LEVERAGING CORRESPONDENCE

MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

(FOR DIGITAL OBJECT METADATA)BRIAN THOMAS

ELECTRONIC RECORDS SPECIALIST

TEXAS STATE LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES COMMISSION

DISCLAIMER

This presentation and any subsequent discussion represents work and perspectives on

work completed at the Texas State Library and Archives Commission by the presenter.

Opinions and perspectives provided by this presenter are their own and may not indicate

the official stance of the agency.

CTS: THE CORRESPONDENCE TRACKING SYSTEM

Some details

1. Completely homegrown system

2. Interface written in Visual Basic 6

3. Running against a MS SQL Server

database

4. The database itself is a record

5. Covers physical mail, webmail, phone calls

6. Each mail/webmail item was supposed to

have a corresponding image file or PDF

WHAT IF…The content in the database could be extracted in

a way that captured the elements of the

Governor’s staff interface?

And then paired with the individual images

themselves in the preservation/access system for

staff research?

And possibly indexed for some linked data fun?

FROM: HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=AOF5LCT5JD0

IF YOU HAVE A HAMMER, EVERYTHING LOOKS LIKE A NAIL

About me and the tools at my disposal

1. I had been working on database preservation

2. I love virtualization

3. I had also been using Python extensively for API

and data manipulation in other project

4. Therefore almost all work was done with Python

in a virtual machine for this project

5. I like the new Doctor

Courtesy https://imgur.com/gallery/NIgUNZZ

OVERVIEW OF THE WORK

Preserve database

Study database structure

Export and manipulate

data

Export data to valid

sidecar files

Final data manipulation

Fix miscellaneous

problems

THE ACTUAL STEPS

● Get SQL Server 2018 running

● Preserve the database into SIARD format

● Review tables in SQL Server Management

Studio and Database Visualization Toolkit to

understand data structure

● Review fields in CTS GUI to see what staff

would have worked with

● Determine how tables should be connected

● Export tables to CSV format

● Use Python PANDAS to merge tables

● Replace illegal characters in spreadsheets

● Use Python script to export metadata into

individual files

● Use Python script to create valid XML

● Use Python script to validate the XML

● Fix broken XML, re-validate until all good

● Transform metadata export to desired schema

(x2, see later explanation)

● Use Python script to remove artifacts from

transforms

● Use Python to correct filenaming/pairing errors

● Re-upload files with sidecar metadata

STEP ONEPreserve the database

STEP 1: PRESERVE THE DATABASE

Running SQL Server

● First step, see the database in its actual

unmediated format

● Take SQL dump and import it into SQL Server

● Use SQL Server Management Studio or similar

software to review structure and contents

● Maybe can export directly to a spreadsheet?

Run XML export?

SQL Server management studio available here:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/ssms/download-sql-server-

management-studio-ssms?view=sql-server-2017

Run Database Preservation Toolkit

● SIARD format, XML-based

○ captures all database content and most

functions

● Invented by Swiss Federal Archives

○ SIARD Suite app converted databases to SIARD

● Database Preservation Toolkit is a product of EARK

and seeks to automate conversion, more detailed

SIARD2 standard

● http://www.database-preservation.com/

● Later Swiss Federal Archives released a tool for

SIARD2.1 standard

○ https://www.bar.admin.ch/bar/en/home/archiving

/tools/siard-suite.html

IN SQL SERVER MANAGEMENT STUDIO

IN DATABASE VISUALIZATION TOOLKIT

WHAT IT SHOULD HAVE LOOKED LIKE

STEP TWO

Study database structure

STEP 2: STUDY THE DATABASE STRUCTURE

1. Review staff GUI for essential

elements

2. Find elements in database tables

3. Develop a plan on how to

reconstruct the information

elements from all tables

4. Beware programmatic joins not

represented in linked tables

STEP THREE

Export and manipulate

data

STEP 3: EXPORT AND MANIPULATE DATA

1. Export each table to CSV using an

DBVTK export function

2. Load individual CSVs using python

PANDAS

3. Merge CSV files on shared column

data

a. Use an outer, inner, left/right

join?

4. Iteratively save, slice and dice the

output

STEP FOUR

Export data to valid

sidecar files

STEP 4: EXPORT DATA TO VALID SIDECAR FILES

● Eliminate the illegal characters from the CSV(s)

first

○ I didn’t the first time and spent over a

day correcting the results

● Load each CSV and run a script to export that

data into a metadata file per ???

○ Make sure it appends data, not

overwrites. You may have multiple

entries for the same thing

● Run a script to encapsulate the data to create

valid XML

● Run another script to validate your XMLThis Photo by Unknown Author is

licensed under CC BY-SA

STEP FIVEFinal data

manipulation

STEP 5: FINAL DATA MANIPULATION

● Check existing XML schemas for fit

○ 95 data points

○ TEI too simple

○ Qualified Dublin Core not a good fit

● Write your own?

○ Yes!

● Run XSLTs against XML files to match

chosen/written schema

● Run more XSLTs to de-dupe content

● Re-arrange XML into correct directory structure

● Pair with files in-system or re-upload files

STEP SIX

Fix miscellaneous

problems

PROBLEM ONE: MISSING IMAGES AND DB ENTRIES

● Everything should have been there

● Paper correspondence only sampled

● Some images had no metadata.

Outgoing/incoming correspondence not

logged? Log name is correct?

● Some metadata had no images. Missing

files? Never scanned?

● 353,674 Mail entries without any logged

scan. Never scanned? Forgot to add

filename?

● Yes to all

PROBLEM ONE: SOLUTION(S)

● Develop a script to identify what might be

missing

● Including specific filepaths for processing

● Create a cute no-scan placeholder file for

missing scans so metadata is preserved

● Leave items without metadata as is. Still text

searchable

PROBLEM TWO: CAPITALIZATION ERRORS

● False negatives for matching XML because…

● Staff did not capitalize database entries

the same way they capitalized the images

● Problem because metadata pairing process

is sensitive to exact filename

Solution● Use comparative script to generate a list of

image/metadata files without matches (with

filepath)

● Use a script to de-capitalize listed filenames

and compare.

● If there is a match, use the image version of the

filename to rename the metadata file

PROBLEM THREE: SAME IMAGE IN MULTIPLE PLACES

● False negatives for matching XML

because…

● The file is in another folder altogether

● And it is in multiple places

Solution● Use comparative script to generate a list of

image/metadata files without matches

(with filepath)

● Use a script to de-capitalize listed

filenames, drop the filepath and compare.

● If there is a match, copy the file to a new

location with the correct filepath

PROBLEM FOUR: MISFILED/MISNAMED FILES

● Files put in the wrong directory

● E.G. 200106110167.tif filed in directory

2001/01/0111

● Files misnamed

● E.G. 200106110167.tif misnamed as

200101110167.tif

Solution● If no matches in metadata, generate a

generic metadata file suggesting look for

correct metadata based on content of file

● SIP creator tool catches duplicate names,

correct at point that it find errors.

PROBLEM FIVE: LOGGED PHONE CALLS

● 771,825 logged phone calls

● No document for these

● Need an object to pair metadata to OR

● Upload metadata only and rely on text

search?

● Create an html version of metadata?

Solution● Find a cool icon

● Use a script to generate a list of metadata

files but with the file extension changed to

match the icon file extension

● Use a script to mass copy the icon into an

image that can be uploaded

LESSONS LEARNED/COULD HAVE DONE BETTER

● Expanded conversation to account for

more internal stakeholder/staff requests

● Don’t trust that anybody (that they did

100% of what they said they did)

● Direct database SQL queries?

● Before the fact contingency planning

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-

pOMrxILoPV8/TgOfWqGU8SI/AAAAAAAAAlU/XXDsDr4BaS8/s1600/mist

ake3.jpg

NOW LET’S DISCUSS...

1. How could this have been done better?

2. What situations are other people facing?

3. What limitations do you have to work

around?

4. Any other thoughts?

Courtesy NBC.com

(https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/coffee-talk/n10457)

CONTACT INFORMATION

BRIAN THOMAS

NON-GOVERNMENTAL EMAIL:

BRIAN.THE.ARCHIVIST@GMAIL.

COM

GOVERNMENTAL EMAIL:

BTHOMAS@TSL.TEXAS.GOV

WORK PHONE: 512-475-3374

SOME USEFUL SCRIPTS/TRICKS

MERGING SPREADSHEETS USING PYTHON/PANDAS

EXPORTING TO XML FROM CSV USING PYTHON

XML ENCAPSULATION AND VALIDATION USING PYTHON

BATCH FILING IN WINDOWS COMMAND LINE

● Print file list to a text file (Karen’s Directory

printer works wonders)

● In Excel or another spreadsheet program○ “mid” function to pull source directory○ “mid” function to pullfull filename○ “mid” function to pull subdirectory 1, 2, etc.○ “concat” function to assemble parts for a

Windows “mkdir” Powershell command■ Don’t forget to dedupe

○ “concat’ function to assemble parts for Windows “move” cmd to file into new directories

● Copy finished mkdir and move commands and

paste as values to remove formulas

● Copy mkdir and move to Powershell and cmd,

respectively. Wait… … …

MASS MANIPULATION WITH STYLESHEETS AND PYTHON

XSL transform engine Example De-dupe transform

COMPARING DIRECTORIES USING PYTHON