How to give a record a manager when its only manager has left#

A project, dataset, sample or measurement can be left with nobody who can change who is credited on it, for example when its only manager leaves the institution. A Data Curator can raise one of the remaining contributors to manager so the team can look after the record again.

Before you start#

You need the Data Curator role, or be a superuser. No other role gives a way in. A person who holds only the Community Manager, Portal Administrator or Developer role is refused a private record as any other signed-in person is. See Portal roles.

Steps#

  1. Open the record’s page in the portal. A Data Curator can open it whether it is private or public.

  2. Choose its Contributors tab.

  3. Under People, choose Edit beside the person who should manage the record. If nobody suitable is listed, choose Add person, add them, and you arrive on the same Edit a contributor screen.

  4. Under “What they may do on” the record’s kind, choose Can manage.

  5. Choose Save.

The result#

The Contributors tab shows the person with the Can manage badge, and the page reads “Name was saved.”

You are not added to the record, and nothing stored with the contributors names you as having made the change.

A person counts as able to manage the record only when they have an active account that can sign in. If the person you raised has no account yet, or the account is deactivated, the record still has nobody who counts. Choose a person who can sign in, or ask them to claim their profile first.

The portal keeps the same two refusals for you as for any manager:

  • The last person who counts as able to manage a record cannot be removed or lowered.

  • An organization that people on the record are credited from cannot be removed.

Your own portal role never counts towards a record’s managers, so the record never depends on portal staff to stay manageable. The reasoning is in How access to a record is decided. The screens are described on Contributors.