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AWCI Museum Software

Bill Watts - August 01, 2014

The American Watchmakers and Clockmakers Institute, a leading membership organization in the horological industry, has an extensive museum with thousands of items. Previously, this museum inventory was tracked on 3x5 index cards. This tracking method became unmanageable as the inventory grew, more individuals needed access to the information, and items were loaned to or borrowed from other museums. A new method was needed to track its historical archives.

The AWCI considered off-the-shelf software to track its museum inventory, but this was not a viable option. The existing software didn't meet the specific needs of the AWCI, and training would be too difficult.

WJWatts Consulting built a custom museum software program for the AWCI. This software is web-based, allowing it to be accessed from anywhere, and the functionality fits exactly to the needs of the AWCI and its users. The software program has been a huge success for the AWCI, greatly improving the ability for administrators to oversee museum operations, reducing the time and difficulty for staff members to effectively manage the museum items, and capturing valuable tracking information.

In addition to this museum software, WJWatts Consulting also created a webpage in the AWCI public website that allows users to search the AWCI member directory. This directory is stored in iMIS, a common CMS database. WJWatts Consulting was able to query the member data in iMIS and display results to users, providing vital functionality to the AWCI website.