Regarding conservation in TMS....
We also use the conservation module in TMS, though in a limited way.
Our #1 difficulty would be the clumsiness of moving around the survey
and line items. With practice it works, but it isn't easy to get used
to. Plus we have never been able to convert out outgoing loan form to a
crystal report because of the need/desire for conservation to have
checkboxes, blanks, etc. for display criteria. If anyone has any ideas
for how to get around this, I would love to hear them.
One thing we have found useful in conservation - we started a project to
scan old conservation documents, targeting objects involved in upcoming
installations that are scheduled to be examined. We create line items
for these old conservation "events" and link the documents in
conservation media. This was partly inspired by the Boston MFA, and we
have found it is useful and a way of getting conservation into TMS
without keying it in.
My 2 cents.
Ella Rothgangel
Collections Database Administrator
Saint Louis Art Museum
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-----Original Message-----
From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Jeri Moxley
Sent: Monday, January 22, 2007 6:54 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Making another database partially accessible in TMS
Hi David,
We're another one using the Conservation module. I have a meeting with
my conservators next week to discuss any changes they want to our
current data entry rules and reports, and also to discuss what they need
beyond what TMS has to offer.
Our #1 difficulty with Conservation in TMS is that you can't record
conditions and treatments at the component level.
Best,
Jeri
----------------------------
Jeri Rojas
TMS Specialist
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10128
tel: (212) 423-3509
fax: (212) 462-4225
email: [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Aylsworth, David
Sent: Monday, January 22, 2007 7:31 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Making another database partially accessible in TMS
Thanks David,
That's almost verbatim what Dimitry just recommended to me too! I
haven't looked at their table structure, but suspect that they have not
used the same ObjID numbers that are used in TMS, but it's definitely a
glimmer of hope.
I also asked them if I could share any of their db with people. I'll be
sure to let you know what they say. The only conservation departments
that I have heard that really use the TMS conservation module are
MFABoston and the Tate, but I haven't visited either place to see them
in action.
Thanks for your input, though. I'll let you know how it progresses..
David
David Aylsworth
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Registrar for Collections
telephone: 713-639-7824
fax: 713-639-7780
-----Original Message-----
From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of David Parsell
Sent: Monday, January 22, 2007 10:32 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Making another database partially accessible in TMS
David,
The answer to your question is a qualified yes without knowing what
database and platform is being used.
I have linked access databases and SQL tables outside of TMS to TMS
tables by using the ID field (IE: objectID, conID), found in each TMS
table.
Using Crystal Reports I write reports that join the TMS and non-TMS
tables or just the non-TMS tables.
The reports are selected from the TMS reports menus and work well.
I'm very curious about your conservation db. Our conservators also find
the TMS conservation assistant less than thrilling. Can you share any of
the design with us?
David Parsell
Yale University Art Gallery and The Yale Center for British Art
At 11:03 AM 1/22/2007, you wrote:
>Good morning,
>
>Because I wasn't fast enough with exploring the possibility of adapting
>the conservation modules of TMS in a manner that was acceptable for our
>conservation department, they went ahead and created their own database
>that they use for their own purposes. It's a beautiful database, and
is
>very useful for them. They also had very strong feelings of mistrust
of
>the security abilities of TMS and did not want access to many of their
>reports to general users.
>
>Now, though, they are starting to realize some of the benefits of
having
>at least some of their data accessible through TMS. They don't want to
>talk about mapping a conversion to dump their data into TMS yet, but
>they think that they want the ability within TMS to capture a report of
>specific fields from their database. They suggested doing this through
>some sort of hyperlink.
>
>I haven't talked with Gallery Systems about this yet, but I will. I
>have a feeling that this is not an unique problem for me, though, so
was
>curious about if anyone was dealing with multiple databases and trying
>to merge them in a way that would enable both to operate dynamically or
>independently? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
>
>Thanks,
>David
>
>David Aylsworth
>Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
>Registrar for Collections
>telephone: 713-639-7824
>fax: 713-639-7780
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