Glasgow Museums bought the Quixis collections management system from
an overseas vendor (Willoughby in Chicago) in 1992. I was heavily
involved in setting up a batch process which would allow data transfer
from PCs to Quixis. This meant a lot of back and forth technical
discussion. I found that the communication was very difficult,
involving trying to find a window for phone calls (we had to ask for a
foreign call each time from the switchboard. Faxes did not prove much
better. (Those fun filled carefree days before email). This was not
a good introduction to overseas support.
Following the termination of our support contract with the vendor, we
were in the position of being able to contract the Minisis support
company, Townsend Merkis Associates (Minisis being the underlying
database to Quixis), for a limited amount of support. (They were
unable to get the source code and so couldn't access all parts of
Quixis). They were a real benefit to us, and their attitude came as a
great relief. Email had arrived and communication with Canada was
relatively straightforward (despite the fact that our "Email PC" was
in the basement, in a corner of the library). We were able to solve a
number of troubling issues through this support. Remote access was
also provided and this was used on a number of occasions. We did use
fax, but due to the fact that the office fax was transferred to the
home fax of Witold Merkis (and his fax was a fax/phone combination)
and our 11am was his 4am, we were soon dissuaded from using this very
much.
We did have on-site visits by Witold Merkis that combined training and
problem-solving. These were timed to coincide with similar visits to
Edinburgh, Ulster and other user sites. While expensive, they were
timetabled and well prepared for.
We were also lucky in that we could call on the knowledge built up by
our colleagues in the National Museums in Edinburgh and the Ulster
Museum in Belfast. This kind of informal set up was very useful, and
not just for Quixis issues. Indeed, there was a Quixis Users Group,
which met quarterly, but which did not meet enough in Belfast, (not as
if there's anything wrong with Edinburgh)
If nothing else, buy a system that you know someone else has so you
can at least moan about the same things to each other and feel better
through a problem being halved.
I would say that the main factor in any support situation is the
attitude (and it almost goes without saying, the knowledge) of the
support personnel. With a good attitude and plenty of technical
knowledge, the distance between you and your supplier can be of little
consequence.
We have now bought a collections management system from a vendor based
in the UK. Time will tell!
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Norman Ferguson
Asst Collections Manager (Documentation)
Glasgow Museums
Art Gallery & Museum
Kelvingrove
Glasgow G3 8AG
Tel: 0141 287 2641
Fax: 0141 287 2690
Email: [log in to unmask]
The views expressed here are mine, and do not represent Glasgow
Museums.
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