Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Records Management topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Denison staff describe large manual migration to SemSites and propose structured cemetery office hours
Summary
Staff said City of Denison migrated burial records to SemSites but that many legacy entries did not transfer; staff described a manual remediation effort of tens of thousands of data elements and proposed structured office hours, potential part-time help or interns, and safety upgrades for the cemetery office.
Amanda Parsons, director of Parks and Recreation, told the board staff is developing options for structured cemetery office hours to protect administrative staff safety and create blocks of time for data work.
Parsons said options under consideration include set walk-in hours with appointment windows, flipping appointments to mornings and walk-ins to afternoons, or multi-day blocks (for example, Monday–Wednesday/Thursday–Friday splits) that would let the single administrative employee complete back-office work. "We want to be able to provide her some organization and structure … so that she can maximize her time and work efforts," Parsons said.
Chip Egger and other staff described an ongoing migration to a cloud-based system called SemSites and said the migration did not bring all legacy fields forward. According to staff, SemSites received only a portion of many records and embedded files in the old system could not be migrated automatically. The board heard that Fairview Cemetery has more than 14,000 burial records and staff estimate the manual remediation could require moving 40,000–50,000 record elements.
Egger said that when focused, the staff member doing the migration can move "8,100, maybe 120 records a day" and that the scale of remaining manual work makes additional temporary help or interns likely. Staff outlined options including volunteer assistance, internships through Austin College and part-time hires to accelerate the transfer.
On data security and accessibility, staff said the new system is cloud-hosted and that the board and public will be able to access cemetery records from the City of Denison website once records are fully migrated.
Staff also discussed safety measures for the cemetery office, noting that the office door is kept locked and there are cameras; they are exploring additional infrastructure changes and staffing patterns to improve the lone-staff safety profile.
Clarifying details: Fairview has 14,000-plus burial records; staff estimate 40,000–50,000 record elements may need manual remediation; SemSites migration resulted in roughly one-in-three records transferring accurately according to staff assessment; data hosted in cloud and accessible via city website once processed.
