BExIS++ - Modularization and Scalability of the BExIS Experiment Data Management Platform for Ecosystem Research - Phase 2

• Applicants: Dr. Jens Kattge; Professorin Dr. Birgitta König-Ries; Dr. Jens Nieschulze; Professorin Dr. Christiane Schmullius; Dr. Ulrich Schwardmann; Professor Dr. Wolfgang W. Weisser
• Subject Area: Evolution and Systematics of Plants and Fungi ; Ecology and Biodiversity of Plants and Ecosystems ; Organismic Interactions, Chemical Ecology and Microbiomes of Plant Systems
• Term: from 2011 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 189571761

In Biodiversity and Ecosystem science large-scale projects typically organize sustainable research data management as a central cross-cutting task to relieve and support individual researchers. A successful strategy here is to establish a centralized data management platform (supplemented by support for individuals) covering all aspects of data management, i.e. data collection, documentation, quality assurance, data publication and long-term archiving. The overall objective of BExIS++ is the development and sustainable provision of a modularized and easy to instantiate data management system for biodiversity research and the ecosystem domain in general. Beyond the technical development of the platform another aim is to provide consultancy and training on research data management at the universities involved. In the first phase of the project the BExIS platform, which was originally developed for the Priority Program Biodiversity Exploratories (SPP 1374), has been completely redesigned and refactored to meet modern software standards. The result is a versatile and extensible core system for a broad range of users. In the second phase of the project, the system¿s capabilities are significantly extended based on requirements of the existing user community, including the improvement of the system¿s user-friendliness. New features are added in the areas of security, data import, data publication, interoperability and scalability. With these developments the system¿s technological sustainability is ensured. The number of projects using the system was expanded significantly in recent years and now BExIS++ Folgeantrag - Teil A includes users of the original BExIS platform (including SFB 1374 FOR 456/1451, FOR 1246, SFB 990, GRK 1086), as well as first users of the new BExIS 2 platform (Research Center iDiv, SFB Aqua Diva, GFBio). Another objective for the second phase of the project is to develop a migration strategy from BExIS to BExIS 2. In addition, annual community workshops are planned to expand the user and developer community. The aim is to encourage external groups and contributors to participate in the development process of BExIS 2 and thus establish a sustainable environment for developing and using the platform.

• DFG Programme: Research data and software (Scientific Library Services and Information Systems)
• Co-Investigator: Professor Dr. Harald Ziegler