CCS News July 11, 2014

CCS News
 
JULY 11, 2014

FROM THE COMPUTER ROOM:
After ironing out some wrinkles and getting passed some hurdles that were preventing us from deploying SMS in a fully functional manner, specific to the CCS consortium, we have a working plan in place and have developed a custom front and back end registration process that will allow the patron to register themselves for SMS notification.  We currently do not have a schedule for the SMS implementation but we will have one soon, as we had our last call today with SirsiDynix regarding this matter and finalizing a solution.  We do know that we will need Symphony SP5 in place; see three paragraphs below.

Our new production server has arrived.  We are in the process of ensuring that we have met the new server’s power and space requirements prior to hardware staging by Tim Hine from SirsiDynix; that will be done on July 15th through July 16th.  This is hardware staging only to ensure the functionality and stability of the new server. Users will not see any of this.  The database migration to the new server will be done remotely, by SirsiDynix, on the evening of August 12th and will go live as our new production server the morning of August 13th. During the gap between hardware staging and database migration, our security auditor Jeff Groman (Groman Consulting) will be hardening and securing the new server prior to its deployment.  We will have more correspondence about the database migration to the new production server as we get closer to its scheduled date.

Enterprise will be updated to the latest GA6 release on July 15th at 2 AM.  The process will take between 2-4 hours. We expect the process should go smoothly and Enterprise will be available again to us prior to our operating hours that same morning.

We will be loading Symphony Service Pack 3.4.1 SP5 on the test server next Tuesday July 15th, starting at 8 AM. We expect the process to take the entirety of the day. Access to the test server, for whatever reason, will not be available during this period and should be available again on July 16th.

RELEASE NOTES AVAILABLE ONLINE:
Symphony 3.4.1 Service Pack 5 Release Notes can be found in the Sirsi Documentation section of the CCS Members Only webpage:
http://ccslib.org/attachments/File/LibraryStaff/Symphony341SP5ReleaseNotes.pdf

Enterprise 4.3 GA6 release Notes can be found in the Enterprise section of the CCS Members Only webpage:
http://ccslib.org/attachments/File/LibraryStaff/Enterprise43GA6ReleaseNotes_0.pdf

BLUECLOUD ANALYTICS STATUS/TESTING:
During the week of the 21st, CCS will begin testing the data extract process for BlueCloud Analytics.  In mid-August we anticipate beginning to test some data cube features.  A fall release is projected.

ENTERPRISE STATUS:
No sooner had we gotten the good news that Matthew Phillips of SirsiDynix had finished his Enterprise configuration work for us than we started getting reports that searches were returning no results.  Further investigation showed that problems with data harvesting and its lack of regularity had corrupted our indexing so badly that it was necessary to restore our Enterprise instance from a June 19 backup. Our later config files were copied, but apparently it was not possible to overlay them onto the June 19 backup.  That means that the ensuing config work needs to be re-created, after which CCS has a couple of hours of local customization (particularly Google Translate and availability displays) to add again.

I began rattling cages about this as soon as I got back Monday, and Matthew hopes to have the ten hours or so of work for him done by the first of next week. When that is in place (we will let everyone know), we will put our polish onto his work. By the end of next week, your library should be able to begin any local customization. But please do not do so until we give the green light.

We anticipated that the timetable would include some detours like this, and we are still in fine shape four our September 15 launch.  We will have a status report next week on synching eResource Central. Enterprise upgrade GA6 will improve the integration of eRC search results and bring some other improvements; we have posted the Release Notes and will review them at the PAS meeting on the 17th at Fremont.  We are expecting the list of prolific content creators from BiblioCommons soon too, and will announce its receipt.  (See next item.)  So we are still moving forward despite the setback. We and Sirsi are also reviewing backup options and frequency to minimize the chances of a re-occurrence.  In any event, we hope to have good news for you early next week, and while this glitch is disappointing, it falls way short of Anxiety Inducement Fodder. Thanks as always for rolling with us, and as we say so often, stay tuned!

LIST OF PROLIFIC CONTENT CREATORS FROM BIBLIOCOMMONS:
We expect BiblioCommons to send us our list of frequent content cdreators by Tuesday, July 22, so libraries who choose to do so can contact those users about the forthcoming changes from BC to Enterprise.

CONGRATULATIONS TO JOANNE HOLMES, who marked fifteen years of full time work at CCS on July 1.

THE COUNTDOWN BEGINS:
The time has come for me to give my notice, not easy since CCS has enriched my life immeasurably and brought me so many of its possibilities over the last twenty-seven years.

    I would like to retire as CCS Administrator as of July 1, 2015 and work as a contract employee at a much lower salary and without a formal job title for a limited number of hours next July to write the Narrative Annual Report for FY14-15 and to help my successor and Rebecca transition into the new fiscal year and all that will follow.  I am hoping that my successor and I can have some overlap in June, 2015 so I can show him or her a lot of the nuances and introduce him or her around at ALA.

    Part of this is certainly about me.  I will be 65 next May, and it is time to move on to a more leisurely life (and eventually get away from these Rust Belt winters).  But much of it is also about my feeling that I owe a tremendous debt to CCS and want to leave at an optimum time for the organization.  I mean that in two ways.  First, as far as the annual cycle, the budget will have been completed so a new Administrator (or whatever the position is called by then) won’t get thrown into the most complex exercise of most years immediately, or into updating the Long Range Plan for that matter.  Second, a number of major initiatives (Enterprise, new servers, etc.) should be fairly settled and we shouldn’t be amid any massive transitions.  My successor will have a chance to get up to speed and involved in strategic visioning before the vendor evaluation exercise is scheduled to commence in spring, 2016. 

    At the risk of being somewhat of a Lame Duck, I am giving a year’s notice to allow for a deliberate and orderly transition.  I am excited about the future of CCS in general, and suspect that younger, fresher eyes combined with some continuity and the usual support from membership will be assets to the organization and that CCS will continue to thrive.  I will do all I can do effect a smooth handoff.  Thanks to everyone who has made my time at CCS a fabulous experience; I could never have asked for more than CCS has given me and hope I have reciprocated in kind.

Sincerely,

Richard Shurman                   

CCS MEETINGS NEXT WEEK:

Wed., 7/16, 9:30, CCS: SCRAP

Thur., 7/17, Fremont: PAS

Thur., 7/17, noon, Jameson’s: Technical Group Chairs Lunch