External context

It is essential that a business case addresses the broader context in which it is set. An analysis of the external environment will help identify and clarify the external factors influencing and driving the business case. It is also important to identify how the business case aligns with the organisational strategy and it's implications for the collection and internal stucture, processes and culture within the organisation. It is often the case that there is not one clear driven for investment in a DP activity, but a combination of several drivers for investment such as legal and economic drivers or the benefits for the organisation in question. Whatever the combination of drivers, it should be possible to prioritise these through alignment with the organisational strategy.

Process

1. Analyse the broader environment
   1. Political, Eonomic, Social, Technological (PEST) Analysis
2. Identify and proritise the main drivers for your business case

Content

External drivers/Wider landscape: Drawn from the PEST analysis, these are some of the drivers and barriers which may need to be prioritised:

• Digital society
• Economic climate, ROI.
• Changing user expectations
• Legal

Is or will your organisation be legally mandated to accept deposits of digital content?

• Mandates/Compliance with funder policies

This is a particularly pertinent issue for research institutions and universities. Increasingly such institutions are developing and implementing policies for the depositing of electronic thesis, preprints of journal articles and research data. Funders are also beginning to mandate that researchers deposit their outputs in an open access repository.

• Ethical
• Trust: importance of DP to institutional reputation e.g. for transparency of research results, longer term availability of collections
• Increase in digital deposits (measurable), legal mandates,
• Role/Mission: What do we do? What are we here to do? How does DP fit in?
• Competitive parity: how do we compare?