Production Load Data Review

Last updated: 6/23/2020 - 1:50pm

This document provides an overview of the steps libraries should take to identify example records. Information on how to review your Alma Production/Cutover Load, and how to report any problems found in the migration of your data from Voyager to Alma will be added by early June.

Identifying Test Cases

Your library’s staff should have identified sample records throughout your Voyager database that exemplified both good data and potentially problematic data for the Test load. You should verify that your examples are still valid, so you are able to review them when instructed by CARLI staff during the Production/Cutover load. You should verify/find these examples now, before the Production/Cutover load is complete.

For the Test load, to assist you in identifying examples, CARLI staff shared a set of Data Migration Review worksheets. The worksheets identified many different record scenarios divided up by the type of data involved. Your library may not have data that meets all the criteria listed. You should have identified anything of interest to your library in the migration. For larger institutions we recommended dividing these worksheets among the functional areas that work with the data most frequently, for example you should have had your Acquisitions staff look for examples from the Acquisitions client, and your Circulation staff look for examples related to Patrons and Circulation transactions.

The following table identifies the dates when library data were extracted from Voyager for the Production/Cutover load. Please note: For Circulation and Patron related examples, you will want to wait until closer to the Circulation Freeze (June 18, 2020) to find examples.

Alma Production Environment Delivery

The following table identifies the dates and times when CARLI and Ex Libris released Alma environments to begin data migration testing. When your institution is listed with a delivery date and time below, I-Share libraries may begin reviewing your data.

Fulfillment Data Review Known Issue: Ex Libris has told CARLI that "the institution name that is in the process of being corrected. Loans and Fines appear as expected in patron records" despite the Institution name being incorrect.  As such, you do not need to report if you see that the Institution name is wrong during your review.

Delivery data as of 1:50 p.m., June 23, 2020

Data Review

During Data Review it is important to view your sample record in both Voyager and Alma, and verify your data has migrated to Alma as expected. As announced on June 22 at 1pm, Ex Libris has notified CARLI that the Primo VE indexing has been completed ahead of schedule, and the data in Primo VE should be stable.  Please report any Primo VE display problems to CARLI Support right away.

Please note, as of June 22 at 12:15 p.m., the Alma Fulfillment load data review has begun for SOME I-Share libraries.

Bibliographic Data Review (Bibs, MFHDs, Items, P2E, Acq, Reserves, Link Resolver) will take place June 18-19, 2020.  The deadline for accepting your institution's Bib Data Load is 4 p.m. on Friday, June 19.

Fulfillment Data Review (Patrons, Charges, Fines & Fees) will take place June 22-23, 2020. The deadline for accepting your institution's Fulfillment Data Load is 5 p.m. on Tuesday, June 23.

Logging in to Alma:

How library staff will log into Alma to perform data review will depend on the Authentication configured for your IZ.  In all cases, library staff should log in with the same URL that they used during the Test Phase.

• Institutions that have not configured any Authentication from their institution or Open Athens have INTERNAL-only users, so library staff users will log in with the same Alma username and password that they used during the Test Phase, https://i-share-xxx.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/ (where xxx is your three-letter I-Share code in lowercase)
  • If you do not remember your Alma User Name or Password, someone with the User Administrator role at your institution or CARLI staff can reset it for you.
• For institutions with Authentication already configured who do NOT need a “Day 1” SIS load, library staff users should already be EXTERNAL in Alma and they can log in with their campus credentials using the Alma URL you were given that uses external authentication.
• There are approximately 40 institutions who have Authentication configured but who will need to perform a “Day 1” SIS load to synchronize their Alma user records with their campus system data. Because those SIS loads cannot occur until after the data review processes have been completed, these institutions’ library staff will need to log in as INTERNAL users for data review purposes with an Alma User Name and password.
  • CARLI will provide you with a temporary account that may be shared for migration data review. You will use this user with the basic Alma URL that was presented to you after the test load.

If you need any help logging in to Alma for Data Review, please contact CARLI Support right away.

As you review, it will be helpful to have:

1. Your library's final Migration Form (provided in your library's Production Load Box folder; file name: Alma Production Migration Form XXX_FINAL.xlsm)
2. The Voyager to Alma Migration Guide. Ex Libris strongly recommends reviewing this document in advance and keeping it handy during your testing. This document defines the selections made on your migration form, and also identifies ways that data will be migrated or will not be migrated from Voyager to Alma.
3. Your library's Data Migration Review worksheets 
4. Ex Libris' testing scripts. As part of reviewing the migration data, you will also be testing your access to the system and determining whether records are behaving correctly. Ex Libris provides testing scripts that staff can use to check both the data and the functionality of records. These include:

Testing Fulfillment Data Migration to Alma
Testing Resource Management Data Migration to Alma
Testing Acquisitions Data Migration to Alma

6. Production load reports and stats. As part of the migration process several reports are created and will be provided to assist you in evaluating your data. More details about these reports is available on the Alma Production/Cutover Load - Reports and Statistics page
7. TheAlma Data Migration Review- Alma Searches page. 

Additional resources that may be helpful in your review:

• Electronic resource documents describing the new ways electronic resources are handled in Alma:          
  • Electronic Resource Handling in Alma Migration
  • SFX to Alma Migration Guide
  • 360 and Intota to Alma Migration Guide
  • Link Resolver to Alma Activations
            
• Open Office Hour recordings related to Data Review: 
  • August 1, 2019: Introduction to Alma Data Review Procedures
    
  • September 26, 2019: Alma search options for Voyager record examples (full session from 9/26)
    
    • Cataloging and Acquisitions Search Examples (part 1 from 9/26)
      
    • Fulfillment (Patrons, Charge Transactions, and Reserves) Search Examples (part 2 from 9/26)
      
  • May 21, 2020: Data Review Refresher
    
  • June 4, 2020: Reviewing your library's bibliographic data, Network Zone (NZ) refresher for data review
    

Reporting Problems

Each I-Share library has established a single point of contact, the Alma/Primo VE Contact, to communicate with CARLI over the course of the project. As staff at your library work through the various examples and test scripts, they should always keep your library’s Contact in the loop. The Alma/Primo VE Contact is responsible for collecting problem reports from your library, and then communicating those problems to CARLI. 

CARLI will review reported problems and attempt to replicate what library staff found in Alma. In order to do this, having concrete details is critical, not just about the problem found, but about the data being searched, the path to that data, and the results that library staff were expecting. Library staff should also keep track of the Alma user roles in use for their accounts, as this may affect some results.

When reporting a problem to CARLI, please report as many of the following details as possible:

• Describe the problem that you have found.
• Include the Alma record identifier for the problem (e.g., MMSID, PO Line #) or create a Set (logical or itemized) in Alma and share the name of the problem set.
• Include the Voyager record identifier for the original data (e.g., BIB ID, MFHD ID, Patron barcode, etc.).
• Identify the area of Alma that you are using (e.g., Resource Management, Fulfillment).
• Identify the location you have selected to work from in Alma.
• Identify your user login name and user role(s), if known.
• Describe what you expected to see instead of the problem.
• Provide the Alma Error number and error reference id, if displayed.

Report these details to CARLI support. This will establish a CARLI Support ticket that allows all CARLI staff to monitor issues and identify if identical issues are present in other databases.

• Problems that look similar should not be assumed to have the same source issue, and should be reported separately. 
• Problems that have already been reported once by your library do not need to be reported again, but library staff may follow-up to the original CARLI Support ticket with additional examples.

After reviewing the problem, CARLI staff will report the problem to Ex Libris via their tracking system, SalesForce, with one case filed per problem reported. The Alma/Primo VE Contact will be copied on each case and may review and respond to follow-up requests from CARLI or Ex Libris by email.

Both CARLI staff and Ex Libris staff will likely be responding to several reports at the same time. You may not receive an immediate response about your report.

Accepting your Data Loads

After reviewing your institution's migrated data in Alma and reporting any major problems to CARLI for resolution as described above, each I-Share institution must formally accept the Bibliographic Data Load and the Fulfillment Data Load by the deadlines listed below. This official acceptance is a requirement of production cutover migration to Alma that was not needed during the Test Load Phase last fall.

Please note, as of June 18 at 10:00 a.m., the Alma bib load data review has begun for libraries that have received their environments. You may only proceed with data review if your Alma IZ is listed in the table above.

Bibliographic Data Load 

Review Period: June 17 -19

Once you are satisfied that the data related to your Institution's bib data has migrated successfully, your Alma/Primo VE Contact should send a message to CARLI support with the subject "XXX accepts Bib Load" (where XXX is your library's 3-letter I-Share code). CARLI must receive this notification no later than 4:00pm on Friday, June 19.

Fulfillment DATA load

Review Period: June 22-23

Once you are satisfied that the data related to your Institution's fulfillment data has migrated successfully, your Alma/Primo VE Contact should send a message to CARLI support with the subject "XXX accepts Fulfillment Load" (where XXX is your library's 3-letter I-Share code). CARLI must receive this notification no later than 5:00pm on Tuesday, June 23.

Once an I-Share institution has accepted their Fulfillment Data Load, Alma Configuration will be reopened for their IZ.

No circulation, no acquisitions, and no cataloging activities of any kind should be performed until your institution has been notified by CARLI that you are live on Alma and Primo VE on June 24.