The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) has released a new resource designed to provide guidance on the Requirements for procuring IT systems, as part of its Procurement Toolkit today.
Requirements for procuring IT systems proposes the requirements that should be considered when procuring an IT system (for example, an EDRMS, DAMS or GIS), that may ultimately contain at least some records or digital content that need to be retained beyond the life of the system.
The resource was developed in conjunction with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). Bob Radford, Information Governance Lead for Magnox which operates on behalf of the NDA said:
“This is a clear outline of the criteria we need to use to determine the appropriateness of software solutions for long-term data management. The Nuclear Industry has particular demands on the longevity of our data and this guide will ensure that when purchasing IT systems for long-term management of critical information we are applying the right criteria in our decision making.”
"We often hear of organizations struggling to extract valuable information from IT systems that have reached end-of-life, and one of the key ways of stopping this scenario from happening in the future is to consider the longevity of digital content when procuring IT systems today. We hope this short guide will be helpful in flagging up some of the critical things to consider when procuring new systems," says Jenny Mitcham, Head of Good Practice and Standards for the DPC.
Working with its members to produce resources, materials and guidance is just one of the ways the DPC supports the digital preservation community. An international charitable foundation which supports digital preservation, the DPC helps its members around the world to deliver resilient long-term access to digital content and services through community engagement, targeted advocacy work, training and workforce development, capacity building, good practice and standards, and through good management and governance. Its vision is a sustainable future for our digital assets.
Access Requirements for procuring IT systems here.