In addition to sophisticated file title search capabilities, RMS offers users the ability to create hard copy reports of records held, and maintain up to date delivery and contact information. In short, RMS can help you maintain control of your off-site records in the following ways:

• Know exactly what records are in storage at a given moment.
• Know in seconds whether a file exists in the stored inventory.
• When a file you want is currently charged out, see who has it.
• See a complete listing of files you have charged out.
• Make a request on a file with only two mouse clicks.

This section of the Records Management website will provide a tutorial on the basics of RMS, and a description of some of the more advanced features.

Logging On

In order to log on to RMS, you will need to obtain your unique User ID. This can be obtained by Blitzing:

records.management@dartmouth.edu

or calling 646-1875. If you are not currently an authorized user of Records Management services, it may take departmental staff a day or two to approve your access with your departmental Records Custodian.

Once you have your User ID, point your browser to:

https://rmsserver.dartmouth.edu

At the log in screen, enter your User ID number in the space provided, and click on the “E-mail my Password” button. You should immediately receive an e-mail message with your current password. Retrieve the password from your e-mail, and return to your browser to enter both your User ID and Password. Click on the “Submit” button to enter RMS.

The Department Screen

Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the Department screen, which will serve as your “home page” within the system.

This screen displays information about your department, including your departmental ID number, name, reporting structure, and designated Records Custodian. Lower on the screen you will find a table showing all record series for material cataloged in the RMS system. In addition to series ID and name, this table shows the retention period, disposition method, and retention schedule approval date.

At the top right of the screen you will see your name and options to log out or update your user information. Directly below this is the search box, where you can execute most box and file searches.

We will look at each of these features in more detail.

Executing a Basic Search

The most common task you will do in RMS is search for a file in your stored record inventory. This is accomplished by simply entering the word or phrase you would like to find in the Search Box at the top of the screen.

Click “Go!” to execute the search.

When you click "Go!", RMS will execute the search and find any file, anywhere within your stored record inventory, that contains the word or phrase you entered. It will display these results on the “File Search Results” screen. If these results are not what you wanted, you may repeat the search with new terms by reentering them in the search box.

The File Search Results screen shows ten files per page. If you have more than ten files found, you may use the numbers after the word “Page” to go to another set of ten records. Each file found shows complete cataloging information in a “cataloging block”. This information includes:

• Department ID and Name
• Series ID and Name
• Accession ID and dates covered
• Box ID and Box Name
• File ID and File Name (bold)

Note that before each file name is a small file folder icon, labeled “File Request”.

Once you have located the file you would like to retrieve, simply click on the “File Request” icon. This will bring you to a confirmation screen, where you can customize your request if necessary, or simply execute the request.

In most cases you can simply submit the request. However, you may also customize your request in the following ways:

• Change the delivery method (for emergency or time-critical requests only).
• Update your delivery location on your User Information screen.
• Include additional information or description that may be useful to the Records Management staff.

Once you have completed any necessary customization of the request, simply click “SUBMIT REQUEST.” This will add the request to the delivery queue, and you should receive your record within six working hours.

You may return to your Department Screen by using your “back” button, or clicking on the linked Department ID on any cataloging block.

For most users, this will be all that you will need to use RMS effectively! The following are some more advanced features.

Advanced Searching: The "Drill Down"

You may have already noticed that most of the ID numbers in RMS are actually hyperlinks. The system allows you to jump directly to the complete cataloging information on any series, accession, box, file, or request. To illustrate this process, we will perform a “drill down” search.

From your Department Screen, scroll down to the list of active series in your department. Pick one which should have a large number of files, and click on the Series ID for that series.

The system will jump to the Series information (a yellow screen), where you can see the full cataloging information about that record series. Here you will find information such as a text description of the series, the retention period, and the disposition method. Further down the screen you will find a table listing each accession of that series currently stored with Records Management.

An accession is a “set” of records within a series, such as a time period or alphabetic range. For instance, the class of 1995 may be one accession, and the class of 1996 may be another accession.

You may click on any accession number to see cataloging information about that accession, which includes a list of boxes in that set. You may continue to “drill down” in the catalog by clicking on a box ID, which will show a list of files within that box. You may even click on an individual file ID to see a request history for that file!

You may have noticed during this “drill down” process, that the search box at the top of the screen has subtly changed. For instance, when you were at the Series screen, an additional checkbox has been added to the search box that says “Limited to this Series.” If you check this box before executing a search, instead of searching your entire department for a file, you will only be searching within this particular series. This may be very useful when you know what type of record you are searching for, and want to eliminate records of all other types from your search.

You may also limit the search to a particular accession, or even a particular box, simply by checking the box and executing the search from those screens.

You may return to any screen simply by clicking on the ID for that cataloging level. Take some time and explore your stored record inventory by browsing these cataloging levels. Once you understand the way your material is cataloged, you should find moving from screen to screen to be very intuitive.

Advanced Searching: Finding and Requesting Boxes

By default, a search is for files. But you can also search for box descriptions and request entire boxes. To execute this type of search, simply select the “Box Descriptions” radio button in the search box. Your search will then look for the text you entered in the box description field, rather than in the file title field.

Whether you search for boxes or files, you will see that before each box description is a “Box Request” icon.

You may request boxes the same way that you request files, simply by clicking on this icon.

Advanced Searching: File ID

If you know the File ID for a particular record, you may search for that file directly by using the appropriate radio button in the search box. This is useful if you are referencing a hard copy report that shows File IDs.

Updating User Information

Click on the “Update User Info” link to gain access to your personal information. The following fields can be changed on this screen:

• E-mail address
• Phone
• Hinman Box
• Location
• Password

The following fields can only be changed by submitting a Blitz or phone request to Records Management:

• Name
• Department ID
• Department Name

Once you have completed your changes, simply click on the “UPDATE PERSONAL INFORMATION” button to save your new information. You may return to where you were using the “Back” button on your browser.

Listing the Files You Have Charged Out

Click on the "Show Files Out" link to display a listing of all the files that you have charged out, but not returned to Records Management. Please note that this screen only displays this information for records charged out after January 1, 2000 (the date the new tracking system was implemented).

Generating Reports

The bottom portion of each screen lists the text reports that can be generated from that level of the RMS catalog. For instance, you may decide to generate a report that lists each file title for a particular accession, or one that lists all the boxes in a particular series. These are generated as simple text reports, that can either be saved to disk or printed. Each report is described in some detail, to help you decide which report will best suit your needs.

Reports generated from the department screen cover all material in the department. Reports generated from the series, accession, and box levels limit the information shown to records catalogued at that level.

Switching Departments

This feature will only appear on your browser if you have been granted special permission to access the records in a department outside of your home department. In these cases, a “Switch Departments” list appears directly under the RMS logo.

Simply click on the department number you would like to access.

Logging Out

RMS automatically logs a user out after 30 minutes of inactivity. If you try to move to a new screen after this period, you will be forced to log in again.

However, you should log out as soon as you are finished using the system. This enhances security by ensuring that your computer cannot be used to view your record inventory when not attended.

Simply click on the “Log Out” link at the top of every screen to end your session.

Can't find what you are looking for?

Using RMS doesn’t preclude making requests the old fashioned way! If you can’t find what you are looking for, or are confused about where a particular file may be located in your stored records, simply Blitz your request. The Records Management staff has far more sophisticated search capabilities than are available in the on-line catalog.

For more information

If you have any trouble using RMS, or have suggestions for future enhancements of the system, contact the Records Manager.