managing electronic records in governmental bodies - National ...

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ANNEXURE B: Digital preservation strategies
Migration Strategy
1. Transfer to paper or
microfilm:
This is the oldest method of migration and has been
used effectively for textual documents that may be
retrieved and read, but that will not be altered and
re-used.
2. Store records in a ‘software
independent’ format:
This strategy involves transferring electronic
records to a
simple software independent’
format prior to storage. It has
been used extensively with
numeric data files and with
some textual materials (e.g. text files stored in
ASCII)
Advantages
• from a legal and a technological point of view, the
methods for demonstrating the authenticity of printed
or microfilmed documents are well established.
• alterations to records are more difficult and are
relatively easy to detect
• transfer to film or paper eliminates the problems
of software obsolescence
• the need for special software for retrieval and reuse
of the records is limited once records are formatted
in software-independent form, simple copying is all
that is needed during subsequent migrations
Disadvantages
• much of the functionality for both rapid retrieval and
reuse is lost
• this method does not work well for many formats of
material because of the limited options for
manipulation, linkage and presentation
• Hybrid solutions can mitigate some of these
disadvantages: retain computerised indexes to
records to ease retrieval/scan to reconvert printed
materials to digital form, etc.
• special programs may need to be written to transfer
the records into a software independent format if the
original system does not have the ability to ‘export’
files in a neutral format (Exporting means to format
data in such a way that it can be used by another
application.)
• information and functionality may be lost in conversion
• cannot be used with many complex file formats (multimedia
records, hypertext).
Managing electronic records_Policy Guidelines.doc
First Edition
Version 1.1
April 2003