A data management plan will help you to work through how to manage your data. 

• What data will you collect, how will you do it, and how will you analyse the data? You will need to describe methods that you plan to use for these activities and document them using a Data Management Plan.

• It is important to share all the relevant information and annotations about how the data was collected and analysis was performed as this will be important when you come to share your data metadata).
• Revisit the Data Management Plan throughout the project to make any necessary adjustments. Think of this document as something that is evolving and flexible, rather than fixed. 

We provide more guidance on these activities in our data management plan section. In these early stages our protocol development tool will also be valuable.

Funders and publishers will encourage (or even require) you to share your data: 

• Choose a data repository appropriate for your data. Consider funder requirements, as well as the characteristics of your data – for instance, how sensitive are your data? Keep in mind that not all repositories are created equal! 
• Develop a plan for data sharing – this includes sharing with other members of your team, but also potentially with researchers at other institutions.

Consider what is appropriate to share and when you can share it. Can your data be open access or will researchers have to meet a specific set of criteria in order to access it