Certification of digital repositories in the Netherlands

>Profitable and elementary>Instrumentation>Costs and benefits

Kees Waterman (DANS-KNAW, The Hague)RDA, IG CertificationParis, September 23, 2015

Today’s topics

• NCDD Project & NDE Work Package

• why certify?

• certify what?

• what is not covered by these kinds of certification?

• what are options available?

• what types of support are being developed? (roadmap & NDE)

• what types of support / documentation are available?

• activities NDE-project team 2015-2016 & stay tuned!

NCDD and certification

NCDD[Dutch] National Coalition for Digital Sustainability Mission:provide a platform for sharing knowledge and expertise concerning sustainability of digital data in the public domain, and to serve as coordinator and instigator in the development of a national network ensuring such sustained access. http://ncdd.nl [in Dutch] 2014-2015 the NCDD funded a series of 6 projects (with matching by the partners) aimed at the development of commonly shared ‘building blocks’ for a shared infrastructure for sustainable access in the Netherlands.

‘Certification of digital repositories in the Netherlands’ was one of these.

Objectives, NCDD-project

To ensure the preservation of and durable accessto digital information in the public domain, it is essential that the information is stored in trustworthy digital repositories that have been certified using international standards.

This project aims to propagate and stimulate certificaton of Dutch repositories that entertain a long term mission for digital sustainability.

To do so, the project will:1. produce an information brochure, presenting background information,

needs and opportunities for certification, and the international landscape of the field;

2. produce domain-specific roadmaps for certification;3. start up actual certification activities. The project will focus on the first stage in the certification trajctory, i.e.

basic certificering (by means of the DSA). Project team members will instigate awareness of and support for

certification in their own (national) instutions in the course of 2015.

Results

1. Produce an information brochure, presenting background information, needs and opportunities for certification, and the international landscape of the field.

• Glossy, full-colour brochure produced (3,000 copies).2. Produce domain-specific roadmaps for certification.

• A general roadmap certification produced .3. Start up actual certification activities.

• Actual start-up not yet feasible > implement roadmap (2015-2016).

Throughput time: August 2014 – June 2015

Total investment by project partners: 435 hours (overspend 22%)

Total expenses: 3,000 euro (overspend 20%)

1. The NCDD project group beliefs that certification should derive from an organization’s internal drive to improve the quality ad integrity of its digital assets management. It is not compulsory.

2. An organization’s autonomous ambition level determines its level of certification.

3. Service providers from the non-public domain (“commercial parties”) are addressed and invited in the certification roadmap and its ensuing activities.

4. The roadmap addresses instutions in the Netherlands; its foundations derive from the European Framework for Audit and Certification of Digital Repositories. The NCDD has committed itself to this model.

Leading principles

Why certify? (a short shortlist)

For repositories:

It amounts to a stress test for the organisationIt yields explicit information on the quality and future viability of your

governance, strategy and mission It helps determine and safeguard essential work processes and internal

responsibilities

Taken together, it informs and feeds the basis and feasibility of your mission and business models.

For policy purposes:

It is a significant and recognized component in creating a national network of trustworthy, sustainable building blocks in the development of a national network ensuring sustainable access to digital data in the public domain.

We deploy objective, less ambiguous elements of a label / seal.

Why does this apply also to smaller organizatons?

• it is a strong component in knowledge acquisition

• it allows you to agree on standards with depositors (metadata, data formats)

• it informs agreements with vendors and contractors (service levels)

• it enhances consumers’ trust (dependability, trustworthiness)

• it clarifies cooperation / alliances with major organizations in the sector

• competency in certified provisions of services

• it boosts your ranking with potential funders.

What is it you have certified?

• your demonstrated policies for sustainable custody of assets

• your documentation that defines trustworthy ingest, management and dissemination of assets

• conditions and characteristics of services to end users (trustworthiness)

• your policies for accommodating depositors, vendors and consumers in their roles

• in assuring sustainable trustworthiness

Your technical infrastructure, the basis for a trusted digital repository, explicitly supports the tasks and functions as described in internationally accepted archival standards such as OAIS.

What is not part of these these types of certification?• compliance with specific technical models or systems

• certification models are generic

• issuing guarantees of 100%

• certification helps to cover risks

• work with prescribed specifications (data formats / metadata schemas)

• specs and quality criteria that are specific for a given sector are appropriate

• do everything yourself: if conditions are met, outsourcing is legitimate

• have everything audited: collections / services can be selected

• publication of sensitive business data

• going up for certification as a single, isolated excercise

3. Formal certification: DSA + full external audit and certification based on ISO 16363* or DIN 31644**

2. Extended certification: DSA + structured, externally reviewed and publicly available self-audit based on ISO 16363* or DIN 31644**

1. Basic certification: Data Seal of Approval (DSA)

http://www.trusteddigitalrepository.eu *ISO 16363 - Audit and Certification of Trustworthy Digital Repositories **DIN 31644 - Information and Documentation - Criteria for Trustworthy Digital Archives

European Framework for Audit and Certification

DSA: principles, audiences and Guidelines

The 16 DSA Guidelines give shape to how the 5 principles are implemented.

The Guidelines are aimed at three audiences:1. the data producer – responsible for the quality of the digital data;

DSA Guidelines 1 through 3 2. the data repository – responsible for the quality of the storage and

availability of the data: the data management; DSA Guidelines 4 through 13

3. the data consumer – responsible for the quality of use of digital data; DSA Guidelines 14 through 16

Basic assumption: the data repository is responsible for enabling and supporting data producers’ and data consumers’ compliance with the guidelines.

Repositories: fundamental DSA Guidelines

#4: repository can demonstrate an explicit mission in the area of digital archiving

#5: it is able to ensure compliance with legal regulations and contracts including (when applicable, privacy regulations)

#6: applies documented processes and procedures for managing data storage

#7: maintains a plan (policy) for long-term preservation of its digital assets

#8: archives according to explicit work flows across the data life cycle

#9: assumes responsibility from the data producers for permanent access to and availability of the digital objects

#11: ensures the integrity of the digital objects and the metadata

All guidelines are audited at a specific level of compliance (not set, but evolve).

Support: and before all of that?• consult the presentation of benefits at DSA website: http

://datasealofapproval.org/en/assessment/benefits/

• virtually all documentation of all successfull DSA-applications is publicly available. Consult all applications and reviews at: http://datasealofapproval.org/en/assessment/ Click at the applicable year in the column beneath ‘DSA’ !!

• consult the glossy flyer ‘Doe ik het goed?’ [How is my performance?] >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>for an overview of the subject, experiences.

• follow NCDD/NDE communication: progress on process support in the deliveredroadmap, ‘Hoe ver ben ik?’ [How is my progress, so far?]

Activities of the NDE project team, 2015-2016 (1)Main objective: Develop and maintain a national ‘certification roadmap’

Activities (plotted through time):• Propagating policy development: certification is incorporated into the

policies of n digital heritage institutes in the Netherlands (as a minimum, this includes all hubs within the NDE Network).

• Secure declarations of intent from (as a minimum) all hubs.• Publish a position paper, presenting certified repositories as profitable

and elementary, directed at domain organizations, i.e. Archief2020 (throughput time, efforts/costings and benefits/gains)

• Advocate the installation of an NDE certification help desk

Activities of the NDE project team, 2015-2016 (2) Activities (plotted through time):• Two high-level workshops on certification for large-scale institutions• Three to four workshops on certification for digital heritage institutions• Develop, deploy and maintain the pre-scan instrument• Execute and report on survey (costs & benefits), all DSA-certified parties• Further development of the ‘scoremodel digitale duurzaamheid’ [scoring

model digital sustainability]** as an instrument for self-evaluation and as a benchmark tool

• Three to four workshops on the use of the ‘scoremodel’• Develop and maintain a listing of all certified repositories in the

Nederland (NDE/NCDD websites).• Blog and tweet on activities and milestones

** See http://scoremodel.org [in Dutch]

Support: pre-scan (approach, in Dutch)

• Inhoud van deze slide

Support: pre-scan (complete, in Dutch)

Support: survey, all DSA-certified repositoriesWe expect that in all domains the main question will be: “What does this require in resources?”. The pre-scan will allow institutions te develop a better understanding of their take-of position.

In addition, the project will conduct a survey among all repositories that have already been DSA-certified.

• inventory of practical experiences

• overviews of investments / gains & costs / benefits

• develop recommendations

• the DSA Board has granted permission for this survey (March 2015)

Project team

NCDD project, 2014-2015:

Margriet van Gorsel (NA-National Archives)

Annemieke de Jong (NIBG-National Institute of Sound & Vision)

Barbara Sierman (KB-National Library)

Madeleine de Smaele (3TU.Datacentre)

Kees Waterman (DANS) kees.waterman@dans.knaw.nl

Expansion in NDE project, 2015-2016:

Robert Gillisse (DEN-expertise centre, Digital Heritage Netherlands)

representative of the Cultural Heritage Inspection

More information,and in 2016 ??

- Data Seal of Approval: http://www.datasealofapproval.org - nestor Seal:

http://www.langzeitarchivierung.de/Subsites/nestor/EN/nestor-Siegel/siegel_node.html

- ISO certification: http://www.iso16363.org

In 2014, ISO 16919 has been published, establishing the professional qualifications that official auditors must meet: http://www.iso16363.org/standards/iso-16919

Sept. 2015: 11 of the 45 DSA-certified repositories / services are Dutch.In 2016: min. 1 DIN-certified (DANS) and ?? DSA !!

Further developments, 2015-2016

The NCDD project will continue under the umbrella of the [Dutch] National Strategy for Digital Heritage.

This strategy will be developed by the Network Digital Heritage [acronym in Dutch: NDE].

NDE has designed 3 work packages (WP’s) to structure the efforts.Former NCDD group will continue within WP 3: Sustainability / Durability.Envisioned throughput time: Oct. 2015 – Oct. 2016.

Funding by the Ministry of Education: pending, expected decision Oct. 1.

Application WP3: 640K euros.

Additional results:

The project has made presentations at-the Dutch Digital (Cultural) Heritage Week (3/2015)-an international training for managers ofdigital repositories, PTAB (5/2015)-the final, national presentation of the NCDD projects (9/2015)-here, at the Research Data Alliance – RDA conferentie (9/2015).

The project will make a presentation at a workshop of-the iPRES conference (11/2015).

The Dutch National Library has incorporated DSA-certification in its long term policy document, for 2018.

The Dutch Institute for Sound and Vision currently prepares the start of its DSA assessment (as of 7/2015).

The Dutch technical universities’ 3TU.Datacentre renews its DSA in 2015.DANS applies for DIN-certification in 2015.