PROJECT INITIATION DOCUMENT

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Project nameSeamless Flow: Technology Watch

ReleaseDate: April 2005

Author:Project Manager

Owner:

Senior Responsible Owner (SRO)

Client:The National Archives (TNA)techwatch_PID.doc

Date: January 2005

Document History

Document
Location

This document is only valid on the day it was printed.
The source of the document will be found in the Control section of theProject File.

Revision
History

Date of next revision:

Revisiondate
9/2/2005
28/2/2005
7/4/2005

Previousrevisiondate
28/1/2005
9/2/2005
28/2/2005

Summary of Changes

ChangesmarkedInitial comments from project teamComments from project managers group
Draft for project board approval

Approvals

This document requires the following approvals.
Signed approval forms are filed in the project files.

Name

Signature

Title

Date ofIssue
8/2/2005
9/2/2005
7/4/2005

VersionThis document has been distributed to:
Name

Title

Project teamProject managers group
Project board

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VersionDirector ofGovernment andTechnology

SeniorResponsible
Owner

Distribution

Date ofIssue

1

0.1
0.2
0.4

techwatch_PID.doc

Date: January 2005

PurposeTo define the Technology Watch project, to form the basis for its
management and the assessment of overall success.
Contents

This publication contains the following topics:
Topic
Background
Project definition
Project organisation structure
Communication Plan
Project Quality Plan
Project tolerances
Project controls

See Page2366789Background

The Seamless Flow (SF) programme is aimed at the rationalisation
and automation of appraisal, selection, transfer, storage andpresentation of records received by The National Archives (TNA). The
process of technology watch, which underpins the long-term
accessibility of electronic records, has been identified as a key
component of success of the programme. It was agreed at the first
Seamless Flow Programme Board to deliver the programme through aseries of projects, one of which will be technology watch. This projectwill focus on the planning and execution of long-term preservation
strategies for electronic records. Future development of the existing
PRONOM (file format database) service will be taken forward under
the umbrella of this project.

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Project Definition

Projectobjectives

The Technology Watch project (TW) is intended to ensure thatelectronic records stored by TNA are capable of being accessed in thelong-term, within future technological environments, and to informsustainability requirements within Other Government Departments(OGDs).

Definedmethod ofapproach

The project will comprise a number of discrete work packages, asfollows:Projectscope

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Work Package 1: Detailed requirements gathering, processmodeling and technical evaluation, building on the existing work
undertaken during the analysis phase of the Seamless Flowprogramme, to develop full requirements for each technology
watch process.

•Work Package 2: Development and implementation of systems
and processes to support each technology watch process.

•Work Package 3: Development and dissemination of policies,advice and guidance to support the technology watch process,within TNA and OGDs.

The TW project will build upon a number of existing systems, including
PRONOM, and components of the Digital Archive. The project will
cover the following activities:• Development and maintenance of a registry of technicalinformation to support all TW processes.
• Technical characterisation of electronic records prior to ingest
into the storage system.
• Monitoring and identification of technological changes and theirpotential impacts on electronic records stored by TNA andOGDs.
• Development of preservation strategies to mitigate the impact oftechnological change. This will focus on the development ofmigration pathways for the automatic migration of electronic
records to new formats required for preservation or presentation
purposes.
• Automated migration of electronic records to new formats forthe purposes of preservation and presentation, according todefined migration pathways, and delivery of migrated records tothe preservation storage system or delivery and presentation
system as appropriate.
• Provision of policies, advice and guidance to support long-termpreservation and broader sustainability of electronic records
within TNA and OGDs.
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techwatch_PID.docProjectdeliverables

Date: January 2005•

Technology options report based on evaluation of existing tools
and systems against user requirements. This will include areview of relevant international research and development
initiatives.

•Web-based technical registry•

Technical characterisation system•

Technology Watch monitoring system•

Preservation planning system•

Auto-migration system for preservation and presentation
migration•

A scheme of Persistent Unique Identifiers (PUID) for records
stored in the technical registry, implemented as resolvableURIs.

•A report on options for the maintenance of the information
content of the technical registry.

•A framework of advice and guidance on TW issues (e.g.
recommended file formats) for OGDs.

Exclusions

The TW project will deliver a framework for the monitoring andmigration of electronic records, which may be utilized for the purposesof preservation or presentation. However, the requirements for the setof presentation formats which the system must be capable ofgenerating at a given point in time will be owned by the Delivery &Presentation project.

Constraints

All TW processes which require access to the bit streams of electronicrecords must conform to the appropriate security requirements forgovernment records. All technical deliverables must conform with theTNA and Seamless Flow information and system architectures, andtechnical environments. The technology watch process must comply
with the TNA preservation policy for electronic records, which will be
developed by a separate SF work stream.

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Interfaces

Date: January 2005

The project interfaces with a large range of current internal andexternal programmes, work packages and services. These include:
Internal programmes/work packages• Appraisal and selection project• Metadata• Catalogue and editorial• Resource discovery project• Management of survival of semi-current records in OGDs project• Transfer to TNA project• Preservation and maintenance project• Delivery and presentation project• Management and security project• Business change, communications and training project• TNA preservation policy for electronic records
Government Programmes and Initiatives• Government Secure Intranet• Central Government Infrastructure, e-GIF and e-GMS
TNA Services• PRONOM
External Programmes/Services• JISC 4/04 Preserv project (with Southampton University, British
Library and Oxford University)• Digital Curation Centre• Global Format Registry ProjectAssumptions

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It is assumed that the project will be appropriately resourced (staffexpertise, time and budget). Allied to this, it is assumed that asignificant proportion of the deliverables can be achieved through theacquisition, enhancement and integration of existing systems andtechnologies.

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Date: January 2005

Project Organisation Structure

The TW project will be managed according to the PRINCE2
methodology, within the Seamless Flow programme structure. The
project will report to the joint Technology Watch/Preservation &Maintenance project board, and to the Seamless Flow programmeboard.

Communication PlanThe project communications plan will be developed as an integral partof the programme communications plan, and will be managed by theprogramme Communications Manager, in liaison with the Digital
Preservation Department (DPD) Communications Officer.

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Date: January 2005

Project Quality Plan

Introduction
Contents

To define the quality techniques and standards to be applied, andthe various responsibilities for achieving the required quality levels,during the programme.
This plan contains the following topics:
••••
•
•
•

Customer
Quality
Requirements

Acceptancecriteria

Customer Quality Requirements
Acceptance Criteria
Quality responsibilities
Use of standards
Quality Control and Audit Procedures
Configuration Management Plan
Change Management Procedures

TNA would expect that:• All digital records which have been selected for permanent
preservation would be protected until transfer time,transferred to TNA automatically, all closed material to beredacted, the records to be preserved permanently and areading copy based on current technology to be available.
Copies to be normally delivered over the Internet.

•••

Cost of operations compared with current semi-manual
process
Conformance to defined requirements
Appropriate integration with other Seamless Flow projects

Qualityresponsibilities

The project manager is responsible for project quality.

Standards

The project will conform to appropriate Government and internal
TNA standards to cover project management (Prince 2), systemdesign (UML, RUP), system development (TNA softwaredevelopment standards), security (ISO 17799), data exchange(eGMS) and web interfaces (eGIF), as well as conforming to theemerging Trusted Digital Repositories Standard (Research LibraryGroup RLG)

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Quality Controland Audit
Procedures

Date: January 2005

The programme and projects will be subject to the followingcontrols:••••••TNA to be audited by auditors appointed under RLG scheme
Process to include rigorous integrity test for electronic
records.
All products will undergo peer review and formal sign off.
The programme will be subject to the Gateway Review
process.
TNA internal audit will review the programme at appropriatestages.
Project Assurance Teams (PATs)

Software version will be controlled by a proprietary management
tool.

Configuration
Management
Plan

All products created by the Programme will be treated asconfiguration items. They will have a version number and a date.
Version numbers for formal issue of products will be numbered asversion 1.0 onwards. Products which are at a draft stage will beidentified by sub number as 0.1, 1.2 etc.
All project documentation will be stored in the (Objective) Electronic
Records Management System at:Preservation
Projects
Technology Watch.
A formal process for managing change will be identified so thatinteraction between projects can be monitored appropriately.

Changemanagement
procedures

All changes will be raised as Request for Change (RFCs), reviewed
by originating project team and its board. This will be passed to theProgramme Manager to assess cross project impact and to take toProgramme Board for acceptance as necessary.

Project tolerances

Project tolerances on budgets and timetables will be set by the projectboard. Any variation beyond these tolerances will be reported by theproject manager to the project board.

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Date: January 2005

Project controls

The project will be managed in accordance with PRINCE 2
methodology. Unified Modeling Language (UML) will be used for allmodeling purposes.
A programme board has been established. A joint project board has
been established for the Technology Watch and Preservation &Maintenance projects. A joint project assurance team will also beestablished for these two projects.
Scope, cost, time, quality and risk issues will be controlled through theuse of a formal PRINCE 2 approach with regular meetings of teams
and boards reporting according to the PRINCE methodology. The
project assurance team will form a vital role in ensuring appropriate
controls are in place.
The Project Manager will hold regular Checkpoint meetings with theirteam to review progress against plans, address or raise issues andagree future work.
The Project Manager will produce a monthly Highlight report for theProgramme Manager, the Project Assurance Team, and the Project
Board.
The Programme Manager will hold monthly meetings with the project
managers to review progress to date, future work and potential issues
etc.
The Project Board will meet approximately every 2 months to review
progress, timetable, costs and issues.
The Programme Board will meet approximately every two months toreview progress, timetable, costs and issues.
The Project Assurance Team will meet as required, and will becirculated will all project deliverables, in draft and final form, forcomment.

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