Perian Sully / Judah L. Magnes Museum wrote: >> I was wondering how other CMS or database managers organize their user >> permissions, especially when setting up a new system.
Here at the Getty we are using Gallery Systems' TMS software. It sounds like TMS is similar to MultiMimsy 2K in that security is organized into Roles (although they're called Security Groups in TMS). Each Group contains security access definitions for all areas of TMS, permitting the system administrator to define view/edit/add/delete access down to the field level. You then assign TMS users to security groups for records, broken down by departments. For example, you may assign a user to Group that permits update access for Paintings records, but a query-only Group for all other collections. The TMS user/security maintenance utility is robust but is very hierarchical and not very good for getting a "big picture" view of user security. To remedy this, I've created a separate Microsoft Access relational database that is linked to TMS user/security tables. We currently use this db to track additional information about users (departments, contact information, active/inactive status, etc.) and Security Groups (short narrative descriptions, longer summary definitions), as well as TMS trainings and demonstrations (names, descriptions, dates, instructors). These three areas are linked together so I may monitor the users assigned to any given security group, the trainings attended by any given user, all users and their security groups, etc. And because it's a database, I can also link it to other TMS tables to assist when performing data reviews or clean-up projects. This is really just an expanded version of your spreadsheet, but a bit more dynamic in its applications. We've found it very useful in managing our 350+ users. Best, Brenda ~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~ Brenda Podemski Business Applications Administrator Collections Information The J. Paul Getty Museum www.getty.edu v. 310-440-7087 | f. 310-440-7752 | e. bpodemski at getty.edu
