Thank you all for your opinions, suggestions, ideas, and time and energy you put into answering my original query about setting security rights.

I am at the very beginning of all this-so I have lots to go on, thanks to you, this wonderful TMS user group!

Again, many, many thanks!

Christine

Christine Droll
Collections Database Administrator
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
4525 Oak Street
Kansas City, MO  64111-1873
t: 816.751.1333
f: 816.751.0499
[log in to unmask]



From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Diane Lee
Sent: Friday, March 30, 2012 3:17 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Security rights with TMS2010

The deleting thing is definitely not a jerk move Amber - I am the only one on our system with that power.  I know it's frustrating for users sometimes, but I agree that its better than having someone completely accidently get rid of something.

So everyone has had great input - I am looking at redoing our security due to staffing changes and reorganization of departments, so I am keeping all of this in mind as well.
Thanks everyone.
Diane.

==========================================
Diane Lee, Collections Manager  860-236-5621 x242
Connecticut Historical Society

From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Morgan, Amber
Sent: Friday, March 30, 2012 4:03 PM
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Security rights with TMS2010

Hi Christine,

Giving users access to TMS is kind of intimidating at first, but it really isn't that bad.

First of all, I agree with what the others said.  I don't think you should start out with full rights and try scaling it back.  It's too easy to overlook something.  Start with read-only and just add what you need.  Definitely don't start with system administrator!

If I'm reading your message correctly, it sounds like no one has had even read-only access so far.  Grant that to the curators first and give them some time to get used to conducting searches.  One thing I've found is that once users see how complex TMS actually is, they get a little intimidated and are more than happy to accept limited access rather than being able to make all kinds of changes.

The next thing I'd recommend is to do what Chad suggested and find out exactly what fields curators think they want to edit, and then break it down into smaller chunks.  It takes a lot of training to teach staff to do data entry correctly.  If you try to roll out too many permissions at once, it will be too hard for you to keep an eye on things and make sure everyone is trained properly.  Maybe a place to start would be "tombstone data," the fields commonly used in label copy (artist, title, date, dimensions, etc, etc).  Or maybe they just want to make some curatorial comments, which you could do in one of the notes field, or using text entries.  If they want to enter values, maybe that's a separate training session from the tombstone stuff.

Do you have a cataloging manual or style guide?  If people are going to be entering data, you'll want to give them some guidelines or you'll have all kinds of crazy stuff in there.  If they just want to type a bunch of notes and not listen to you, that's a perfect use of text entries if you ask me!

We don't have many users here that are allowed to edit data, but I always emphasize that they have to master one set of tasks before they can learn a new one.  So if someone has been trained on entering condition reports, and I'm satisfied that they're capable and understand exactly what they're doing, then maybe I teach them how to create and edit constituent records.  Something else I do, and maybe this is kind of a jerk move but it works, is I don't let new users delete anything.  When someone is trained to create new TMS records, I give them permission to add, but not delete from fields.  I tell them that if they need to delete something (like an errant title) they have to notify me.  There are a few reasons for this.  First of all, I don't want someone deleting something in TMS simply because they don't understand why it's there.  Also, people who are new to databases don't always understand the interconnectedness of them - such as deleting an actual constituent record affecting every object record that was linked to it.  But I also use it as a way to keep in touch with the new users and learn what areas they're having trouble with.  If someone needs me to delete stuff for them all of the time, they clearly don't understand something and need more training, or maybe they are simply not the kind of person cut out for this kind of work and I need to monitor or revoke their privileges.  And even if someone has passed all of my scrutiny and they're awesome at data entry, they are NEVER permitted to delete object records.

Would your institution pay for some training on setting user permissions?  I was trained by Gallery Systems and it was a huge help.  Once you understand the basics of how the security groups and users are set up in TMS, it's actually pretty easy.  You have a lot of control - you can drill down to specific fields and set permissions for them, so you don't have to just let users run wild through the database.  You can also keep your paintings curators from messing with the drawings curators' collection records.

I'm hardly an expert on this but I'll be happy to answer any questions that I can.
Good luck!
Amber


the warhol:
Amber E. Morgan
Associate Registrar
117 Sandusky Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15212
T 412.237.8306
F 412.237.8340
E [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
W www.warhol.org<http://www.warhol.org/>
The Andy Warhol Museum
One of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh
Email newsletter http://members.carnegiemuseums.org/email
Membership http://members.carnegiemuseums.org/SupportCMP


________________________________
From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Christine Droll
Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2012 5:37 PM
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Security rights with TMS2010

Greetings, fellow TMSusers:

<<deep breath>>

After 16 years of Registration-only access to our collections database (first Argus, now TMS), the mandate has come down to allow TMS access beyond the registrars (who have system administrator rights).

The first group is to be curators.

<<deeper breath>>

I have begun to look through the online manual for assigning user rights to edit and view.  So many fields!

Do System Value Type and Inflation Rate and Is Archived and Is Current need to be editable by anyone other than a system adminstrator?   Is is better to start with the "View Only" rights, and add edit rights?  Or to start with "System Administrator" and subtract edit rights?

I realize that each institution has its methods and protocols, but if someone would be willing to share with me any guidance, suggestions, caveats, screen shots (?) of which fields might be editable by curators, I would be much obliged.

Many thanks for your consideration of this request.

Christine

Christine Droll
Collections Database Administrator
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
4525 Oak Street
Kansas City, MO  64111-1873
t: 816.751.1333
f: 816.751.0499
[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>




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