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[tutor_dashboard_password_reset]The scholarly output is yours; the trap is that nobody at the institution has the in-house platform skills to install, configure, structure metadata for and populate a real repository underneath it. A bare open-source download will sit on a server with no collections, no metadata schema, no migrated content and no way to be searched, harvested or cited, so your research stays scattered, undiscoverable and without a permanent institutional record, and the whole project stalls at the exact point your work should be findable. Our team of repository engineers, metadata specialists and designers builds and deploys the finished, working repository for you and hands it over.
A full implementation team · A milestone-based engagement · You own the finished repository and all its content
Standing up a research repository is not a single download, it is nine distinct pieces of engineering, metadata and design work, and each one is the reason a repository holds real, findable output rather than sitting empty. A bare open-source download gives you a server and leaves you to install, configure, structure and populate it alone; AOSARS gives you a team that does the install, the metadata schema, the branding, the migration and the go-live for you, and hands back the working repository. Open any panel below to see what that means for your institution.
Your repository is stood up by a real, hands-on team: repository engineers, metadata specialists and designers who take your scholarly output and build the live system. You are not handed a bare download and left to configure it alone.
Why this matters: The difference between a live, populated repository and a stalled one is the people behind it. A download cannot install, structure or populate a repository; a team can.
Across the service: the same implementation team carries your repository through all nine phases, from discovery to handover.
See the nine phasesWe run your repository through the same nine phases a professional deployment uses: discovery, install, metadata and structure, branding, migration, search and harvesting, access and rights, deployment, and training. Nothing is skipped and nothing is left to chance.
Why this matters: An institution that installs a bare download and stops misses the very phases, the structuring, the migration, the harvesting, the handover, that make a repository work. The full process is what produces a live, findable system.
The path: the nine phases are laid out in full further down the page, each one delivered for you.
See the nine phasesWe do the build between milestones, and at each one, the specification, the structure, the branding, the migrated content, the tested repository, we show you the work and you approve it before we move on. You direct the outcome without doing the labour.
Why this matters: A done-for-you deployment should never take the repository out of your hands. Milestone approval keeps you in control of every decision while our team carries the work.
In control: you own every decision the repository rests on, and our team does the work behind each one.
See the nine phasesThe repository we hand back is properly installed, fully structured and genuinely populated: a live institutional repository with your scholarly output migrated, described and searchable. It is a working system, not a bare install.
Why this matters: Institutions, researchers and readers judge a repository by whether they can find and cite a real item. A live, populated, searchable build is what turns scattered files into a permanent institutional record.
The standard: every phase is delivered to the standard a professional repository deployment would apply to its own launch.
See the nine phasesYou retain the repository, the system is registered to your institution, and every item, record and identifier belongs to you. We are your implementation team, not your host, so the finished repository and all its content are yours.
Why this matters: A done-for-you deployment should hand you a repository you own completely. Nothing about the system, the content or the identifiers belongs to AOSARS.
Yours: you commission the work, you approve it, and you own the result outright.
See the nine phasesWe do not stop at an installed repository. Your system is indexed for search, exposed through an OAI-PMH endpoint for aggregators and harvesters, and every item is assigned a permanent, citable identifier, so researchers across Africa and beyond can find, read and cite your institution's work.
Why this matters: A repository nobody can find earns no readers and no citations. Real discoverability is the difference between a permanent institutional asset and a hidden archive.
See the packages: Compare the three packages
See the nine phasesOur team builds and deploys your repository to your brief, discovery, install, metadata and structure, branding, content migration, search and harvesting, access and rights, deployment and training, and you approve each stage. You own the finished repository, and every item and identifier it holds.
Your repository is built through the same nine phases a professional deployment runs, and our team carries out each one for you: discovery and requirements, install and server configuration, metadata schema and collection structure, branding and theming, content migration and population, search and OAI harvesting setup, access and rights configuration, deployment and handover, and admin training. You approve the work at each milestone. The path below moves on its own from 01 to 09; hover the card or use the pause button to take your time, or select any phase to jump.
The nine phases, 01 to 09
The engagement runs as milestones, not weekly sessions. Our team does the build work between milestones, and at each one you review what we have delivered and give your approval before we move on. Here is how a deployment runs from discovery to handover.
Every engagement opens with our team running structured discovery with your library and research office staff and agreeing the repository it will become: the communities, the collections, the item types, the metadata fields, the access levels and the harvesting settings. We write a requirements specification and a schedule.
You review and approve the specification before any build begins, so the whole engagement is costed, scheduled and agreed from the first day. Nothing starts until you have signed it off.
Between this milestone and the next, our engineers install a proven open-source repository platform on sized hosting, configure the server, database, security and backups, connect your domain over SSL, and build the community and collection hierarchy with a Qualified Dublin Core metadata schema.
You are not provisioning servers or designing schemas. Our team does the technical work and returns a stable, secured, correctly structured repository, which you review and approve.
Our designers apply your logo, colours, typography and imagery across the repository, design clear home, browse and item pages, set up the navigation and featured collections, and make the whole system responsive on phones and low-bandwidth connections.
You are not configuring themes. Our team does the design work and returns a branded, responsive repository, which you review and approve.
Our team migrates and populates the repository with your supplied legacy output, cleaning and mapping the metadata and batch-ingesting the files, then configures search, browse facets, the OAI-PMH harvesting endpoint and persistent identifiers so every item is findable and citable.
You are not cleaning metadata or wiring harvesting endpoints. Our team does the work and returns a populated, searchable, harvestable repository, which you approve.
Our team configures the access, rights and permissions model, open, restricted and embargoed items, depositor and administrator roles, licences and rights statements, then tests every collection, access rule, search path, harvesting endpoint and item link, fixing every defect it finds.
You review the access model and the test results and give the single approval to go live. Nothing is deployed to real readers until you have signed it off.
Our team takes the repository live to a controlled plan, confirms the domain, SSL, OAI endpoint and search indexing are live, trains your administrators and depositors, and hands over the manual, the guides and the data-protection and AI-use policy.
We set the repository live to your approval, then hand over the working, documented, governed system and its administration pack. You approve the launch; we deliver the repository.
Plays through on its own. Hover to pause, or click any milestone to jump.
A view of one engagement. Our team does the build between milestones; at each milestone you review the work and approve it before we proceed.
Every engagement runs the same way against the nine phases, so you always know the stage you are at and what you are approving next.
Our team builds every part of the repository to a professional standard and hands it over. These are the deliverables you receive, built for you and approved by you at each milestone.
A proven open-source repository platform installed, secured and configured on hosting sized for your holdings, registered to your institution.
Your logo, colours and imagery across the repository, with clear home, browse and item pages that work on phones and low-bandwidth links.
A Qualified Dublin Core schema with your fields, controlled vocabularies and submission workflow, and a community and collection hierarchy built around your institution.
Your supplied legacy items and metadata cleaned, mapped and batch-ingested into the right collections, or a fully deposit-ready repository where no legacy content is supplied.
Full-text search and browse facets, a live OAI-PMH endpoint for harvesters, and persistent Handle identifiers, with optional DOIs on higher tiers, on every item.
Administrator and depositor training, a written manual and video guides, and a data-protection and AI-use policy governing metadata and content.
All three put the AOSARS implementation team, repository engineers, metadata specialists and designers, behind your repository through the nine-phase deployment. They differ in how far we carry it: the Foundation Repository Build stands up an installed, branded repository with a working metadata schema and collection structure; the Structured Repository Build adds a fuller metadata and collection design with full-text search and OAI harvesting configured and your supplied legacy content migrated; and the Research-Grade Repository Build adds the full access and rights model, DOI configuration against your own account, and a governed handover with training. You commission the package, then we begin. Most institutions choose the Structured Repository Build.
You walk away with the whole repository, a full-featured, open-standards system, installed, secured and live at your own web address, with your metadata schema, faculty collection structure and self-deposit process in place.
Everything in Live Repository, plus your full institutional identity applied with custom interface theming, your supplied scholarship migrated in, your repository registered for discovery and worldwide harvesting, custom deposit forms per collection, and single sign-on for your staff and students. Migration covers up to five hundred supplied items by default; larger sets are arranged.
Everything in Branded and Populated, taken from a populated repository to a governed, research-grade one your own team runs. You gain a full, fine-grained access, rights and embargo model beyond the baseline, citable identifiers such as DOI and Handle issued against your own registration account, full data migration with complete metadata mapping, deep interface and entity customisation, managed system administration with monitoring, repository policy-development consultation, six months support, and administrator training and capacity building, closing with a governed handover. Training covers two sessions by default; more are arranged.
Two low-pressure ways to explore before you commission: ask us to call you back on WhatsApp at a time that suits you, or book a call to talk it through and review your holdings and your goals together. Neither commits you to anything.
Leave your details and the time that suits you. We call you on WhatsApp, so it costs you nothing.
Pick a slot yourself on our calendar and we meet by video. We can talk it through and, if you like, review your work together.
The questions institutions and research bodies ask most before commissioning. If yours is not here, ask before you pay.
We answer every enquiry personally, usually within a day, before you commit to anything.
It runs as a milestone-based engagement against the nine AOSARS deployment phases, not a fixed number of sessions. The Foundation Repository Build, from discovery through an installed, branded, structured repository, typically takes two to three weeks. The Structured Repository Build adds one to two weeks for search and OAI harvesting and the migration of your supplied legacy content. The Research-Grade Repository Build runs four to six weeks for the full access and rights model, DOI configuration and a governed handover with training. We agree the schedule in the specification before any work starts, and you approve each milestone as we reach it.
Only a laptop or desktop with a reliable internet connection and the authority to commission the repository. You do not need technical setup, a server or metadata prepared in advance. Once the engagement is confirmed, our team gathers your institutional branding, a hosting and domain decision, a nominated administrator contact, and any legacy items and metadata you want migrated, in whatever form they are in, during a structured onboarding phase. Legacy content is welcome but entirely optional. From there our engineers and metadata specialists do the build.
You do, entirely. You hold the repository and its administrator accounts, the system is registered in your institution's name, and every item, record and identifier belongs to you. We are your implementation team, not your host, so nothing about the repository or its content belongs to AOSARS. You own the finished repository and everything in it.
At go-live we train your administrators and depositors to add items, describe them to the schema, manage collections, run the submission workflow and read the usage statistics, and hand over a written administration manual, video guides and the data-protection and AI-use policy that governs metadata and content. We agree a support and maintenance handover so your own staff can run the repository independently from the first day.
Each build phase includes a review milestone where you see the work, the specification, the metadata schema, the branding, the migrated content, the tested repository, and give your changes before we move on. Each milestone carries a defined revision round so your feedback is worked in, and the specification sets out exactly what each phase and package includes. Because you approve at every stage, nothing goes live until you are satisfied with it.
Yes, wherever you supply it. From the Structured Repository Build upward we gather your legacy items and metadata in whatever form they are in, spreadsheets, folders or an old system export, clean and map the metadata to the new schema, and batch-ingest everything using CSV and SAF tooling. Where no legacy content is supplied, we hand over the repository installed, structured and branded, fully ready for your team to deposit into.
This is a done-for-you service. Our team of repository engineers, metadata specialists and designers does the install, the configuration, the metadata schema, the branding, the migration, the search and harvesting set-up and the deployment for you, and hands back a live, working repository. You brief us and approve each milestone; you do not install or configure the repository yourself. The dividing line is simple: here, the labour stays with us.
Our team uses professional tools, including AI assistance, only as an aid our engineers and metadata specialists direct and verify, never as a substitute for real technical and cataloguing judgement. Any AI-assisted metadata generation is checked against the record and the schema by a person, never presented as authoritative on its own, and carries an audit trail, and your content and metadata are handled under a written data-protection agreement. The integrity of the finished repository is what the whole service is built to protect.
Commission your package today and hand the whole deployment, install, metadata and structure, branding, content migration, search and harvesting, access and rights, and go-live, to a team that builds the finished repository for you.
A full implementation team. A milestone-based engagement. You own the finished repository. Pay in your local currency on mobile money, card or bank transfer.
