Toward a reference architecture for archival systems

Abstract

Long-term preservation of product data is imperative for many organizations. A product data archive should be designed to ensure information accessibility and understanding over time. Approaches such as the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) Reference Model and the Audit and Certification of Trustworthy Digital Repositories (ACTDR) provide a framework for conceptually describing and evaluating archives. These approaches are generic and do not focus on particular contexts or content types. Enterprise architecture provides a way to describe systems in their potentially complex environments. This paper proposes a holistic approach to formally describe the architecture and the environment of archival systems. This approach relies on the formal representation of the preservation terminology, including OAIS concepts, using the Department of Defense Architecture Framework (DoDAF). The approach covers the various interactions of other business functions with the archive, and the information models necessary to ensure preservation and accessibility. This approach is a step toward a reference architecture for the formal description of archival systems.