Proof of concept for long term access to council records

Tender description

Project specification Provide a proof of concept to demonstrate how it is possible to provide long term access and to preserve council records. The supplier will work with ARCW partners to select a suitable set of records for the pilot project. The pilot will develop a methodology or process to demonstrate how these records will be maintained in a manner to ensure their reliability, authenticity and security over time. As the life span of the line of business systems may be 5-10 years, the proof of concept should provide a solution to enable access to these records across differing systems. The project should demonstrate how the records can be preserved permanently, or how they can be identified for disposal after a specific time has elapsed. It should also indicate how there can be controls on access to the records. It should demonstrate how the solution could be scaled up for use by other councils across Wales with differing line of business systems and how it could be applied to other categories of records. The Vital Records Project report recommended that ARCW Digital Preservation system should be moved from R&D phase into service, with clarity over governance (in its widest sense), information governance framework & processes including security, costs [etc.]. The ARCW system has been developed by the NLW using Archivematica, linked to its storage infrastructure. The proposed solution can take this workflow into consideration in the delivery of the proof of concept, but it is not a requirement. Aims • Demonstrate how authentic, reliable and accessible records can be preserved and accessible over time • Demonstrate how records can be migrated into the solution and exported • Demonstrate how access to records can be enabled over time • Demonstrate the scalability of the solution and applicability for different data formats • Provide costings to increase the capacity of the solution which can be used as a basis for additional funding applications Tasks: • Work closely with two or more ARCW partners to select records for use in the pilot • Develop a solution to ensure that the information remains reliable, authentic and accessible across changing technologies • Develop a methodology which connects the data held in council systems to the solution proposed for long-term access and preservation • Provide an operational testbed which demonstrates the application of the methodology with the selected records • Demonstrate how access can be enabled to the records, but also restricted to certain records • Show how records can be migrated and exported, ensuring continuing accessibility to reliable records • Ensure that the proposed solution can be scaled up and used for information in differing formats • Create a report which explains the methodology, identifies the issues and the proposed solutions, including the costings for increasing capacity and additional users