OAIS/METS Report (PDF) - UK Data Archive

Administration is a vital activity that every archive must perform. While there is nothing much to disagree with in
the OAIS model, every institution will have it’s own set of policies, procedures, requirements and responsibilties,
which will inform the administration activities. OAIS, in this regard particularly, is only providing a very general
functional subset of digital archive administration activities, where in other cases its functional model is more
clearly complete. The biggest explicit divergence from the model is still the OAIS’s assumption that DIPs are
generated on demand from the AIP, but there are many other activities which simply do not appear. Both
TNA and the UKDA have many adminstration functions surrounding DIP storage, DIP migration planning,
information security management, access control, freedom of information tracking, resource discovery, catalogue
enhancements, change management, accreditation procedures, etc., and the boundaries between these and
the OAIS functional model are not always cleanly delineated. This makes it difficult to provide a mapping which
is actually representative of the activities of each archive. The OAIS administration model in particular should be
taken as necessary for digital archive administration, but in no way should it be regarded as sufficient.
ASSESSMENT OF UKDA AND TNA COMPLIANCE
WITH OAIS AND METS STANDARDS
5.5 PRESERVATION PLANNING
The fifth functional component of an OAIS archive is Preservation Planning. This service is responsible for
developing the OAIS’s preservation strategy, as well as recommending appropriate revisions to this strategy in
response to evolving conditions in the OAIS environment. The Preservation Planning service monitors the external
environment for changes that could impact the OAIS’s ability to preserve and maintain access to the information
in its custody, such as innovations in storage and access technologies, or shifts in the scope of requirements or
expectations of the Designated Community. Preservation Planning develops recommendations for updating the
OAIS’s policies and procedures to accommodate these changes. The Preservation Planning function represents the
OAIS’s safeguard against a constantly evolving user and technology environment. It detects changes impacting
the OAIS’s ability to meet its responsibilities, designs strategies for addressing these changes, and assists in the
implementation of these strategies within the archival system. Although the Preservation Planning entity operates
under the Administration entity, it exercises some administration-like controls over preservation decision-making
rather than general management functions.
49
The functions of this entity are presented in the following diagram.