How to use the tool
If you are using DiAGRAM for the first time it will take about 45 minutes to complete it providing you have gathered the information you need before you start.
To begin you need to create a model that reflects the state of your archive now. Choose “Create a model” and name it. Note: If you created a model in a previous session you can upload it (from Upload a previous model) and use that instead of creating a new one.
Answer sixteen questions about your digital archive.
View your results and see how your risk compares to two benchmarks (commercial back-up and a large national institution).
From there, you can either download your results or create different scenarios to change your answers and see how it affects your score by clicking on “Create a scenario”. For example, what if you receive six times as many born-digital records as you currently have over the next 3 years? What if your depositor provided hash values for 100% of the records? What if you changed your storage media to 100% Cloud-based?
You can download the results of your model(s), the two benchmarking models and your scenario(s) by clicking on “Download a report”. Note that if you want to upload your results in a future session, you need to download them in the App data format. Important: your data will only be saved in your browser for twenty-four hours. To save you work, please download your results.
If you want to explore the possibilities of the DiAGRAM further and work with the data and probabilities directly, click on “Advanced customisation”. Here you will be able to:
- update the probability tables for the model based on the data you have entered
- create more complex scenarios by directly manipulating the probabilities used in the model
Before you start
In order to get the most accurate result from DiAGRAM you will need to gather the information you need to answer the questions before you start using the tool (though feel free to explore the tool in advance by entering any values). If you need more help, check the Glossary.
DiAGRAM will help you make a thorough assessment of your archive’s risks. Given the breadth of risk areas covered and number of digital preservation standards used, we suggest you to read all of the questions and familiarise yourself with these standards. This means that you will need to allow a reasonable amount of time to prepare your answers before using the tool. You will need to have some information about the composition of your digital holdings and how they are currently stored. For the security questions you may need information from your IT support team or outsourcing partner.
We use the results of assessments from existing standards. Using these helps standardise responses and make scores more comparable across different institutions. Completing some of the questions will give a far more accurate answer if you have already assessed your archive against them.
The standards used are,
For digital preservation concepts:
- the NDSA Levels of Preservation
- the Digital Preservation Coalition’s Rapid Assessment (DPC RAM), particularly service capabilities I and J (Content Preservation and Metadata Management).
For security:
For technical skills:
You can download the questions here.