Is anyone successfully using the “Schedule a move to a home location” feature in TMS? 

We currently only use “Move to a Temporary Location” when we record location changes.  Our collections managers and art handlers would like us to start using “Home Locations” so that we can successfully generate reports of where an object needs to go once it has come off of display.  Using only Temporary Locations, that is not possible as far as I could tell.

Additionally, they want to be able to flag things that have been in a temporary location too long so that they can be returned.  Often, a curator will request that a piece be moved for a review, but will not necessarily request that it be moved back.  I’m visualizing that if we had a home location for an object, and made a temporary location change, we could at the same time SCHEDULE a return to its home location at a time appropriately after their review, project, or exhibition.  Without looking too closely at the table structure, it seems like I could write a report to be run periodically that would identify the things that are scheduled to go back in a certain time frame so that we do not have to depend on a curator telling us when something is ready to be returned.

Am I thinking along the lines with how the feature was designed?  Can someone who is successfully doing something along these lines let me know how it is working for them?

Thanks, and happy Friday!

David

David Aylsworth

Collections Registar

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

tel:  713-639-7824

fax: 713-639-7780