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| Management Software https://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8361 |
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| Author: | Don Fisher [ Fri Jan 30, 2004 1:55 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Management Software |
Forum Members, The Railroad Museum of Long Island is embarking on an extensive inventory and appraisal project for it's collection of artifacts. In researching the logistics and resources available for this project, our local Historical Societies have encouraged us to purchase the "Museum Collection Management Software" package from "Past Perfect." Over the next few weeks we are going to try their test demo, I'm curious who in our Forum has used this software and what your thoughts - pro and con are. Thanks in advance for your comments. de Don, N2QHV http://www.rmli.org n2qhv@arrl.net |
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| Author: | kbmayer [ Fri Jan 30, 2004 7:21 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Management Software |
We at the Steam Railroading Institute are using the Past Perfect program and to my knowledge it is working great for us. We have over 5000 items logged in to it. > Forum Members, > The Railroad Museum of Long Island is > embarking on an extensive inventory and > appraisal project for it's collection of > artifacts. In researching the logistics and > resources available for this project, our > local Historical Societies have encouraged > us to purchase the "Museum Collection > Management Software" package from > "Past Perfect." > Over the next few weeks we are going to try > their test demo, I'm curious who in our > Forum has used this software and what your > thoughts - pro and con are. Thanks in > advance for your comments. > de Don, N2QHV Steam Railroading Institute kbmayer75@charter.net |
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| Author: | Richard R. Anderson [ Sun Feb 01, 2004 10:18 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Management Software |
Northwest Railway Museum uses Past Perfect for collection, membership and volunteer management. We're very happy with it and any limitations are countered by the much greater cost of more sophisticated programs. Another big plus is that Past Perfect is very easy to use when compared to many other relational database programs. Here are a few of my favorite features: -Ability to limit access to certain portions of the program to different users. For instance, the librarian can be prevented from adding or changing memberships or volunteer records. -Ability to prevent all users except for a supervisor from actually deleting a record. The users "mark" a record for deletion but it is not actually erased until an authorized person checks those records and then reindexes the database. -One step backups onto removable media (CD, Zip, etc), or even another hard drive somewhere on your network. -Ability to import records from csv, excel, ascii, or other popular file types and "map" the fields as you desire. Not comfortable doing this? Past Perfect will do it for you for a modest cost. -MARC record import ability for Library of Congress catalog info. This is an extra-fee feature. I think we paid $99. -Thousands of museums are using this software making it the most popular collection management software on the market. Northwest Railway Museum rra@trainmuseum.org |
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| Author: | Patrick McKnight [ Mon Feb 02, 2004 11:18 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Management Software |
In my personal opinion, PastPerfect is appropriate for a small to mid-size museum, for managing its museum collection. It does most everything you would need. It is a little rigid, but you get what you pay for. If you want a system tailored to your specific needs, this will cost money. This software is like Microsoft Word is to word processing. You can do simple letters, reports and even desk top publishing, but you would not use it to publish a large newspaper. The same is true with PastPerfect. I would suggest you check out some of the other software systems, if time permits, just so you can appreciate what you get. Since I work for the National Park Service, we use ReDiscovery software (www.rediscov.com) which puts out a good product. Keep an eye on operating requirements, though. You do not want something that only operates on a network if you do not have a network. Overall, you probably cannot lose picking PastPerfect (though I picked Carolina in the Super Bowl). Patrick McKnight Historian, Steamtown NHS pat_mcknight@nps.gov |
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