© Preservica 2014

A Guide to Making the Business Case for

Digital Preservation

© Preservica 2014

Objective of this Guide

• To help anyone who wants to make a business case for

Digital Preservation in their organization:

– A business case template with example headings and content

– A contents guide to some of the best practice rationale and

statements for Digital Preservation

– A Digital Value at Risk (D-VAR) Calculator that can be used to

demonstrate the degree of risk and potential impact of digital

information loss

© Preservica 2014

References & Sources

• This document is based on Tessella’ experience in the Digital

Preservation field, plus information from the following sources:

Open Planets Foundations

(OPF)

SPRUCE Business Case for

Digital Preservation

Practical Digital Preservation,

by Adrian Brown

(Facet Publishing, May 2013, ISBN 978-1-85604-755-5)

Digital Archiving In Ireland,

By Aileen O’Carroll & Sharon

Webb, 2012

© Preservica 2014

How to use this Guide

• Business Case Template – A boilerplate guide for a 10-20 page business case document

– Select the headings and content that are relevant to your organization

• Contents Guide – Examples of business drivers, types of information that require digital

preservation, expected benefits, etc.

– Select the content that is relevant to your organization

• D-VAR Calculator – Enter the types of digital information that are particular to your organization

– Complete the Risk Factors and Consequences (from drop down menus)

– Generate a profile of the degree of risk and potential impact of digital information loss

© Preservica 2014

Executive Summary

• Objectives • Business Drivers & information

which requires Digital Preservation • Expected Benefits

Introduction

Project

Appendices

• Solution Description • Resources & Investment Plan • Success Measurement

• A: D-VAR Calculator • B: Risks Assessment • C: Options Assessment • D: Stakeholder Analysis • E: Training Plan

• Position Statement • Background • Recommendation

Business Case Template

Section Content Typical Length

1-2 Pages

2-4 Pages

2-4 Pages

5-10 Pages

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Position Statement • Your organizations strategic priorities and policies

• How Digital Preservation specifically supports your:

– Organizational Strategy, Risk Management Policy, Information Security Policy, Records

Management & Data Protection Policy, Research Strategy

• Your objectives and business drivers for Digital Preservation

• Expected benefits (aligned to strategic priorities) and ROI from Digital Preservation

Background • A definition of Digital Preservation (see next slide)

• Your information assets that need to be preserved, and their value

• Your key stakeholders and their priorities

• Options for digital preservation

Recommendation • Business options, risks, costs, investment

• Project timescales, deliverables, roles & responsibilities

• Your key recommendation

Executive Summary Executive Summary

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Definition of Digital Preservation

• Digital Preservation is concerned with providing long-term access to

digital objects, preserving continuity in form as well as functionality

• It is not simply a back-up of data, because long-term digital

preservation must consider format, software and hardware

obsolescence, among other issues

• Although it is possible for anyone to read a page from a book

written 100 years ago, the same is not true of (for example) a floppy

disk containing WordPerfect files from twenty years ago

Executive Summary

© Preservica 2014

• Select the appropriate objectives (examples below) that describes why your organization requires

a Digital Preservation strategy:

– Take urgent action to safeguard our most valuable digital information

– Meet our legal and regulatory responsibilities (e.g. for data protection and freedom of

information)

– Ensure that access to our digital resources is maintained, preserving both business

information and records of permanent historical value for future users

– Ensure that processes are implemented across our organization to ensure that newly created

information adheres to digital preservation standards

– Safeguard our investment in the creation and maintenance of digital resources, enabling full

benefits realization and avoiding waste expenditure in the future (e.g. on expensive digital

archaeology)

– Provide input to other information-related projects to ensure that digital preservation issues

are considered in their planning, thus avoiding or reducing further costs

– Support and underpin all our programmes and projects which create or receive material in

digital form by ensuring that access to it can be guaranteed for as long as it is needed

– Contribute to the reduction of data storage costs by using the most efficient archival storage

technologies

Source: Practical Digital Preservation, Adrian Brown

Objectives Introduction

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Business Drivers

• Select the appropriate business drivers for your organization:

Source: Practical Digital Preservation, Adrian Brown

Business Driver Benefit

Collection development Organize digital content as an institutional asset

Corporate memory Maintain accumulated knowledge of the institution

User access Ensure access to specific users over long term

Information re-use Enable re-purposing and added-value use of digital data

Reputational protection Safeguard institution’s standing in the community

Legal & regulatory

compliance

Comply with freedom of information, privacy, financial, health &

safety, etc.

Business continuity Eliminate data loss leading to catastrophic business disruption

Efficiencies & savings Support a streamlined information management strategy

Protecting investment Safeguard against commercial loss of digital content

Supporting digital ways of

working

Future-proof and enable on-line only ways of working with staff,

customers and partners

Introduction

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Information requiring Digital Preservation

• Select the types of information that requires long term digital preservation:

Introduction

Department Examples

Democratic Processes Council & Committee Meetings

Management & Administration Corporate Planning, Enquiries & Complaints

Client Services Child Protection, Special Education, Adult Care, Housing

Statutory Services Births, Deaths & Marriage, Coroners

Legal & Contracts Tenders, Major Litigation

General Public Services Health & Safety, Emergency Planning, Major Incidents

Planning Infrastructure & Transport Planning Scheme Development, Waste Management

Human Resources Personnel & Administration, Occupational Health

Financial Management Accounts & Audit, Property History, Summary Assets Mgmt

Local History & Records Maps, Census Results, Heritage Collections

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Categories of Digital Content

• Select the categories of digital content that are important to your

organization:

– Electronic text documents (transcripts, essays, diaries, theses, journal articles,

books, journals, reports, learning resources)

– Digitised images of analogue manuscripts, paintings, archival documents,

newspaper clippings, printed ephemera

– Photographs (including born-digital and digitised copies of prints and film

negatives), some of which are historical and some contemporary, created in the

research process or to document installations and other artworks

– Webpages, e-mails, social media, podcasts

– Moving images (including material produced for broadcast, home videos, born-

digital and digitised copies of film and VHS, some including subtitles) Interview

and focus group audio files, home recordings

– Radio programmes (born-digital and digitised copies of analogue radio, cassette

tapes, records and cylinders)

– Geospatial surveys, 3D documentation of objects, maps, architectural plans

Introduction

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Expected Benefits of Digital Preservation

Generic Benefit Examples

Financial savings • Efficiency gains by moving from paper to digital storage

• Defence from future legal challenge (Statute of Limitations)

Increased operational efficiency • Reduction in effort in accessing & disseminating information

• Elimination of expensive information retrieval & reconstitution

Ability to meet stakeholders need for access to

information

• Promotion of collection/policies/records to wider audience

• Supports online archive strategy for digital world

Meeting statutory & legal requirements • Conformance with Public Records Act 1958, 1967, Local

Government Act 1972

• Compliance with Freedom of Information Act 2000

Better decision making • Access to digital records supports future policy formation

• Analysis of archived R&D data with new emerging tools &

techniques

Source of evidence and reliable data • Evidential value of key records (e.g. contract awards, policy &

planning decisions)

Potential for income generation and new service

models

• Developing on-line revenue streams, digitisation services

• Supporting R&D grant applications

Efficient management of archival & physical space • Enabling Libraries & Archives to appraise collections as received

• Control access in managed digital environment

Enhanced reputation • Systematic digital preservation supports institutional excellence

• Recognition as innovative, at forefront of digitisation

Introduction

• Select the appropriate benefits to your organization:

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Expected Benefits: Aligned with

Organizational Priorities & Policies

Benefit Organizational Priority and Policy

Financial savings • Your Policy

Increased operational efficiency • Your Policy

Ability to meet stakeholders need for access to information • Your Policy

Meeting statutory & legal requirements • Your Policy

Better decision making • Your Policy

Source of evidence and reliable data • Your Policy

Potential for income generation and new service models • Your Policy

Efficient management of archival & physical space • Your Policy

Enhanced reputation • Your Policy

Introduction

• Align the appropriate benefits to a specific priority and/or policy within your

organization:

© Preservica 2014

Solution Description

Preservica conforms to the OAIS digital archiving standard (ISO 14721:2003)

and provides all the tools required to build a long-term Digital Preservation

solution including:

.

.

.

Project

Preservica Capability

Ingest Upload digital content and metadata from a variety of content sources into Preservica using a fully quality-assured process.

Content Storage Content storage – protect and store digital objects in a safe, backed-up location, and continually check they are safe and accessible

Flexible Metadata and Security Choose the way content is arranged, described, and protected

Access Full search, browse, and download facilities via browser interface

Preservation Tools Ensure that content is protected against future obsolescence

© Preservica 2014

Resources & Investment Plan

• Resources Plan – Staff availability for training

– Assigned staff (e.g. Records Processor / Digital Archivist)

– Identified content ready to ingest

– Defined policy and processes

– Governance model

– Defined roles and responsibilities

• Investment Plan – Annual Preservica Fee (available from Tessella)

– Training costs (available from Tessella)

– Advanced support (optional - available from Tessella)

– Digital Preservation training for staff (optional - available from Tessella)

– Staff costs for developing policy and procedures

– Staff costs for management and administration

– Bandwidth capacity for transfer to the cloud (Infrastructure)

– Preservica workstation for staging & appraising content (optional)

Project

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Success Measurement Project

Success Criteria

An affordable, flexible and scalable digital preservation solutions is implemented to enable persistent

access to the organization’s current digital resources and those that will be created in future years*

Content owners can deposit historically significant data for preservation easily, and users can access

archived data effectively*

Users trust the organization’s preserved digital assets as being authentic and reliable*

Organizational change is managed and staff are supported as they develop new skills in creating,

managing and accessing digital resources*

Public access to digital records concerning issues of concern to them, and having their rights under

Freedom of Information and Data Protection fully met

Local communities, businesses, individuals, voluntary organisation, schools and public bodies willingly

transferring their digital records to (name of organizations archive) safe in the knowledge they will be

preserved and made available for legal, business and historical enquiries

• Select the measurements of success (examples below) which are

appropriate to you organization:

* Source: Practical Digital Preservation, Adrian Brown

© Preservica 2014

Digital Value at Risk (D-VAR) Calculator Appendix A

Step 1: Complete the Risk Matrix • Enter the types of digital information that are

particular to your organization

• Complete the Risk Factors and

Consequences (from drop down menus)

Step 2: Generate a Profile • Shows for each type of digital

information the degree of risk of

digital loss and impact

• Determine your level of acceptable

vs. unacceptable risk

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Risks Assessment

• Risks Assessment (to follow)

Appendix B

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Options Assessment – Do vs. Don’t

Options Risk

Do nothing (i.e. stay the same) • Loss of part of organizations digital assets

• Financial penalties for failure to comply with

legal/regulatory requirements

• Costs arising from claims which lack legally-

admissible evidence

Do the minimum (e.g. internal

data storage systems)

• No guarantee of active, digital preservation

• Requirement to develop in-house expertise with

uncertain cost/benefit, single point of failure

Postpone action (e.g. by a few

years)

• Jeopardize the move towards digital-only

working

• Increase in digital-only records will make

transition significantly more difficult and

expensive

Do what is proposed (e.g. use a

digital preservation solution)

• (See Expected Benefits)

Appendix C

• The following statements can be used for positioning strategic options:

© Preservica 2014

Options Assessment – Build vs. Buy

Assessment

Criteria

Open Source/Build Your Own Preservica

Technology • Digital storage systems are not robust

and degrade or become unusable as

technology evolves

• Digital field changes rapidly, which

creates difficulties in maintaining

technical infrastructures over time

• Specifically designed to the OAIS digital

archiving standard (ISO 14721:2003)

• Built on the Tessella SDB platform which

has been selected and proven by leading

archives and libraries in 7 countries

across 3 continents

People • Requires specialized technical resources

and systems skills (either in house or

contracted) for long term

• No need for specialist system skills

• Tessella pools expertise from the world’s

leading archives, libraries and academic

institutions to provide a professional

service built on the latest research

Processes

• Digital formats change and become

inaccessible

• Digital objects are harder to preserve

than physical objects

• Information is protected within a highly-

secure data centre

• Uses Digital Preservation expertise to

manage the risk of format obsolescence

Change Management • Absence of clear guidelines leads to ad

hoc and erratic preservation decisions

• Full back-up programme

• Digital preservation specialists ensure

that the collection is protected from the

risks of digital decay

Investment • Projects often based on short-term

funding

• No need for up-front purchase of

expensive storage and processing

systems

• Only pay for the storage you consume

• Increase your computer resources as and

when required

Appendix C

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Stakeholder Analysis - Roles

Appendix D

• The following are typical stakeholders in a digital preservation system: – Leader of the Council

– Head of Directorate or Section

– Council Members

– IT Director

– Library Services

– Archives & Heritage Service

– Head of Central Library

– Archives & Heritage Manager

– Depositors

– Friends Groups

– Members of the Public

© Preservica 2014

Stakeholder – Interest & Stake

Stakeholder Interest/Stake Leader of the Council Overall budget holder and decision maker

Head of Directorate/Section Has responsibility for how budget is allocated and overall responsibility for legislative/information compliance

Council Members Interested in meeting the needs of the electorate and budgetary considerations

IT support staff Likely to see preservation strategies as encroaching on their territory. Are responsible for providing hardware,

software, server space etc.

Head of Library Service Responsibilities for departmental budgets and ensuring the service delivers on its core values. Responsible for

policy-making.

Head of Central Library Responsible for allocating resources and ensuring delivery of core values. Responsible for ensuring consistent

approach to digital preservation and writing and implementation policy.

Archives and Heritage

Manager Responsibility for writing and implementing policy and providing staff training and opportunities.

Depositors Owners of assets. Will need assurance that assets are managed securely, effectively and according to the terms

of deposit.

Friends groups Users of collections - will need assurance that assets and collections are available.

Archives and Heritage Staff Responsible for delivering the services. Expected to create, preserve and make available assets. Will require

appropriate training and guidance in order to deliver the same to staff and public.

Library and Archives Staff Responsible for delivering the services. Expected to create, preserve and make available assets. Will require

appropriate training and guidance.

Users

Users of collections - will need assurance that assets and collections are available. Should be represented in the

collections in a non-discriminatory way. As tax payers provide funding for the service - require value for money.

Non-users Should be given the opportunity to be aware of collections. Should be represented in the collections in a non-

discriminatory way. As tax payers provide funding for the service - require value for money.

Appendix D

© Preservica 2014

Training Plan

• Overview of Preservica-

description of main functions and

an overview of the workflow

management screen

• SIP Creator tool

• Tutorial on the SIP Creator

• Structure of a SIP and explanation

of XIP

• Adding custom metadata

• How to create and submit a SIP to

Preservica

• Exercise: Create and submit

sample content

• Ingest

• Detailed description of the

workflow management dashboard

• Description of available workflows

• Creating instances of workflows

• Execution of workflows

• Exercise: Selection and ingestion

of a SIP

• Access

• Searching and browsing

• Viewing and editing metadata

• Amending structure

• Invocation of Data Management

Workflows

• Preservation

• Development of a preservation

plan

• Execution of a plan

• Exercise: Creation and execution

of a preservation plan

• Data Management

• Description of available workflows

• Administration

• Overview of administration

functions

• Description of schema/

transformations management

framework

• Overview of security model - roles

and access permissions

• Storage

• Overview of integrity checking

workflows

• User Management

• Overview of creating / removing

users

• Overview of modifying user roles

and access rights

Appendix E