Summary

EMu is FMNHs centralized collection management and is used by staff in Research, Collections (Anthropology, Botany, Geology, Zoology, Library, Photo Archives) and Action as well as the Exhibitions and Institutional Advancement departments. It provides those staff with a tool for the physical management of the collection (recording storage locations, loan/shipping information), as well as intellectual control of information about the objects (identifications, provenance, publications, and other research). It works in combination with the Museum's digital asset management system (Netx) as the archive location for the Museum's digital media. It provides a tool for the documentation, storage and backup of museum owned and licensed digital assets (more information on media rights in EMu).

The database is located on servers maintained by the Technology Department and is accessed via a locally saved client on the users desktop computer. Currently there is no support by KE for running EMu natively on Macs, however the Technology Department recommends the use of EMu on Macs via the Institutional Virtual Machines only in certain limited circumstances via Parallels and VMWare.

Roles

1. Vendor Ke/Axiell
2. PP - Point Person. Technology Department permanent staff member responsible for management of EMu and its associated systems.
3. DA - Departmental Administrator. Non-Technology Department permanent staff member with registry level training in the use of EMu. Must have undergone formal EMu training either from Ke or the PP and be authorised by the PP, IT Admins and other DA's .
4. PU - Power User. Non-Technology Department personnel with advanced knowledge and training in the use of EMu at a departmental level. Has undergone formal EMu training either from Axiell, IT Admins or the PP.
5. SA - Security Authority. Non-Technology Department personnel with authority to authorise access to live EMu database. This resides only with IT and Heads of Departments.
6. Contact. - A Non-Technology Department EMu subject/process expert who may be contacted by users in the event that there is no departmental Power User in place for a specific collection.

Staff currently assigned to these roles.

Partners

• Collections
• Research
• Action
• Education
• Exhibitions
• Institutional Advancement
• Technology

IT Responsibilities

I. Vendor Contact

KE Software/Axiell is the designated EMu support vendor. It is the responsibility of the PP and authorised members of the Technology Department to liaise with the vendor in all cases. FMNH EMu users other than those authorised by the PP in specific cases, should NOT contact KE directly without the prior knowledge of the Technology Department.

II. New Account Creation

Wherever possible a single user account will be created within 2 working days from receipt of the Help Desk case with the appropriate information and permissions.

III. Requests

Data - Requests for data received by the Technology Department directly will be forwarded to the appropriate PU and DA. Changes - All requests for changes to system functionality should first be discussed with the appropriate PU and DA. These should then be communicated to the PP. When agreed non-billable changes will be submitted to the EMu helpdesk by the PP. Payment to Axiell for billable changes will need to be agreed between the PP and the requesting party. System - Requests by external parties for copies of the FMNH client and/or functionality associated with the FMNH client received by the Technology Department directly will be included in the agenda of the next possible EMu Users Group Meeting for discussion and sign-off. In cases where the request is time sensitive the PP will co-ordinate sign-off via email.

IV. Reporting Issues

Critical (System)

• Things which prevent you from logging into EMu.
• Things which prevent you entering data into EMu.
• Things which prevent you from getting data from an EMu website.
• Things which cause EMu to crash.
• Significant loss or corruption of data.
• Your helpdesk case will be assigned to the PP (or in their absence the appropriate Technology Team member) immediately. If the issue cannot be rectified in-house within 2 hours or if the problem falls under the KE support agreement, the PP or an appropriate member of Technology will escalate the case to KE software support by email and send a copy the to reporter. In such cases resolution will, if possible, be within one working day.

Medium

• Updating EMu collections web content.
• Errors which do not stop you from carrying out your task.
• Your helpdesk case will be assigned to the PP who will contact you directly to discuss the problem further and inform you how long your request may take.

Low

• Creating new EMu groups.
• Changing record and user permissions.
• Adding new users.
• New/rearrangements of tab ordering.
• Importing/global updating of data.
• Adding new collections web content.
• Your helpdesk case will be assigned to the PP, who will contact you within one working day of being assigned the case, to discuss how long your request may take. In the event that the PP is away from the museum you will be contacted within one week of their return.

Partner Responsibilities

All EMu users are required to have their own account. Credentials must NOT be shared between users and there are no generic accounts.

I. New Account Creation

The IT Department requires that a Help Desk case be entered ([email protected] or x4357) to request new accounts or change user groups.

The IT Department requires at least 2 Business days from the time the case is entered to create an account with the appropriate information. If you need an account created in less than 2 business days or have a large list of new users please contact the EMu Technology Point Person (PP) as soon as possible to discuss.

Provide the following information

• New EMu user accounts or changes to EMu groups must be submitted, to the EMu PP via the Technology Department helpdesk software, by the departmental Security Authority or Power User for your department (or their delegate). Any other party submitting a request for a new EMu account will be directed to the relevant SA/PU for authorisation.
• Indicate if the user has an existing FMNH user account and or access to FM email (ie network login)? If they do please provide the username.
• Indicate for how long should the user be granted access to EMu? Please let us know as exact an end date for the account as possible.
• Indicate which EMu user group they should be assigned to?. See What are the EMu user groups? for further information on user groups.

II. Requests

• Data - Requests for data received by any EMu user should be dealt with in co-ordination with the appropriate departmental PU.
• System - Requests by external parties for copies of the FMNH client and or functionality associated with the FMNH client should be forwarded to the PP for discussion of requirements. Details will be included in the agenda of the next possible EMu Users Group Meeting for discussion and sign-off. In cases where the request is time sensitive the PP will co-ordinate sign-off via email.

III. Reporting Issues

• Critical - First contact your departmental PU to see if the issue has already been reported. If you cannot find them then contact the helpdesk ([email protected] or x4357) or the PP (x7302) directly.
• Medium - Contact the Help Desk ([email protected] or x4357) giving them as much detail as possible.
• Low - First contact your departmental PU to discuss your requirements and obtain the necessary clearance to do what you want to do. Then contact the Help Desk ([email protected] or x4357) giving them as much detail as possible

Additional Comments

The PUs and DA can help you with

• Departmental policy.
• System usage and data entry protocols.
• Insert defaults.
• Login information for existing users.
• Permissions.
• Editing existing drupal content.
• Modifying existing reports.
• Importing and exporting.

The PP can help you with

• Error messages.
• System crashes.
• EMu web page errors.
• Project development.
• Creating new drupal based content.
• Editing php content.
• Licensing.
• Maintenance Schedules.

The EMu users group can help you with anything else!