Canadian Forces Artefact Management System (CFAMS)


Version 3

CFAMS is the computer program for collection management in Canadian Forces (CF) military museums. It was originally deployed in July 1999 on CD-ROM format (version 1.3.2).

The CFAMS project began during the summer of 1998 with surveys being distributed to a cross-section of CF Museums across Canada. The information received was then collated and the project proceeded into the design and development stages. Feedback from the Beta testing at selected CF Museums (fall 98 through spring of 1999) provided further improvements to the application design.

CFAMS is currently at version 3.0.

The Department of National Defence (DND) of Canada owns CFAMS as part of its continued support program for Canadian Forces (CF) museums through the Directorate of History and Heritage (DHH). It is available as shareware for the cost of program duplication.

CFAMS was built on a modular concept so that other additions could be made throughout its System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) without having to redesign or create a completely new program.

CFAMS has been thoroughly tested and bench-marked to run as a stand-alone database application and to accommodate a populated database of 55 000 records projected from a 5% yearly increase over a five year period (maximum hard disk space would be approximately 100MB). Search time at this limit is 0.6 sec (0.3 sec with 64 MB installed). The true limit of the database size is 500 000+ catalogued entries (limited only by the size of the installed disk drive).

Incorporated into CFAMS are:

  1. a powerful industry standard search engine;
  2. a standardized, simple user-friendly interface and capture screens for common tasks with a detailed artefact classification system;
  3. a transaction and logging feature to ensure database integrity and inhibit corruption;
  4. improved user and database-level security;
  5. the revised Parks Canada Nomenclature classification system;
  6. platform and application independent. CFAMS can be installed on any computer meeting the minimum requirements;
  7. mandatory fields to ensure all required information is captured in the identical manner at the proper place every time without corrupting the database;
  8. an easily exported database (without conversion) to ANY industry standard SQL based system; and
  9. certified to Government of Canada/DND Y2K compliant standards.

The classification system incorporated into CFAMS is the Parks Canada Nomenclature. It has been specifically designed with military object terminology. The cataloguing rules are compatible with the guidelines of the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN), a repository of Canadian and international museum collections. Requests for changes or amendments to the Parks Canada Classification System are to be forwarded to Staff Officer, Museums and Historical Collections, DHH 5.

CFAMS supersedes preliminary software, COMMA (Collection Management For Military Museums) and CFMUSE (CF Museum Collections Management System), and is to implemented upon receipt. It will be continuously improved based on user experience and comments. All suggestions for future revisions or for more info must be forwarded to:

Staff Officer, Museums and Historical Collections, DHH 5
Directorate of History and Heritage (DHH)
National Defence Headquarters
101 Colonel By Dr
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada K1A 0K2

FAX: 613-990-8579