Using Advanced System Access & Administration

You must be assigned permission 272 (Advanced System Administration) to use Advanced System Access & Administration. See Permissions Used by Sierra for more information.

Contact Innovative to enable the Advanced System Access & Administration (ASAA) function.

The Advanced System Access & Administration (ASAA) function allows library staff to edit many of the Sierra system files, such as name or label files, rule tables, and limiting tables. You can access this function under the Administration menu. This function also grants advanced control of system printers.

You can edit the following files with Advanced System Access & Administration:

Note that Sierra no longer uses the Branches Menu file in the ASAA interface to control the display of a location in WebPAC's location limit filter. See the Public element of the Branches table for more information on configuring the location limit.

Preparing to Use ASAA

You are not required to use all features in the Advanced System Access & Administration function. Some of these files are complex (particularly the Rule files) and you may prefer that Innovative maintain them. To request changes to files that you do not wish to update yourself, please use the Service Commitment forms located on CSDirect.

Innovative recommends that the System Coordinator or System Administrator maintain records of all changes made to system files and parameters, whether made by staff or made by Innovative. Over time, it may be necessary to consult these records to determine when or why specific changes were made and on whose authority.

Working With Files

The following information applies to many or all of the files that you can edit by using Advanced System Access & Administration.

Selecting a File to Edit

The file is selected from the Select file drop-down menu. Choose the file from this menu and click Select.

Editing Entries

Most files consist of multiple entries (e.g., a series of field labels in the case of the Indexlabels file). The general procedure for editing file entries is:

  1. Double-click the entry you want to edit (or single-click it and select the Edit tool). This pops up an Edit window.
  2. Enter or edit the data in the text boxes in the Edit window and click OK.
  3. Select the Save tool to save your changes.

Inserting, Appending, Deleting, Moving, and Copying Entries

For some multiple entry files, the following tools are available:

Insert

Creates a new entry, inserting it before the currently selected entry.

Append

Creates a new entry, adding it after the last entry in the file.

Delete

Deletes the currently selected entry.

Move

Moves the currently selected entry to a specified position in the file.

Copy

Copies the currently selected entry, placing the copy after the last entry in the file.

Internationalized Files

Many files contain labels or system prompts that display to users. If your Innovative system has been set up to present such data in more than one language, the Edit window includes separate text boxes for input of the label or prompt for each of these languages.

The Rule Files allow the entry of multi-language prompts using a different mechanism. See Internationalized Rule File Messages for more information.

Exporting Files

You can export any file that is editable in Advanced System Access & Administration by selecting the Export tool. The system presents a standard file selection dialog box in which you specify the name and location of the export file to save on your PC.

The file is exported in exactly the format in which it is stored on the Innovative system. Files whose entries consist of multiple data elements use the vertical bar character ('|') to separate these data elements. For example, if you choose to export the Holding Symbol file, the export file is similar to the following:

AAAA|1|oclc|+|099,090,050|||0|
BIIA|1|main|+|099,090,050|||0|
DMPM|1|oclc|B0|099,092|||0|
DMPN|1|oclc|B0|099,092|||0|
DMPX|1|oclc|B0|099,092|||0|
DMPW|1|oclc|B0|099,092|||0|
DMPY|1|oclc|B0|099,092|||0|
DMPZ|1|oclc|B0|099,092|||0|

Issues for Sites with Multiple Machines

Some libraries have purchased multiple machines from Innovative. Most sites with multiple machines have two; there are exceptions to this. However most libraries with multiple machines fit into the following three configurations:

At two-PAC sites and at sites with a reports machine, most files are copied from PAC1 or the primary machine to PAC2 or the reports machine (respectively) as part of an overnight updating process. However, this copying does not occur between the primary and training machines. The following chart provides guidelines for understanding what changes must be entered manually on both machines at dual machine sites.

From MACHINE To MACHINE FILE ACTION
PAC1 PAC2 Advanced Printers List Not copied
Primary Reports Advanced Printers List Not copied
Primary Training Advanced Printers List Not copied
PAC1 PAC2 Review File Configurations ¹ Not copied
Primary Reports Review File Configurations Not copied
Primary Training Review File Configurations Not copied
PAC1 PAC2 All files entered in ASAA except Account Name ² Copied
Primary Reports All files entered in ASAA except Account Name ² Copied
Primary Training All files entered in ASAA except Account Name Not copied

¹ Reminder - No editing of records may be done on PAC2.

² Account name is not copied because it is only used in functions that are not used on a reports machine or PAC2.