#  FurnIT-SAVER project introduction

The traditional nature of the furniture industry and the limited incorporation
of ICT tools have reduced the ability of SMEs in the sector to innovate and
respond to the competition coming from larger companies. These specialised
furniture shops and small furniture manufacturers have been unable to compete
with the economies of scale advantages that larger furniture retailers can
offer.

On the other hand, smaller furniture companies can offer higher levels of
personalization and quality of customized goods that truly meet customers'
preferences and needs which represents a potential competitive advantage over
larger furniture providers. Nevertheless, as it is impossible to envisage how
the furniture will look and fit into the customers home, customised furniture
also bears an expensive risk if the final piece of furniture does not meet the
customer's needs or does not complement other furniture. Furthermore, these
customised services are predominantly provided on a face-to-face basis in
local and fragmented markets which prevents small manufacturers to benefit
from ecommerce growth and limit their international reach.

The FURNIT-SAVER project makes use of innovative ICT solutions based on a
combination of Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR/AR) technologies,
recommendation engines and ecommerce solutions, to produce a smart marketplace
for furniture customisation. Customers will be able to select among an
extensive furniture catalogue and properties and virtually try the selected
pieces in their rooms with three very simple steps: (1) Creating an accurate
3D virtual representation of their place, (2) Trying furniture of different
manufacturers in this virtual scenario and get recommendations according to
their preferences of a wide range of properties and pieces, and (3)
Visualizing the fit of the chosen products in their place using augmented
reality.

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3

#  Scope of the document

FurnIT-SAVER project is participating in the Horizon2020 Open Research Data
Pilot. As such, this Data Management Plan is produced to provide an analysis
of the main elements of the data management policy that will be used by the
partners with regard to all the datasets that will be generated or collected
by the project. This analysis includes an identification of the type of data
the project will generate or collect (type and purpose) as well as an outline
of how this data will be handled during the lifespan of the project and after
it is completed. This will have to be done without compromising any
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and commercial plans of the participants.

This document will be updated during the project in order to clearly identify
the data that will be shared, the channels through which this data will be
made available to thirds parties and the access regimes that are foreseen.

This document has been created following the _Guidelines on Data Management in
Horizon 2020_ issued by the DG Research and Innovation of the European
Commission (version 2.0 from October 30th 2015) and with the support of online
tools such as the DMP online web from the Digital Curation Centre in UK
(http://dmponline.dcc.ac.uk).

#  Type of data the project generates/collects

The work detailed in the proposal can be anticipated to produce or collect
three broad categories of data: subjective test data, computer software and
digital models. The subjective test category includes analyzed data from
market survey carried out for user requirements definition (WP1) and feedback
forms and video recordings from beta testers during the validation phase
(WP4). The computer software category consists of mobile and web applications
and services including the different modules of the FurnIT-SAVER platform (WP2
and WP3). The digital models category includes the digital furniture pieces
provided by the partners and other stakeholders in order to populate the
platform with real available furniture products (WP3 and WP4).

The following table details the type of data generated or collected during the
project, its type and estimated expected size:  
  
<table>  
<tr>  
<th>

**Project phase (WP)**

</th>  
<th>

**Specification of type of research data**

</th>  
<th>

**Software choice**

</th>  
<th>

**Indicative data size**

</th> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

User Requirements definition (WP1)

</td>  
<td>

Online anonymous survey to potential users

</td>  
<td>

Word/Excel/Acrobat

</td>  
<td>

10MB

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

Video files for functional simulation

</td>  
<td>

Webex/Powtoon

</td>  
<td>

20MB

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

System Development,

Integration and Testing (WP3)

</td>  
<td>

FurnIT-SAVER platform

</td>  
<td>

Various programming languages

</td>  
<td>

N/A

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

**Project phase (WP)**

</td>  
<td>

**Specification of type of research data**

</td>  
<td>

**Software choice**

</td>  
<td>

**Indicative data size**

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

System Validation (WP4)

</td>  
<td>

Anonymized user information and preferences

</td>  
<td>

Web

</td>  
<td>

10MB

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

2D/3D furniture models

</td>  
<td>

2D/3D modelling software

</td>  
<td>

1GB

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

Semi-structured interviews and Focus groups

</td>  
<td>

Word/Video

</td>  
<td>

2GB

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

Project management and dissemination (WP5,WP6)

</td>  
<td>

Deliverables and other public documentation

</td>  
<td>

Word/Acrobat

</td>  
<td>

50MB

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

High quality project video

</td>  
<td>

Multimedia software

</td>  
<td>

250-500MB

</td> </tr> </table>

The research objectives of the project require qualitative data that are not
available from other sources. Some data exist that can be used to situate the
findings of the proposed research and which will supplement data collected as
part of the proposed research. Nevertheless, in their current form, they would
not permit to properly address the research questions. Therefore, additional
activities are organised in relevant work packages to collect the required
data. This activities includes the organisation of online surveys, semi-
structured interviews with individuals and focus group.

  * Online surveys: Close to 200 people participated in an online survey to collect feedback about the project concept and functional requirements. This information has been included as part of D1.1. 

  

  * Semi-structured interviews with individuals: The consortium anticipates undertaking 25-50 semi-structured interviews in Spain and Slovenia with individual users and furniture experts. Data will be collected and stored using digital audio/video recordind (e.g. MP3) where the intervewers permit. In case they do not, interviews will be undertaken in pairsl to enable detailed note-taking. Interviews notes will be typed up according to agreed formats and standards. 

  

  * Focus group discussions matched to profiles: The sample frame for the focus group parcitipants will be derived from public data such as market studies and qualitative data from the project (i.e. online surveys). The final number of focus groups will depend on geographical and other vatriations in patterns; how quickly a robust pattern of findings emerges, and the scope for identifying and convening the appropiate groups. Thether recorded or not, the event will be transcribed or documented using agreed formats and standards for handling the issus of multiple voices, interruptions, labelling of participatory and visual activities, and so on. 

  

#  Roles and use of the data

The following table shows who is responsible of collecting each type of data
and who is using or analysing it.  
  
<table>  
<tr>  
<th>

**Type of research data**

</th>  
<th>

**Who is providing the data**

</th>  
<th>

**Who is using/analysing the data**

</th> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

Online surveys

</td>  
<td>

All partners in the project will be involved in the organisation of online
surveys for user requirements definition

</td>  
<td>

CENFIM to lead the user requirements definition. WIC and the pilot
coordinators to shape their business cases and pilot scenarios. ACS and
Eurecat as a feedback for the platform definition.

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

Video files for functional simulation

</td>  
<td>

CENFIM and Eurecat will elaborate a set of materials to simulate the
functioning of the platform.

</td>  
<td>

This resources will be used by all partners to support surveys and interviews.

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

FurnIT-SAVER platform

</td>  
<td>

ACS and Eurecat are in charge of the platform development (WP3)

</td>  
<td>

The platform will be used by pilot coordinators to validate the project
concept and business hypothesis.

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

Anomymized user information and preferences

</td>  
<td>

ACS will elaborate a user quiz to be filled by users of the platform following
industrial partners guidance.

</td>  
<td>

This information will be mainly used by Eurecat for the implementation of the
recommender.

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

2D/3D furniture models

</td>  
<td>

GONZAGA, WWING, CENFIM, WIC

will gather this data from the furniture manufacturers.

</td>  
<td>

This data represent the main asset of the platform and will be used by ACS and
Eurecat in the different modules of the platform.

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

Semi-structured interviews and Focus groups

</td>  
<td>

The pilot coordinators will gather this information: WWING, CENFIM, GONZAGA,
WIC.

</td>  
<td>

This information will be analysed in order to compare the platform functions
against the user requirements and validate business hypothesis.

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

Deliverables and other public documentation

</td>  
<td>

All partners are involved in the production of such data

</td>  
<td>

This data will be used as evidence of the work done and effort invested as
well as for dissemination

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

High quality project video

</td>  
<td>

CENFIM will lead the elaboration of a project video

</td>  
<td>

This video will be used as a representation of the work done in validation and
for dissemination.

</td> </tr> </table>

#  Exploitation and sharing of data

The results of the research performed under this project will be disseminated
primarily through public publication of deliverables and conference
presentations. The documentation will be available to interested parties upon
request, and will be transmitted electronically via e-mail. On the other hand,
all the computer software generated represents the main exploitable results of
the project and hence its source code will not made public as it would
compromise the IPR and commercial plans of the participants. Furniture
manufacturers are the sole owners of the furniture models provided and hence
these will be stored with limited access by other manufacturers participating
in the pilot phase and third parties out of the consortium but only its
representation in the web will be available for use in validation.

The consortium has identified one relevant document deeming higher degree of
dissemination for its relevance to the sector and potential further research
in ICT technologies applied to traditional business sectors, that is the _D5.4
FurnIT-SAVER White Paper_ . The consortium will search for relevant open
access repositories, relevant resources databases and in general available
dissemination channels to widely make it available and increase its impact.
All other produced data and information will be self-archive and preserved
according to the details provided in the following section.

#  Archiving and preservation (including storage and backup)

To ensure the safety of the data, the involved participants will use available
local file servers to periodically create backups of the relevant materials.

A Structured Query Language (SQL) databases will be created to locally store
the back end digital information as part of the computer software and models
category according to the defined database structure of Section 5 of _D2.1
System Architecture_ document.

Additionally, all other relevant documentation created during the project such
as deliverables or ancillary will be self-archive and preserved in the
collaboration tool made available for the project coordinator to the project,
called PROCEMM.

PROCEMM is an open source internet-enabled system with project management
applications that acts as information repository. In FurnIT-SAVER project this
tool is used for document management and project control. The tool is used as
a website with restricted user access for confidentiality reasons. Therefore,
the public documentation and other information declared public by the
consortium will be stored and available upon request in this tool.

Access to PROCEMM

in the project webs

ite

Figure 1 FurnIT-SAVER project website. Access to project repository
highlighted.

All of the research data and material will be in place for at least the 5
years prescribed by the European Commission audit services, as well as the
foreseeable future following that according to the agreements reached by the
consortium by the end of the project. The costs associated to PROCEMM
maintenance and the external hosting of the project website will be assume by
the project coordinator either during and after the lifespan of the project.