From Zero to DMP: implementing a localised instance of Data Stewardship Wizard

This FAIRytale depicts a case study that outlines Cardiff University’s experience deploying and customising a local instance of the Data Stewardship Wizard (DSW) to streamline data management planning and foster a unified, FAIR-aligned data culture across disciplines. Starting from institutional mapping exercises that revealed fragmentation in data practices, the project established a DSW-based hierarchy – from UKRI-aligned national sandboxes to institute and school-level custom deployments. The setup leveraged containerisation via Docker and Red Hat OpenStack, and included branding, access controls, and document export customisation using Jinja templates. Further innovations included piloting a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipeline combining DSW with local Large Language Models (LLMs) to pre-fill DMPs from grant text. This approach not only reduces researcher burden but also supports institutional oversight, reusability, and continuous improvement of DMP quality. We share lessons for both technical and strategic stakeholders, highlighting DSW’s potential as both a planning and AI-integrated backend system.