The recent FIDELIS deliverable D6.1 Consolidated Requirements proposes a practical approach to trustworthiness, assessment, and continuous improvement. Rather than prescribing a single set of criteria, the model recognises that repository trustworthiness depends on its mission, scope, level of care of digital objects, and the expectations of relevant authority bodies. The report brings together the essential elements needed to support transparent, comparable, and repeatable assessments of repositories and related entities.
Every assessment process should explicitly identify four elements: who defines the criteria, who maintains the assessment process, who performs the assessment, and who assigns trust status. This transparency is essential for consistent and repeatable evaluations.
Building on the FIDELIS Transparent Trustworthy Repository Attributes Matrix (TTRAM) and existing capability-maturity models, the report introduces a simple model centered on information transparency:
- Initial: information exists but is not consistently documented.
- Managed: practices are documented and operational.
- Defined: information is maintained, aligned, and ready to support repeated assessments.
The message is straightforward: repositories can improve maturity by documenting practices, maintaining documentation, and making information increasingly transparent and machine-actionable.
The report also notes that alignment between EOSC onboarding requirements can support repository practices. Differences in requirements, however, may create additional complexity, risk or difficulties for repositories. Repositories require sufficient stability to maintain sustainable practices.
In addition, the FIDELIS team has published a working paper FIDELIS TTRAM Capability-Maturity: Information Transparency for Trust, which further develops the maturity approach.
We would like your feedback!
Repository managers and other stakeholders are invited to share feedback on the proposed capability levels, transparency requirements, and potential use for repository improvement and benchmarking.
Your feedback will help shape guidance for trustworthy repositories and support alignment across the European repository landscape!
Contact: fidelis.matrixfeedback@postit.csc.fi
TTRAM Capability-Maturity working paper: L'Hours, H., Parkes, O., Kleemola, M., Recker, J., van Horik, R., Mendes de Farias, T., Kaartinen, H., Verburg, M., & Jakobsen, M. (2026). FIDELIS TTRAM Capability-Maturity: Information Transparency for Trust (Version v01.00). Zenodo.
FIDELIS D6.1 Consolidated Requirements: Kleemola, M., L'Hours, H., Parkes, O., Kaartinen, H., Sandberg, L. T., Farrell, G., Quaglia, F., Tosatto, S., Recker, J., Alaterä, T. J., Hugo, W., Steinhoff, W., van Horik, R., Sima, A. C., & Duvaud, S. (2026). D6.1 - Consolidated requirements (Version 1.0). Zenodo.