[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Acquisitions development - we need your help

[Kathy Lussier]

Hello Evergreen community!

During the last Evergreen conference, many in the community identified 
acquisitions as an area that needed a lot of attention.

Soon after the conference, SC LENDS, SITKA, Bibliomation and MassLNC 
stepped up to the plate to jointly fund acquisitions improvements that 
are now available in 2.3. Through this funding and the speedy work of 
Equinox developers, Evergreen acquisitions staff can now receive 
electronic invoices via EDI, place enriched EDI orders, and benefit from 
general workflow improvements during the invoicing process.

However, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done in the area 
of acquisitions. As many of you know, screen loading times are still 
very slow for PO's and other interfaces that have too many line items. 
There are also many other areas where the number of mouse clicks can be 
reduced and general workflow improved.

The development partners who funded the 2.3 acquisitions work have 
identified improved screen loading times and general workflow 
improvements as the next area requiring the most attention in 
acquisitions. Over the past month, acquisitions specialists at SITKA and 
MassLNC have been working with Equinox to generate mock-ups that would 
support improved workflows. By doing these workflow improvements at the 
same time that the developers are looking at speed improvements, we can 
ensure that the addition of new elements on a screen doesn't lead to a 
further slowdown in the screen loading times. We expect to be done with 
making final decisions on the development that needs to be done over the 
next week.

Some of the development partners who funded the 2.3 improvements are 
willing to commit funds to this next round of development, but we need 
the help of others in the community to get a fully-robust acquisitions 
system into Evergreen. I'm hoping other library systems that are 
currently using acquisitions or would like to use acquisitions someday 
will consider contributing to this project. If we can continue this 
work, it will not only make life easier for the acquisitions librarians 
out there, but will make Evergreen, as a whole, a more appealing option 
for other library systems and consortia that are looking for a new ILS.

If you are interested in contributing funds to improve screen rendering 
time and workflow improvements in acquisitions, send me an e-mail and 
I'll bring you up to speed with the development plans.

Thank you,
Kathy

-- 
Kathy Lussier
Project Coordinator
Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative
(508) 343-0128
klussier at masslnc.org
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier