University of California, Berkeley

An Evaluation of Collection Management Systems/Solution Frameworks

The BNHM (Berkeley Natural History Museums consortium) Directors have approved a goals and principles statement stating a goal to pursue a single solutions framework for collection management systems in the Consortium. The BNHM-IST Steering Committee now asks a group made up of the BNHM-IST Advisory Committee, the programmers who maintain the collection management systems, and representatives from the CCMSR project (Campus-wide Collection Management Strategy Roadmap) to work together to recommend a joint strategy and timeline for development and adoption of a single, shared services, collections management framework. That document will be presented to the Steering Committee and to the Directors in June, 2009.

The following components are needed:

* Confirmation of the problem statement and of the near-term recommendations in CCMSR Report 1.
* Evaluations (using clear, scoped criteria) of CollectionSpace and other possible solutions based on three major factors: functional fit for BNHM-IST collections; ability to contribute services in a shared services framework; and roadmaps for the future.
* Recommended platform, or combination of platforms that can work together, as a single solution framework for the Partnership.

The following constraints are recognized:

* There are many moving targets. Specify and CollectionSpace, in particular, are not finished products.
* Other systems in the evaluation (including Specify and Arctos) may act as bridging solutions and will help provide services for the shared services framework. The CCMSR Report 1 has already evaluated the GO Model, but the team should feel free to discuss those findings.
* Some existing solutions in production are more stable right now than others. That is, as documented by CCMSR Report 1, there are more risks associated with PAHMA, the Botanical Garden, and the Herbaria than for the MVZ, UCMP, and Essig.
* HERC currently is maintaining its own system and is opting out of this effort. However, we will keep them informed, and they are welcome to participate.
* Alignment with the campus via the CCMSR project is important. The overall Informatics Services portfolio will be considered (e.g., collection management systems beyond the BNHM consortium).

Thank you for helping us identify a solution for a Consortium collections management system