1. Alma at Strathclyde

2. How we prepared … Business improvement analysis: where is the waste?
Circulation policy review, involving our users, especially around loan lengths, return times and days and fines
Both of these areas of work identified issues that our pre-Alma systems were unable to help us resolve.
Know your business

3. How we prepared … Know what you want to improve
Streamline purchase to shelf workflow
Remove duplication of ebook records (SFX and local catalogue)
Put bulk record loads (ebook sets) in the hands of cataloguing
Improve management information to support purchase and deselection decisions
Improve the end user experience when obtaining material
(we already had Primo, so the discovery element of the user experience was not a priority area for us)

4. The project team Board/Sponsor
Champions and trainers
Board/Sponsor
Governance and high level policy change approval
Team
Core project team, delivery of milestones, oversight and workflow decisions (10)
Champions and trainers
Getting to know Alma in depth, testing data migration, testing new workflows, training staff (10)
Library staff
Read documentation, watch Ex Libris training material, attend Strathclyde training sessions (50)
Champions and trainers
Project Team

5. Critical to success
Large proportion of users involved throughout the project
Library staff have ownership of Alma
Library staff have learned how to explore the system and find ways to suit their processes
This will continue as Alma has monthly releases and it is the ongoing role of champions and trainers to review new features and implement them where appropriate
Training at lots of levels – certification training; functional calls; on site workshop; Strathclyde led training

6. Impact of Alma E and P managed in the same workflow
Improved integration with suppliers
Loading of ebook record sets can now be done by non-technical staff
Automatic renewal of material is having a positive impact for users
However, the consequence is an increase in ‘recalls’ which some users view negatively
Management information : much better tools for non-systems staff

7. Configuration and data challenges
Difficult to make configuration decisions without really understanding how the system works
How to simplify circulation policies
No data change or clean up as part of migration – if this is required you need to do it prior to going live.

8. Working with Ex Libris Training Implementation consultants
Online training and functional calls
Workshop
Strathclyde led training
Certification Training
Implementation consultants
Don’t wait for all the answers to come to you, you will need to seek them out
Don’t try to be different!