Digital Asset Management and Systems Appraisal
The Royal Commission manages Wales’s national archive of historic sites and monuments, supported by a complex ecosystem of systems.
Over time, these platforms had become fragmented, relied on outdated software and suffered from performance bottlenecks and manual workflows.
The challenge was not to replace them outright, but to conduct an independent, expert review to establish whether the current systems were fit for purpose and to provide clear, evidence-based recommendations for improving resilience, efficiency, compliance and user experience.
Our work involved detailed interviews with staff, archivists and external suppliers; a technical audit of the software stack; and reviews of metadata, workflows, accessibility and compliance.
We benchmarked each system against the Digital Service Standard and future preservation needs, highlighting strengths such as open-source adaptability, while also exposing risks in outdated components, fragmented integrations and limited automation.
By recommending improvements such as system upgrades, metadata standardisation, automation of workflows, Trusted Digital Repository Accreditation and greener hosting we provided RCAHMW with a strategic roadmap that strengthens efficiency today and future-proofs their digital assets for tomorrow.
The final report gave the Royal Commission a holistic view of its digital estate and clear, prioritised recommendations. Short-term actions included system upgrade paths to supported versions, resolving vulnerabilities and optimising the public facing Coflein website’s performance.
Medium- and long-term recommendations set out a path toward greater integration, workflow automation, accessibility compliance and sustainable hosting.
Together, these steps ensure the Commission’s heritage systems remain fit for purpose, resilient under legal and preservation scrutiny and capable of serving both the public and professional users for the next decade.
