Data Management System @ Empa
Empa is introducing openBIS as an Empa wide data management system. OpenBIS is an Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) and Inventory Management System, under active development since 2007 by ETH.
OpenBIS helps researchers at Empa to handle the lifecycle of data from origin to analysis up to archiving and helps to meet the various requirements of funding agencies.
Check our Empa internal page here.
Using openBIS enables reliability and reproducibility of research data through back up and audit trail and thus avoiding data loss, which happens more easily by using paper notebooks. OpenBIS also helps with the accessibility and interoperability of research data by providing digital access from everywhere and easy access to repositories, which is also an important requirement of funding agencies. It strengthens the documentation of research by providing templates and by the digital storage of information and data. This also helps with the requirement of funding agencies for creating data management plans. Handling more and more data is simplified by improved traceability, since all research information is stored within one system in one place. All this also helps in the reusability of research results for new projects and thus in increasing the research output. Last but not least, the simplified archiving process helps to reduce storage costs on expensive storage devices despite the increasing amount of data.