Collection Management Software (CMS)

Our M3 software is Your mark of confidence when selecting Collections software. This symbol is your assurance this software product meets the minimum requirements of compliance of the Canadian Heritage Information Network\'s collections management software review process, the only one of its kind.

M3 is one of the worlds top cultural assets management applications. This tailored application for Museum Management created via the SMA (Standard MINISIS Application) enables members of the art, museum, archaeology and natural science communities to manage their mission critical tasks. At the same time, given the SMA toolkit, clients are permitted further customization to meet the changing demands of this ever-evolving industry.

The Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, Historic New Orleans Collection, Palace of Westminster, Public Museums of Grand Rapids, RMG and several other regional, national and international entities cannot all be wrong. They have chosen the M3 product to successfully fulfill their collections management automation requirements. At MINISIS we have a taken our unique approaches to Rapid Application Development (RAD), project management and application development in general to a new level. As one of the leading international vendors for Relational Database Management Software (RDBMS), we have developed a wide range of products to fit many needs in the cultural assets community. As the champions of the notion of “Appropriate Technology”, we have a complete solution which includes: an internationally proven and open Database engine, a fully integrated CMS application, an Internet interface and generic toolkit to enable clients to keep current and see their CMS progress and grow with future demands and desires.

Making use of the MINISISRDBMS engine, the M3 application has captured the attention of small and large cultural entities throughout the world. M3 officially released in 1994 and built with subject matter experts from the museums/gallery community, has sought to fit the needs of small, medium-sized and large institutions. Through its easy to use graphical interface designed for a Microsoft Windows environment, M3 is an ideal tool to allow almost any user in need of a strong electronic mgt. tool to enter, import/export, manage collections data in an organized, easily manipulated and flexible fashion. Because of these inherent qualities, the M3 product's client base is growing rapidly. We encourage integration with other systems through ODBC link capabilities, import/export files as well as, direct integration to our other pre-defined applications for archives (M2A), libraries (M2L) and other MINISIS built applications.

The M3 application is designed and built to meet the general requirements of most cultural institutions. The design being based on information received from strategic partners during the development process. And, the applications are continually updated with every installation. Although given the 1000+ pre-defined fields dealing with all aspects of collection and exhibition management, only slight customization of the system is required to fulfil the most particular of needs. This process can be facilitated with the help of professional MINISIS Inc staff or due to the simplicity of the system - carried out by the client directly. Thus avoiding both the initial premium attached to a fully tailored system and the posterior consultancy costs of outside technical staff.

General Information

• 1000+ predefined fields
• Several predefined report formats
• Over 50 predefined data entry worksheets.
• Several predefined query forms
• Template for an Internet Interface
• SMA - Standard MINISIS Application - for easy customization
• User-friendly with context-sensitive help
• Fully multi-media compliant
• MINISIS is also CHIN accredited

M3 System Functions

• Accession, Acquisition, De-accession / Disposal
• Catalogue
• Reproduction Services
• Museum Education & Promotion
• Object movement and control
• Exhibitions Management
• Loans/Location
• Artefact Conservation
• Risk Management and Valuation

Customizable

In addition, the M3 application is flexible by making use of several inherent tools. We have designed the CMS to be able to function in a normal database management fashion able to accept either SPECTRUM or non-SPECTUM compliant data structures. Through the MINISIS– SMA toolkit the complete M3 application is customisable. Our solution unlike many CMS applications is not only adaptable but customisable by the client. That is, there is no need to pay expensive consulting rates or have a computer science degree to be able to make these changes. A client, if desired, can add/change/delete any fields inside the database definition, re-write the pull-down windows menus, modify and edit data entry screens and query forms and ultimately design new or customise the existing reports already included inside the M3 application.

Web Enabled

The foundation of M3 as aforementioned is built around the MINISIS database management engine. While being a practical object / relational DBMS itself, any application built upon the MINISIS engine is inherently multilingual, multi-script and multi-media compliant. In addition the M3 is web based to allow easy access and display to an Intranet or to the Internet. The MWI product (an add-on tool) comes with a relevant and usable default template to allow non-HTML knowledgeable clients to easily put their collections on the web. The client has the ability to make any part of the catalogue or object information/records accessible to do everything from straightforward search/display to jump URLs, to even requesting objects to accepting reproduction requests via the Internet.

Operating Environments/Tools

M3 is currently engaged in a wide range of cultural industries. These industries include everything from small galleries and museums to associations to large internationally respected institutions. Therefore, the software can operate in any environment.. Due to the easy maintenance of running a MS-Windows 95,98, NT/2000 (or better), operating system, the CMS is easy to maintain and monitor. In addition, MINISIS's inherent multilingual capabilities, along with SMA toolkit's easy adaptation of M3 - the entire application can be altered to meet any cultural collection. Also, other tools like: STEMMA (a thesaurus terminology management application), generic thesauri tables and countless validation tables and authorities enable our clients to grow and add-on to the CMS to match new and future capabilities. It should be mentioned that our application can operate on a stand-alone machine, single user to a complex network infrastructure with over 100 concurrent users.

Support

With the MINISIS support plan, M3 users enjoy automatic receipt of updates and software enhancements; newsletters and user meetings, unlimited access to technical assistance, collect calling for direct intervention, fax for sending documents, E-mail for transfer of upgrades and fixes, plus a 24 hour turn-around reply guarantee anywhere in the world. We know support is vital, and we have references that will attest that regardless of location, our support is first-rate. From Vancouver, to Ottawa, to Valencia to Tunis – we cover the world.

We have determined through our years in museum cultural assets management that every institution has unique and special requirements or processes. However, we can appease both larger and smaller clients with the MINISIS/M3 software. By way of the internationally proven MINISIS Software tool kit, M3 is adaptable to even the most complex of special requirements. Cultural assets management is important as its vital to understanding one's culture, one's identity. Why risk not having it managed properly?