The ability of an organization to continue to function with as little disruption as possible, even in abnormal circumstances. Incorporates any factor relating to the organization’s core mandate and everything required to deliver this, including the environmental, hierarchical and political factors and policies, along with human and individual characteristics, which influence the culture within an organization.
What are the Risks of not preserving digital materials?
Organization Type | Risk | Potential Consequences |
Data safety and security are compromised. |
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Insufficient contextual information (metadata) to understand the information and for it to be useful. |
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Lack of supporting legislation to facilitate preservation, particularly relating to copyright/IPR, privacy and legal deposit. |
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Rate of data creation outstrips capacity for storage, processing and preservation. |
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Insufficient funding available to allow sustainable preservation procedures and systems to be established. |
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Insufficient staffing/skills to be able to carry out successful preservation. |
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Lack of collaboration behind different departments/areas of the organization |
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Executive level support for digital preservation is not persistent |
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What Opportunities do preserved digital materials create?
Organization Type |
Digital Preservation can… |
transmit opportunities to future generations by ensuring the right data is available to the right people at the right time in the right format, for as long as necessary |
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provide efficiencies of scale through shared services, resources and systems |
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provide cost efficiencies through planned disposal and deletion which results in reduced storage requirements |
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provide cost and operational efficiencies by allowing the consolidation of legacy systems |
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provide cost efficiencies through the greater automation of processes |
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demonstrate a commitment to core statutory function for collection, for present and future generations |
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inform business initiatives today through an understanding of previous decisions and rationale enabled by access to a complete set of reliable records |
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provide cost efficiencies through planned disposal and deletion according to specified retention schedules, which results in reduced storage requirements |
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reduce duplication of infrastructure and effort by sharing services, systems and storage with other institutions |
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demonstrate long term vision and planning |
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make the right information is available at the right time, by using the most appropriate service |
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support business continuity through sustained access to key business records |
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improve future policy formation by supporting robust strategy, processes and procedures |
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improve knowledge transfer during staff turnover and exits by sustaining access to a complete digital record |
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remove the need for expensive and time-consuming data rescue and digital archaeology work on legacy data through appropriate planning and initial investment |
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transmit opportunities to future generations by ensuring the right cultural and creative data is available to the right people at the right time in the right format, for as long as necessary |
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prevent interruptions to service and loss of earnings through resilient processes and sustained access to information which enable hardware and software updates, upgrades, obsolescence, failures and stoppages |
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create efficiencies in workflow and processes, as well as potentially creating income through data re-use |