Our organization has been a Tessitura user for many years, and we have not done a good job of documenting our decisions regarding data entry, use of attributes and constituencies, etc. I am struggling with what format to use to compile various pieces of information that are currently spread out in a number of different places. Does anyone out there have a standards manual that has been useful? Have any of you successfully customized the Tessitura Help system to include site-specific documentation? I’d be interested in any feedback you have, positive or negative, regarding how to capture site-specific Tess customizations or policies.
Jane,
We have a two fold approach to this. We have an internal wiki site that the Data Team keeps up with how-to's and other info that is helpful to both the entire company and just the Data Team. This is where our more technical info is for our reference; gift entry standards, how to unpost a batch, what's involved in an upgrade, etc.
We also with the custom document capability in Tessitura. This is the nuts and bolts of how and why we do data entry the way we do, how to merge records, how to enter activities, etc. We also use it as a way to communicate information to our box office. The custom docs in Tessitura are easy to set up and can be easily updated or added.
The biggest issue we've run into as we try to capture more and more information is that people aren't willing to take the time to write something up. I try to encourage all our power users to write up their procedures so anyone who comes after them doesn't lose that knowledge.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Melissa
Hi Jane,
I have been working to incorporate all of our documentation into Tessitura help. Once you do it one time, it's really easy to do. We have one training screencast video I created in Tessitura help on how to do merges. We have other documentation there as well including step step help documentation and even some scripts for our phone room. I'll be creating more screen casts for training as well.
To make it easy for everyone to find our help documents specifically, I use a naming convention that puts 5th at the front of the name of the document. That way, any user can just type 5th in the filter and all our documents show. The caveat to this is you need to have the documents live in a server environment that won't change to ensure the help documents stay active (I suggest in your Tessitura drive). Also, you need to make sure that all help documents are updated based on any changes with new versions. This could become time consuming if you have a lot of custom documentation on Tessitura use for your organization.
I know it's nothing fancy or too innovative, but I've always hated having documentation all over the place and having to remember which folder in which folder in which drive training documents are located. Putting those documents in help is like one stop shopping. You can also put website links in Tessitura help too. It's pretty much limitless what you can put in help.
Chris Cuhel
Database Coordinator, The 5th Avenue Theatre
Thought I'd throw in my 2¢ since I did this recently:
I am a HUGE fan of documenting all the things, and refuse to write any documentation that isn't published by default and editable by anyone, so a couple of years ago acquired a license for Atlassian Confluence -- I've never seen a better tool for documentation, and nonprofit organizations are eligible for "community" (read: free) unlimited user licenses.
What I did recently was figure out the best way to hook our Confluence pages up to the Tessitura Help window. You basically just make entries in TR_HELP_DOCUMENT_CUSTOM as "HTML File" type for each page you want directly accessible, and the key is to reference the special Confluence "Tiny Link" instead of the usual page URL. You'll get a link that looks like https://confluence.yoursite.org/x/8Qmj, and the link won't break even if the page is moved or renamed.
Then you can follow the custom help documentation to wire your documents up to reports, system tables, or any screen to your heart's content.