My museum has been trying to figure out how to track volunteer hours in Tessitura. Long story short, another institution sent me the zip file for the custom screen that Tessitura built for them to input volunteer hours. The two SQL files (that now appear as PDF after downloading) within the zip drive need to be loaded into SSMS and then execute (according to the instruction in the README doc). However, I do not know how to do that. I am brand new to the SSMS world (just had Tessitura give me permission for it today).
Can someone show me step-by-step of how to do that, or give me the link to where instructions might be in the Help Desk or somewhere? My supervisors want this done asap. Thanks and much appreciated! :)
Today, huh? I would say that is about as brand new as it gets. I am not certain an instruction document is going to get you all the way to where you want to go if you are hosted by Tessitura there. There are a few quirks and things to learn when it comes to SSMS; it is not a 100% plug and play thing. But I might have some time this afternoon to set something up and take a look at some things if that would help.
jmoskal@thecenterpresents.org
John A. Moskal II
Step 1) start in Test.
Step 2) start in Test.
Steps 3)
The SQL files should be text files (and openable in Notepad...you're on Windows?). You can open files on your local machine, you just have to hunt around for them a bit when you try to open a file is SSMS, as it will start you out in directories for the virtual machine that Citrix is hosting. Look on the side of the open file window to find "Local Disk" and navigate from there.
Alternatively you can open the file in Notepad, then copy the code and paste it into a new query window in SSMS.
Once the SQL code file is up on your SSMS screen, you'll see the green arrow Execute button is active in the top bar. Beside that is a heavy checkmark button. Try that first (it does a preliminary check of the code), and if it comes back clear you can click on the Execute button. Ideally this will provide some output in the results pane.
However, this is not (I think!) the end of configuration necessary for a custom screen. At least in the bad old days of Infomaker, you needed to upload special formatting files that described how the window was to be built into your Tessitura file system in an appropriate location. I think SSRS custom screens require files also. Where those go may be specific to your installation.
Lastly, you'll have to configure these screens to be available to the Security Tool so that you can assign them to user groups.
Step 4) start in Test.
All that said, even with my past experience doing this, I'd be inclined (if this is an option for you) to look into getting help from Tessitura support. They may charge you a little bit.
Ask John for help. In the meantime, here's some documentation to look at. There doesn't appear to be a v16 version.
www.tessituranetwork.com/.../Custom-Screens-v150
Yeah, my museum is trying to avoid paying for it (you know being non-profit we have no budget for stuff like this). So we are trying to figure out how to build it ourselves.
Thank you for the instructions. I will play around with it and see what happens.
Today just got super busy for me, but if you have any time next week (I am back in the office on Tuesday), I would greatly appreciate the help. My museum is trying to avoid paying Tessitura to build it for us, so now we are all trying to learn how to build these custom screens ourselves. Having the zip drive from another institution seems super helpful...we just don't know what to do with it or how to make it work.
If you have time Wednesday afternoon this week, I am sure we could do some form of web meeting (Teams/Zoom/etc...) and I would be happy to give you the general basics and notions behind all of this. But just to warn you that a custom screen solution is never going to be your "easy" custom solution. There are wonderful things that can be done with custom screens, and we do enjoy using them. But to get them set up in the first place DOES require a bit of work. (Though I can certainly understand the desire to save money; what nonprofit does not want to do that?)
Send me an e-mail, and we can take a look at what is involved here. Hopefully I can be of some assistance.
John A. Moskal II, that is so nice of you to help Chelsea Marti set up SSMS!
I provided the code that Chelsea is endeavoring to put into their system. Chelsea, I can reply to you offline but I did want to second John's comment about custom solutions. It's important to keep in mind that any customization you make does require maintenance, specifically for every service pack and version upgrade you need to ensure that your customizations still work and align with the changes made to the base functionality. The time and/or money needed for that maintenance should be factored into any customization your organization considers implementing, and may dictate whether building something in-house vs having consulting implement it (and maintain it, if you can work that out) makes more sense for your organization.
On that note, though, the customization in question is actually the Volunteers functionality, which I believe was offered either by TN or by another org on TN's shared functionality site ages ago. I downloaded in 2006, I believe, and it was one of the first screens I implemented and a great way to get an understanding of how the backend all tied together. So, if your organization is open to budgeting time for staff to learn via examples, this (or other shared code) could be a good approach, or at least worth a try before going down the consulting road.
Cheers to all of us on the journey, wherever it takes you!