[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] ***SPAM*** Electronic invoicing
Hi all, One of our larger libraries has expressed an interest in developing electronic invoicing in Evergreen, and I wanted to check with everyone about what development may already be in the works. They would like to recreate the workflow they had when they used Horizon. This is the description they gave us: We would ftp our orders to BT through Horizon. BT would put invoice files on their ftp server and wed pick them up each day and upload them. When we received the paper invoices and matched them to the packing slips We would process the invoices When processed the PO item lines were linked to the invoices, prices were updated to reflect real cost of an item and processing charges were charged to our processing fund. Then I would release the invoice for payment and the items were invoiced and funds moved from encumbered to expended. So we did not have to create invoices manually. Given the number of items we buy this saved us lots of time. Do you know if anything like this is being developed? Or does it work already and I've missed how to set it up? On a similar topic, in Horizon, we used to get EDI response files that interacted with our PO lines, automatically changing the status of items that were backordered or cancelled. It's my understanding that in Evergreen, the response files don't do anything like that. Am I misinformed? If they do make changes to PO lineitems, is there something we've missed in our set-up to make that happen? Thanks! Mary Mary Llewellyn Database Manager Bibliomation, Inc. Middlebury, CT mllew...@biblio.org
[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Upcoming Documentation Interest Group Meeting: Thursday April 5
Hello everyone, The Evergreen Documentation Interest Group has its next meeting scheduled for Thursday, April 5, 2012 at 2:00 PM EST on the #Evergreen IRC channel (http://evergreen-ils.org/irc.php). Anyone interested in documentation is welcome to attend. An agenda has been posted at http://evergreen-ils.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=evergreen-docs:dig_meetings but changes and additions to the agenda are welcome. BTW, two key items of the agenda we should focus on this week are... Continue discussing possible agenda items for EG conference DIG meeting. http://evergreen-ils.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=evergreen-docs:dig_meeting Continue discussing possible goals for DIG work during Hackfest (and rest of conference). http://evergreen-ils.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=evergreen-docs:dig_hackfest Thanks, Yamil
Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] migration plan
Hi Deena, We migrated to evergreen last May. The Sitka (BC, Canada consortium who is hosting Evergreen for us and about 50 other libraries) provided the training, data migration services and support on the go-live day and also ongoing support. They were/are awesome. It sounds like you'll have additional things to think about if you're hosting Evergreen yourself. I hope your county IT person is familiar with library systems, but I know in libraries we have to make it work with what we've got. I'm presenting at the Evergreen conference with James Fournie from the Sitka team. I used to work with the Sitka folks and had been involved in a bunch of migrations from the migration team side of things. I was also very familiar with the Evergreen software, so I knew how I wanted some things to work in my library. I'm not finished writing my presentation yet, but here's some of my thoughts from the library-that-is-migrating side of things. 1. clean up your data - this can be done before you select the library system you are going to migrate to, or even before you have a migration plan in place. if you're on an older system you're going to need to migrate to something, sometime. Pick through your patron and item categories and figure out what you don't need anymore (we had a Horizon itype of items over $100 that had only 8 items in it--we regularly circulate DVDs that are worth more than $500, so I knew this was a category from a long time ago that we no longer needed. If it's possible simplify your circ policies as it'll make testing your data later easier. this was a really useful process for me as i got to know our data well and i was able to help other staff better understand ILSes, our legacy system and what could be possible--namely by understanding what things affected circulation and what did not (for example, in Horizon collection code does not affect circ, but in Evergreen a shelving location has a circulate yes/no flag). 2. put together a project plan - map out go-live date (might be a good plan to target having circ working on the go-live date, and put your cataloging, acquisitions, etc on hold for a bit), final data snapshot, other data snapshots, staff training days, and the deadline for notifying your previous ILS vendor that you're leaving. know what dates are completely fixed and know that you may need to work some long hours. 3. find, read and understand the exit clauses in your current ILS contract - if you are currently paying maintenance to another company for your ILS, figure out how much notice you will need to give them so you aren't charged for another year of maintenance. make sure you have good data snapshots/exports from your old system before you contact the vendor to say you're leaving. i was really excited about dreaming about a go-live date and almost overlooked this--i had an unnecessarily stressful week while we scraped in under the deadline. 1. optional: thank the support people who you've worked with. i wasn't a fan of the previous company we got support from, but the people who worked there were excellent. after wrapping up the contact stuff with the right person i wrote the support folks who had helped me to thank them. they are nice smart, hardworking people who helped me better understand the system and helped me do some technical things that didn't know how to do. 4. ensure you have support from your managers/directors - this is a big job and you need to make sure you have the money, moral support and buy in from the top. 5. manage staff expectations - an ILS migration is the biggest change a library will go through. many libraries have never been through a migration, they might have automated 10 years ago. no one knows what to expect. our migration went very smoothly but some staff were cranky as every bell and whistle wasn't working on the go-live day. 6. communicate lots with staff - i gave a migration update at every staff meeting and sent out the occasional email update and posted updates on our wiki/intranet. if i were to do this again, i would've posted a big timeline in the workroom and crossed stuff off so everyone could see the progress (even if it didn't directly affect them) and emailed regular updates. our staff are flexible, keen to learn new things and technologically savvy--still this was stressful for people and i could've done a better job at communicating clearly what was going to happen and where we were in that process. 7. figure out what other changes you want to make - we rejigged our student information export so circ staff wouldn't be manually entering new staff and faculty into the ILS, got receipt printers, and made a bunch of small procedural changes. library workflows are often dependent on the ILS, so it's a chance to think of ways to make your library
Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Evergreen Reports Task Force Meeting: Friday, March 30 at 2:30 Eastern on IRC (#evergreen)
Minutes from last Friday's Evergreen Reports meeting have been posted: http://open-ils.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=evergreen-reports:meetings:2012-03-30 From: open-ils-general-boun...@list.georgialibraries.org [mailto:open-ils-general-boun...@list.georgialibraries.org] On Behalf Of Turner, Jennifer M Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2012 8:50 AM To: evergreen-repo...@list.evergreen-ils.org; Evergreen Discussion Group (open-ils-general@list.georgialibraries.org) Subject: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Evergreen Reports Task Force Meeting: Friday, March 30 at 2:30 Eastern on IRC (#evergreen) Please join the next Evergreen Reports Task Force meeting this Friday, March 30 at 2:30 Eastern on the #evergreen IRC channel (http://open-ils.org/irc.php). An agenda has been posted: http://open-ils.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=evergreen-reports:meetings:2012-03-30-agenda. Anyone interested in Reports in Evergreen is welcome to attend! Jennifer Turner | PALS, A Program of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities | 507-389-2000
[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Cataloing Working Group, Evegreen Conference
Hello, Everyone. I'm putting together an agenda for the Cataloging Working Group at the Evergreen International Conference. If you have any suggestions for things you'd like to discuss or work on, please let me know. Even if you won't be at the conference, I'd be glad to have your input. Please also share this with catalogers from your libraries who may not be on the listserv. Thanks! Looking forward to seeing everyone in Indianapolis! Sarah Childs Senior Cataloger Hussey-Mayfield Memorial Public Library 250 North Fifth Street Zionsville, IN 46077 317-873-3149 x13330 sar...@zionsville.lib.in.us
[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] 2012 Evergreen International Conference Updates
Hello everyone! In preparation for the 2012 Evergreen International Conference, we would like to introduce and thank the vendors who will be participating in the conference. Familiarize yourself with the various companies who will be onsite at the Evergreen International Conference by clicking on the URL below to access the Meet the Exhibitors PDF. http://evergreen2012.org/registered-vendors/ While you are at the 2012 Conference blog, get a sneak peak at the final program before you find it in your tote bag after registration! http://evergreen2012.org/final-conference-program/ Check out the after-conference activities we have planned! You can either sign up at the link on the blog or at the registration desk. Either way, it is a great way to unwind and get to know your fellow Evergreen-ers! http://evergreen2012.org/wednesday-after-conference-activities/ See everyone in Indy! Shauna Borger Evergreen Indiana Coordinator Indiana State Library
