PNNL

Abstract

Structured Scientific Data Management – the management of storage, access, usage, lifecycle, content and meaning for scientific data – is not as commonly employed in computational science as it is in other fields of scientific endeavor. However, where it has been co-developed and integrated with the computational science research it has had a transformational influence on the scientific work. These infrastructures enabled not only new research previously impossible, but also helped to speed up the research process and improved the quality of the research output. Good data management systems are capable of facilitating effective scientific collaborations on a group, institutional, national or international level, through the easy sharing of resources and results. Today as computational science is becoming more data rich and collaborative, integrated scientific data management is becoming an essential tool for every computational science research and production environment. This chapter will describe the fundamental principles and components of a good data management system, provide real world examples of successful implementations and provides an outlook on future developments. We conclude with a short section on how to get started for those whose interest has been peaked by this chapter