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The Digital Continuity project

The Digital Continuity project

Guidance on Digital Continuity

The Digital Continuity shared service is a flexible package of guidance, tools and services, and standards to ensure government's digital information remains complete, usable and available over time.

The guidance we produce should help you to understand and assess risks to your digital information, understand how to mitigate those risks and take effective action. We're developing it incrementally and will publish it on an ongoing basis. All of the guidance on this page is in draft, and published for consultation. We'd welcome your comments and feedback - email digitalcontinuity@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk

 

Understanding Digital Continuity

An introduction to the wider context

For anyone in government who needs a broad understanding of what managing information risk involves, setting out the wider context for one particular issue - digital continuity.

SIRO guidance on the risk of digital obsolescence

For Senior Information Risk Owners in government to begin taking the first steps to managing obsolescence risks, in line with the Information Assurance Maturity Model's Assessment Framework.

Managing Digital Continuity

Draft guidance on use of the Information Asset Register in ICT services contracts

From version 2.3, the OGC ICT Services Model Agreement includes provision for the active management of the Information Asset Register (IAR).

Within an ICT services environment, the IAR identifies the information assets as distinct configuration items which relate to the technology that enables them and the business outcomes that they are required to support.  With the ICT Services IAR under active management, impacts on the information assets can be more easily assessed at times of change. This ensures that the business outcomes continue to be delivered, both at the time of the change and for the duration of the ICT services contract.

Draft guidance on the development and use of the IAR in the context of the ICT services contract includes:

• How to use the ICT Services IAR in the procurement of ICT services
• How the ICT Services IAR is maintained
• How to use the ICT Services IAR in the change management process

Please note that this guidance is currently only a draft version; further iterations containing more detail and clarification will be made available shortly, following consultation.
If you are about to initiate procurement of ICT services using the OGC Model Agreement and want further information on the Information Asset Register, please contact the project team at digitalcontinuity@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk for advice and support. 

We are actively seeking organisations to collaborate with in developing an ICT Services Information Asset Register in order to test and further refine our guidance. Please get in touch if you would like to work with us.