Proficio by Re:Discovery Software, Inc. - Evaluation

About this evaluation

This evaluation was performed on January 23, 2018 with a representative from Re:Discovery Software, Inc. It was evaluated by eight members of the museum community and reflects their personal opinion. These evaluations were based on a set list of tasks in a limited period of time. It is always recommended that you request a demonstration of any product in which you may be interested based on your specific requirements.

Evaluator ratings

The following table shows the ratings given to this software by members of the museum community. To understand what these ratings mean, please refer to our Scoring System & Evaluation Guide.

Each rating given is scored out of a maximum of five points. The larger the Standard Deviation number, the wider the range of scores for that task.

Task Average Standard Deviation

Online data entry

3.3

1.4

Publish a record to the web

3.4

0.7

Set user permissions and groups

4.1

0.6

View audit trails or change log

4.4

0.7

Import data

3.8

0.7

Export data

3.8

0.7

Create a local terminology list

3.3

1.2

Upload or attach images and files

3.8

0.9

Catalogue an object

3.9

0.6

Batch modify a set of records

4.1

0.4

Multilingual capabilities

1.8

1.0

Customize a catalogue entry page

3.3

0.7

Create a template record

3.0

1.4

Generate and/or build a report

3.8

0.7

Perform basic search

3.9

0.8

Perform advanced search

3.5

1.6

Browse records

3.4

1.5

Create an exhibit

2.6

1.8

Enter condition report information

2.9

1.4

Evaluator comments

The following comments have been provided by our evaluators after they rated the performance of each task. These are selected comments drawn from the “Additional Comments” section of the evaluation form.

  • The ability to attach additional files to records (Word documents, PDFs, etc.) would be something that would be beneficial. I could see attaching research reports, obituaries, family histories and handwritten notes from donors to records really enriching the provenance of an object.
  • Vendor comment: Proficio includes the ability to attach an unlimited number of digital files to a record from the Multimedia Tab. This is a standard feature in the software. Further, text-based attachments are discoverable via Proficio’s Word Search.
  • Nice user interface, highly functional system. The only area where I saw big need for improvement was the multilingual aspect – requires system field labels AND separate fields.
  • Good, traditional, museum/archive CMS system, with the traditional, expected capabilities. Its search functions are its strongest feature. Not a very intuitive user interface unless you are very comfortable in a Windows operating system.
  • Vendor comment: As a Windows application, Re:discovery Software developed Proficio’s user interface to include familiar components found in other Windows applications, such as a Navigation Pane, drop-down menus, Toolbar and sizable windows.
  • Only accessible on Apple hardware if using the Cloud version. Might be a steep learning curve for people who are not experienced in traditional museum collections management practices.
  • Vendor comment: Proficio may be installed/used on Apple hardware (and we have clients that have done this), provided that the Apple computer supports running Windows separately from the Mac OS. Proficio users quickly get comfortable using the software. We provide introductory training and offer monthly training webinars on an on-going basis. Our experienced support team is ready to assist as needed.
  • I found Proficio’s menu to be rather clunky and overwhelming. I appreciated that Proficio allows an institution to create as many collections databases as desired. This is an essential feature for museums/organizations covering multiple disciplines.
  • Vendor comment: Other evaluators did not come to the same conclusion. See comment above (“nice user interface, highly functional system”).
  • The small record set (I believe we were told 72 records) made sense given the requirements for the demo and need to keep things moving. Nevertheless, I was left wondering how the functions would perform in a real world environment.
  • Vendor comment: Proficio is powered by Microsoft’s SQL Server and performs extremely well in real world environments, handling large museum collection catalogs with hundreds of thousands of records without performance issues.

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