A Guide to Making theBusiness Casefor Digital Preservation
August 2018

Objective of this Guide•

To help practitioners and other stakeholders make a compelling business case fordigital preservation capabilities in their organization:– A business case template with example headings and content– A contents guide to some of the best practice rationale and statements forDigital Preservation– A Digital Value at Risk (DVAR) Calculator that can be used to demonstrate thedegree of risk and potential impact of digital information loss

How to use this Guide•

Business Case Template––•

Contents Guide––•A boilerplate guide for business case document (10-20 pages)
Select the headings and content that are relevant to your organization

Examples of business drivers, types of information that require digital preservation, expected
benefits, etc.
Select the content that is relevant to your organization

Digital Value at Risk Calculator–––

Identify 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

Business Case TemplateContentSection

Typical Length

ExecutiveSummary•••

Position Statement
BackgroundRecommendation

1-2 Pages

Introduction•••Objectives
Business Drivers & Long-Term Information
Expected Benefits

2-4 Pages

Program•••

Solution Description
Resources & Investment Plan
Success Measurement

Appendices

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A: DVAR Calculator
B: Risks Assessment
C: Options Assessment
D: Stakeholder Analysis
E: Training Plan

2-4 Pages
5-10 Pages

Executive Summary
Position Statement••••

Your organization's strategic priorities and operational policies
How digital preservation specifically supports your organization’s Strategy, Risk Management Policy,
Information Security Policy, Records Management Rules, Data Protection Policy, Research & Development
Your objectives and business drivers for digital preservation capabilities
Expected benefits (aligned to strategic and operational priorities) and ROI

Background••••A definition of digital preservation (see next slide)
Information assets that need to be preserved and their value
Key stakeholders and their priorities
Options for ensuring integrity, authenticity, usability and searchability of long-term assets

Recommendation•••

ExecutiveSummaryBusiness options, risks, costs and investments
Timelines, deliverables, roles & responsibilities
Your key recommendation

Definition of Long-Term Digital Preservation

ExecutiveIntroduction
Summary•

Digital Preservation is concerned with providing long-term access to digital objects,preserving continuity in form as well as functionality•

The ISO 14721:2012 Standard defines long-term as “long enough to be concerned with theimpacts of changing technologies, including support for new media and data formats, orwith a changing user community. Long term may extend indefinitely.”•Longevity of digital information is not simply a back-up of data, because long-term digitalpreservation must consider format, software and hardware obsolescence, among otherissues

Objectives

Introduction

Select objectives that best describe why your organization requires digital preservation capabilities:––––––––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 recordsof 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 operations which create or receive material in digital form by ensuring thataccess 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

Business Drivers

Introduction

Select the most appropriate business drivers for your organization:
Business Driver

BenefitCollection development

Organize digital content as an organizational asset

Corporate memory

Maintain accumulated knowledge of the organization

User access

Ensure retrievability and access for specific users over long periods of time

Information re-use

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

Reputational protection

Safeguard organization’s standing in the community

Legal & regulatory compliance

Comply with information access, privacy, financial, health & safety requirements

Business continuity

Eliminate data loss leading to catastrophic business disruption

Efficiencies & savings

Support a streamlined information governance strategy

Protects investment

Safeguard against commercial loss of digital content and intellectual property

Support digital ways of working

Future-proof and enable on-line ways of working between staff, customers and partners

Information Requiring Digital Preservation

Introduction

Select the types of information that require long term digital preservation::Function

ExamplesDemocratic 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, Agreements, Litigation and Claims

Public Services

Health & Safety, Emergency Planning, Major Incidents

Planning Infrastructure & Transport

Planning, Development, Waste Management, Infrastructure Management

Human Resources

Personnel & Administration, Occupational Health & Safety, Benefits Administration

Financial Management

Accounts & Audit, Property History, Summary Assets Management

History & Heritage

Oral Histories, Maps, Census Results, Heritage Collections, Photographs

Categories of Digital Content

Introduction

Describe the categories of digital content important to your organization:–––––––

Electronic text documents (correspondence, reports, plans, regulatory submissions, transcripts, essays,theses, press releases, books, journals, learning resources, meeting minutes)
Digitized images of analogue manuscripts, paintings, archival documents, newspaper clippings, printedephemera
Photographs (including born-digital and digitized copies of prints and film negatives), historical andcontemporary, created in research, business processes, or to document installations and other artworks
Webpages, e-mails, social media, podcasts
Moving images (including material produced for broadcast, advertisements, training, born-digital anddigitised copies of film and VHS, some including subtitles) as well as interview and focus group audio files,
public hearings, broker/dealer recordings
Broadcasts (born-digital and digitized copies of analogue radio, cassette tapes, records and cylinders)
Geospatial surveys, 3D documentation of objects, maps, architectural plans, as-built drawings

Expected Benefits of Digital Preservation
Select the most appropriate benefits for your organization:

Introduction

Generic Benefit

ExamplesFinancial 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 foraccess to information• Promotion of collection/policies/records to wider audience• Supports online archive strategy for digital world

Meeting statutory & legal requirements• Regulatory compliance for general and industry requirements• Conformance with Public Records and Freedom of Information Acts

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 newservice models• Developing on-line revenue streams, digitisation services• Supporting R&D and new product development

Efficient management of archival &physical space• Enabling custodians to appraise collections as received• Control access in managed digital environment

Enhanced reputation

Executive
Introduction• Systematic digital preservation supports organizational excellence Summary• Recognition as innovative, at forefront of digital transformation

Expected Benefits: Alignment

ProjectIntroduction

Align the benefits to specific priorities and policies within your organization:Benefit

Organizational Priorities

Financial savings• Your Goal/Objective

Increased operational efficiency• Your Goal/Metric

Ability to meet stakeholders need for access to information• Your Goal/Metric

Meeting statutory & legal requirements• Your Policy

Better decision making• Your Policy

Source of evidence and reliable data

• Your Policy/Standards

Potential for income generation and new service models• Your Goal/Objective

Efficient management of archival & physical space• Your Target/Metric

Enhanced reputation• Your Goal/MetricTechnology Solution Description

ProgramPreservica conforms to the OAIS digital archiving standard (ISO 14721:2012) and provides all thetools required to establish and sustain a long-term living archive:
Core Digital Archiving Functions

Preservica Capability

IngestUpload digital content and metadata from a variety of content sources using afully quality-assured process

Content Storage

Protects and stores digital objects in a safe, backed-up location, andcontinually check they are safe and accessible

Flexible Metadata and Security

Choose the way content is arranged, described, and protected

AccessFull search, browse, and download facilities via browser interface

Preservation Tools

Ensure content is protected against future obsolescence through active
preservation

Resources & Investment Plan•

Resources Plan––––––––•

Staff availability for training
Assigned staff (e.g. Digital Archivist, Electronic Records Analyst, System Administrator)
Identified content ready to ingest
Identified backlog content at risk
Preservation policy and documented processes
Governance model
Third party support (as needed)
Defined roles and responsibilities

Investment Plan––––––––

Annual license fees
Training costs
Advanced support (as needed)
Digital preservation training for staff
Staff costs for developing policy and procedures
Staff costs for stakeholder engagement as well as repository management and administration
Bandwidth capacity for transfer to the cloud (Infrastructure)
Workstation for staging & appraising content (optional)

ProgramProgram

Success Management

Select the measurements of success from the examples below which are appropriate to yourorganization:
Success Criteria
An affordable, flexible and scalable digital preservation solution is implemented to enable persistent access to theorganization’s current digital resources and those that will be created in future years*
Content owners can easily deposit historically significant data for preservation, 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 rights protection under Freedom of Information
and Data Privacy provisions
Local communities, businesses, individuals, not-for-profits, schools and public bodies willingly transferring their digitalrecords to (name of organization’s archive) safe in the knowledge the resources will be preserved and made available forlegal, business and historical enquiries* Source: Practical Digital Preservation, Adrian Brown

AppendicesDigital Value at Risk (DVAR) 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 fromdrop down menus

Step 2: Generate a Profile• Shows for each type of digital information the degreeof risk of digital loss and impact• Determine your level of acceptable vs. unacceptable risk

Risks Assessment

Appendix B• Consider these factors as you assess risk to digital information:– Are record transfers planned or ad hoc?
– Which file formats are in use across the organization for long-term andpermanent records? (include some of the most complex)– What are the organization's current format preservation and migration
strategies? Who is responsible for executing on the strategies?
– Where is content stored? What back-up and business source systems arecurrently supported?
– Which upstream content systems are scheduled for decommissioning that
contain long-term content and metadata?

Options Assessment – Do vs. Don’t

Appendix C

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

Risks

Do nothing••(i.e. business as usual)•

Loss of organization's digital assets
Financial penalties for failure to comply with legal/regulatory
requirements
Costs arising from claims which lack legally-admissible evidence

Do the minimum••

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 business processes
Increase in digital-only records will make transition significantly
more difficult and expensive

Do what is proposed•(Refer to Expected Benefits)(e.g. use existing internal data management andstorage systems)(e.g. implement a digital preservation solution)

Options Assessment – Do vs. Don’t
Assessment
Criteria

Open Source/Build Your OwnTechnology••

Appendix CPreservica

Digital storage systems are not robust, degrade or
become unusable as technology evolves
Digital field changes rapidly, creating difficulties inmaintaining technical infrastructures over time

• Specifically designed to the OAIS digital archiving standard(ISO 14721:2003)• Selected and proven by 150+ leading archives and libraries

People•Requires specialized technical resources andsystems skills (either in house or contracted) forlong term

• No need for specialist system skills• Professional software as a service built on the latest researchfrom worldwide experts in digital preservation

Processes••

Digital formats change and become inaccessible
Digital objects are harder to preserve thanphysical objects• Information is protected within a highly-secure data centers• Active digital preservation manages the risks of format
obsolescence

Change Management•

Absence of clear guidelines leads to ad hoc anderratic preservation decisions• Full back-up program• Digital preservation specialists ensure that the collection isprotected from the risks of digital decayInvestment•

Projects often based on short-term funding• No need for up-front purchase of expensive storage andprocessing systems• Only pay for the storage you consume• Increase computer resources as and when requiredStakeholder Analysis - RolesThe following are typical stakeholders in sustainable digital preservation capabilities:
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Executive LeadershipCouncil, Commission and Board Members
Head of Section or Department
Process Owner
Agency DirectorCIO/IT Director
Chief Marketing Officer/Communications
Library Services
Archives & Heritage Services
Depositors & Donors
Clients & Customers
Friends & Community Groups
Members of the PublicCitizensResearchers

Appendix D

Stakeholder – Interests & Strategic Business Needs

Stakeholder

Interests and Strategic Business Needs

Organizational Leadership & Directors

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Information Technology

Appendix D

Budget holder and decision makers
Responsibility for compliance and information disclosure
Duty of care and accountability
Meet expectations of shareholders, employees, customers, citizens and other stakeholders
Issue and enforce organizational policiesEnsure continuity of organizational culture and mission• Information security and privacy• Infrastructure management and storage services• Back-up and business continuity/recovery
Appraise, preserve and provide access to assets
Support research and use
Manage and sustain collections over time
Require training and tools

Heritage, Archives and Library Services

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Users / Communities of Interest• Assurance that assets and collections are available and accessible• Search and retrieval support• Authenticity of resources

Non-Users• Opportunity to become aware of collections• Be represented in the collections in a non-discriminatory way that protects privacy

SAMPLE Digital Preservation Training PlanAppendix E