Parliamentary Information Management System
Encyclopedia
Parliamentary Information Management Services (PIMS) is an electronic library used in the Parliament of the United Kingdom
.
The aims of the PIMS project were to provide easy access to parliamentary information for all users of the parliamentary intranet
, by creating a new infrastructure for the storage, search, retrieval and management of parliamentary information held in the Libraries
of the Houses of Commons
and Lords
. This would replace and extend the POLIS databases that had been used by the two Libraries for over twenty years, and provide a platform on which the services available to Members of both Houses of Parliament and the public might be developed further.
The first services went live in December 2004 supporting Commons Library enquiry handling. The main services came on stream in April 2005 with facilities for search and retrieval of material and content management
. There were some initial difficulties with maintaining the currency of information in the system, and a programme of technical changes designed to improve performance was put in place and completed in November 2005. Further enhancements were made over the next few months before the project concluded in early 2006.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
.
The aims of the PIMS project were to provide easy access to parliamentary information for all users of the parliamentary intranet
Intranet
An intranet is a computer network that uses Internet Protocol technology to securely share any part of an organization's information or network operating system within that organization. The term is used in contrast to internet, a network between organizations, and instead refers to a network...
, by creating a new infrastructure for the storage, search, retrieval and management of parliamentary information held in the Libraries
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
of the Houses of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
and Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
. This would replace and extend the POLIS databases that had been used by the two Libraries for over twenty years, and provide a platform on which the services available to Members of both Houses of Parliament and the public might be developed further.
The first services went live in December 2004 supporting Commons Library enquiry handling. The main services came on stream in April 2005 with facilities for search and retrieval of material and content management
Content management
Content management, or CM, is the set of processes and technologies that support the collection, managing, and publishing of information in any form or medium. In recent times this information is typically referred to as content or, to be precise, digital content...
. There were some initial difficulties with maintaining the currency of information in the system, and a programme of technical changes designed to improve performance was put in place and completed in November 2005. Further enhancements were made over the next few months before the project concluded in early 2006.