Overview

The CDLNZ Project Team was formed to help operationalize the work of CDL Shared Collections in the Alma Network Zone (NZ), with a particular focus on the CDL Acquisitions workflows. Our initial kickoff meeting occurred at the end of May. Our meeting notes can be found on our Confluence space.

Charge

The full CDLNZ-PT charge is available here. After discussion our group interpreted the charge to focus on recommending a design plan for CDL Acquisition infrastructure and workflows. In addition, we will be recommending uses for the additional funding that CDL is providing in support of operationalizing the work of CDL Shared Collections in Alma. We have started by looking at the NZ infrastructure and then plan to evaluate specific NZ workflows. Except as it interacts with the Network Zone, we do not expect to offer recommendations for Institutional Zone (IZ) workflows. We anticipate that campuses will still have flexibility to use their Institutional Zone Alma in the way that works best for their local workflows.

Deliverables

Our group has several complimentary deliverables:

• A needs assessment document

• A running work plan with weekly, monthly, and quarterly tasks and goals

• Criteria and milestones for success and completion of the project team

• A recommendation to CDL and UCSD for how to spend the CDL financial support.

Progress

In May and June we started by looking at our charge and evaluating where to begin. One of the first things we explored is different ways campuses currently handle CDL recharges and e-resource management as well as the current acquisitions processes for CDL Shared Collections. Based on this, we created a high level needs assessment for the SILS E-Resource and Acquisitions Operations Subteams to review and provide feedback.

In July, we looked at each need and determined which Alma components and configurations were integral to fulfilling the identified needs. Based on this, we prioritized our initial Alma research in three foundational areas: Inventory, Funds and Ledgers, and Vendors and hope to have our initial research in these areas completed by Labor Day. We also created an estimated timeline for additional research through January.

The CDLNZ-PT is also responsible for recommending how CDL spends extra funding that has been dedicated to this project. In July, we reviewed what the funding could be used for. However, before making a formal recommendation we need additional information such as more knowledge of Alma's capabilities, which we continue to research, as well as more information on what challenges the Alma/UCSD Oracle integration may bring. We expect that many of these questions will be answered in the next quarter, potentially as early as September, and will provide more insight into the best use of funding.

CDL Acquisitions was not managing orders and payments in an integrated library system prior to the SILS migration. In addition, CDL Acquisitions' needs are unique and require new and creative solutions. Most of August has been spent prototyping an Alma Funds and Ledger structure that can replace the existing CDL Acquisitions spreadsheets and processes. We have also been exploring shared Network Zone Vendor files and potential impacts to Institutional Zones. The inventory group has been busy identifying sample NZ inventory that will allow us to test many of the unique scenarios that CDL and the campuses encounter. Part of this work involves testing the process and impact of campuses linking IZ POLs to NZ inventory, while weighing the pros and cons. In addition to drafting a possible funds and ledgers structure that may work for CDL Acquisitions, we've also been discovering what parts of the Network Zone display in the Institutional Zone and vice versa. We have been testing these areas in both the NZ and project team member's IZ sandboxes as well as evaluating the data available in Analytics.

Challenges

We do expect continued challenges in fulfilling our charge and are continually evaluating our timelines.

Ex Libris documentation is often not detailed enough to provide the level of information we need, particularly around consortia functionality, as well as the interaction between IZ and NZ functionality. This requires us to do extensive testing, even for simple situations, as well as submitting tickets to Ex Libris.

Analytics, which is not available in the sandbox, is expected to be an integral part of the CDL Acquisitions process. As such, we will need to work with Ex Libris to find safe ways to test some of our proposed workflows in our production environment.

Unfortunately, CDL Shared Collections continues to experience staffing challenges, including key positions relevant to the work of this group, which also impacts our team members. This has placed additional strain on the remaining staff. However, this group is dedicated to pushing forward with completing our goals.

We are also at the stage where we need to start consulting with people outside our CDLNZ project team. Making these connections and working with their availability may create unexpected delays.

Next Quarter Goals

This next quarter we anticipate learning more about the existing payment and fund structures as well as learn more about the planned Oracle integration. Based on this information, we anticipate being able to recommend an Alma funds and ledger structure for CDL Acquisitions in the next quarter. Our inventory group expects to finish finding sample inventory covering the most common scenarios and will transition to outlining possible workflows for campus testing and feedback related to campus order records and NZ inventory.

In this next quarter we also hope to have gathered enough information to provide recommendations on where the additional CDL funding for this project would be most useful.

While this group still has a lot of work to accomplish, we are pleased with our current progress and momentum.