(Test Phase) Recommendation for Testing Shared Patron Phone Number Data Validation

Legend: not started IN PROGRESS STALLED decided

Status	Cancelled and rolled into (Test and Go-Live) UC Network Patron Linked Account Shared Fields and Mandatory Local IZ Patron Fields
Scope	TEST
Description	Phone number data formats vary from campus to campus. In order to ensure that our differing formats will be able to be validated, copied, and shared along with the other shared patron data fields, no rule, or a more flexible rule may need to be created and added to local Alma configurations. Determine best flexible rule to use accepting different formats.
Decision	Recommend two solutions to test in the following order: Each campus leave the regex phone number validation blank Each campus use {insert recommended flexible rule} when locally configuring phone number regex validation for shared patron accounts.
Owning group	Fulfillment and ILL FG
Approver
Stakeholders	R = Fulfillment and ILL FG A = C = Patron Data I = ICs,
Decision-making process
Priority
Due date

Recommendation

Recommend two solutions to test.

Each campus leave the regex phone number validation blank, and test results
Each campus use {insert recommended flexible rule} when locally configuring regex phone number validation for shared patron accounts. Rule should allow for characters, numbers, and longer or unlimited length.

Background

During a configuration meeting, it was mentioned that there needed to be a standardized format in the user phone field for it to copy over on stub records. The Fulfillment FG listed patron phone number as a data field to be shared between UC campuses, but our phone number formats vary by campus. Some include the area code (e.g. 951-123-4567), some include the area code as well but don't use dashes (e.g. 8311234567), and others use the (123) 456-7890 format with area code in parentheses. Some campuses have had to engineer alternative ways to capture international numbers because their current ILS doesn’t accommodate the length of the numbers. Ex-Libris has suggested that the best practice would be to make a more general rule accepting different formats, to ensure the differing formats can be copied over from each campus.

Documentation and Suggestion Provided:

Ex-Libris: phone_regex parameter validates phone format. When linked user is created system will still validate the format.

Article
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Knowledge_Articles/How_are_email_address_and_phone_number_validation_settings_configured

Example of a more flexible rule - ^\D?(\d{3})\D?\D?(\d{3})\D?(\d{4})$

Questions to consider

Can a rule be written that can accept international phone number formats? Millenium has not been able to accommodate these numbers, and the data is being added to patron records in the notes field.

Will the suggested rule above meet our needs?

Action Log

Action/Point Person	Expected Completion Date	Notes	Status

Action/Point Person	Expected Completion Date	Notes	Status
Fulfillment and ILL FG		Decision page sent to Patron Data group for their review and suggestion of a more flexible rule to use.	Done