My Resource for Excellence. Canadian Heritage Information Network Collections Management Software Criteria Checklist Heather Dunn, CHIN

Presentation Summary  What is the Criteria Checklist?  What functions are included?  How was the Checklist developed?  How was the Checklist used during the Review process?  How is the Checklist used by museums?  Online customizable version  Future plans

My Resource for Excellence.

CHIN Criteria Checklist  A list of over 500 functions that can be performed by a collections management system  Collections Management  Data Management  User Interface  Query  Reports  Technical Requirements  System Administration

What Is It for?  The Checklist was a key tool in the creation of the Review—it was the basis for comparison used to assess and rate each function performed by the various software packages  Continues to be used by museums to define their requirements and select software

How Was It Created?  Checklist was created by CHIN  Based on similar analyses from the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Info-Muse Regional Network (Quebec), and the Saskatchewan Arts Board  Informed by SPECTRUM standard (UK) and ICOM’s CIDOC standard  Draft reviewed by 20 members of Canadian museum community

Checklist Revisions  Major review of Checklist conducted by a team of museum professionals in 2003  Functionality of collections management software has evolved considerably in recent years, so the Checklist is now in need of another update

Checklist: Collections Management Section  Collections Management  1.1 Object Entry  1.2 Acquisition  1.3 Inventory Control  1.4 Location & Movement Control  1.5 Cataloguing  1.6 Conservation Management  1.7 Rights and Reproductions  1.8 Risk Management  1.9 Insurance Management & Valuation Control  1.10 Exhibition Management  1.11 Dispatch  1.12 Loans  1.13 Deaccession & Disposal

Checklist: Data Management & User Interface  Data Management  2.1 Data Field Structure  2.2 Data Entry  2.3 Data Validation  2.4 Data Update  2.5 Indexing of Fields  2.6 Vocabulary Control  User Interface  3.1 Help Features  3.2 Date Formats  3.3 User Customization  3.4 Bilingualism  3.5 Other Languages  3.6 Public Access  3.7 Multimedia Files  3.8 Metadata

Checklist: Query & Reports  Query  4.1 General Requirements  4.2 Range Searches  4.3 Wildcard Searching  4.4 Query Results  4.5 Features  Reports  5.1 Pre-defined Reports  5.2 User Defined Reports

Checklist: Technical Requirements & System Administration  Technical Requirements  6.1 Import/Export Functions  6.2 Documentation & Support  6.3 Training  6.4 Features  6.5 Special Features  System Administration  7.1 Security  7.2 Index(es)  7.3 Backup  7.4 Audit Reports

Checklist Use  How it was used in Request for Information (RFI) from software vendors  How it was used in demonstrations  How it is used by museums selecting software

Checklist Used in Request for Information (RFI)  Software vendors completed an online version of the checklist  Indicated which functions within the Checklist they could perform and were prepared to demonstrate  Vendors were not told in advance which of the 500 criteria they would be required to demonstrate

Checklist – Used in the Demonstrations  Early Editions: All criteria demonstrated  Later Editions: 169 of 500 criteria demonstrated  Skipped criteria that were:  Impossible to demonstrate/rate (e.g., Help Desk support)  Common to all software (e.g., record alpha- numeric values)  Repetitive (e.g., questions about specific functionality that had already been demonstrated as part of an “overview” of functionality)  Focus on criteria that were:  Handled differently by different software, so that users could compare  Showing a general overview of the functionality in a key area (e.g., movement control, accessioning, etc.)

Checklist Used by Museums Selecting Software  CHIN created an online version of the Criteria Checklist  Museums could customize the online version of the Criteria Checklist to indicate which functions they needed  Online Checklist would compare museum’s “mandatory” functions with the functionality offered by each software product in the Collections Management Software Review

Future Plans  The last update of the Criteria Checklist was in 2003  Still popular – gets 1,500 hits per month, and CHIN gets many requests for the Criteria Checklist (as well as the Software Reviews) to be updated  In need of another update, to reflect changes in technology and scope of Collections Management Software Packages

Thank You! Heather Dunn Heritage Information Analyst Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) Department of Canadian Heritage Government of Canada