Not only is such an assessment necessary for evaluating GDPR compliance, it is also important in determining the adequate security measures needed for the data, such as which storage option to use.
Different types of data require different security and storage measures.
The data classification tool will help assess the risks associated with research data and provide feedback on what measures need to be undertaken to protect the data. The tool assesses the three risk categories i.e., Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability, by asking whether certain conditions apply to the data. Each category has an "i" which provides for more explanation on each condition.
The first category (Confidentiality) is relevant to privacy or other secret data that needs to be kept confidential. The other two categories (Integrity and Availability) relate to the impacts of data losses, inappropriate alterations and altered or corruption. Once all relevant boxes under each category have been checked, a tile will be highlighted. This tile contains further details about the data related risks and describes the steps that should be taken.
You can save the results of the risk assessment by pressing the "Export" button. This will produce a PDF, including the links. The result you get is not a formal data classification, although it will be sufficient for many projects with low risks.
The information from the assessment can be used for Data Management Plans (DMPs), Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) or full (formal) classification.
Note that because the risks may vary for different types of data, you should repeat this process for each type of data you will use in your research. For example, a research project with multiple datasets, will require numerous risk assessments.