takes you through the process of regularly reviewing your DMAP and recording updates to ensure goals and FAIR data outcomes are being achieved.

 

Foundational FAIR workflow

This page is not part of the Foundational FAIR workflow. Visit the workflow homepage for the list of included activities.

Independent FAIR workflow

Activity I1

 

  • How to complete the Getting Started section.
  • This section takes you through the process of answering a core set of questions to provide a basic description of the data management practices that the investment will adopt.
  • After completion of the Getting Started section the PO will either grant approval for investment, or request more information.

Activity I2

 

  • How to complete the Direction Setting section
  • This section takes you through the process of setting goals and recording an overarching direction to increase the FAIR maturity of the investment.
  • If your investment has not been approved, send the completed Direction Setting section within the DMAP to the PO for approval.
    If your investment has been approved, we recommend sharing the DMAP with your FAIR advisor (email:fair@cabi.org) to update them and get feedback if needed.

Activity I3

 

Activity I4

 

  • How to document changes after review
  • This section takes you through the process of regularly reviewing your DMAP and recording updates to ensure goals and FAIR data outcomes are being achieved.

 

FAIR data assessment workflow

This page is not part of the FAIR data assessment workflow. Visit the workflow homepage for the list of included activities.

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