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University Information Services
 

The information on institutions in the directory is controlled by the editors' group for the institution. Information about the editors' group can be found at the foot of the institution's page in the directory. There is also a group of managers for each institution; members of this group can add or remove editors from the editors' group.

Changing the name of the institution

The names of the Institutions in the directory are extracted from the UIS database (Jackdaw). If the name of an institution, its parent institution, or any child institution is wrong, this will need to be corrected in Jackdaw. A member of the directory management group for the institution should mail to  with details of the changes required.

Adding child institutions

In most cases, the structure (i.e. the child institutions) shown in the directory for an institution reflects the datafeeds available from central sources to the UIS.

When the structure is created, the child institutions will initially be empty (except for student lists for Colleges, which are automatically put into the appropriate child institution). It is for the directory editors within the institution to move individuals into child institutions as required. Similarly, new members of the institution will be placed initially in the parent institution by the regular datafeeds and can be moved by the institution's directory editors. Members of an institution who have been moved to a child institution will not be moved back by the regular updating of the directory from central sources.

If an institution wants to be further subdivided in the directory, this can be done by creating appropriate groups within the institution.

Editing the main institutional page

If you are a member of the editors' group for your institution, you will see an edit button at the bottom of the main institution page. Clicking this takes you to an edit page on which you can change and add phone or fax numbers, email addresses, website URLs, postal addresses, image displayed, etc. The last item is meant for an institutional logo or any other suitable image; it should be in JPEG format and is restricted to 340 x 340 pixels.

When the changes are complete, click OK at the bottom of the page.

Editing the contacts list

Selecting the Contacts tab on an institutional page gives a list of contacts which is intended to be much more extensive than the principal email address(es) shown on the main page. Each line of the contact list can be separately edited or deleted by a member of the editorial group, and further contacts can be added. The order of the list can also be changed.

Each contact has or may have the following elements: a position in the contacts list, a title, one or more CRSids (linked to the appropriate "person" page), one or more email addresses, one or more phone numbers, one or more URLs, one or more postal addresses and a "row style" (bold or italic if required).

You can also do a bulk update of all the contact information for the institution; this requires considerable care.  If you click the "bulk update" button on the editing page, you will be given detailed instructions.

Editing the members' list

Selecting the Members tab on an institutional page in the directory will show a list of individuals who are members of the institution, together with their email addresses and phone numbers if available. Members who have set their names to be private are not visible to an ordinary user but are visible with their names in brackets to a member of the editorial group. Members of the editorial group also see a an edit button, which leads to a list with a Remove button by each user, and an "add members" box at the top. Members are added by giving a list of their CRSids. Additions can therefore be made in bulk if required.

Editing members' personal data

If you are a member of the editing group for an institution, you can edit the data of individual members of the institution (for instance to change phone numbers). When you look at a member's page, you will see an edit button, just as though it were your own page, and the editing process is similar. The only difference is that although you can change items whose visibility has been restricted by the owner, you cannot change their visibility.

Editors also have access to bulk downloading and uploading of data, for instance to update institutional phone numbers, or other types of data which may already exist in a spreadsheet or which are more easily managed in a spreadsheet than by updating Lookup records one by one. Data can be downloaded into, or uploaded from, a CSV file (comma-separated values); this is a format which can be readily imported intoor exported from an Excel spreadsheet, for example.

The bulk download feature is available from any page containing lists of members or contacts for a group or institution. There is a Download button at the foot of each such list, and you can select which items are to be downloaded. For bulk uploading, those authorised to edit data for institutions will see a "bulk update" button alongside the Edit button on members and contacts pages. Instructions for downloading data, modifying it and uploading the updated data are provided if you select this button.

Creating, adopting or disowning groups

Groups can only be created by the editors' group for an institution, and belong in the first instance to the creating institution. They may subsequently be "adopted" by other institutions, and/or "disowned" by any associated institution.

To create, adopt or disown a group, go to the Groups tab from your institutional page. To disown a group, click the button. To adopt a group, you will need to know its numeric identifier (if you know the name of the group, you can find its identifier by searching for the group from the Lookup front page). To create a group, you need to provide a title and description, and various other items described here.

Changing the editorial and management group membership

Each institution has an editing group (a list of CRSids) associated with it for managing institutional data in the directory. Like any other group, the editors' group is managed by a management group (that is, members of the management group can add or remove editors). In many cases the two groups are likely to have the same membership, at least initially. A management group will often manage itself (that is, managers can add or remove other managers).

Initial membership of both groups is set up by the UIS, in consultation with the institution; subsequently, editors can create new groups and managers can add or remove editors. If the management group does not manage itself, it will be managed by yet another group, and so on; at the top of this tree is a University Information Services group which can create and manage top-level groups.

If you are a manager for a group, you can change the identity of the management group, but only to another group of which you are yourself a member.

Child institutions will initially have the same editors' and management groups as the parent, but this can be changed if appropriate.

The membership list of the initial editing and management groups set up for an institution by the UIS is visible only to members of the groups; this can be changed if desired. It is expected that each group will provide an email address for contact.