Process Management Plans

In the era of research infrastructures and big data, sophisticated data management practices are becoming essential building blocks of successful science. Most practices follow a data-centric approach, which does not take into account the processes that created, analysed and presented the data. This fact limits the possibilities for reliable verification of results. Furthermore, it does not guarantee the reuse of research, which is one of the key aspects of credible data-driven science. For that reason, we propose the introduction of the new concept of Process Management Plans, which focus on the identification, description, sharing and preservation of the entire scientific processes. They enable verification and later reuse of result data and processes of scientific experiments. In this paper we describe the structure and explain the novelty of Process Management Plans by showing in what way they complement existing Data Management Plans. We also highlight key differences, major advantages, as well as references to tools and solutions that can facilitate the introduction of Process Management Plans.