eparties module - fieldmuseum/EMu-Documentation GitHub Wiki

FAQ | Q&A | ISSUES | PROJECT | LUTS

Pending Structural Changes: NONE

What does an eparties record represent?

The Parties module holds information about individuals, groups of individuals, and organizations.

Current Sub class Status

Subclassed?: Yes In-progress cross client development project with Axiell to create a standard module

Tab Switching:

  • Tab switching: Yes
  • Column Name: NamPartyType
    • Lookup List: Party Type

Record Types:

Address

  • physical or postal address. These can be used on the Associations Tab to further document person records with no organizational affiliation (e.g. donors) or collaborations (e.g. movements).

Collaboration

  • more than one individual working together (e.g. field team, expedition field crew, etc.)

Cultural Group

  • a party type specific to Anthropology to handle records which capture different terms associated with a particular group.

IH Herbarium

  • Controlled dataset. Index Herbariorum list of herbaria.

IH Person

  • Controlled dataset. Index Herbariorum list of people.

Organization

  • company or organization

Person

  • a single individual

Record Structure:

Network or Flat: Parties records can have a network structure for associations (e.g., “Person” records associated with an “Organization” or “Collaboration”)

Fields

Mandatory

Unique

Ditto Skip

Insert Deafults

Query Defaults

Software Dependencies

Resources -> Tools

Summary String(s)

Requests and updates to the summary string should be submitted as issues and tagged eparties. When approved they should be documented in structural changes.

Default

Summary String = “[“ + NamPartyType + “] “ + NamFullName + “ : “ + NamOrganization

e.g.(irn 175266) = [Person] Dr. Caleb D. McMahan : Field Museum of Natural History - Fishes

Party Type (NamParType)

= Address

Summary String = “[“ + NamPartyType + “] “ + AddPostStreet + “, “ + AddPostCity + “, “ + AddPostState + “, “ + AddPostCountry

e.g. (irn 204848) = [Address] P.O. Box 281, North Newton, KS, U.S.A

= Person

Summary String = NamFullName + “ : “ + NamOrganization + “ - “ + NamDepartment

e.g. (irn 7124) = Ms Sharon D. Grant : Field Museum of Natural History - Technology

= Organization

Summary String = NamOrganization + “ - “ + NamDepartment

e.g. (irn 199177) = University of Guelph - Biodiversity Institute of Ontario

###3 = Cultural Group Summary String = NamOrganization

e.g., (irn 1827) = Mohegan Indian Tribe of Connecticut

= Collaboration

Summary String = ColCollaborationName

e.g. (irn 199889) = RI-30 Team

STRUCTUAL CHANGES - Rationale (Most recent first)

Reason(s) for Change Request version 0.1

Community proposal from Axiell User Special Interest Group to develop a specification for a standard eparties module that encompasses current and future needs.

The eparties module is one of the foundational elements of EMu and unlike any other module it touches every other module.

Its primary purposes are to document: individuals, groups of individuals, and organizations.

Over time the data structures used in this module have become increasingly out of date. The documentation of people, groups and organizations has traditionally been inherently linked to methods and purposes of data collection rather than as accurate representations of those entities. The data structures needed to accommodate this more accurate information need to be broader, more flexible and inclusive.

In order to represent the data required to respond to better understanding and changing needs, most institutions have found it necessary to sub-class the eparties module–in many cases solving similar problems multiple times.

Status

Reason(s) for Change Request version 3.1

Standardise the use of the module to make it more efficient and reflect consolidation of internal processes and workflows. Prepare for newer versions of EMu by not transferring bad data structures and dirty data.

Status

  • Version 5.1
  • Funded - In Live
  • FMNH specific customisation

Details

  • To allow for the recording of changes of address, institution, department or role without having to maintain multiple records for the same person
  • To update contact information to allow more flexibility for electronic identifiers and multiple emails.
  • Better handling of information about cultural groups.
  • Ability to record deceased without knowing date of death.
  • De-couple automatic taxonomic name generation to handle botanical author abbreviations from Brummit and Powell separately.