From fragmented archives to secure, scalable & integrated Digital Preservation
Discover how Aalto University protects research, art and cultural heritage for the long term with Preservica Enterprise Plus
Executive Summary
Aalto University, one of Finland’s leading multidisciplinary institutions spanning art, design, architecture, science, engineering and business, generates an exceptionally diverse range of digital materials, from scholarly publications to intricate 3D models and immersive audiovisual works. Faced with outdated infrastructure, increasing compliance demands and fragmented digital workflows, Aalto University Archives partnered with Preservica to build a unified, secure and scalable Aalto Repository.
Powered by Preservica Enterprise Plus, the repository is already delivering tangible results including streamlined discovery, automated preservation workflows and the successful launch of the internationally acclaimed Nokia Design Archive.
The Challenge: Diverse content, fragmented systems and rising pressures
Aalto University’s ambition to safeguard its creative and research output quickly collided with the limitations of its legacy infrastructure. The institution’s existing databases were reaching end of life, and fragmented systems were ill-equipped to preserve the breadth and complexity of Aalto’s digital collections.
- Diverse formats at risk — From multimedia and CAD drawings to interactive 3D models, many of Aalto’s outputs could not be archived appropriately with existing tools. Without intervention, much of this creative work risked being lost or becoming inaccessible.
- Preservation often came too late — Archiving was typically done after a project ended or a staff member moved on, leaving critical permissions, rights, and contextual metadata incomplete. At the same time, new compliance requirements, such as the long-term storage of digitally signed diplomas, meant timing could no longer be an afterthought.
- Security and trust were non-negotiable — The system needed to distinguish between materials meant for public discovery and those requiring confidentiality, all while ensuring resilience during complex migrations from incompatible legacy systems.
- A vision beyond compliance — Aalto didn’t just want to “store” its assets. Leaders envisioned a scalable preservation infrastructure that could showcase the university’s achievements to the world, provide discovery across multiple access points and ensure that nothing — from groundbreaking research to student art — would be forgotten over time.
Aalto needed more than a storage system. It required a secure, standards-based preservation framework that could handle highly diverse formats, capture metadata and permissions at the point of creation, meet the growing legal and funder mandates and deliver on the broader vision of safeguarding and showcasing the university’s legacy well into the future.
Solution: Enterprise Plus at the core
After evaluating options, Aalto University selected Preservica Enterprise Plus edition for its ability to combine security, scalability and integration. The platform became the foundation for a more holistic and proactive approach to Digital Preservation.
Key elements included:
- Integrated ingest workflows: Metadata, permissions, and files are now captured at the point of creation—whether for dissertations, research data, or student certificates—eliminating the gaps caused by late archiving.
- Standards-based interoperability: The adoption of the EAD3 metadata schema enables Aalto to publish collections seamlessly to Finna, Finland’s national discovery service, while ensuring rich contextual discovery for end-users.
- Enterprise-level security and flexibility: Enterprise Plus offers advanced security controls for sensitive and confidential assets, complemented by public discovery features. It also supports the creation of on-premise copies and integrates easily with Aalto’s broader digital ecosystem via unrestricted API access.
- Migration support: Preservica’s flexible architecture allowed Aalto to successfully migrate complex legacy databases, converting incompatible schemas into a single, future-proof platform.
Standards-based preservation: Building confidence with OAIS
Aalto also placed high value on aligning its Digital Preservation with the internationally recognised OAIS reference model. Preservica’s OAIS-aligned architecture provides the university with confidence that its digital assets will remain secure, accessible, and meaningful well into the future.
- Active Digital Preservation automatically migrates files to newer formats, preventing obsolescence.
- Preservation Watch continuously scans for risks, such as outdated formats or incomplete metadata.
- Evolving representation information ensures future users can still interpret collections with full context.
- Preservation Description Information (PDI) — including fixity, authenticity, and rights — provides verifiable trust in the integrity of Aalto’s holdings.
This OAIS-aligned approach gives Aalto assurance that its diverse and growing collections will remain a living, usable resource for generations to come.
Outcomes
Aalto University’s ultimate vision is for Preservica to serve as the trusted home for all of its digital assets in need of long-term preservation, seamlessly integrated across the institution and supporting both research and cultural memory – however, the university has already seen powerful early successes that validate the choice and approach:
- Improved ease of use: Students, researchers, and administrators now benefit from seamless workflows that integrate digital preservation into everyday processes—reducing complexity and saving time.
- Contextual discovery: Thanks to EAD3, users can explore collections with rich context about provenance, creators, and rights. Rights statements are now displayed directly at the asset level via Creative Commons licenses.
- Showcasing landmark collections: One of the first major successes was the Nokia Design Archive, including video and audio formats. The collection was ingested quickly, preserved accurately, and made publicly accessible—garnering international media coverage. The Nokia collection reached over 2 million views in only a couple of days.
- Future-ready foundation: With Enterprise Plus, Aalto has laid the groundwork for new initiatives, including the automatic preservation of digitally signed student certificates and the integration of preservation into Salesforce-driven workflows for project leaders and faculty.
Key Takeaways
Preservation integrated across workflows
Digital Preservation is embedded in daily workflows, streamlining tasks and efficiency across the institution
Enterprise-level security & flexibility
Advanced security, public discovery, on-premise copies and seamless integration into the Aalto ecosystem
Standards-based interoperability
Using EAD3, Aalto publishes collections to Finna, ensuring standards-based interoperability and rich discovery for users
Showcasing landmark collections
The Nokia Design Archive was quickly preserved, made public and reached over 2 million views rapidly
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