scieee AI-readable full text Open interactive document viewer

Optimising RDM in Collaborative Engineering: A Self-Service, Template-Driven ELN Solution with SharePoint

Opatz, Tim; Feldhoff, Kim; Wiemer, Hajo; Zinner, Martin; Ihlenfeldt, Steffen

Publisher
Zenodo
DOI
10.5281/zenodo.17688149
Repository
zenodo.org
Language
en

Abstract

Efficient research data management is a key challenge in collaborative engineering. Traditionally, manually configuring SharePoint as an electronic lab notebook has been time-consuming and prone to errors. Our solution introduces a self-service approach with predefined templates that reflect typical project structures. Researchers can independently and without IT support create a structured, transparent data environment that dynamically adapts to the project workflow. This approach saves time, reduces mistakes, and ensures consistent, sustainable data spaces. While the initial development of templates requires some investment and there are limitations for highly specialised projects, research teams benefit from noticeable relief in their daily work. Our method transforms SharePoint into a flexible tool for research data management, supporting sustainable and collaborative research.

Full text

Optimising RDM in Collaborative Engineering: A SelfService, Template-Driven ELN Solution with SharePoint •MS SharePoint (SP) widely used in research collaborations •Adaptable as Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) •SP license required •Scalability limited by storage performance •Manual web form input: slow and error-prone 1. Motivation 8. Benefits Open-source ELNs: rarely plug & play extendable 3. State of the Art •Enable template-based creation of SP sites for RDM •Usable without IT expertise (lowcode/no-code) 4. Aim •Setup time for typical project: 1. Proposed method: 5-10 min. 2. Manually in SP: 60-120 min. •Fully compliant with requirements •Ready-to-use ELN for RDM 7. Results •12×faster setup •Automated and scalable workflow •Reduced error rate •Requires only SP server, Node-RED, and SP site ownership (for taxonomy) •Usable without IT expertise Tim Opatz*, Kim Feldhoff* , Hajo Wiemer* , Martin Zinner* , Steffen Ihlenfeldt* *TUD Dresden University of Technology, Institute of Mechatronic Engineering (IMD), Chair of Machine Tool Development and Adaptive Controls (LWM), 01062 Dresden, Germany Acknowledgements: This research was partially funded by the IraSME project "CleanReTurn" (KK5023221KO4) and the German Federal Ministry for Economics and Climate Action (BMWK) projects “LaSt” (20M2118F) and “SWaT” (20M2112F). Special thanks to Bulat Fakhrutdinov (LWM) for implementation insights and providing screen captures. 6th SaxFDM Conference, 20-21 November 2025, Dresden, Germany 2. Challenges Manual adaptation: slow and errorprone, especially for large process chains Overview of all created SP lists (one per process in the process chain) 6. Workflow 5. Solution Concept •Template-based configuration of SP as ELN using predefined SP forms •Node-RED integration for automated setup workflows via user-friendly GUI SP: usable for RDM, but requires IT expertise 9. Limitations Typical process chain in joint engineering research projects Node-RED workflow will be triggered when submitting web form. Web form for configuring SP as ELN (templatebased configuration) A. Researcher opens web browser. B. Researcher fills in web form for adapting SP as ELN. C. Researcher downloads generated ZIP file. D. Researcher unpacks ZIP files and uploads it to Site Assets of SP website.