Keeping Research Data Safe:

Cost-benefit studies, tools, and methodologies focussing on long-lived data

Welcome to the Keeping Research Data Safe (KRDS) Website

This web site has been set-up to support dissemination of information on the "Keeping Research Data Safe (KRDS)" cost-benefit studies, tools and methodologies that focus on the challenges of assessing costs and benefits of curation and preservation of research data.

Keeping Research Data Safe has been developed in three major phases funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee. The first Keeping Research Data Safe study (KRDS1) completed in 2008 made a major contribution to the study of preservation costs by developing a cost model and identifying cost variables for preserving research data in UK universities. That work has had considerable impact and received international interest. The second Keeping Research Data Safe project (KRDS2) completed in December 2009, built on this previous work and identified and analysed longitudinal data on preservation costs and benefits associated with long-lived data. The final phase has focussed on transfering knowledge from the research into practice through development of a Factsheet, User Guide, and Benefits Analysis Toolkit.

For more recent work that extends KRDS we recommend the Cost-Benefit Advocacy Toolkit produced for CESSDA in 2017. This toolkit is comprised of: Three factsheets - Benefits (KRDS benefits and more recent material), Costs (KRDS costs, 4C ,etc.), and Return on Investment (evidence from impact studies and for “costs of inaction”); Two worksheets - the Archive Development Canvas (a non-profit archive version of the Business Model Canvas), and the Benefits Summary for a Data Archive (an updated social science version of the KRDS Benefits Framework); Four case studies; and a user guide.

KRDS outputs are made freely available to the UK Higher Education, Further Education and Research communities in perpetuity for non-commercial use. Commercial Use is selling KRDS in a product, or using it to provide a service for which you charge. Outputs and synthesis from the projects are provided below.

KRDS Factsheet - (PDF) -version 2 July 2011- This A4 four-page factsheet is intended to be suitable for senior managers and others interested in a concise summary of our key findings. It will be relevant to all repositories and institutions holding digital material but of particular interest to anyone responsible for or involved in the long-term management of research data.

KRDS User Guide (PDF) -version 2 July 2011- The KRDS User Guide is an edited selection and synthesis of the guidance in the KRDS reports combined with newly commissioned text and illustrations. It is intended to act as a concise practical manual for KRDS users. Its creation has been funded through the JISC Managing Research Data Programme and the JISC Digital Preservation Programme.

KRDS Tools

The KRDS activity cost model is available to download in two versions together with a KRDS Benefits Analysis Toolkit (note guidance on the use of the activity models and benefits toolkit is available in the KRDS User Guide):

KRDS Activity Model

KRDS Benefits Analysis Toolkit

KRDS Reports and Supplementary Materials (PDF and Word files)

Other Implementations, Research Partnerships and Consultancy - Research data and the needs of different organisations are highly varied. We are continuing to develop the KRDS methodologies and tools as partners in new programmes and research projects in the UK, mainland Europe and North America such as the JISC Data Management Infrastructure Programme, Dryad and I2S2. Charles Beagrie Limited can also provide value-added consultancy to assist organisations in implementing cost/benefit analysis and to tailor KRDS methodologies and tools to their specific requirements. For further information see: