Introduction
SP documents major changes to its organizational and technical infrastructure in its annual reports to OCUL Directors. These reports record the history of changes in ongoing and planned projects, contractual obligations, organizational structure, staffing levels, operating procedures, hardware, and software. SP preserves copies of these reports. In addition, SP preserves copies of minutes of meetings and budgets in order to record the history of key decisions made by staff. SP's Organizational Chart identifies appropriate staff who can explain repository practices and workflows.
SP retains historical versions of software in its code versioning system so that changes to critical processes can always be reversed. Please see 5.1.1.6.1 for additional details.
Responsibility
SP Director
Digital Preservation Policy Librarian
Potential Risks
While SP documents the history of major changes to its organizational and technical infrastructure, there is a risk that minor changes, which may turn out to be significant at a later time, are not recorded in an easily accessible or understandable format or not recorded at all.
There is a risk that personnel who know the repository intimately will leave the organization at some point. To minimize this risk, SP keeps a record of changes (see Explanation above) and uses well known technical components. Please see the Risk Analysis and Management Strategies document for more information about SP's strategies for reducing the impact of personnel departures.
Relevant Documents