Choosing your PersonsChoosing your Persons

You should add former researchers - those who have left your institution - if the following applies:

• You need to add data (e.g. Research Outputs) from a legacy system that should be related to former researchers AND/OR
• You need to import data (e.g. Research Outputs) related to former researchers from online sources AND/OR
• You need to report on the relation of former researchers to other data (e.g. Research Outputs) AND/OR
• You need to showcase former researchers, and/or other data (e.g. Research Outputs) that would be associated with them, on the Portal

Person records become ‘former’ when all their affiliations have End date fields containing dates in the past. Such Persons are clearly marked as former, both in the Person list in the backend and on the Portal. Former affiliations are not shown in the Person list in the backend. You can configure your Portal so that Person records that only have former affiliations are not displayed, and/or so that only current affiliations are displayed when a Person has a mixture of current and former affiliations.

To ensure that you are not storing any unnecessary data about former researchers, you can configure Pure to clean up certain fields when a Person becomes ‘former’ at Administrator > Persons > Data cleanup configuration.

Former researchers should not need User accounts in your Pure. See Choosing your Users.

Honorary staff are appointed to recognize their achievements; sometimes they are former staff with emeritus status. They are not necessarily employed by your institution. You should add honorary staff if the following applies:

• You need to add data (e.g. Research Outputs) from a legacy system that should be related to honorary staff AND/OR
• You need to import data (e.g. Research Outputs) related to honorary staff from online sources AND/OR
• You need to report on the relation of honorary staff to other data (e.g. Research Outputs) AND/OR
• You need to showcase honorary staff, and/or other data (e.g. Research Outputs) that would be associated with them, on the Portal

Person records register honorary positions through affiliations of the honorary staff type. It is mandatory to specify an internal Organisational Unit and a start date for the appointment.

It is possible to configure the Portal not to show honorary staff, or their Research Outputs; if they are contributors on Research Outputs that also have current staff listed as contributors, their names will appear in the same way as the names of External Persons (that is, without a link to a profile page). This is a vendor setting; your Implementation Manager or Pure Support can configure this for you.

Visiting scholars are appointed for a period of time. They are not necessarily employed by your institution. You should add visiting scholars if the following applies:

• You need to add data (e.g. Research Outputs) from a legacy system that should be related to visiting scholars AND/OR
• You need to import data (e.g. Research Outputs) related to visiting scholars from online sources AND/OR
• You need to report on the relation of visiting scholars to other data (e.g. Research Outputs) AND/OR
• You need to showcase visiting scholars, and/or other data (e.g. Research Outputs) that would be associated with them, on the Portal

Person records register visiting scholar appointments through affiliations of the visiting scholar type. It is mandatory to specify an internal Organisational Unit and a start date for the appointment. Optional fields include Purpose of stay and the External Organisation from which the scholar is visiting.

It is possible to configure the Portal not to show visiting scholars, or their Research Outputs; if they are contributors on Research Outputs that also have current staff listed as contributors, their names will appear in the same way as the names of External Persons (that is, without a link to a profile page). It is also possible to configure the Portal not to show visiting scholars by the value of the Employed as field. These are vendor settings; your Implementation Manager or Pure Support can configure them for you.

Students should only be added to Pure if the following applies:

• You need to add data (e.g. Student Theses) from a legacy system that should be related to students AND/OR
• You need to report on the relation of students to other data (e.g. Student Theses) AND/OR
• You need to showcase students, and/or other data (e.g. Student Theses) that would be associated with them, on the Portal

Person records register periods of study through affiliations of the student type. It is mandatory to specify an internal Organisational Unit and a start date for the period of study. Optional fields include Project title, Expected study duration, Attendance status, and Supervised by.

It is possible to configure the Portal not to show students, or their Research Outputs; if they are contributors on Research Outputs that also have current staff listed as contributors, their names will appear in the same way as the names of External Persons (that is, without a link to a profile page). It is also possible to configure the Portal not to show Persons by the value of the Student type field. These are vendor settings; your Implementation Manager or Pure Support can configure them for you.

Lecturers and other teaching staff should be added to Pure as Persons if they are also active in research at your institution. If their sole work is teaching, however, they should only be added to Pure if the following applies:

• You need to report on the relation of teaching staff to other data (e.g. Courses) AND/OR
• You need to showcase teaching staff, and/or other data (e.g. Courses) that would be associated with them, on the Portal

Person records register teaching staff appointments through affiliations of the staff type. It is mandatory to specify an internal Organisational Unit and a start date for the appointment. Non-research-active staff should be registered as Non-academic in the Staff type field.

It is possible to configure the Portal not to show Persons by the value of the Staff type field. This is a vendor setting; your Implementation Manager or Pure Support can configure this for you.

Laboratory technicians, project managers and other non-academic staff working in research should only be added to Pure as Persons if the following applies:

• You need to add editorial data (e.g. Projects) from a legacy system that should be related to non-academic research staff AND/OR
• You need to import data (e.g. Research Outputs) with affiliations to non-academic research staff from online sources AND/OR
• You need to report on the relation of non-academic research staff to other data (e.g. Projects) AND/OR
• You need to showcase non-academic research staff, and/or other data (e.g. Equipment/Facilities) that would be associated with them, on the Portal

Person records register non-academic research staff appointments through affiliations of the staff type. It is mandatory to specify an internal Organisational Unit and a start date for the appointment. Non-academic research staff should be registered as Non-academic in the Staff type field.

It is possible to configure the Portal not to show Persons by the value of the Staff type field. This is a vendor setting; your Implementation Manager or Pure Support can configure this for you.

Note that some non-academic research staff who do not need Person records in Pure may still need User records - for instance, if they manage Applications and Awards for a Project.

Other administrative staff, such as librarians, should be added to Pure as Persons if the following applies:

• You need to report on the relation of administrative staff to other data (e.g. Equipment/Facilities) AND/OR
• You need to showcase administrative staff, and/or other data (e.g. Equipment/Facilities) that would be associated with them, on the Portal

Person records register administrative staff appointments through affiliations of the staff type. It is mandatory to specify an internal Organisational Unit and a start date for the appointment. Non-research-active staff should be registered as Non-academic in the Staff type field.

It is possible to configure the Portal not to show Persons by the value of the Staff type field. This is a vendor setting; your Implementation Manager or Pure Support can configure this for you.

Note that some administrative staff who do not need Person records in Pure may still need User records - for instance, if they validate Research Outputs for an Organisational Unit. See Choosing your Users.