Help
How to use the CollMan portal
A task-oriented walk-through of what you can do in CollMan: creating collections, attaching files, sharing read-only links, working in a team and more. For the assessment methodology itself, see the dedicated Methodology page.
Jump to a section
- Getting started
- Your collections
- Collection profile
- Evaluating a collection
- Curatorial activities
- Loans
- Publications
- Permits
- Attachments
- Benchmark
- Visibility in external resources
- Compare collections
- Share and export
- Version history and trend
- Institutions (team accounts)
- Languages
- Account and privacy
Getting started
A quick orientation before you assess your first collection.
Register an account
Click Sign up in the top right. Pick a password of at least 12 characters with letters and numbers — CollMan also checks that the password has not appeared in known data breaches.
Verify your email
After registering you will receive a verification message. Click the link in the email to activate your account. Until you verify, most pages will redirect you back to the verification screen.
Sign in and sign out
Use the Log in link in the top right. Your session lasts for 120 minutes of inactivity. Sign out via the user-name dropdown next to the language switcher.
Switch language
Use the globe icon next to your user name to switch between English, Polish, French and Spanish. Your choice is remembered in your session.
Your collections
A collection is one CollMan record. The edit and view screens are split into tabs: Profile, Assessment, Curatorial activities, Loans, Publications, Permits, Benchmark and History.
Create a new collection
Go to Collections and click "+ New collection". Fill in the abbreviation (required) and any other Owner & collection information on the Profile tab, then move to the Assessment tab to answer the 20 evaluation criteria. The score and rank are calculated automatically as you tick options.
Edit and save
Open a collection and click Edit. Each tab has its own Save button — saving on the Profile tab persists owner / classification / external links; saving on the Assessment tab persists the 20-criteria answers. Score recalculates server-side every time you save.
Save as a new version
Use the green "Save as new version" button on the Assessment tab to keep the current assessment as a historical snapshot and start a fresh version. The Profile tab (type, scope, external links) is shared across versions and is not copied.
Notes
Each collection has a free-text Notes field on the Profile tab. Use it to record sources, context, or anything that would help your future self re-assess the collection.
Delete
The Delete button on the collections list (or on the show page) soft-deletes the collection. Soft-deleted rows are hidden from regular users but remain in the database for audit.
Collection profile
The Profile tab describes what the collection is: its classification, scope, storage form, status and external catalogue links. Profile data is family-shared, meaning every version of the same collection sees the same profile.
Classification and scope
Pick a collection type (taxonomic, geographic, ecological, chronological, methodological or mixed). Optionally narrow the scope with free-text taxonomic and geographic descriptors, a country list, and a date range that bounds the specimens.
Specimen counts and storage
Record the specimen count estimate and the date it was last counted. Pick one or more storage types (dry, wet/alcohol, microscopic slides, soil samples, frozen tissue, digital-only, other) and add free-text storage location and conditions.
External links
Paste URLs to the collection in GBIF, BOLD (DNA barcoding), AMUNATCOLL or another portal. These are surfaced as buttons on the Profile view; the GBIF link unlocks the Visibility panel's record-count metric.
Status and type repository
Mark the collection as active, closed, archived or unknown — this is metadata only and does not change anything else in CollMan. Tick "type repository" if it contains nomenclature-type specimens.
Evaluating a collection
The 20 criteria, their weights and the rank thresholds are documented in detail on the Methodology page. This section covers only the mechanics of the Assessment tab.
Radio vs. checkbox questions
Radio questions accept exactly one answer; checkbox questions accept any combination. Each question shows a hint ("Choose one" / "Choose all that apply") next to its title.
Score and rank
The total score is the weighted sum across all 20 criteria. CollMan maps the total into one of five tiers — Unique, Very valuable, Valuable, Moderately valuable, Average — and colours the rank badge accordingly.
Server-side recalculation
The score shown in the browser is always recalculated on the server when you save. Editing the URL or the hidden form fields will not change the stored score.
Curatorial activities
Track planned, in-progress and completed work on a collection — digitisation, conservation, accessioning, research. Activities can be linked to specific evaluation criteria so CollMan can show you a forecasted future score.
Add an activity
On the Curatorial activities tab, click "Add activity". Pick the category, status (planned / in progress / done / cancelled) and effort level (low / medium / high). Optionally tick which evaluation criteria the work affects.
Future-evaluation forecast
If pending activities have affected_criteria set, the History tab shows a dashed extension on the score chart: the score that would result if every pending activity were completed and maxed out those criteria. It is an upper bound, not a prediction.
Family-shared
Activities, like the Profile, attach to the family root — every version of the collection sees the same activity list. Posting from a child version writes to the root automatically.
Loans
Inbound and outbound specimen loans, with optional borrower / lender details, expected return dates and free-text notes.
Register a loan
On the Loans tab, click "Add loan". Pick the direction (incoming / outgoing), counterparty type (individual / institution), and fill in the dates. Specimen-count and taxonomic-scope fields appear depending on the loan type.
Status tracking
Mark loans as active, returned or overdue. The Loans tab badge counts how many are open. Overdue loans are visually flagged so they don't get forgotten.
PDF appendix
When generating the collection PDF, tick "Include loans" to append a loan table — useful for periodic reports to institutional management.
Publications
Track publications that cite specimens from the collection: papers, monographs, theses. CollMan can auto-fill metadata from a DOI.
Add by DOI
Paste a DOI in the Add publication form and click Look up. CollMan queries CrossRef and pre-fills title, authors, journal, year and URL. Successful look-ups are cached for 30 days. You can always overwrite fields manually.
Manual entry
If the publication has no DOI (or CrossRef has no metadata for it), fill the fields by hand. Title is required; everything else is optional.
Usage tag
Tag each publication by how the collection contributed: faunistic data, taxonomic revision, type description, citation, or other. The Publications tab badge shows the total citation index.
PDF appendix
Tick "Include publications" on the PDF download to append a bibliography to the report.
Permits
Register collecting / import / export / Nagoya-ABS / destructive-sampling permits, with optional PDF attachments. Useful for audit trails and compliance reporting.
Register a permit
On the Permits tab, click "Add permit". Pick the permit type and status, fill in the number, issuing authority, dates and geographic / taxon scope. Issue and expiry dates are validated — expiry cannot be before issue.
Attach a PDF
You can attach the permit document as a PDF (up to the configured size cap). The PDF is downloadable only by curator+ users — institutional members can see the permit row but not the file.
Expiry tracking
Permits whose expiry is in the past are visually re-tagged as expired regardless of their stored status. Permits expiring within 90 days surface a ⚠ badge on the Permits tab.
Not in share links
Permits are considered internal compliance data and are NOT shown to viewers of read-only share links — even when the rest of the collection is visible.
Attachments
Attach photos and PDFs to any collection you can edit — typically a label photo, a specimen image, or supporting documentation. Attachments live on the Profile tab.
Upload
On the Profile tab of the edit page, scroll to the Attachments section. Select one or more files (drag-and-drop is not supported in the current version). An optional caption is applied to every file in that upload.
Accepted formats
JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF and PDF. Maximum file size is 5 MB. Each upload may include several files, but the per-collection quota is the hard limit.
Quotas
Each collection accepts up to 5 attachments. Across all of your collections combined, the total is capped at 20 attachments. The full upload is rejected if it would exceed either cap (no partial state).
Delete
Each attachment card has its own Delete button with a confirmation prompt. Deletion is permanent and removes the file from disk as well as the database row.
Benchmark
Compare your collection's score with an anonymous distribution across opted-in collections of the same type. The tab is visible to curators and admins only — institutional members do not see it.
Opt in
On the Profile tab, tick "Include this collection in the anonymous benchmark". Your score and collection type contribute to the pool; the collection and institution names stay private. You can opt back out at any time by unchecking.
What is shown
The Benchmark tab shows the pool size, the 25th / 50th / 75th percentiles, and where your score sits in the distribution. A histogram highlights the bucket containing your score.
Override the type
If your profile type is "mixed" but you would rather benchmark against, say, "taxonomic" collections, set the "Benchmark against type" override on the Profile tab. The override does not change the profile type displayed elsewhere.
Insufficient data
When fewer than three opted-in collections share your type, CollMan shows the pool size but hides the statistics — comparing against one or two peers would be misleading.
Visibility in external resources
The Visibility panel (below the profile on the show page) aggregates the collection's presence on external services and surfaces GBIF metrics when configured.
Linked services
Each external URL set on the Profile tab (GBIF, BOLD, AMUNATCOLL, plus an optional fourth portal) appears as a clickable button leading to the external service. CollMan does not push data — these are read-only links.
GBIF dataset metrics
If the GBIF URL points to a dataset (https://www.gbif.org/dataset/{uuid}), CollMan queries the GBIF API for the record count and last-update date. Results are cached for 24 hours and refreshed lazily on the next page view.
Stale fallback
When the GBIF API is unreachable, the panel shows the most recent cached values labelled "Cached", along with the date they were fetched — so you always see something rather than an empty panel.
Completeness indicator
The header badge counts how many of the three main resources (GBIF, BOLD, AMUNATCOLL) have a link set. Visible on the read-only share view too, alongside the buttons.
Compare collections
Side-by-side comparison of two or three collections, with answer-level differences highlighted.
Pick collections
On the Collections list, tick the checkbox next to 2 or 3 rows. A floating "Compare" bar appears at the bottom; click it to open the comparison view.
Reading the table
Each criterion shows the selected answers across all picked collections. Rows where the answers differ are tinted to make divergences easy to spot. Score, rank and metadata are shown at the top.
What you can compare
You can compare any collections you have permission to view — your own, your institution's, or all collections if you are an administrator. Comparing more than 3 is not supported.
Version history and trend
Every time you click "Save as new version" on the Assessment tab, CollMan keeps the previous answers as a historical snapshot. The History tab makes the value trend visible at a glance.
Trend chart
A line chart plots the total score across every saved version, oldest to newest. A dashed forecast segment extends the line when pending curatorial activities affect specific criteria.
Event labels
Each version can carry a short free-text label (e.g. "DNA-barcoded 50 specimens", "Tag revision", "Published in GBIF"). Labels render as chart tooltips and as a column in the version table.
Open or compare a version
From the version table, click View to open a historical version in read-only mode. Two or three rows ticked on the Collections list can be compared side-by-side via the Compare bar.
Institutions (team accounts)
Institutions let several CollMan users share access to the same set of collections, with role-based permissions.
Three roles
Member can view institutional collections. Curator can view and edit them. Admin can do everything a curator can, plus delete collections and manage the member list.
Joining an institution
Institutions are created by CollMan superadministrators only. An institution admin can then add you by entering your CollMan email — you must already have a verified account.
Attach a collection to an institution
On the create/edit screen there is an Institution dropdown — visible only when you are a curator or admin somewhere. Pick "Personal" to keep the collection private to you, or pick the institution to share it with the team.
Manage members
On the institution page, admins can change another member's role inline or remove them. The last admin cannot be demoted or removed — promote someone else first.
Languages
CollMan ships in English, Polish, French and Spanish.
Switching language
Use the globe icon in the top-right of the navigation. The current language is shown with a check mark; pick any other entry to switch.
What is translated
The entire user interface, the evaluation form questions, rank labels and the help text. Free-text fields you enter (collection name, notes, owner) are stored verbatim and are not auto-translated.
Account and privacy
Manage your profile, change your password, or close your account.
Profile
Click your name in the top right → Profile. You can update your display name and email. Changing the email triggers a fresh verification — until you click the new link, you stay logged in but unverified.
Password
On the profile page, scroll to Update Password. The new password must be at least 12 characters, contain letters and numbers, and not appear in any known data breach.
Delete account
At the bottom of the profile page. Requires entering your password. All of your collections and attachments are also removed. Members of an institution who hold the last admin role cannot delete their account until they promote another admin.
What we store
Your name, email, password hash, the collections you create, your attachments, and basic audit trails (who changed what, when). We do not store payment information. Google Analytics is loaded only if you accept it in the cookie banner; see the Privacy policy for the full disclosure and how to withdraw consent.
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