Level up with DPC RAM

The DPC’s Rapid Assessment Model is a helpful tool for assessing an organization’s maturity with digital preservation. It allows you to consider both where you are currently and where you would like to be, and highlight gaps in your current digital preservation capacity. 

This resource is designed to help you work out how to address those gaps and move up the levels of RAM. For each of the 11 sections of RAM there are helpful tips, links to useful resources and case studies from others who have already tackled some of these challenges.

If there are resources that have been helpful for you that aren’t included here, do contact us and let us know. Similarly, if you would like to share your own case study about how you have tackled a specific area covered by DPC RAM we would love to hear from you. We have a number of topics we are particularly keen to hear about and are actively looking for community members to blog for us.

Select a section of DPC RAM to find tips, resources and case studies to help you move forward (DPC Members please login to the website to access this resource):

RAM Section	Tips	Resources	Case Studies
A - Organizational viability Governance, organizational structure, staffing and resourcing of digital preservation activities.
B - Policy and strategy Policies, strategies, and procedures which govern the operation and management of the digital archive.
C - Legal basis Management of legal rights and responsibilities, compliance with relevant regulation and adherence to ethical codes related to acquiring, preserving and providing access to digital content.
D - IT capability Information Technology capabilities for supporting digital preservation activities.
E - Continuous improvement Processes for the assessment of current digital preservation capabilities, the definition of goals and the monitoring of progress.
F - Community Engagement with and contribution to the wider digital preservation community.
G - Acquisition, transfer and ingest Processes to acquire or transfer content and ingest it into a digital archive.
H - Bitstream preservation Processes to ensure the storage and integrity of digital content to be preserved.
I - Content preservation Processes to preserve the meaning of the digital content and ensure its continued accessibility and usability over time.
J - Metadata management Processes to create and maintain sufficient metadata to support preservation, discovery and use of preserved digital content.
K - Discovery and access Processes to enable discovery of digital content and provide access for users.

This companion resource to DPC RAM was inspired by two ‘RAM Jam’ events hosted in 2021 and 2022 during which DPC Members shared experiences, knowledge and tips on how they had moved forward with different sections of RAM. Many of the tips and links shared, as well as the quotes included in this resource originated from these events.