The IPUMS Business Process Model: Instituting a workflow mapping strategy to support archival processes

Abstract

The IPUMS Preservation Archive is instituting a workflow mapping strategy to further identify IPUMS process and metadata capture points to expand its holdings in the data archive. Drawing on two business process models, the Generic Statistical Business Process Model (GSBPM) and the Generic Longitudinal Business Process Model (GLBPM), archival staff have created an IPUMS Business Process Model (IPUMS BPM). The IPUMS BPM reflects the use of secondary data sources and the work of harmonization and integration to create a data infrastructure that supports research across time and space. Internally, the IPUMS BPM provides a clear visualization of the IPUMS workflow from external submission of data, harmonization process, documentation, extraction systems, and archival preservation of metadata. The challenge for archival staff is furthering the understanding and adoption of the IPUMS BPM within the IPUMS project groups, and to identify metadata production points that require the intervention of the archive for provenance and preservation purposes. It is part of an on-going effort to clearly define the role of the archive within IPUMS as an integral part of IPUMS organization and workflow. This paper identifies the value of instituting this mapping approach to gain a clearer understanding of the role of the archive within project work cycles, points where production and preservaton activities intersect, and opportunities to expand archival holdings.