Michelle Donoghue is the Information Governance Manager at the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
For the past four years, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has been working closely with colleagues from the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) to leverage good practice amongst the international digital preservation community, developing advice, guidance, and policy to support the NDA’s work in this vital area.
To mark the end of the project and share and celebrate the outcomes, we held a short internal event in March providing a summary of the challenges facing the NDA, and presenting the recommendations and outputs developed as a result of this collaborative work.
Whilst digital preservation isn’t yet a ‘solved problem’, we discussed how this project and the NDA have moved forward with tackling some of the key challenges of safeguarding future access to records that are essential to the UK’s nuclear industry and beyond.
After Simon Tucker (Group Head of Data and Information Governance, NDA) and William Kilbride (Executive Director, DPC) introduced the challenges of digital preservation, and the role of both the DPC and NDA Archives Ltd (NDAAL) in addressing long-term preservation concerns, various contributors provided an overview of the outcomes.
One of the primary outputs of this project was the Rapid Assessment Model (RAM), a maturity model for assessing current capacity and setting goals for the future. Michelle Donoghue (NDA) and Jenny Mitcham (DPC) provided a brief description of the model and how this is used within the NDA Group, highlighting the progress that has been made over the last four years.
Sharon McMeekin (DPC) described the Competency Framework and associated Competency Audit Toolkit (CAT), which were developed as part of the project to help identify the skills required for digital preservation and to provide a mechanism for addressing any skills gaps. Whitney Smith (Magnox) then reported on her experience of piloting the CAT at Magnox.
Paul Wheatley (DPC) summarised the guidance produced by the project for procuring any IT system which might hold information of lasting value, and the particular requirements of a digital preservation system. Stephen Beck (NDA) then reflected on how this affected the development of the Archive Management System v2.
The Project has also supported the production of a wide-ranging series of guides and reports which make recommendations for the management and preservation of several other types of application and data (for example, records within EDRMS, 3D construction data, Geographic Information Systems and other data types). Michael Popham (DPC) provided a brief overview of these and where to find them.
Towards the end of the event both Simon and William offered their reflections on the work and plans for the future, and there was an informative Q&A session on topics such as further engagement, preservation challenges, and potential ISO standards. Although this project has come to an end, we will continue to work closely with the DPC to further leverage good practice and shape our approach to long term digital preservation.
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