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2016-12-01 ILS Migration Meeting notes

2016-12-01 ILS Migration Meeting notes

Owned by Cynthia Schwarz (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Dec 02, 2016

Date

Attendees

Goals

  • Provide an overview and update on the status of the ILS migration to Alma

Discussion items

  1. Report from Acquisitions - Brian
  2. Report from Staff UI working group - Kathy
  3. Report from Circulation - Justin 
  4. Review of data cleanup tasks currently underway - Cynthia
    1. Consolidating and removing Item locations for closed libraries (Brian/Mark/Cynthia)
    2. Circulation Simplification Process
  5. Review of project org chart and overall timeline - Cynthia

Notes

General Updates - Cynthia

  • Smaller working groups will be created as we go forward with the ILS Migration
  • We officially have a signed contract from ExLibris
  • Dave and Cynthia will have Sales-to-Service call soon – When we transfer to service, we will receive more project information, including timeline. 
  • A lot of things are happening, though, and we need to make sure that we are prepared for what exLIbris is handing off

Report from Acquisitions - Brian

  • Acquisitions department is going over the Acquisitions advanced videos from ExLibris

  • This will help the acquisitions staff to start thinking about the changes and new terminology in Alma

  • They haven't done anything major yet, though. 

Report from Staff UI working group - Kathy

  • After the first Alma watch party, one thing that came up was that we should be talking to other schools that have done Alma implementations before
  • Carla, Lauri, Kathy, and Chin are looking at the essentials videos
  • Kathy has already reached out to other institutions and set up contacts – primarily places that have migrated from Millennium to Alma
  • Currently putting together a list of questions about the Millennium to Alma transfer
  • For most part, everything seems intuitive 
  • Cynthia: at LITA forum, informal conversations suggest that many institutions have migrated to Alma, are in progress of migrating Alma, or are planning to migrate to Alma
  • Are we looking for institutions to add to our list?
    • Leanne was recently talking with HathiTrust coordinator, who could put us in touch with more people
    • Currently, we have a good list to start with. 

Review of data cleanup tasks currently underway - Cynthia

  • Consolidating and removing item locations for closed libraries (Brian/Mark/Cynthia): work is underway and ongoing
  • "Circulation Simplification Process": ExLibris terminology --related to loan rules and item locations

Review of project org chart and overall timeline - Cynthia

  • Org Chart: ILS Migration Org Chart
    • Note that discovery layer part will be separate and will involve public services staff 
    • Two groups: technical and functional
    • Technical group (Jim, Chin): technical configuration with computer services
    • Functional group: Mark, Justin, and Brian as co-leads, with functional experts reporting up to them
      • Functional Expert Description from ExLibris: 
        • Provide expert input from all areas of business processes
        • Facilitate and perform functional review activities
        • Report issues found during testing to ExLibris via CRM
        • Provide team updates on testing progress
        • Actively participate in training, functional meetings and workshop (to be scheduled in the spring)
    • Is anyone missing from this chart?
  • General timeline from ExLibris: Estimated Timeline
    • More of an idea rather than the exact schedule
    • When do we get access to the sandbox?: After we have some of the initial kickoff meetings, we will get access to sandbox (max. 30 people, with just generic data at first). 
    • "Rapid Implementation” methodology: define, build, and deploy phases
    • Projection: “Go live” date will be at the beginning of June
    • We can continue to work with implementation team at ExLibris for 3 months after go live date. We will then transition to regular support people after that. 
    • Will someone from ExLibris be onsite? A representative will be here for the kickoff meeting and then 2-3 times after that. 
    • April and May most intense periods
  • Feedback from other schools is that ExLibris is very organized and will expect us to meet their deadlines. 
  • Alma is going to need to take priority over other things for this time period. 

Other comments

  • Are there principles for how we are going to set up the system?
    • Yes, ExLibris do have a document called “Getting ready for Alma and Primo migration”
    • We are also actively working on reviewing best practices as part of our prep work. 
  • Has all of this being communicated to other library locations (Japan, Italy)? Yes
  • How will this affect the library's organizational structure? 
    • The full effect has not be fully realized yet. 
    • We will be looking at and reviewing workflow evaluations during this transition.
  • How essential is it to do pre-migration cleanup?
    • ExLibris has more detailed documentation about how to flag content for later review (code for specific field). 
    • The hope is to get as much cleanup done as possible before migration, but we can also do this, if needed. 
  • Dave and Cynthia will communicate information to the group as ExLibris shares more. 

Action items

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