Using DSpace as backend service - Workflow-centric repository development in practice

Abstract

We moved from a DSpace -centric development model to a workflow-centric model in order to speed up our repository development. In the workflow-centric model the starting point is not the workflows that the *system* can offer but the workflows that are needed. The organisation defines efficient workflows for content management and then implements tools that support those workflows independently from repository software. The result is a network of applications where the repository software is just one part of the network via REST-api.

The best part of the model is that it allows quick experimenting without any significant risks (financial or otherwise). The model also helps to separate tasks that are part of maintaining the core infrastructure from tasks that are content specific. This separation is essential so that we can be sure that libary's development resources are used in best possible ways.

In this session I'll demonstrate workflows that are in use in Jyväskylä University Digital Repository JYX and tools that make them possible.