Re: [IUG] Consortium -- new members

["Susan Cornacchia" <scornacc at wheatonma dot edu>]

Hi, Ann -- Wheaton College Library in MA. is pleased to be moving 
from a standalone Innovative system to membership in the HELIN 
consortium, also on Innovative. We're right in the middle of getting 
a handle on migration process and have been assigned a team of 
migration specialists from Innovative. They provide a very standard 
"week by week" migration outline that they adapt to each customer. I 
could fill you in more offline if you're interested.

Just a heads up for others who might do this: although we are moving 
from one Innovative system to another, Innovative is not able to 
convert serial checkin boxes and they must all be recreated 
MANUALLY! That is one significant thing to be prepared for, IF you 
care about maintaining historical checkin data. Also, order records 
do not migrate, except as archival records, so it takes some 
planning to "close out" order records on one system and start fresh 
in the new system. We're figuring out how to deal with our serials 
order records.

We're also trying to get clarification on whether our circulation 
department needs to check in every item that is currently in 
circulation, before moving circulation records to HELIN. We've heard 
from schools that recently joined the consortium that open 
circulation transactions will not migrate successfully, but 
Innovative has said they CAN migrate. We're having some difficulty 
clearing up that question, so if anyone has more info about 
circulation migrations we'd love to hear about it!

Innovative will provide a quote for the migration costs and can 
detail what exactly they do with testing records, developing load 
tables, etc. Our consortium staff are working with us on making our 
data and tables and procedures compatible with those specific to the 
consortium. And, of course, many members of the consortium have 
kindly helped our staff get integrated into various committees and 
have done much to answer our questions and ease anxiety! This is not 
an insignificant piece of migration! So, both Innovative and the 
HELIN staff have significant roles in a successful migration.

Again, as long as we're in the midst of migration, I'd be happy to 
share our particular experiences. Sue


On Wed, 21 Dec 2005 11:48:56 +1300
 "Ryan, Ann" <ann dot ryan at aucklandcity dot govt dot nz> wrote:
> Hi everyone (particularly consortium libraries)
>
> eLGAR is a consortium of 5 public libraries, and are looking at 
> adding a 6th
> library (also public)into the mix.  We are still at the 
> costings/planning
> stage for this.
>
> I'm wondering if anyone who has done this recently can give me 
> some
> information on roughly how long it takes to migrate a new library 
> into an
> existing consortium.
>
> eLGAR (the consortium) migrated to Millennium in the June/July 
> 2005 from a
> mix of DRA and Dynix sites. So we have some familiarity with the 
> migration
> process -- but are sure that the complex process that we went 
> through must
> be a little simpler for a single library joining an established 
> consortium.
>
> I'd particularly like to know:
> How long it took to migrate? (from preparation to go live)
> What sort of costs were associated for the new library and for the
> consortium?
> What work was done by III and what work by the consortium?
>
> And, of course, anything else that you think we should know about 
> the whole
> process!
>
> Thanks for your help
>
>
> Ann
>
> Ann Ryan
> Millennium Business Support Manager
> eLGAR 
> Auckland Central Library, Level 3 
> Ph 357-3090
> Mobile 0274 276 8614
> email: Ann dot Ryan at aucklandcity dot govt dot nz
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> This email is confidential.  If it is not intended for you please 
> do not read, distribute or copy it or any attachments.  Please 
> notify the sender by return email and delete the original message 
> and any attachments. 
>
> Any views expressed in this email may be those of the individual 
> sender and may not necessarily reflect the views of Auckland City 
> Libraries - Tamaki Pataka Korero.
>
>
> --- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
> multipart/alternative
>  text/plain (text body -- kept)
>  text/html
> ---
> --
> This message was distributed through the Innovative Users Group 
> INNOPAC list
> Public replies:  INNOPAC at innopacusers dot org
> Update your subscription options: 
> http://innopacusers.org/mailman/listinfo/innopac