Business activity

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Securely archiving digital data.

The contents of this section will depend on who the business case is aimed at. It may only be necessary to describe what you want to do at a very high level.

  1. Identify if you need this section in your business case, or exactly what is required. Possible options:
    • some business case templates require considerable detail to the level of a formal Project Plan, possibly including detailed aims and objectives, scoping, constraints, etc
    • some business case templates will require considerably less detail, perhaps just an outline of the proposed activity

SCAPE Project business case examples

Use this to see how a specific business activity can be articulated within a particular organisational context.

This section provides example text from SCAPE Project business case templates along with explanatory discussion notes.

Jpylyzer business activity

An example Business Activity description.

The existing digitisation workflow for mass digitisation projects at this organisation migrates camera raw images from the digitisation studio to TIFF files for storage as master images in the long term digital respository. The proposed business activity will instead migrate camera raw images to JP2, and then validate the construction of these files using Jpylyzer. The main activities are:

  • Develop appropriate JP2 profile and compression level targets
  • Assess, select and test JP2 migration software
  • Implement and test workflow to migrate and validate JP2s
  • Large scale trial run

Discussion

Discussion notes explaining the approach in developing the Business Activity example, above.

Moving from TIFF to JP2 for the storage of digitised masters will not suit every collection or organisation. Benefits can include reduced storage cost (particularly if lossy compression is utilised) and improved user experience (if images are optimised and delivered to browser by an appropriate system). However, these benefits introduce preservation risks (some which are not mitigated by the use of Jpylyzer in an assessment workflow). Lossy compression lowers the quality of the stored images. The trade off between, cost and risk will be different in different situations. Making an appropriate choice for the collection and organisation in question is essential, and should be guided by collection needs, institutional policy, a careful evaluation of the alternatives, practical testing of software with real data, and a clear appreciation of the risks involved.

See the full business case example for more information: Jpylyzer business case template

SCAPE Platform business activity

An example Business Activity description.

Digital collections at this organisation have grown to a sufficient size that assessment of the data for preservation risks has becoming virtually impossible. Execution time of a simple file format identification process is taking several months to complete. The proposed business activity will expand the web archiving department's Hadoop cluster, connect the organisation's digital repository to the cluster and apply the SCAPE Platform to enable all repository data to be characterised and assessed on a more frequent and practical basis.

The main activities are:

  • Purchase new hardware and expand existing cluster
  • Implement SCAPE Platform connector to enable movement of content from the digital repository to the cluster
  • Implement SCAPE Platform tools, specifically Nanite, to enable file format identification, metadata extraction and characterisation of collection data
  • Perform frequent re-assessment of data using the latest tools and file format signatures available

The web archiving department have agreed to allow digital preservation to utilise their existing Hadoop cluster in return for expanding the cluster with some additional hardware.

Discussion

Discussion notes explaining the approach in developing the Business Activity example, above.

The organisation is struggling to assess it's digital collections due to the length of time it takes to assess the growing numbers of files. Without any file format analysis, the potential for unknown preservation risks is significant. The business case therefore suggests leveraging (and expanding) an existing Hadoop cluster for running preservation processes. Web archiving departments have been early adopters of Hadoop technology in libraries and archives, and so this scenario has been used by some SCAPE Project partners.

See the full business case example for more information: SCAPE Platform business case template

Planning and Watch business activity

An example Business Activity description.

With limited time and resources, monitoring our digital collections, not to mention advancing technology, tools and file formats, is a real challenge for our small collections team. Our institution will establish a Planning and Watch function that will update our preservation strategy using the latest technology. The first stage (defined by this business case) will put in place the Planning and Watch Suite developed by the SCAPE Project. Phase 2 of the project will establish a Preservation Action function that will support the implementation of preservation decisions made by the Planning and Watch function.

The main activities of the first phase are:

  • Train archival staff in using the Planning and Watch Suite
  • Purchase new hardware on which local systems will run
  • Install and setup local components of the Planning and Watch Function
  • Test and perform trial runs of the function to ensure it's effectiveness
  • Transition to Planning and Watch as a business as usual activity
  • Review, evaluate and submit business plan for Phase 2

Discussion

Discussion notes explaining the approach in developing the Business Activity example, above.

A typical approach with this kind of capital investment (even if small) is to break it down into manageable chunks, and deliver it as part of a longer term strategy that ties each phase of a project into a coherent whole. This makes it more manageable and enables management to follow progress and see that the investment is working before committing further funds. For those submitting the business case, this makes it easier to get approval, as long as the work is successful.

See the full business case example for more information: Planning and Watch business case template

Resources

Geoarchiving Business Planning Process Map and Checklist