Systematic Inventory Redux

Overview

The PAHMA Online Systematic Inventory (hereinafter Systematic Inventory) is a means to view and update the location status of objects in a Storage Location. It is a small web application that communicates with the PAHMA CollectionSpace database to obtain and update location and object information.

Four activities (functions) are provided:

• Search for a storage location (or partial storage location, i.e. a prefix) and display N location in the sequence from that point on.
• Select a single location from the list, and view the objects stored in that location, with web controls to indicate if the object is found/not found, and to make a note.
• Update the locations in CollectionSpace by clicking a button. (All the objects shown on the page will have their statuses updated.)
• A means to view the recent transaction log (movement) entries done using the application.

Suggested Workflow

(Just a suggestion!)

• Determine range of locations to be inventoried
• Enter start location (or prefix) into location
• Enter an estimate of the number of locations in the desired range
• Search to obtain the list of locations
• Click on each location to obtain a list of objects
• Update the location status for each object by click on the appropriate radio button, adding notes as necessary. If everything is there and there is nothing to note, no changes are needed.
• Click on Update Locations
• Review result page to verify correct outcome of the update.
• Click the Back button TWICE on your browser to return to list of locations

CAUTION: do not click again on the Update Locations button, or your inventory choice will be re-recorded.

How To Get There

To access the Systematic Inventory, visit:

• production: http://dev.cspace.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/SystematicInventory.py
• development: http://dev.cspace.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/SystematicInventoryDev.py]

Don't use production, of course, unless you have had your training wheels removed!

You will be prompted for a login and password, which you may obtain from M.T. Black. Enter this into the appropriate boxes.

Search Page

You will then see a form with several controls:

• location: enter the desired location or location prefix
• number to retrieve: number of locations to retrieve from specified point. There is no limit here, and even a rather large number (e.g. a few thousand) can be specified if necessary.
• handler dropdown: you must pick a handler to be associated with the inventory; you will be reminded if you forget.
• search: after you set the parameters, click this button to perform the search.

Location Result Page

Normally a search will produce a list of N locations; however, if the value of N as set in the number to retrieve box is 1, you will be directly to the contents of the single location identified in the location box.

Click to select a location. This subsearch may take up to a minute to perform. Please be patient.

Object Result Page

The next page you see will display information about objects in the location. Two controls allow you to indicate whether you found the object or not, to and to make a Movement Note (this value is stored in the movement record associated with the object.) When you are satisfied with the settings on the page, click Update Locations.

Update Result Page

Finally, you will see a page indicating the status of the location updates. Normally, it should indicate that the locations were updated. If not, see the Troublshooting instructions below.

Recent Activity

Clicking this button will produce a list of the recent inventory actions performed. The number of rows displayed is set by the value of number to retrieve at the top of the form. Sorry, I used this value for two different functions, please be careful.

The table contains the basic information about the transaction (date, object number) and technical information to identify the records in CollectionSpace. In general, it will probably be necessary to access the logfile itself for most debugging and verification activity. It is located at:

/var/log/sysyinvlog.csv

Troubleshooting, Questions, and Problems

If you have questions or observe problems, please:

• Save the page (as a PDF or screenshot), or print it out
• Sent it or any other information you have to jblowe@berkeley.edu or mtblack@berkeley.edu
• If it looks really bad, consider stopping what you are doing until you hear back. Otherwise, please feel free to experiment, as long as you take diligent notes. Details are much appreciated.