The Impact of Digital
Preservation on Organizations:
A Policy Perspective
Erpatraining
Policies for Digital Preservation
John McDonald
January 29-30, 2002
1
Objectives
•
To use a Canadian government study on
information management as a case study to
illustrate:
•
•
•
The complexity of the digital landscape that exists in
many modern organizations.
The challenges presented by this landscape for the
development and implementation of information policy
(and, by extension, digital preservation policies).
The potential of capability and maturity models to help
us move forward.
2
The IM Situation Analysis
Study
•
A one year study (2000) sponsored by Treasury
Board Secretariat and the National Archives (the
lead agencies responsible for government-wide IM).
•
Triggers?
•
•
•
•
Government On-line.
The ‘E-mail’ issue.
The preservation of electronic corporate memory
Method
•
•
Interviews with program officials at all levels and IM
specialists from a variety of disciplines.
Review of experiences around the world.
3
The IM Situation Analysis
Study - Results
•
•
•
Establishment of an IM unit in Treasury
Board Secretariat to address life cycle
management of information (emphasis on
digital).
Heightened profile for role of National
Archives and National Library (both
institutions recently merged).
Development of Treasury Board Policy on
Management of Government Information
(MGI).
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The MGI Policy
•
•
•
Federal government departments/agencies
required to manage information throughout its
life cycle.
All forms of recorded information are covered.
Accountability assigned to a senior executive.
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The MGI Policy (cont.)
•
Institutions must make plans to:
•
•
•
•
•
Implement an IM program.
Integrate information management into the design of
government activities ...
Include human and financial resources needs and IM
requirements at an early stage …
Optimize the use of existing information and make plans for its
use beyond immediate business needs.
Maintain the authenticity, integrity and currency of information
for as long as the information is required.
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The MGI Policy (cont.)
•
To support this commitment for electronic
information, government departments/agencies
must:
•
•
•
Integrate the management of electronic information into IM
programs;
Create and use metadata … to provide context and allow
easy access and retrieval and understanding of the
information over time and through changes in
technology…;
Assign accountability and establish control mechanisms to
ensure the authenticity of electronic information through
time.
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The MGI Policy
•
The MGI policy is an integral component of an overall
infrastructure for the management of information.
•
Digital preservation is an integral component of the
infrastructure.
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Understanding the IM
infrastructure is based on ...
… understanding
the organization and its business
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Business View
Organization
Function/activity
Business process
task
task
task
task
Understanding the IM infrastructure
…begins with understanding
the activities performed on information
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Create Information
•
Activities organizations do to
manifest information - bring it into
existence - in order to support
program/service delivery
•
create, collect, generate, receive
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Use Information
•
Activities organizations do with their
information.
•
access, exchange, transmit, disseminate,
share
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Preserve Information
•
Activities organizations do to their
information to ensure that it is authentic,
reliable; available, understandable, and
usable for as long as required.
•
retain, protect, store, describe, migrate,
dispose
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Mandates and Accountabilities
IM Infrastructure
Systems
Policies
create
use
preserve
Standards/
practices
Business
Process
People
Considerations

Two kinds of policies:
 Those
that pertain to information activities
(create, use, preserve)
 Those that pertain to the management of the
infrastructure
Both kinds may be resident in the same
policy instrument.
 Policy addresses all of the activities
performed on information.


Preservation is an integral component of the activities
performed on information
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BUT!!!
Its one thing to have a policy
and a vision of an infrastructure
Its quite another
to see them implemented consistently
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Impact of the organization
on policy development


The complexity of the landscape and the diversity
of the communities responsible for information
management can present a considerable
challenge.
The landscape comprises three environments:
 structured environment
 unstructured environment
 web environment
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Structured Environment
Mandate
Business Process
task
task
task
review
approval
notification
transactions
Info
objects
transactions
transactions
Info
objects
Info
objects
content
Functions
Land Management
• Rural Land Development
• Urban Land Development
• Lands Registration
• applications
• review
• Land Use Analysis
• Regulation
• Administration
context
structure
capture
capture
capture
Accountability
Instrument
access
preserve
Information
Source
repository
Organization
Ministry of Lands
• National Land Management Directorate
• urban development division
• rural development division
• Office of the Registrar of Lands
• Research and Mapping Directorate
• Policy and Monitoring Directorate
• Corporate Services Directorate
The Structured Environment
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•
•
•
Highly structured business processes; assigned
accountability; rigorous approach to systems design and
development.
Emerged from the heavily controlled ‘mainframe’
environment that supported large application systems.
Policies in place to govern systems development and
management but they may not account for assignment of
accountability for retention and long term preservation.
Standards and practices in place for systems development
and data management but they may not account for digital
objects as evidence or the requirements for their long term
preservation.
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The Structured Environment
•
Database specialists are in place to manage the
integrity of data, but they may not understand
‘information management’ concepts such as
authenticity, evidence, and preservation.
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The People Dimension
Records
Management
Database
Management
Archives
Publications/
Communications
Management
Web
Content
Management
Library
Services
Unstructured Environment
Mandate
Functions
Land Management
actions
actions
Info object
C:\
actions
Info object
Info object
C:\
C:\
• Rural Land Development
• Urban Land Development
• Lands Registration
• applications
• review
• Land Use Analysis
• Regulation
• Administration
Organization
Ministry of Lands
• National Land Management Directorate
• urban development division
• rural development division
• Office of the Registrar of Lands
• Research and Mapping Directorate
• Policy and Monitoring Directorate
• Corporate Services Directorate
The Unstructured Environment
•
•
•
•
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Poorly defined work processes few rules of the
road; weak accountability.
Personal computers emerged from a garage to
serve as ‘personal support utilities’.
Program managers are complaining about the email issue but not prepared to deal with it.
Issues extend across the life cycle - not just
retention and preservation.
Records management policies in place, but:
•
•
Few assign accountability for electronic records
management.
Many address paper records only.
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The Unstructured Environment
•
•
•
Electronic record keeping systems are available
but they are still ‘new technology’.
The absence of records management controls
threatens the ability of archives to appraise
information objects for their archival value.
Records managers and archivists are in place,
but struggling to build and implement solutions
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The People Dimension
Records
Management
Database
Management
Archives
Publications/
Communications
Management
Web
Content
Management
Library
Services
forms
email
publications
and
communications
Web pages
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The web environment
•
•
•
Policies pertain to ‘publishing’ and
‘communications’.
Standards and practices based on web
content management (re: publishing and
communications).
Systems are in place (based on content
management software) but may not
address retention and preservation
adequately.
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The web environment
•
•
•
•
Program managers view the web as a publishing and
communications tool; sensitivity about value and long term
preservation may be poor.
Web masters govern the environment but may not be
familiar with authenticity requirements and the long term
preservation of web content.
Librarians and communications staff may be ‘in the loop’
but sensitivity to long term preservation issues may not be
high (because the information may be of short to medium
term interest).
Relatively few are thinking about the implications of the
evolution to a transactions-based environment.
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The People Dimension
Archives
Database
Management
Records
Management
Publications/
Communications
Management
Library
Services
Web Content
Management
Some Questions

Should digital preservation policies stand on their
own or should they be integrated into broader IM
policies?




how should the scope of digital preservation policies be
defined?
How do we ensure that policies are relevant to the
reality of the landscape just described?
How can we assess the impact of the often
complex landscape on the policy development
process?
How can we undertake such an assessment when
we are dealing with a ‘moving target’?
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Getting to there from here?
The role of capability models
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Capability Models
•
•
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First developed for the software industry.
Later adapted by the financial management community.
More recently used to assess e-government initiatives.
Studies in 2002 resulted in:
• The development and testing of an IM Capacity Check by the
National Archives of Canada
• The preparation of a research paper by the Public Policy
Forum on capability models for records management
• The establishment of an initiative by the International Records
Management Trust and the World Bank to develop a maturity
model for use in developing countries
• All of the above address preservation including the
preservation of information in electronic form.
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Capability Models - Example
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Level 1: An infrastructure for managing information is not in place.
Information is created, used and retained based on protocols established
by individuals or work groups.
Level 2: An infrastructure is in place for controlling the retention,
protection, and disposition of information. However, the relationship
between the management of information and business needs is weak.
Level 3: An infrastructure is in place to ensure that information is created
to support business activities, that information is able to be accessed and
retrieved effectively and that it is retained and disposed of according to
corporately approved standards and in compliance with laws and policies.
The relationship between information management and business needs is
strong.
Level 4: An infrastructure is in place to ensure that the right information in
authentic and reliable form is provided to the right person at the right time
in the right format at a reasonable cost.
Level 5: An infrastructure is in place to exploit information to meet the
needs of a knowledge-based organization and its clients and partners.
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Maturity Models
•
To what extent is an assessent of the
maturity/capability of the organization’s
infrastructure (including policy) ...
•
… dependent upon an assessment of
the maturity levels of the business of
the organization itself?
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Summary
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•
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One size may not fit all.
Distinct policies may be required for distinct environments
(though ideally based on general corporate-wide policy
rooted in business-driven principles).
Multiple standards may be required to respond to distinct
needs of individual environments.
Human resources tools and techniques may be required to
address the distinct communities supporting the
environments.
Work underway on capability and maturity models may
help.
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