INTEGRATED ARCHIVING

By Linda Henderson
June 7, 1999
Minneapolis, MN

Listing of Integrated Archive Vendors

BEFORE YOU SELECT A SYSTEM

  • Why do you need an integrated archive? What do you have now - can it be modified to do what you need without an entirely new system?
  • Do you need to cost-justify the new system? Do you need a capital request? What is your working budget?
  • What is your current production system and is that likely to change shortly?
  • Do you want or need the photo module to also be a picture desk?
  • What is your network configuration - will you have to substantially upgrade it to support the new archiving system? And if so, is the money there to do it?
  • What platform/s do the library staff, picture desk , reporters and editors, work on now - will the new system need to be cross-platform?
  • What is the level of knowledge in your technical support department? Which systems do they know well (NT, MAC, Unix) and what will the learning curve be for any new system?
  • Are you willing to be a beta site - or to install a system that no one else has yet?
  • What do you like about your old text/photo archives and what don't you like?
  • How large is your backfile and in what form?
  • What should the end-user interface be - web-based or other?
  • Will you need a billing module for public use or will the database be strictly in-house?
  • Where else is the system installed and how comparable is your site to the others?
  • What new hardware/software will the library, the photo desk and the rest of the news organization need to support the new system?
  • Who pays for system upgrades - and is a major upgrade in the works?
  • How long will it take to get the system installed and up and running - and how will they guarantee that time frame?
  • How will your backfile be loaded into the new system and by whom (you or the vendor)?
  • Does the search engine have the ability to search all of the fields that you need?
  • How much of the interface is user-defined? How hard is it to change an interface to your specifications?
  • How will the text flow from your front-end system? Do they have an off-the-shelf filter or will you or they have to find/build one?
  • Will your systems people have to write scripts to get the material into the archive and out to your online vendors (Dow Jones, etc.) or will the archive system vendor do all that?
  • How will you link photos and text and any other story elements in the database?
  • Why did they choose this system?
  • How is vendor technical support?
  • How user-friendly is it - both from the library, picture desk and end-user point of view?
  • What problems were encountered (either created by the system itself or by limitations on their end) and how serious were they?
  • How long did it take to install and get it up and running to their satisfaction?
  • Who loaded the backfiles and how satisfied were they with the results?
  • How does the archive interface with the front end (and/or pagination) systems and how labor-intensive is enhancing and indexing?
  • How comparable to your network is theirs - did they have to upgrade?
  • How do the reporters, photo editors and other users like the new system?

AFTER YOU SELECT A SYSTEM

  • Make a presentation to the top editors (and the publisher) to explain your choice and to introduce them to the new system (you may also want to include them in onsite demonstrations after you have narrowed the field to two or three systems).
  • Get a firm timetable and make sure that everything you have to do on your end to ease installation is done well in advance.
  • Have the committee choose one person to be the human interface between the vendor and the company and funnel all communication through him. If that person is not you, keep in close contact with him/her. Keep all communication as a record of progress.
  • As the installation progresses, communicate with the entire news staff so that they know a change is coming.
  • Keep your staff in the loop - start training them as soon as you have something on their desktops. Encourage their feedback. Ask them to help formulate workflow.
  • Before you go totally live, select some "super users" to test the system. They will give you honest and constructive feedback about glitches, interface issues and other things that you may not have thought of.
  • Schedule training classes and try to get the boss to make them mandatory. Hand out a printed version of your training session, so that trainees will have something to take away.
  • Write a cheat sheet and distribute it. Think about the differences in the functions of the old and new systems and communicate them to the news staff via electronic bulletin board or email as "Tips of the week".
  • Make yourself and your staff available for one-on-one trouble-shooting and answer all questions and complaints promptly and honestly.
 

LISTING OF INTEGRATED ARCHIVE VENDORS

By Linda Henderson
June 7, 1999
Minneapolis, MN

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