DMVitals: A Data Management Assessment Recommendations Tool

The DMVitals is a key component of the UVa Library's Scientific Data Consulting (UVa SciDaC) Group's research data interviews. The DMVitals is a tool to assess data management practices based on a series of best practices statements. With the DMVitals a data management consultant associates a list of data management practices to portions of the research data interview and rank reserachers' current practices base to their level of data "sustainability". The DMVitals tool generates customized and actionable recommendations to help researchers improve their data management practices. The tool also creates objective, repeatable recommendations that can be generated rapidly. This paper will detail the development of the DMVitals tool and describe how UVa SciDaC integrates it into their existing data interview and data management plan process to expedite the data management recommendation report process and to provide actionable feedback which researchers can use almost immediately to improve the sustainability of their data. The paper will also illustrate how the DMVitals can easily be integrated in other data management assessment tools such as the Digital Curatin Center's (DCC) CARDIO.