Project Update 6/7/16

Created by brandon dudley (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Jun 10, 2016 by David Walker
3 min read

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This project update message contains information on the following topics:

 

  • Test Instances released this week
  • August Training dates announced
  • Ex Libris Project Manager transition
  • 2017 Go-Live dates 
  • Primo Central Update

Test Instances to be delivered on Thursday 6/9

The day is nearly upon us, when all of you can see what your data looks like in Alma! On Thursday, your Project Manager will receive an email from Ex Libris containing the link to your Alma test instance, admin login information and load statistics specific to your institution. Note that you will need to create staff logins locally – these will not be part of the initial configuration of your institution by Ex Libris. 

This will kick off the data and Alma functionality testing period, which will last at least through the end of the calendar year. We will be providing help soon for how to get started testing your data. 

Initial Primo data will be loaded by July 11 and your data should be available for viewing in Primo at that date.

August Functional Workshop: August 9-11 at SJSU

The dates of the August Alma functional training have been modified slightly and are now set for August 9-11, Tuesday-Thursday. This is to synchronize with San Jose State University Library’s meeting room availability. This training will cover a different topic on each of the three days.

The topic areas are:

  • Fulfillment: circulation, /ILL resource sharing
  • Acquisitions
  • Resource Management: cataloging, ERM

As soon as the CO ULMS Team and the Ex Libris trainer develop the agenda, it will be sent out so that the deans can determine which staff members to send on which day. Each campus may send up to 4 individuals per day who would be responsible for training other staff/faculty at their home campus. There will be a maximum attendance of 80 CSU personnel per day. Once registration is in process and we have a headcount, there may be room for additional attendees for those campuses who wish to send more staff. Logistical information will follow.

New Ex Libris PM: Dolph Cheney

As some of you may know, our Ex Libris Project Manager, Audrey Ho, has taken a new position within the Ex Libris organization. We have been assigned a new project manager, Dolph Cheney.  He comes to us with several years of experience as an Alma Consultant and Project Manager at Ex Libris and was involved in the Orbis Cascade implementation, San Marcos’ implementation, and other single-site and consortial implementations.

Dolph will begin to participate in our regular calls with Ex Libris in June and will gradually take over leadership of the project throughout June and into July. Audrey will remain available for consultation during this period and for months in the future.

We expect this transition to be pretty bump-free and look forward to working with Dolph. He will be present at the August training in order to meet attendees face-to-face.

Go-Live Schedule

I have shared the current iteration of the CSU Go-Live schedule with CSU PM’s and Deans and will soon share the dates more widely. We will be moving to Alma/Primo in three groups of campuses spread over three weeks in June 2017. I will share specifics about how this process will look for your campus once the groups and schedules are finalized with Ex Libris.

Primo Central Update

We are in the midst of bringing campuses live with Primo Central in Xerxes.  As part of that project, we are also currently assessing search results to make sure unwanted collections are disabled and that, when full-text only is selected, only results where a campus has full-text holdings in SFX are showing up. You can view previous training webinars and track the progress of the project on the Xerxes Primo Cental Integration page. 

 

Take care,

Brandon