Hi there,
One other thing to note when adding data outside of TMS: There are certain fields that are automatically indexed in a separate lookup table (TERMSEARCH) when updating them within the application. The application basically parses values in these fields word by word (excluding stop words) and enters them as discrete records in the lookup table. This table is then used in TMS queries.
The affected fields are those included in the Maintain Search Terms utility:
Credit Line
Culture
Description
Medium
Object Name
Object Title
Period
Nationality (Constituents)
Copyright Status Notes
Publication Status Notes
ObjContext generic Long Text fields 3-10
What this means: if you insert values into one of these fields outside of TMS, you won't be able to find them when querying them in TMS.
In order to ensure your updated values are searchable, you'll want to run the Maintain Search Terms process on affected fields afterward (which is non-trivial for us - usually takes anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours for each depending on complexity and use).
Good luck -
b
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~
Brenda Podemski
Business Applications Administrator
Collections Information
The J. Paul Getty Museum
www.getty.edu
v. 310-440-7087 | f. 310-440-7752 | e. [log in to unmask]
>>> Chad Petrovay <[log in to unmask]> 8/30/2007 7:53 PM >>>
I'm sorry I haven't weighed in on this as of yet. I came onboard with TMS midway through a conversion, and a lot of our data was all over the place. We adopted a new style sheet, but were faced with making the same change to hundreds, sometime thousand of records.
TMS itself does not offer a decent tool for exacting those changes, and all of the replies here have already told you that. However, if you have some experience with SQL and have access to the SQL server, then those changes can be made in a matter of minutes.
We have used this feature to standardize the medium field (one example was "ceramic with glazing" which was all over the place: "glazed ceramic", "GLAZED CERAMIC", "glazing on ceramic", etc) by creating object packages of the records that we wanted to change.
The only downside, is that the changes are not reflected in the 'Audit Trail'.
If you have someone on staff who has experience with SQL, or you bring in an outside consultant, I would be happy to help walk you through it.
Chad M Petrovay
Collections Database Administrator/Assistant Registrar
Walters Art Museum
-----Original Message-----
From: The Museum System (TMS) Users on behalf of Ashley Burke
Sent: Fri 8/24/2007 11:01 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Data Clean-up Questions
Hello All-
I am a fairly new user of TMS and have a few questions about capabilities. Previous to work on TMS, I worked with the database KE EMu and I am trying to locate some of the same tools that I found with that database. Namely, I am looking for a ditto function and a global search and replace function.
By ditto function, I am referring to the idea that you can set a record as a template and simply ditto the information from the template into the current record I am working on. For example, I have a set of 2300 records that need the culture changed and need the provenance added (in the ex-collection related field).
By global search and replace (I found the information about search and replace in the database maintenance, but this is very limited) I refer to pulling up a set of records (maybe in an object package) and select a field in all of those records that I want to change and read something else. For example, I have a set of records that I want to change their credit line.
If either of these capabilities are available, your guidance is greatly appreciated. I should also note that I am working in TMS version 9.20.2028, which I believe is an older version.
Thanks,
Ashley
Ashley Burke
Assistant Registrar
Ringling Museum of Art
5401 Bay Shore Road
Sarasota, FL 34243
[log in to unmask]
941-359-5700 ext. 1504
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