Benefits

---

List of benefits by category

Economic

• Return on investment

Educational

• Access
• Re-use, Re-purpose
• Opportunity for funding bids
• Outreach

Organisational

• Compliance (retention)
• Reputation
• Efficiency

Processes

1. Scenario fit - some of this comes from the "WHO" or "DESCRIBE WHAT YOU WANT TO DO"

• You should already understand who this is for, ie who benefits, and their requirements
• This will determine the kinds of benefits that will be relevant

2. Gather relevant institutional documents, such as:

• Institutional strategic plan - mission statements, strategic objectives (e.g. research/teaching)
• Departmental service plan and performance indicators
• Other departmental policies (e.g. records management policy, procurement policy, etc.)

Check how old they are and see if they are relevant.

• aim: linking low-level objectives with high-level returns (eg preserve this CD, vs make someone's life better)
• your aim over time may be to influence the update of those documents to include digital preservation

Ask whether you think DP is timely?

• This is about need (which should come from the WHO) and readiness (which should be institutional readiness)

3. Understand your audiences

• Different benefits will appeal to different decision makers
• Different people will talk different languages
• Different departments will have different objectives that you need to align with

3. Carry out an environment scan such as:

• Case studies of success and failure
• Benchmark against comparators
• Identify significant legislation / regulation

Check whether these are helpful Ask whether you think the mood is right?

4. Look up N Beagrie's Benefits Toolkit and use this.

• consider the results before you present them
• find an opportunity to present them in terms your organization will understand.

Resources

[Neil Beagrie's Keeping Research Data Safe Benefits Framework| http://www.beagrie.com/KRDS_BenefitsFramework_Guidev3_July%202011.pdf]

[Neil Beagrie's Keeping Research Data Safe benefits toolkit - introduction| http://www.beagrie.com/KRDS_Factsheet_0711.pdf]

[Blue Ribbon Task Force| http://brtf.sdsc.edu/]

[APARSEN survey of Digital Preservation thinking in European Research Libraries| http://www.alliancepermanentaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/APARSEN-REP-D36_1-01-1_0.pdf] see chapter 3

[ESpida Framework - balanced scorecard on digital preservation| http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/library/espida/]

Measuring the Impact of Digital Resources, Tanner http://www.kdcs.kcl.ac.uk/fileadmin/documents/pubs/BalancedValueImpactModel_SimonTanner_October2012.pdf

McKinsey Article on the value of data: 'The need for growth and competitiveness will force companies to build strong digital capabilities. Viewing them as assets rather than additional areas of spending requires a new set of management and financial lenses. Embracing them is a major shift—but one worth making for companies striving to master a still-evolving landscape.' [1]

Benefits Funnel, Grindley http://www.slideshare.net/neilgrindley/digital-preservation-costs-versus-benepasig-dublin-oct-2012-dp-costs-final2 (slide 10)

Communications

The benefits section of the business case should ...