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AV CR FAIR Wizard

The Library of the CAS, provides access to the AV CR FAIR Wizard service for anyone interested from the CAS. FAIR Wizard is an online service for easy creation of a data management plan (DMP) – it is a stand-alone instance of the open source tool Data Stewardship Wizard operated by Codevence Solutions, s.r.o.

This tool automatically assesses the degree of fulfilment of the FAIR Principles and other metrics during completion, with accompanying explanatory comments from, for example, the review publication MONS, B. Data stewardship for open science: implementing FAIR principles. Boca Raton: CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, [2018], ISBN 978-1-4987-5317-3. Individual topic chapters from the Research Data Management Kit (RDMkit) are also linked to the questions.

Most of the questions are thus linked to external resources, explaining in detail their specific purpose and the rationale for their relationship to good data management. The user is thus “guided” in the creation of the DMP and through the prevalent questions with predefined answer choices and is freed from having to “write” another appendix to the project documentation.

It is also possible to develop pre-populated templates in the tool to facilitate the creation of other DMPs at the same institution, research team or research facility. The system of closed questions (selection from predefined answers) and the link to standards such as FAIRsharing.org, in addition to the above, also allows for future easy evaluation of completed DMPs and therefore optimization of internal processes.

Manual for using the AV CR FAIR Wizard tool:

1. Support for the creation of DMPs at the CAS

Obligations of the CAS employees on how to proceed with the acquisition, storage and use of research data are regulated by individual CAS Institutes independently. For up-to-date information on the possibilities of support and obligations in relation to data and the creation of DMPs at individual departments, it is advisable to contact the contact person – List of experts in Open Science at the departments of the CAS.

For questions and comments on the FAIR Wizard tool, suggestions for the development of this tool, modification of the questionnaire and creation of targeted templates, please contact the Open Science Department of the Library of the CAS.

1.1. LCAS – support for the creation of DMPsP

The Library of the CAS provides access to the AV CR – FAIR Wizard service for anyone from the CAS. The Library recommends this service as a suitable tool for the preparation of DMPs. The chosen technical solution – a questionnaire application based largely on closed questions – enables:

  • machine operability,
  • automatic evaluation of monitored metrics (FAIR, Good DMP Practice, Openness),
  • creation of different versions of DMPs for each project phases (e.g. before, during and at the end of the project),
  • the creation of pre-prepared templates simplifying the creation of further DMPs by departments and research teams,
  • exporting the final document to the form required by the various funders,
  • in case of demand, the possibility of creating a Czech version responding to the requirements of Czech funders (currently Czech funders refer to the Horizon Europe template and accept its form).

2. AV CR FAIR Wizard

The FAIR Wizard is a standalone instance of the Data Stewardship Wizard, an open source tool created and developed into production form in the ELIXIR project for more systematic management of research data.

2.1. Login:

Access from the: https://avcr.fair-wizard.com/

It is possible to register with your employee email or use eduID – Shibboleth to log in with your institutional login.

2.1.1. Interface of the main pages

Once you have created a user account, you can start using the tool. You will automatically be logged in under the “Dashboard” tab in the Data Management Planner interface, where you can see your recent projects and an icon to create a new project. 

In the second “Projects” tab of the Data Management Planner, you will find a list of all the projects you have created. To the right above the list of projects you have an icon to quickly switch to create projects/DMPs. You can also search the list of projects by various filters (name, creation date, update date, project tags, knowledge model and by user). You will only see other users’ projects that are public. To see them, you need to click on the icon with your account name and then click on your account again in the expanded list of users to remove it from the selected ones.

In the top bar, there is a square icon next to the CAS Fair Wizard logo that toggles the interfaces of the main pages – Data Management Planner, Admin Center, and User Guide (complete instructions).

In the Admin Center interface, the “Dashboard” tab provides examples of completed projects in various document templates. You will also find a link to the complete tutorial (“Learn about FAIR Wizard”) and an icon (“Get started”) to quickly switch to DMP/project creation.

In the next tab “User Groups” in the Admin Center interface you can scroll through the list of created user groups with different access permissions (public or private – if you are a member). You can sort the list alphabetically, or search directly by name.

2.1.2. User Groups

In FAIR Wizard you have the possibility to create User Groups with which you can share your projects/DMPs in bulk. Sharing projects can be useful within research teams, lab teams and scientists themselves, or groups of scientists representing individual institutions.

If you have created a new group, you automatically have the role of group owner. He/she can add or remove additional members at any time and also change/expand their functions from member to owner within the group.

Creating a public User Group

To create a new public group, you must first switch the main site interface to the Admin Center and then click on the “Create” icon via the User Groups tab. Then enter the name, description, members and access permissions of the group (public or private) and click the “Create” icon. For better clarity in the User Groups list, always enter “institute abbreviation – any group name” in the public group name. To give you an idea, the group name might look like this: ‘KNAV – test new Open Science Department group’. If the name of a group does not contain the abbreviation of the institute before the arbitrary name, the name will be corrected by the administrators of the Library of the CAS. Finally, check the level of accessibility – for public groups, do not click on the “Private” icon.Your group is now visible to all users in the FAIR Wizard. Everyone can view an overview of the members in that group.

The Library of the CAS continually updates the list of individual FAIR Wizard users and sorts them systematically into public user groups by CAS department.

If you need help with creating User Groups, please contact us via email: dmp(at)knav.cz or openscience(at)knav.cz.

Private User Group creation

To create a new private group, you must first switch the main site interface to the Admin Center and then click on the “Create” icon via the User Groups tab. Then enter a name, description, members and access permissions for the group – click on the “Private” icon and then the “Create” icon.

For these private groups, there is no need to maintain consistency in group names, as they do not appear in the list for others besides the group members.

2.2. Creating a new project:

To create a new project, click the create button.

You can either create your DMP as a pure new project without a template (Custom tab) or use predefined templates (From Project Template tab).

  • The templates are partially completed DMPs that should make it easier for researchers to create their own DMP.
    • For example, it can be a template DMP for a department, laboratory or project that contains pre-filled repetitive data (grant number, investigator names, data storage location, etc.) that will usually be the same across multiple DMPs prepared by a given user group.
    • The Project template can be created from any DMP by users with the “Data Steward” role or higher role. If you need to create a template for your project, group or department, please contact Open Science Support at KNAV.
  • When creating a new DMP, always choose a name that makes your DMP easily recognizable. It is recommended that the name of the DMP includes, for example, the acronym of the project for which you are preparing the DMP.

2.2.1. Choosing a Questionnaire wizard (Knowledge Model)

If you do not use a template to set up your DMP, you must choose a Knowledge Model, i.e. a questionnaire wizard that guides you through setting up the DMP.

DMP in Science Technology Math (STM) disciplines (First and Second Science Area at CAS)

For the creation of DMPs for STM disciplines, it is recommended to use the Life Sciences DSW Knowledge Model, which is a model tailored for complete data management in the life sciences.

To become familiar with data management and discover best practices in life sciences, we recommend the Research Data Management toolkit for Life Sciences developed by the ELIXIR scientific community.

Examples of DMPs created by institutional DSW at Masaryk Univesity:

DMP in Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) disciplines (Third Science Area at CAS)

It is recommended to use The Common DSW Knowledge Model to create DMPs for HSS disciplines.
To become familar with data management and discover best practices in social sciences, we recommend the Data Management Expert Guide (DMEG) developed by CESSDA (Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives) and ERIC (European Research Infrastructure Consortium).

It is also possible to create knowledge models more focused on a particular research area (adding specific questions, omitting redundant questions for your scientific field, etc.). If you are interested in such modifications and better targeting, please contact Open Science Support at KNAV.

Example of DMP created by institutional DSW at Masaryk Univesity:

2.2.2. Choice of question tags relevant to specific project calls (Question Tags)

Some project calls (e.g. EU Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe, etc.) have published guidelines for the development of DMPs (e.g. DMP templates, etc.). The AV CR FAIR Wizard supports the preparation of DMPs for these calls by, inter alia, allowing to filter only questions specifically relevant to the DMP of the call in the questionnaire wizard. If you want to questions relevant only to a specific call or calls, select the relevant set in the Question Tags section.

If you do not select any set, all questions will be displayed without filtering. The relevance of the questions to a specific DMP template will still be indicated in the questionnaire guide by displaying the relevant label.

To create a project, click on the “Create” button.

2.3. Before you start the questionnaire

2.3.1. Sharing

The DMP can be shared with collaborators. Simultaneous editing is also possible, similar to Microsoft Office 365 or Google Docs documents.

Sharing with specific collaborators from the CAS

You can share with persons from the CAS (registered in this service) by selecting the user account in the “Users” section. It is easiest to search by email or user name. If you do not see the user in the list, they probably do not have an account in the system yet. Ask him/her to log in to the AV CR FAIR Wizard or share the DMP using the link (see below).

Sharing with User Groups from the CAS

You can share projects with specific User Groups, either public or private. If you are looking for your department’s public group and do not see it listed, it probably does not yet have an account due to the low number of FAIR Wizard users from that institute.

Sharing with all users

In case you choose the “Visible to all logged-in users” option, you will share your DMP to all logged-in users.

We strongly advise against using this option. DMPs shared in this way are visible to all logged-in users in the Projects section. The AV CR FAIR Wizard has many users from different institutes and it is very likely that for a large number of them, a DMP shared in this way will be irrelevant and will only unnecessarily clutter the user’s DMP list.

Please use other options “sharing with specific people” or a “public link” instead.

Sharing via “public link”

You can share the DMP with anyone on the Internet, i.e. also with persons without affiliation to the CAS, by creating a public link in the “Public link” section. When using this option, choose carefully the permission level (see below) and the range of people to whom you make the link available.

2.3.2. Sharing permission levels

When sharing, you have a choice of several permission levels:

  • View – Reader: The users can only view the DMP, they cannot make any changes or comment on the content.
  • Comment – Commenter. The users can not make changes to the content, but can add comments to individual items.
  • Edit – Contributor: The users can view, edit and comment on the DMP.
  • Manage – Owner: The owner of the DMP who can view, edit, comment and manage sharing of the content.

After setting up the sharing, be sure to save the settings by clicking the “Save” button.

2.3.3. The Project Phase

The AV CR FAIR Wizard gives you a hint on which questions from the questionnaire guide to focus on as a priority based on the stage your project is at. Based on the project phase selected in the Current Phase section (see top left of the following figure), the AV CR FAIR Wizard highlights the questions relevant to that phase in red and the less relevant ones in grey (see right part of the following figure). The number of important but uncompleted questions in each section of the Survey Wizard is shown by the number after the section title; a blue tick indicates that all priority questions in that section have already been completed (see bottom left of the following figure).

3. Completing the questionnaire

The DMP is completed in the AV CR FAIR Wizard using a questionnaire guide that takes you step-by-step through the various aspects of data management. To this end, the questionnaire is divided into several chapters that collect thematically similar questions.

For each chapter and question, help texts and links to relevant resources are provided.

There are two types of questions in the questionnaire, depending on the stage of your project:

  • Priority questions – These are relevant to the project phase; until they are answered, they are marked in red.
  • Other questions – Marked in grey.
  • Answered questions are marked in green.

Questions may require several types of answers:

  • Brief free text answer.
  • Longer free text answer.
  • A choice from a list of options.

The AV CR FAIR Wizard works on the principle of a guide. Therefore, some options may be marked with a menu icon. If you select an option without a menu icon, the question is answered; selecting an answer with a menu icon will expand the advanced options (branch/set of additional sub-questions)..

  • Adding more items.

Some questions allow you to add multiple answers of the same type. For example, it is possible to indicate funding from multiple sources. To add a new answer item click the + “Add” button.

  • Selecting an item from the auto-complete menu.

The AV CR FAIR Wizard is linked to various sources of information, e.g. the FAIRSharing.org database, from which information can be drawn for autocompletion.

If you start typing text in an answer field linked to an autocomplete information source, a menu of items from that source corresponding to the text entered so far will appear with a slight delay.

If any of the items on the menu matches, click to complete it.

If none of the offered items fits, continue typing and fill in your own value.

We are working on integration with ASEP and the managed authority base.

A reference to the item in the remote source is also added to the autocompleted item, typically the persistent identifier of the item from the ontology, etc.

If you want to delete a completed answer, you can do so by clicking on the Clear answer button.

You can delete the entire set of answers by clicking on the red bin symbol.

3.1. Chapter I: Administrative information

This chapter lists all persons who contribute to the development or implementation of the DMP. In addition to the persons’ last and first names, the email, the unique permanent identifier of the person ORCID and the affiliation shall be provided.

It is strongly recommended that the unique persistent ORCID person identifier be entered.

The ASEP processor can also enter reserchers person identifiers into the ASEP authority database. If you do not already have an ORCID, you can register one for free at https://orcid.org/.

The affiliation field is linked to the database of ROR institutions, i.e. you can search for an ROR institution directly through the corresponding field of the questionnaire. Search for your institution by name – you will see a menu with a slight delay. Once selected, the name is filled in in the format “Czech Academy of Sciences, Library”, which is based on the recommendations for the format of affiliation in the Academy of Sciences. Do not use the ROR of the Czech Academy of Sciences, it is a general profile containing a list of RORs of individual departments.

The person’s role in the research project is also listed.

The second part of this section is the administrative details of the project – title, acronym, start and end of the project, funding sources, etc.

The third part of the chapter is information on whether additional staff capacity and software and hardware beyond that available at the site is needed to carry out the DMP. For options and recommendations for data repositories at the CAS, please see the relevant section of the CAS Open Science website. If you require further assistance, please contact Open Science support at your department or the LCAS.

3.2. Chapter II: Using existing data

It is good practice to check all possibilities for reusing existing available data, whether created by you in an earlier project or data from other research teams. This includes reusable data that was created for the earlier project, as well as so-called ‘reference data’.

If you do not use any existing data, you do not need to fill in this section. If you do use existing data, pay close attention to its license or other conditions of use. Be especially cautious when using data from medicine and other life sciences, or from HSS fields such as psychology, etc., where you may come into contact with personal data, sensitive data, etc. The use of such data may be subject to specific treatment indicated in the terms of use.
Please also pay attention to planning an appropriate repository for such data, see the recommendations for selecting an appropriate data repository. If you need to store and share already so-called live data during the project, we recommend using the services of the CESNET association (OwnCloud, FileSender, etc.). CESNET provides, among other things, secure data storage in the Czech Republic and other related services.

3.3. Chapter III: Data creation and collection

This chapter describes all the data sources in your project, e.g., data coming directly from your instruments or surveys, etc.; the data may be newly collected as part of your current project, but may also be existing data for which contracts with the data owner are required. It can also be reference data that are part of managed resources and (public) databases. The description of data in this chapter includes: type, format, size, origin and storage, metadata, file and folder organisation, collection. The terminology/ontology of the data is linked here to a database that includes ontologies commonly used in research.

The chapter includes questions on data provenance – data created by specific research instruments, data sensitivity and data owner. The aim of this section is to draw your attention to different aspects of working with data through its lifecycle in a research project. If you do not know the answer to any of these questions, it may indicate that you do not have a complete plan for working with the data at some stage of the project, or that the terms of ownership and redistribution of the data are not clear, etc.
For consultation, please contact Open Science support at your department or the KNAV.

3.4. Chapter IV: Data processing

In this chapter, the questions focus on the computing and storage environment that is used to process the data and make it available for interpretation by the project partners. Some of these questions (e.g. about workflow systems and data provenance) are also relevant to the work in the interpretation phase. Means of protecting data from loss are also explored, thinking about the consequences of possible leakage into unauthorised hands, breaches of data integrity, etc.

Whether personal data or data of an otherwise sensitive nature are the subject of the processing and the plan for protecting such data are also important considerations.

3.5. Chapter V: Interpretation of data

Data interpretation is one of the last steps of data processing (often with manual intervention), visualization and integration. The questions in this chapter focus on data interoperability.

3.6. Chapter VI: Data storage

This chapter addresses issues related to data publishing and long-term archiving. You will verify that you have established a plan for secure data preservation beyond the end of the project, both from a technical and business model perspective, including planning for retention times, requirements for controlled data shredding, etc.

3.6.1. CAS selecting of repository

Repository directories:

3.6.2. Things to look out for when choosing a repository

  • Does the repository assign a persistent identifier (e.g. DOI) to your data? Persistent identifiers make your data easier to find and cite.Library of Czech Academy of Sciences is able to assign DOIs to datasets stored directly in the ASEP data repository. Records of datasets stored in other repositories and scientific publications are assigned a persistent identifier handle.
  • Is the repository trusted/certified? With certified repositories, you can be more confident that your data is well taken care of.
  • Does the selected repository provide open access to the stored data? If you want to share your data openly, this is key information.
  • Will the repository provide a metadata landing page for your data? Metadata will help others find the data, find out what it is, and how to cite it.
  • Does the repository allow versioning? If you update your dataset, can you upload the updated version as a new version to the original dataset? For example, the new dataset gets assigned its own persistent identifier and users can easily find out what the latest version is or what version was used in the original study.

3.6.3. Relevant resources for storing, sharing and working with live data

CESNET Storage Department

Data storage services are certified compliant with information security management system standard ČSN EN ISO/IEC 27001:2014.

Use cases:

  • Environment for backup
  • Environment for archiving 
  • Environment for data sharing 

CESNET OwnCloud

  • File synchronization tool and supports data synchronization on Windows, Mac and Linux platforms and on Android and iOS mobile devices.
  • Similar to Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, etc., but running on CESNET infrastructure with higher standard capacity available for “non-paying” users.
  • Login via the eduID.cz identity federation.
  • The first login to the system is sufficient to create an account.
  • Cloud storage of 100 GB per user
  • Allows data sharing in groups that the user can set up.
  • Allows files to be shared via a web link to anyone you share the link with.
  • The data remains in the Czech Republic, CESNET does not acquire any rights to the stored content, it still belongs to the owners of the data.

Complex calculations (Metacentrum)

  • The MetaCentrum environment enables the use of connected computing and data resources for solving very demanding computational tasks that are beyond the capabilities of an independent workplace in the Czech Republic. The service is also available to users without the need to input their own resources.
  • Grid computing | HPC clouds | platforms (e.g. Hadoop) | 38 000 computing cores | application licenses
  • Connecting computing and data resources to solve very demanding computing tasks.
  • Wide range of application software.
  • Integration into the international research area (ERA) and the international grid infrastructure (EGI).
  • MetaCentrum provides and coordinates the operation of the distributed computing infrastructure (National Grid Infrastructure – NGI, which is part of the European Grid Infrastructure – EGI).

3.7. Chapter VII: Access to data

The questions in this chapter deal with openness of data, i.e. how to make it available to other interested parties. Issues of how to make it public, possible embargoes, availability of metadata, etc. are addressed.

4. Additional functions for working with DMP in the AV CR FAIR Wizard

4.1. Comments

A user with commenter rights or higher can post a comment to each question. Editor comments can only be added and seen by editors and/or project owners.

Use comments to share notes and discuss the topic with colleagues. All comments can be found in the comments panel, where you can easily switch to the particular question commented on.

You can also tag a FAIR Wizard user in a comment after posting by clicking on the person icon with the “Assign comment thread” command. The tagged user will receive an email notification of the tag.

4.2. TODOs

Adding a TODO to a question allows you to mark unanswered questions or those that still need to be edited.

Clicking on + Add TODO takes the question to the TODO panel, which allows easy navigation to all questions marked for finishing.

4.3. Version history

When you click on version history, all versions and edits will be displayed on the right side, including the time and author of the edit.

By clicking on the menu of three vertical dots, you can name the version of the questionnaire, view the completion status of the version, create a document (export the questionnaire to a DMP document in PDF format, etc.) or return the entire questionnaire to the completion status of this version.

We recommend using the version naming function when a significant milestone in the preparation of the DMP is reached, e.g. the current completion status is used to export the DMP for submission to a funding agency, etc.

4.4. Automatic metrics for FAIR and DMP atributes

Answers to some questions are marked with colored labels for FAIR or Openness attributes. The assigned colors indicate the degree to which the attribute is being fulfilled by the selected question. This is then used by the AV CR FAIR Wizard to automatically calculate overall performance metrics for your DMP – i.e., the degree of fulfillment of each FAIR principle, Openness, or compliance with good DMP practice.

These overviews are then available on the Metrics tab, where they can help you identify the strengths and weaknesses of your data management plan.

4.5. Project settings in the AV CR FAIR Wizard

The Settings tab in the top bar of the project allows you to change the project settings. You can edit the project description. It is also possible to add labels/tags to the project, i.e. text ” labels”, which can then be used in the project list to filter the search.

After changing the settings, remember to save everything by clicking on the “Save” button.

Using tags can help you more easily organize multiple projects into your own categories. Multiple tags can be assigned to a project.

4.6 Selecting a template for exporting a DMP document

To create a DMP document from a completed form in the FAIR Wizard, you need to select one of the export templates that determine the formatting of the output document. The AV ČR FAIR Wizard contains several predefined templates for DMP export according to the requirements of the most important project calls (e.g. EU Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe, etc.).

In the Default document template section it is possible to select which of these templates should be set as the default for the project. The selection of the default output template defines the generated preview. Similarly, in the Default document format section it is possible to select the default export format. The menu of export formats varies according to the selected export template. We recommend selecting PDF or HTML as the default document format, as using this format will allow the document preview to be displayed.

4.7 Other settings

At the end of the Settings page, there are options for migrating the project to a different knowledge model or a different version of the knowledge model. These migrations are most common when a new version of the knowledge model is made available, e.g. expanding the list of questions, refining some answers, etc. The migration is performed using an intuitive wizard that allows to check and, if necessary, manually modify the changes.

The option Delete this Project then allows you to delete the entire project. Note that deleting a project is an irreversible operation.

5. Export of the project in the FAIR Wizard to the final DMP document

For the purpose of submitting the DMP document to the funding agency, etc., it is possible to create a document in various formats (e.g. PDF, HTML, MS Office Word Document, etc.) from the data filled in the form. Documents can be exported from the Documents bookmark.

The formatting of the document follows the template selected in the Template section. AV CR FAIR Wizard contains several predefined templates for exporting DMPs according to the requirements of the most important project calls (e.g. EU Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe, etc.).

In the Format section, you can select the export format in which the document will be created. The menu of export formats varies according to the export template you have selected. We recommend selecting PDF as the output format if you will no longer be working with the document.

If you plan to edit the exported document, we recommend selecting MS Office Word document as the output format.

If you need systematic exports in another format, please contact the Open Science Department of the Library of the CAS.

After setting all parameters, click on the “Create” button to create the document.

All created documents remain in the Documents section until you manually delete them (via the Delete button in the menu of three vertical dots). You can search the documents by name and sort the list according to different criteria. The documents are an actual export of the completed questionnaire, so if you subsequently edit the questionnaire further, the content of the previously exported documents will not be affected. If you wish to view the form of the questionnaire from which the document was exported, you can do so via the “View Questionnaire” option from the menu of three vertical dots. From the same menu you can download the document to your device by selecting Download..

The starting material for the preparation of this manual was the “Pokyny pro použití DSW MUNI pro přípravu DMP” prepared within the Fond rozvoje CESNET č. 674/2021 (Development Fund) – Deployment of DMP tool Data Stewardship Wizard (DSW) in the environment of Czech universities.