View source for The approach we took to writing the business case

====Starting point====
Writing a business case for digital preservation was the culmination of four month project analysing the organisation’s management of digital records in the central administrative department. For this we completed the following activities:
1. Records Surveys – we interviewed 9 members of staff: the Directors’ PAs, the Head of Academic Affairs, the Head of Research and Consultancy Services, the Committees Secretary, the Head of Planning and the Head of Policy. 
2. Creation of a retention schedule for the department indicating the format (paper / digital) the records should be managed in.
3. Creation of a preservation metadata schema 
4. Creation of guidance for staff on naming conventions and version control

The Institute’s Library currently uses EPrints repository software for the management of its major digital collections (including Official Publications and deposited archive collections). However the organisation has no system in place for the effective management of its digital governance records. Finding a solution for this was therefore our main priority for the business case.

====Literature Review====
With a basic framework for the business case established we undertook a literature review.  This was by far the most time-consuming part of our work. When locating relevant literature we focused on four main areas:
1. Final reports of projects funded by JISC
2. Project website and blogs, including of JISC-funded projects
3. Relevant internal strategies and policies
4. Business Cases for digital preservation and digital preservation strategies of other organisations, particularly from the HE sector

Conducting the research around current literature was both difficult and time consuming. The JISC website holds a wealth of information on digital preservation and related subjects but the website can take some time to navigate. In addition for a large number of projects no final report is available on the website and we had to contact the institutions which ran the project to gain a copy of the report. We decided the best way to make sure we had completed a comprehensive search of the literature was to browse the projects of each relevant programme to create a basic list of reading. We completed a literature search of other relevant websites including the Digital Preservation Coalition and the Information and Records Management Society UK, and followed up further reading from journals. Basic Goodle searches also located a number of interesting blog posts and articles.

Our main conclusions from having completed the literature review are:
1. There is very little information on how to write a business case for digital preservation. We believe the SPRUCE project has an important role in developing the literature in this area
2. There was no literature on the three areas that are the main focus of our current work: digital preservation, records management and writing a business case
3. By far the best methodology to follow for writing a business case is PRINCE2
4. Project websites and project blogs were particularly helpful to help understand the practicalities of digital preservation work. The final reports provide good information on the work of the project as a whole. However the blog posts provide more detailed information on the progress of the project and particularly on the development of ideas during the project and completion of specific tasks and objectives.
5. Relevant internal documents will depend on the individual organisation and its digital preservation priorities. For our organisation (a graduate college with a large emphasis on research) the main documents were:
a. Strategic Plan – a new 5-year plan for both the organisation as a whole and the library were being written whilst we were conducting the literature review. Although we had to read documents and communications as they were circulated it meant our business plan now supports specific current strategic objectives for the overall organisation and forms a central basis of the library’s own strategy
b. Risk Management Policy
c. Records Management Policy 
d. Information Security Policy
e. Research, Consultancy and Knowledge Transfer Strategy – although the current priority for digital preservation is the governance records of the organisation, research is a major function of the organisation. It was therefore prudent to have a good understanding of this document
6. There are very few digital preservation strategies publicly available. Many of the strategies available from the HE sector relate to IT and Information Security. We found no digital preservation strategies regarding information management written by HE institutions and very few written by libraries and archives working in other sectors. There are more resources available from archive services in the USA. Minnesota State Archives, in particular, has good information for organisations beginning to think about creating documentation on digital preservation.
7. Much of the reading we did around the costs of digital preservation was extremely complex, often out of date, and not suitable for our specific requirements. There is also a problem with the sustainability of toolkits that have been created in the past. Much of the literature stated it is incredibly difficult (and arguably undesirable) to generate long-term costs for digital preservation in its broadest sense. Organisations need to consider the internal environment: the budget, strategic priorities, policies and technological support available and choose the option most suitable for their own organisation. Only then can organisations realistically develop meaningful costs to be considered by senior management.

The amount of literature available on digital preservation can be quite daunting. We therefore decided to create an annotated bibliography of our top five things to read when writing a business case for digital preservation.

Brainstorming & formulating a plan

Once we had read a number of articles, but before we had completed the literature review, we met to review the literature and make a decision on the focus of our business plan. 

For this stage, the most helpful documents were the internal strategies and policies. Although the wider literature can help build knowledge on digital preservation and provide a background on best practice in the sector (to be included in the business case as a comparison), having a good understanding of the internal organisational context is essential to ensure any proposal made in the business case is relevant to organisational priorities and capacity. 

During the meeting we considered the following points and questions:
1. What do we actually want to do? (the big plan)
2. What are the options available to achieve this?
3. What are the current strategic priorities of the organisation?
4. The wider current economic and political climate
5. What is a realistic budget?
6. What are the realistic options available?
7. What digital preservation solutions do we have a good understanding or already? Is this / are these suitable options?
8. Who needs to use the system we introduce? Do the options available meet their needs?
9. What IT support do we require? What do we have internally? What can be outsourced?
10. What skills do we currently have? What new skills do we need to develop?
11. What costs will be involved? E.g. time, staff, systems, storage, development of new policies, procedures and work practices
12. What training will be needed? Who will do this? What will this cost? (both for information professionals and other staff around the organisation who will be required to use the system)
13. What can we realistically achieve now? (the business plan)

Writing the business case
Our organisation has no template for staff when writing business cases. As a result we followed the PRINCE2 methodology. 

For further information on writing a business case for digital preservation see the ‘Checklist for Writing a Business Case’.