#  1 Abstract

MARCO is part of the Horizon 2020 Open Research Data Pilot, the Pilot project
of the European Commission which aims to improve and maximise access to and
reuse of research data generated by projects.

The Data Management Plan (DMP) of MARCO describes the life cycle of all data
collected and processed in MARCO. The DMP is one of the starting points for
the discussion with the community about the MARCO data management strategy and
reflects the procedures planned by the related work packages that conduct
survey/interview/focus groups.

The elements listed in this document have been also presented in the Project
Quality Plan, deliverable released at the beginning of the project, accessible
to all project members via the shared workspace (MARCO ECCP).

**2 Open access to publications**

MARCO will make all its public deliverables available on the project website:
_http://marco-h2020.eu/_

#  3 Data set description

In order to achieve the project objectives, a characterisation of users’ needs
on climate services is required, through a qualitative research, namely
through questionnaires and extensive surveys.

On the one hand, the analysis of users’ needs for climate services includes
public and private organisations and individuals.

On the other hand, this action aims at gaining a deep understanding of the
needs of users of climate services, the main purchase drivers, and the
decision-making process that will trigger a shift from ‘make’ to ‘buy’
inducing a market growth by externalisation.

The questionnaire/interview will include closed and open questions, and will
be designed for the project Working Package on Climate Service Providers (WP3)
or Potential & Actual Demand (WP4), to facilitate the gap analysis; it will be
reviewed by the partners and Advisory Expert Committee (a group of 7 experts
in different sections of the climate services sector). A large number or
specific interviews will be conducted for the study cases in WP5.

The widespread online survey reaches a wide audience geographically dispersed
(reached via the ClimateKIC network, the MARCO Stakeholder Network and the
partners’ own network). It will target both current customers and potential
ones (who may currently be users of weather services for instance). The
results from the online survey will then feed into the stakeholder analysis
that will finally be able to identify the users and related applications with
greater market potential.

#  4 Protocols for surveys and interviews

##  MARCO Survey Data

The survey data will be anonymized so that personal identification will not be
possible; it will then be analysed and the results will be integrated in the
project reports. As most of the deliverables are public, they will be
accessible via the project official website. Survey participants’ answers will
be treated confidentially so that personal identification will not be
possible.

It should be noted that the surveys created for the relevant WPs do not
require personal data.

##  MARCO Interview Data

Interviews can be audio recorded and transcribed on a case by case basis. The
partners who follow this audio recording and/or transcription will employ the
line of action described below for MARCO specific interviews. In most cases,
an analysis of content will be performed.

If interview recordings/transcripts will be realised, they will not be made
open access, as the consortium cannot guarantee anonymity to the interviewees
if full transcripts are published. Some interviews might be carried out in
national languages, making it rather easy to identify the national background
of the persons interviewed and, possibly, to identify the person herself. This
risk is plausible, since the persons interviewed are experts from a certain
field, so it is likely that interviews could at least be traced back to
certain institutions. Due to such conditions, publishing
recordings/transcripts could discourage interviewees from openly talking to
the consortium, which certainly would affect the research.

##  MARCO workshop data

Workshops will be organized to engage the sector’s stakeholders, to understand
the stakeholders’ needs and expectations. Workshop group reflections could be
recorded as a matter of convenience for analysis. Audio records will not be
made open access.

#  5 Processing operations

The data on survey participants will be processed and be used to organise
interviews, focus group discussions and workshops, provided that each
participant accepted the conditions through a consent form signed before the
interview/focus group/workshop participation. This consent is available in the
Project Quality Plan.

Research partners will process the participants' personal data in compliance
with the relevant personal data protection laws. Moreover, each partner must
respect the specificities of its own national laws on the protection of
personal data. Individual research participants will be recruited through
relevant organisations that research partners will use.

Research partners will participate in:

  * one-on-one interviews, which may be recorded; 

  

  * focus group discussion; 

  

  * collaborative workshops; 

  

  * and surveys, which are be conducted online or live, during conferences using the survey form, by the MARCO members. 

  

The collected data will be in general organisation based (type of
organisation, number of employees, department – optional – and country).

In the case transcripts are produced, the organisation conducting these
interviews will give the participants the opportunity to review the
transcripts and content analyses of their interviews. Upon request from one of
the consortium members, the transcripts will be stored electronically on the
project secured server (MARCO ECCP – Electronic Content Collaboration
Platform), in a data repository which will only be accessible for project team
members directly engaged in the corresponding research work.

The creation of, and the access to this data repository are facilitated by
LGI.

#  6 Data Sharing

Data will only be used for MARCO project, and will not further be used for
other purposes, unless survey participants explicitly agree. Requesting such
explicit agreement may make sense if follow-up actions and developments after
the project end are anticipated, for instance through a future CS market
observatory. The survey participants may withdraw any time they wish from the
study and the information that they provided will be deleted upon request.
They also have the right to refuse the use of their personal data.

#  7 Archiving and preservation (including storage and backup)

If personal data is required, it will be maintained securely on the servers of
the organisations participating in MARCO project, which can only be accessible
by the MARCO researchers. Once the project has been completed, personal data
of research participants and recordings will be retained for a period of seven
years after the closure of the study on the servers.