Brief Description

DS is long established in the heritage sector, specialising in information management solutions for museums, archives, record offices and libraries.

Calm ALM is a Windows based collection management system for museums, archives and libraries.

Calm ALM modules include:

• Object entry/Loans in, covering terms and conditions, insurance and audit requirements;
• Multimedia object catalogue;
• Authority files;
• Loans out/Movement control;
• Conservation
• Web browser based public access.

Minimum Hardware

Client:

• processor: Single 800MHz - 1GHz Pentium;
• memory: 128Mb with the option to expand further;
• disk size: 10Mb;
• video: Dictated by image requirements;
• other: Network - TCP/IP 100Mb/Sec. Backup - To suit your own policies.

Server:

• processor: 2GHz Pentium x 2;
• memory: 1Gb;
• disk size: 10Mb for the empty database and growth of 1Mb per 1000 records. Images will increase the amount of storage;
• video: Dictated by image requirements
• other: Network - TCP/IP 100Mb/Sec. RAID - To suit your own policies. Backup - To suit your own policies.

Operating Systems and Networks

Calm ALM is a Windows based application. It runs client/server as a Windows Service on a Windows 2000/2003 server. It is compatible with 2000 Pro and newer desktop operating systems.

DServe, the web browser based public access option, is an http web server module; a collection of Common Gateway Interface (CGI) 'scripts' that access Calm ALM databases. It runs typically on a Windows 2000/2003 server running Microsoft Internet Information Service.

Images

Full text and image support. There is an optional add-on database, for storing digital assets and technical metadata, which links to the catalogue.

Public Access

DServe, the web browser interface module, allows any data stored in a Calm ALM database to be searched locally or remotely through a web browser. It is fully parameterised and allows local configuration to control search options, screen displays, visible/hidden fields, search filters, data security, access to images, as well as complete control over the design of all static pages.

CD Publication

Calm ALM databases and images can be loaded to CD for read-only access, or for database distribution.

Internet

Internet access supported through DServe.

Database Architecture

The software that Calm ALM is built on, DScribe, is a proprietary sophisticated structured text retrieval and relational system. DScribe uses a dynamic full text index and allows 'messy' data schema, neither of which are (commonly) supported by RDBMS.

Cost - Single User

£2495 (starter system available as standalone with limited database size £1495).

Cost - 5 Users

£5995.

Additional Pricing Notes

ImageView with images database module for displaying images and storing technical metadata £595.

DServe Intranet/Internet access module £1995.

CD authoring licences by negotiation.

Training

On-site training: £550 per day. Course attendance £150 per person.

Typically 1 on-site day or 1 course attendance required.

Support

Based on a percentage of purchased software licence. Covers: telephone/fax/email/remote access help; Calm members web site; software maintenance releases; software upgrades; user group; news.

Museum Users and Sites in the UK

There are c300 sites in the UK using a range of Calm applications.

There are currently 15 specialist museum sites.

Museum Users and Sites Worldwide

There are two Calm users in Portugal, including the National Archive in Lisbon. It is also in use in Eire, the Isle of Man, Italy and the Netherlands.

Largest Museum Site - No of Users and No of Records

Calm Museum users are still building databases. Largest database currently in excess of 3 million records with 60+ users.

Special Features

• Dynamic, customisable user interface with context sensitive button strip to help workflow operations;
• Application security based on user permission levels;
• Ability to modify record types and field definitions;
• Record tab strip for cross-database navigation;
• Extension of 'tree view' to enhance visual representation of links between records;
• Movement control / condition check and audit;
• Extensive user customisation;
• Extensive authority control, including poly-hierarchical thesauri;
• Intelligent date handling, catering for AD and BC dates, including circa, mid/early/late century and date ranges;
• Document field for links to electronic data sources, including audio and video;
• Optional DServe web server module for Internet and intranet public access;
• Web services/SOAP XML interface;
• XML import/export;
• OAI server and harvester module.

Future Developments

DS development philosophy is very much a partnership with customers to ensure that Calm develops along the lines of current and changing standards in the profession. Calm systems are open-ended to allow for future development. DS are committed to providing mechanisms that allow customers to work with others in similar and cross-sector areas.

Feature

Audit trails

As standard.

Passwords

As standard.

Picklist

As standard.

Thesaurus for Data Entry

As standard.

Thesaurus for Retrieval

As standard.

Screen Designer

As standard.

Report Writer

As standard.

Modifiable Data Structure

As standard.

Maximum Characters per Field

64,000.

Maximum Records per File

Technically unlimited.

Digital Image Formats

All significant industry standards supported e.g. bmp, gif, jpg, Group 4 Tif, png.

Data Import Facilities

Inflected, non-inflected, delimited (comma, tab, user delimited), dBase, SGML, XML, EAD

Data Export Facilities

Inflected, non-inflected, delimited (comma, tab, user delimited), formatted, MARC, XML.

Company Name

DS.

Contact Name

Marketing Department.

Contact Job Title

Marketing Department.

Contact Phone Number

+44 (0)1202 877188

Contact E-mail

marketing@ds.co.uk

Address

DS,
2 Cedar Office Park,
Cobham Road,
Ferndown,
Wimborne,
Dorset
BH21 7SB

Company Website

www.ds.co.uk