Older IT systems are often expensive to keep running, and a lot of money can therefore be saved by being able to quickly archive such systems, while still maintaining the possibility of extracting data in connection with case processing.
Client:
City Archive of Esbjerg
Launch date:
January 2023
Development:
12 months
Intertisement was contacted in relation to Esbjerg Byhistoriske Arkiv’s need to have an application developed for reproducing and searching in the archive information packages.
Intertisement was asked to create a system that could retrieve filing versions after Executive Order 1007 and Executive Order 128 so that they could be searched in a fast and visual way.
Archiving versions is a term that covers archiving of data from IT systems that are no longer in operation. It can, for example, be data from systems for electronic case and document management (ESDH systems), or other IT systems used in the daily operation of the municipality.
These older IT systems are often expensive to keep running, and a lot of money can therefore be saved by being able to quickly archive such systems, while still maintaining the possibility of extracting data in connection with case processing.
The The Danish National Archives is the authority responsible for the archiving of such IT systems. However, it is possible for municipalities and regions to create their own archives for the purpose – the so-called §7 archives.
For municipalities that choose to make use of this scheme, effective tools are needed for the daily search in archived IT systems. There is also a need to be able to quickly transform an archive version of a system into searchable form.
This is where the Archive Management System comes into the picture. The Archive Management System allows fast and efficient recovery of archive information packages made according to Executive Order 1007 and Executive Order 128. After recovery, these archive information packages can be searched and extraction of documents and other data can be done immediately – quickly and efficiently.
The Archive Management System is future-proof, and is ready to support future archive version announcements.
The Archive Management System is a web-based system. This makes it easy and intuitive to use.
Since the system works via a browser, and all data must be accessed through the system, Data Recovery allows a good opportunity to have logging of all actions.
The Archive Management System allows fine-grained control over rights. It is possible to limit which archiving versions a user has access to, as well as limit which features can be accessed. Eg. it may be practical to turn off SQL search for users who do not necessarily need this approach.
The Archive Management System can read archive information packages both from local disks, network drives and cloud-based storage systems such as Azure Blob Storage.
It makes it possible to read data from the already existing infrastructure – or move data to the cloud in a secure and encrypted form.
The Archive Management System contains tools that allow you to use Azure Blob Storage as a storage backend. These tools include Data Properties Keyring, which is a tool that makes it easy to use Azure Blob Storage with additional layers of encryption (Customer-Provided Keys).
Archive information packege are restored to a Microsoft SQL Server, after which archivists can search through the contents of the archive version.
When restoring, a restoration log is created that points to any corrections the Archive Management System may have had to perform in order for the restoration to go through. This log helps, among other things, in the quality assurance of archive version before they are approved.
The data recovery tool has a function for quick scanning for specific data. It can e.g. be CPR numbers or texts. The scanner is implemented in such a way that it respects personal data and is able to to scan through all archive information packages or a specified selection. The result of a scan can simply how many hits there are in a given archive version. An archive can then carry out a more targeted search, in precisely those archiving versions that had hits. This streamlines the workflow and ensures that wider searches are not made than necessary – thereby minimizing access to personally sensitive data.
After recovery, the Archivist can query the archive version via SQL.
The search is done smartly, by document references etc. are made clickable in the results.
This makes it easy to find the documents you are looking for.
In addition, search results can be exported in a variety of formats, including XML, JSON, CSV and Excel (XLSX) and PDF format.
The Archive Management System also allows for visual searches via forms. The forms are created via an intuitive user interface, after which the form’s fields can be accessed via SQL. This workflow allows archiving versions to be searched even if they don’t understand SQL.
The data restorer has a visual tool that shows an ER diagram (Entity Relationship Diagram) of a restored archive version. It helps users to get an overview of the archive version. It can be a great help, as many of the archived IT systems can be very complex to navigate around.
The data restorer logs all actions that take place in the system, and nothing can be accessed outside of this logging.
This logging is done to maintain a strict level of security so that personal data does not fall into the wrong hands.
The logging also creates security for archivists, as a precise log is created of everything that has been accessed. This creates documentation that only the cases that have been relevant to the case processing have been accessed.
Thereby, a log of all actions in the system is maintained – and you can see at any time what the various users have searched for, which documents have been displayed, etc.
The data restorer can display documents in TIFF and JPEG 2000 format from Archive Information Package. These displays are converted on-the-fly so that they can be displayed in the user’s browser.
Documents can also be exported to e.g. PNG, JPEG, PDF or in the original formats.
Export of results and documents
After completing the search, an archivist can export the results tabular data. If there are document references in the tables, these documents will also be exported.
The final result is a ZIP file, containing a PDF of the selected rows of table data, as well as all document references these refer to.
The data restorer is designed to allow the widest possible compatibility. If there are errors or omissions in a given archive version, the Data Restorer can in many cases still restore it with very little / no effort.
Many archives have older archiving versions made according to executive order 342.
In the future, Datagenskaberen will be able to automatically convert these archive information packages so that they can be read as they were made after the newer orders.
In connection with the work around archive version following executive order 1007 and executive order 128, Intertisement has developed an SDK that allows reading and processing of archive information packages.
This SDK creates the foundation for additional tools for processing archive information packages, e.g. within testing or creating archive information packages.
After the launch in Esbjerg, it is expected, among other things, Haderslev, Aabenraa, Vejen, Billund and Tønder municipality to be reached during 2023.
We are very proud of the result and really happy with the development process with Jørgen Dieckmann Rasmussen and the whole team at Esbjerg municipality and the City Archive og Esbjerg.
We look forward to expanding content and functions, as well as expanding the solution nationwide.
