RDMP Walkthrough: Tips and Troubleshooting

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This section highlights parts of the RDMP form that can be confusing, tricky, or just need a bit more thought.

We don’t cover every field—just the ones where researchers often get stuck.

🔍 Note: Be sure to use the help text (? icons) built into the RDMP form—it includes prompts, definitions, and links to our website for detailed guidance.

💡 Tips:

Project title: HDR candidates and students can add “PhD project”, “MPhil project” or “Honours” to the end, to help advisors manage multiple records.

Project description: As noted earlier, this outlines the purpose and goals of your research. You can often copy this (and your methods) from your proposal!

Start/end dates: Use reasonable estimates—such as course or grant dates. These provide context and can help us manage your data later. (The system format is yyyy/mm/dd , but don’t stress about being exact.)

Activity Type: Choose the best match from the dropdown. Many HDR projects fall under Strategic basic research or Applied research—but select the one that best reflects your project. Click the help icon for definitions from the Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC) 2008.

FoR & SEO Codes: Required for reporting and for connecting your research with potential collaborators. Use at least one six-digit FoR code.

💡 Tips:

HDR Candidates often list themselves as Data Manager or their advisors as Lead Investigator. Completely understandable—but here’s how to get it right!

Lead Investigator is the JCU researcher who takes lead role in the conduct of the research project. HDR Candidates are Lead Investigators on their thesis projects.

🔍 Note: Undergraduate, Honours, or postgraduate coursework students are not included in the lookup. Their Primary Advisor or research project supervisor must be listed as Lead Investigator. Use the Collaborator field (free text) to record the student’s name, email address, and ORCID.

Data Manager must be a JCU staff member. This role takes is responsible for data long-term. For thesis projects, this will usually be the Primary Advisor.

Collaborators can include external researchers or advisors. You can add these manually if they’re not in the system. The help text includes detailed advice e.g., how to include specific roles and organisations.

💡 Tips:

Main File Formats and Organisation

Prompt: “List your main file formats and describe how you plan to organize your data (e.g. file names and folder structures)”

🔍 Note: You don’t need to provide a full list of formats, file names or your directory tree—just outline your approach. For example:

Planning how you’ll name files and manage version control will save you time and confusion down the track—especially when collaborating.

Consider scheduling regular “data hygiene” check-ins during the project. Your future self will thank you!

Documentation

Prompt: “Describe how you plan to document your data (e.g. supporting documents and related metadata)”

This is often left blank but is incredibly important. Briefly outline how you’ll describe your data so it’s understandable and reusable. For example, you might use:

• A separate document (e.g. a codebook or README) to explain your data structure, variables,  methods/workflow or key decisions.
• A separate tab within your Excel file to describe column headers, sources, and any data transformations.
• If you're using code, an R Markdown (or similar format) to combine explanatory text with your code.

These options help ensure your data is clearly documented, making it easier for others (or even yourself) to understand and reuse later.

🔍 Note: You don’t need to provide these documents in advance—just outline your approach.

Software and Equipment

Prompts:

• "Software/equipment used to create/collect the data"
• "Software/equipment used to manipulate/analyse the data"

These fields aren’t just administrative—they’re essential for enabling others (and your future self) to interpret, reuse, or reproduce your data.

Be specific: list the exact tools, models, or platforms used, and include version numbers where possible.  For example:

• To collect data → REDCap v13.1, Nikon D850 camera
• To analyse data → RStudio v2023.06.0, NVivo 14

If you’re using proprietary software or specialised equipment, note where it was accessed or sourced—this detail can be hard to recover later.

This acts as a mini record-keeping system, and any details entered here are automatically carried across to the description field in related Data Records—saving you time later.

💡 Tips:

There are three prompts in this section:

• “Expected size of the data collected”—select an estimated size range from the drop-down; and
• “Storage location during project”—where you’ll access and work with your data
• “Location of the main copy “—the authoritative or “master” copy of your data

🔍 Note: Storage during the project and the location of the main copy can be the same or different—it depends on your specific workflow and preferences. The help text  and our Data Storage page includes some hypothetical (not intended to be prescriptive) scenarios!

Use the drop-down lists to select the most appropriate storage locations. If your setup differs from the standard options, select “Other” and briefly explain in the free text field (e.g., a shared drive at another institution).

You don’t need to list every location or device—choose a safe, JCU-approved option for your main copy, and make sure your overall approach reflects good practice.

✅ Use safe storage like JCU OneDrive, JCU/QCIF QRISCloud, or an approved third-party solution.

The RDMP guides you through key planning decisions—use it to think ahead and avoid issues down the track.

✅ Follow the 3-Copy Rule: keep at least three copies of your active data, ideally in different physical or cloud locations.

✅ Back up local/field copies (e.g., on laptops or external drives) to safe storage as soon as practical.

❌ Avoid listing desktop devices as your main storage
Laptops, personal drives, or USBs are risky — if you must use them (e.g., in the field) backup the data as soon as possible.

❌ Avoid unapproved cloud storage
Services like Dropbox or Google Drive aren’t recommended for storing research data. If you use them at all, it should only be for backup, and with care.

These prompts help you identify whether you need additional storage or compute/analysis resources. If you do, the Storage and Compute team can assist:

🔐 ServiceNow (login required):

Research Data Storage and Compute Request Form

Knowledge Base Articles:
Request a Data Storage Allocation
Request Faster Compute/Analysis System

💡 Tips:

This section includes two prompts:

• “Applicable minimum retention period”
• "Reason for extending the minimum retention period (if applicable)”

🔍 While the standard retention period is often 5 years after your final publication (e.g., paper or thesis), there may be valid reasons to keep your data for a longer period or even permanently. Use the second prompt (choose from the drop-down) to explain why you have chosen to extend the retention period or select Permanent retention.

Think about whether your data has long-term value, such as cultural significance, ongoing relevance to future research, or public interest. Providing a reason will help guide future decisions regarding retention and disposal.

(Note: The prompt wording may be a bit confusing for now, but this section is meant to clarify your reasoning behind extended or permanent retention.)

⚠️ Note: Some data may be subject to a maximum retention period — for example, if your ethics approval requires you to destroy identifiable data after a certain time.
If this applies to your project, please record this in the Ethics and Sensitivities section of the RDMP.
(The Data Retention tab only captures minimum retention periods.)

💡 Tips:

Prompts in this section include:

• “Copyright and intellectual property owners”
• “Information about contractual obligations or third party licenses that apply to this data”
• “How will access to the data be managed post-project?”

Copyright & IP

Prompt: “Copyright and intellectual property owners”

From 13 December 2024, James Cook University (JCU) will own IP created by both students and staff, including research data.

• If you’re an HDR candidate enrolled after this date, select James Cook University (not “Research Student”) from the dropdown menu.
• Agreements with research funders, collaborators, or external institutions can override default IP arrangements — so check your contracts carefully.

Contracts, licenses and data sharing

Prompt: “Information about contractual obligations or third-party licenses that apply to this data”

This is about agreements that affect how your data is stored, shared, or reused. These might include:

• Funding contracts
• Collaboration agreements
• Licences from data providers

The help text in this field is detailed and includes examples — it’s worth reviewing carefully. You can also view them on our website:
🔗 More information about Contracts and Agreements

🔍 Note: Make sure any agreements you sign clearly state what you can and can’t do with the data — especially when it comes to storing and sharing derived or combined datasets.

Access Conditions

Prompt: “How will access to the data be managed post-project?”

This one often confuses researchers! What you’re doing here is selecting the general level of access that best fits your dataset as a whole.

You’re not locking yourself into making everything open, conditional access or restricted forever — this just gives us a high-level idea of your intent. Access decisions for individual Data Publications can be made later, based on context.

🔗The Archiving and Publishing Guide includes a section on Choosing Access Conditions for Data Publications.

💡 Tips:

This section includes two open-ended prompts:

• “Information about ethical considerations relevant to this project and how they will be managed”
• “Information about managing privacy, confidentiality, and data sensitivity (if applicable)”

These prompts are intentionally broad. You're not being asked to repeat everything from your ethics application — just to consider and summarise your overall approach.

You can complete this section alongside your ethics application and refer to approvals from JCU’s Human or Animal Ethics Committees, as well as external approvals (e.g., Queensland Health).

Ethical considerations

Prompt: Information about ethical considerations relevant to this project and how they will be managed”

Use this prompt to briefly outline how your project addresses ethical issues — including your review process, consent, and protection of participants.

The help text prompts you to consider:

• Informed consent, information sheets, and future data use
• Collaboration agreements (clauses regarding ethical practices)
• Retention policies, including maximum retention requirements
  (See also: Retention and Disposal section)

⚠️ The Access Conditions you apply to your data (previous section) must align with ethics approvals and consent type.

🔗 Refer to our website for more information about Consent and Access Conditions & Consent Types (scroll down)

Managing privacy and sensitive data

Prompt: “Information about managing privacy, confidentiality, and data sensitivity (if applicable)”

This prompt encourages you to reflect on how your data will be protected — especially if it involves sensitive information.
You might need to mention:

• De-identification techniques
• Access controls during the project, and when publishing
• Secure storage, data transfer, or encryption protocols.

You don’t need to go into too much technical detail here— just show that you’ve considered how you’ll safeguard your data from unauthorised access, disclosure, or misuse.

🔙 Back to Table of Contents

💡 Tips:

This tab includes one mandatory (yes/no) question "Is any of your data sensitive? (requiring extra care?)" which must be answered before you can save your RDMP—it applies to all researchers regardless of discipline and to all projects.

If your project does involve data that requires additional consideration beyond standard handling, or if you’re not sure, you will need to complete the short self-assessment questionnaire that follows.

ℹ️ Make sure you check the help (?) icons beside each question for guidance, examples, and links to support resources.

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