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Hi Michelle!

I can answer for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

I'm sure somebody else is going to say this, but we create a new security group because a groups of users either have too much or too little or the wrong kind of edit access to fields and records.  Security groups are a pain to keep up to date, so we only create new ones when we feel we must. We don't create security groups by curatorial department, but the grouping does reflect museum departments and roles – in addition to Systems Admin and View Only, we have Curatorial, Registration, Art Handling, Conservation, Education, Development, Intern, Exhibitions, and Library. We allow curators to edit information only in records for their own home curatorial departments, but that is controlled at the individual user level – a curator will have "Curatorial" access for the home department, and "View only" access to other departments.

Classifications are a fairly short and random mix of functional, medium-related, and art historical terms. It just happened that way. We create a new classification when a curator feels strongly that the existing classifications are not appropriate for a specific work/works. We have discussed creating a more hierarchical system, but since we have an encyclopedic collection, the curators haven't reached a decision on what kind of classification structure would work for everyone.

We create new TMS departments when a new curatorial department is created – recent example: Photography. We also create departments for functional reasons, for example we have a duplicate set of "Consideration" curatorial departments so curators can create limited access records for works before they are accessioned. In addition to curatorial departments, we have departments for Exhibition Loans, Returned Loans, Temporary Receipts, Group Records, and Deaccessions.

The security group is more about the user and their needs (and keeping them from being able to see/edit things they shouldn't) and the department is more about objects and their relationship to the institution (do we own them, did we used to own them, are they on loan to us, do we not know what their relationship to us is?)

Happy to talk in more detail if you want to reach out directly!

Fatima

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Fatima Mahdi
Collections Information Specialist/TMS

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

200 N. Arthur Ashe Boulevard
Richmond, VA 23220
Tel. 804-340-1443
Pronouns: she/her/hers

Teleworking Wednesday & Friday

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________________________________
From: Michelle Gude <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 16, 2024 11:34 AM
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Three Questions. Security Groups? Classifications? Departments?


External Email - Exercise Caution

Hello everyone!

I have three separate questions. I understand these are fairly nuanced and every museum is different, but I'm curious to learn more about how other TMS Administrators handled these.

I'd love to hear more about how other admins handled these situations/three important parts of TMS.

First, how does your TMS Administrator manage security groups within the DB Config Tool? Specifically, what guidelines do you follow when creating security groups? Do you create overarching security groups based on department or based on individual roles?

Second, how do you all manage classifications within TMS at your institution? What warrants (or has warranted) creating a new classification at your institution and what did you use as guidance when making those decisions?

And third, how do you all manage departments within TMS at your institution? What also warrants (or has warranted) creating a new department at your institution and what did you use as guidance when making those decisions as well?

Thank you!

Best,
Michelle

Michelle Gude (she/her) | 7am - 3pm
Assistant TMS Administrator, Collections Management
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[cid:59dd741b-4b51-45cf-8ab5-34c60e7cef56]
The Menil Collection
1533 Sul Ross Street,
Houston, TX 77006
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