1. INFORM File Format Risk Assessment Tool

2. INFORM Methodology
Investigating & Measuring Risk Factors of digital file formats
Providing guidelines for preservation planning
Objective Analysis of Risk Trends

3. INFORM Methodology Defines
Risk categories of digital formats and their dependencies
Risk factors for each category
Scales to measure probability of occurrence and impact
Methods to collect, report and interpret the results

4. Classes of Risk
Digital object format -- risk introduced by the format specification itself and by dependent specifications of compression algorithms, DRM, encryption, etc.
Software -- risk introduced by all necessary software components such as operating systems, applications, library dependencies, migration programs, etc.

5. Classes of Risk
Hardware -- Risks introduced by necessary hardware components, including CPU, I/O cards and peripherals
Media -- Risks introduced by necessary media associated with the format
Associated Organizations -- risks related to the organizations supporting in some fashion the classes identified above

6. Risk Assessment Model
Risk exposure = (probability of an accident producing a loss) x (the impact (or size) of the loss)

7. Risk Assessment Scale: Probability a Hazard will Occur
Very Low
below 1% 1
Low
between 1 - 5% 2
Moderate
between % 3
High
Between % 4
Very High
Above 26% 5

8. Impact Assessment Scale Size of Loss
Minor
Insignificant Data Loss A
Significant
Preventable Partial Data Losss B
Serious
Preventable Complete Data Loss C
Very Serious
Unavoidable Partial Data Loss D
Catastrophic
Unavoidable Complete Data Loss E

9. Light Grey = Watch, Grey = Prepare, Black = Act
Risk Exposure Result E 5 6 7 8 9 D 11 12 4 C 10 3 B 2 A 1
Light Grey = Watch, Grey = Prepare, Black = Act

10. Risk Exposure Result
Any class of risk may have individual factor assessments falling in different zones
Result of any evaluation is a triple showing summed assessments for each zone
Given a risk class with two assessments of 1A, a 3A, a 3D, and a 2E, we have a triple of:
{2 x 1A, 3A + 3D, 2E} =
{2 x 1, , 6} =
{2, 12, 6} where 2 = watch result, 12 = prepare result, 6 = act result

11. Risk Exposure Result
Any given format, hardware, software or media may depend on organizations responsible for maintenance and creation
Formats may depend on Formats, Hardware on Hardware (with media included in hardware), Software on Software,
For each separate class, examine all dependencies’ triple scores and use a MAX function to produce a combined result

12. Risk Exposure Result File Format Assessment = {13, 5, 3}
Associated Organization = {9, 12, 0}
Combined Risk Assessment =
MAX ({13, 5, 3}, {9, 12, 0}) =
{13, 12, 3}

13. Risk Exposure Result
A given format may have dependencies on hardware (including media) and software
Compute triple scores for format, hardware/media and software classes associated with format, and then average results

14. Risk Exposure Results Format = {13, 5, 3} Software = {14, 14, 6}
Hardware/Media = {8, 1, 0}
AVG({13, 5, 3}, {14, 14, 6}, {8, 1, 0}) =
{12, 7, 3}