Network Zone Vendors in Institutional Zones

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Legend: not started IN PROGRESS STALLED decided

Status	Decided
Description	While we will not use Alma’s Shared Vendor functionality for SILS, we still need to distribute NZ vendors to the Institutional Zones in order to share NZ licenses. This decision page includes the timeline for distributing NZ vendors as well as ongoing instructions on interacting with them. Additional work in the area of NZ licenses is forthcoming.
Decision summary	NZ Vendors will be shared with campuses starting on October 31. However, campuses should not edit or use NZ vendors. Acquisitions OST representatives are responsible for communicating with campus staff who have vendor record permissions.
Owning group	CDLNZ-PT
Approver	CDLNZ-PT
Consulted	Acquisitions OST, E-Resources OST
Informed	Acquisitions OST, E-Resources OST
Decision-making process	CDLNZ-PT tested and consulted with Acquisitions OST and then formulated the action plan and decision.
Target decision date	Oct 28, 2022
Date decided	Oct 28, 2022

Recommendation

The CDLNZ project team recommends that CDL initiate the Distribute Network Acquisition Changes to Members job on October 31. Once initiated, this job runs daily.

To standardize and allow for CDL vendors to be easily grouped, CDL will preface all vendor codes with “CDL”. Campuses should not use vendor codes with CDL as a prefix for their IZ vendors as this can cause the distribution job to overwrite IZ vendor data. Campuses can use CDL as a suffix in their vendor codes. “CDL” by itself is also fine to use, for example in order records noting payment to CDL.

Institutional Zone staff will:

Not click Contribute to send a local vendor to the Network Zone.
Not edit fields for an NZ vendor including Global Attributes.
Not use NZ vendors for local POL purposes per Phase 4 decision.

Acquisitions OST representatives will share with this recommendation with staff who have vendor permissions.

Impact

Stakeholder group	Impact

Stakeholder group	Impact
Acquisitions Operations Subteam	After distribution, each IZ will see both their IZ and CDL NZ’s vendors in their vendor list. NZ vendors will be indicated by a green checkmark in the “Shared” column in the IZ vendor list. In rare cases, there may be conflicts between the IZ and NZ vendors. These should have been identified in the testing/sandbox stage with coordination between CDL and affected campuses for any adjustments prior to running the first distribution job in production.
Campus acquisitions staff and any other staff with vendor permissions	Campus staff will begin to see NZ vendors in the IZ vendor list after the distribution job.
Campus staff who need NZ license terms in Alma	NZ Licenses cannot be distributed without NZ vendors also being distributed.
CDL Shared Collections staff	NZ Vendors will now be viewable in the IZ. New workflows are required. Preparation for distributing licenses in the future.

Reasoning

In the Alma Network Zone (NZ), the same job that shares licenses with Institutional Zones (IZs) also automatically shares all NZ vendors. In order to share licenses with campuses, CDL must also share its vendors.

While we are distributing the NZ vendor records to facilitate license distribution, based on the Phase 4 AEFG (Test Load) Vendor-Related Recommendations for Test Load Decision Page, we will not use shared vendors for SILS.

Restrictions on editing are in place because edits are distributed to the NZ and all IZs during the daily job.

While shared vendors show a checkmark under the Shared column, the Shared column does not allow sorting. Prefacing CDL vendors with "CDL" will allow all CDL vendors to be grouped together when sorted by vendor code. Note that if your campus IZ vendor code for CDL is “CDL”, it will likely be the first in a comprehensive list of vendors.

Dependencies

Before distribution, CDL will change the prefix on its vendor codes from PRV to CDL.

Additional Notes

CDL may continue to adjust, remove, and add to its vendor file. However, they will ensure that all NZ vendor codes always start with CDL. NZ vendor code changes will not negatively impact Institutional Zones.

Action Log

Action/Point Person	Expected Completion Date	Notes	Status

Action/Point Person	Expected Completion Date	Notes	Status
CDLNZ-PT	08/14/2022	Researched and tested NZ and IZ interactions	Done
CDLNZ-PT	10/12/2022	Created instructions for campuses	Done
CDL	10/17/2022	Updated vendor prefix to start with CDL and distributed job in sandbox	Done
CDLNZ-PT	10/28/2022	Solicit campus feedback via Acquisitions representatives (E-resource was informed) and follow-up as appropriate.	Done
CDL	10/31/2022	Update vendor prefix to start with CDL and request Ex Libris activate job in production. First run will be at 10pm on 10/31/2022	Done