[Archivesspace_Users_Group] Former users and data loss

Wed Mar 8 11:36:12 EST 2017

Thank you all for this useful information! The policy language is
particularly helpful.

Best,
Olivia

On Wed, Mar 8, 2017 at 9:38 AM, Majewski, Steven Dennis (sdm7g) <
sdm7g at eservices.virginia.edu> wrote:

>
> On Mar 8, 2017, at 10:32 AM, Majewski, Steven Dennis (sdm7g) <
> sdm7g at eservices.virginia.edu> wrote:
>
>
> It appears to be a misfeature that deleting a user also deletes the agent
> record for that user, which is what the backend model for user does.
>
> I believe removing those last three lines would fix the problem:
> https://github.com/archivesspace/archivesspace/
> blob/master/backend/app/model/user.rb#L244-L246
>
> i.e. remove the User object but leave the Agent object. Links are from
> User to Agent, so I don’t think there would be any unexpected side effects.
> As a test, I removed a User record only on a test site in MySQL, and
> display still shows their id as the author.
>
> I will test this further if there is a consensus that this is the desired
> behavior.
>
>
> Downside of this method is that a lot of the organizational info for the
> person like title and department is attached to that User record, and that
> would be handy to know for the Audit.
>
> So perhaps everyone should follow Yale’s guide and NOT delete users, but
> this might still be a good code change to prevent complete loss of the
> trail in case someone does delete a User.
>
>
>
> — Steve.
>
>
> On Mar 8, 2017, at 10:24 AM, Caldera, Mary <mary.caldera at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> Our Yale ArchivesSpace User management Policy, prohibits the deletion of
> user records for the very reasons noted. The relevant section is as
> follows. –
>
> *Access Control*
> ·         The creation, deactivation, and the changing of user accounts
> and privileges must be carried out only by trained and authorized staff
> (i.e. the Yale ArchivesSpace Committee).
> ·         Access to ArchivesSpace will be limited to the Yale NetIDs of
> people who are members of the ArchivesSpace Active Group. This single
> Active Group will have access to all three instances of ArchivesSpace at
> Yale: dev, production, and test. Even though access will be allowed to the
> same three instances, that does not mean that each will have the same set
> of privileges. For example, only developers will have privileges in the dev
> instance.
> ·         The person enacting any change to a user account must be
> different from the person requesting the change.
> ·         Accounts should never be deleted from the ArchivesSpace
> database; instead, when a user no longer requires access to the
> ArchivesSpace database, their account will be deactivated.
> ·         Accounts will be deactivated by following these three steps:
> o    The ArchivesSpace username will be preceded with a “zzz_” in the
> ArchivesSpace database.
> o    The Yale NetID will be removed from the ArchivesSpace Active
> Directory group.
> o    Any repository roles associated with that account will be removed.
> ·         Inactive accounts will be periodically reviewed to determine if
> any need to be deactivated.
> ·         Accounts may be re-activated -- but only after a request has
> been issued and approved by following the same procedures required for
> requesting a new account -- by removing the “zzz_” from an existing
> username and then following the same procedure for the addition of any new
> ArchivesSpace account.
> Sincerely,
> Mary
> _______________________________
> ________________________________
>
> Mary Caldera,
> Head of Arrangement and Description
> Manuscripts and Archives
> Yale University Library
> P.O. Box 208240
> New Haven, CT  06520-8240
> 203/432-8019 <(203)%20432-8019>
>
> *From:* archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org [
> mailto:archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org
> <archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org>]*On Behalf Of *Olivia
> S Solis
> *Sent:* Tuesday, March 7, 2017 7:02 PM
> *To:* archivesspace_users_group at lyralists.lyrasis.org
> *Subject:* [Archivesspace_Users_Group] Former users and data loss
>
> Hello all,
>
> The Briscoe Center is in the process of adopting ArchivesSpace and has
> been testing it out in a sandbox. We took note of a potential problem in
> the future regarding hypothetical former employees who may have been ASpace
> users at one point. Presumably, we would delete them after they moved on to
> other work. I wanted to see what a user's trail might look like after
> he/she were deleted from the system, so I created an appraisal event with a
> user (my dog Chicken) as the authorizer.
>
> The results are mixed. While in some fields it looks like the data is
> retained, in some fields it is not. For instance:
>
>    - In the Events Browser, the former employee/user appears as the
>    authorizer and record creator
>    - Within the event itself, the agent link is blank
>    - In the resource record the event is linked to, the agent links field
>    is empty, but the created and Last modified fields list the now deleted user
>
> Before you delete an agent record, ArchivesSpace does warn you that you
> will lose all references to it in the database, including references to it
> in other records. How have some of you anticipated handling this situation?
> Leave former employees in the system and change their passwords? Is there a
> workaround for some of the loss of data or am I missing an obvious solution
> to this?
>
> Thanks!
> Olivia
>
> --
> Olivia Solis, MSIS
> Metadata Coordinator
> Dolph Briscoe Center for American History
> The University of Texas at Austin
> 2300 Red River St. Stop D1100
> Austin TX, 78712-1426
> livsolis at utexas.edu
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>
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>

-- 
Olivia Solis, MSIS
Metadata Coordinator
Dolph Briscoe Center for American History
The University of Texas at Austin
2300 Red River St. Stop D1100
Austin TX, 78712-1426

415-314-0831 <(415)%20314-0831>
livsolis at utexas.edu
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