Archive practitioners wishing to preserve records in a line of business system will need to engage with a wide range of stakeholders in different parts of the organisation. Collaboration will be required to achieve a successful outcome. Practitioners may find it useful to map out the different stakeholders using a stakeholder mapping tools such as Reviewing and Engaging Your Stakeholders by The National Archives. Stakeholders may include:
- Records/knowledge/information managers – corporate manager with overall responsibility for records management in the organisation and/or departmental records managers. In some cases, archive practitioners may also be responsible for records management in their organisation but this can vary.
- Information governance – staff in the organisation responsible for setting a framework for how information is managed and shared appropriately. It may also include staff responsible for replying to data protection or freedom of information enquiries.
- Suppliers – the suppliers of the system. This might include the organisation’s account manager as well as programmers/developers who have a greater depth of knowledge about the technical specifications of the system.
- System or business analysts – those familiar with the business process supported by the system
- System administrator or technical architect – responsible for managing and configuring the system(s)
- Senior Information Risk Owner (SIRO) – the overall owner of information risk within the organisation
- Information asset owner (IAO) – senior individuals responsible for each identified information asset (e.g. database or ICT system) at the appropriate business level within a department. For public sector organisations, they may be listed on the Record of Processing Activity (ROPA).
- Information Asset Administrator (IAA) – responsible for day-to-day management of information assets
- Users – those staff who use the system for transactions and adding records
- Procurement – those staff responsible for overseeing the procurement of any systems
- Citizens, customers, or residents– if applicable, those who are the subject of the records
- External – people outside the organisation who provide or amend information in the records or with whom records are shared with
In some cases, advocacy may be required with stakeholders to persuade them of the importance of the preservation of records in line of business systems and also for investment to undertake the work. The Digital Preservation Coalition’s Business Case Toolkit helps practitioners build business cases to fund digital preservation activities. Those working in Higher Education may also find The National Archives’ Advocacy toolkit for higher education archives useful.
In addition, you may wish to consider understanding an analysis, even if it is brief, of business processes in your organisation in which business systems are being used and records being created. This is outlined in Section 7.3 of Information and documentation records management – ISO 15489-1:2016. For public sector organisations, you may find this information in your Record of Processing Activity (ROPA).