1 NOAA Use of the Open Archival Information System Reference Model (OAIS-RM) Ken McDonald NOAA NESDIS ESIP Federation Meeting July 9, 2009

2 Background Open Archival Information System –“An archive, consisting of an organization of people and systems, that has accepted the responsibility to preserve information and make it available for a designated community.” Comprehensive Large-Array-data Stewardship System (CLASS) –“an enterprise-wide information technology system supporting long-term, secure storage of and common access for environmental datasets and information stewarded by NOAA’s Archives.” NOAA National Data Centers (NNDCs) –NESDIS organizations with charter to provide archive services –Climatic, Geophysical and Ocean Data Centers (NCDC, NGDC, NODC) NOAA Centers of Data –Organizations in other line offices that hold and provide access to data

3 Current view of NOAA “Information Preservation” NCDCNGDCNODC CLASS Center Of Data Center Of Data Center Of Data Center Of Data Center Of Data Center Of Data Center Of Data Center Of Data Center Of Data Center Of Data Users NOTES: Specific roles and responsibilities (e.g. preservation planning, administration) largely undocumented and not implemented consistently Multiple ways for users to provide and obtain information Decisions on what information to preserve, where and how to store information made in ad hoc manner Legend = IT support for long-term preservation = IT support for temporary storage = Information preservation organization

4 NCDC NGDC NODC CLASS Center Of Data Center Of Data Center Of Data Center Of Data Center Of Data Center Of Data Producers Consumers QUESTIONS: What are the roles and responsibilities of the Data Centers and the Centers of Data? Do Centers of Data utilize or interact with CLASS directly? What are the “enterprise-wide” systems and solutions? What does “enterprise-wide” mean in this context? Legend = IT support for long-term preservation = IT support for temporary storage = Information preservation organization NOAA Archives Possible Intermediate view of NOAA Information Preservation and related questions…

5 NESDIS Data Centers and CLASS are using Open Archival Information System Reference Model (OAIS-RM) –Define archive functions –Assign responsibilities “Enterprise solution” introduces new coordination functions –CLASS Operations Planning Board (COPB) CLASS Operations Working Group OAIS Use in NNDC/CLASS Environment

6 NOAA Administrative Order NAO – Management of Environmental and Geospatial Data and Information Establishes NOAA-wide policy Office of the CIO has lead responsibility Defines data management terms and entities, including “Data Centers” and “Centers of Data” Delineates responsibilities of Data Centers, Centers of Data and Program Managers –“Centers of Data transfer their data holdings to the NOAA National Data Centers for permanent archiving when continued storage at the Center of Data is no longer appropriate.” Does not currently reference OAIS-RM

7 Next Steps for NOAA’s Archives Continue use of OAIS-RM in development and operation of NNDC/CLASS archives –Assignment of NNDC and CLASS responsibilities –Specification of Archive/Producer and Archive/Consumer interfaces (SIP, DIP specification) Apply OAIS-RM more broadly across NOAA –Use to inform/evaluate archive practices at Centers of Data –Based on that assessment, develop a NOAA Archive Concept of Operations Update NAO to establish archive policies and guidelines –Iterative with development of Archive ConOps –Use and reference OAIS-RM