Hi all,

 

It was great to speak with some of you today.  Here’s a summary of the meeting for those who couldn’t join:

 

1.       Priority issues survey

I gave a brief summary of the results from the priority issues survey that we recently ran.  Below are links to the summary slides I shared, plus a link to the full survey responses if you’re interested in seeing the detail.

 

Slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/12e-OMnS3qKLWhomeMCSfj2Nl_amRj7hL_C8EAQZgSds

 

Results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dRlpWrlalvk5OvqqAvCxnbNtOBvfFPQ_aXdS0tjkTSA

Next steps: I’m going to supply this information to the Axiell Product management team.  Rene van den Heuvel - Axiell Collections Product Manager, has agreed to give us a response to each issue raised, and has also offered to attend a future user group meeting to discuss these issues in more detail with us.

 

2.       Axiell hosting vs hosting locally

Frome Museum gave us an update, following their news in the last meeting that Axiell had told them they wouldn’t support local hosting of Axiell Collections.  The issue has now been clarified – Axiell will continue to support locally hosted customers.

 

Here’s a link to the technical requirements for hosting Collections.

https://help.collections.axiell.com/en/Topics/Administration/Technical%20Specifications.htm

 

3.       User group chair

I’ll be leaving the BFI in September to take up a role at Axiell, so I’m afraid I’ll need to stand down as user group chair.  I’m happy to schedule the next meeting (aiming for early September), but if anyone is interested in either taking on chair responsibilities, or would like to consider co-chairing with another member of the group, please email me directly and I’ll be happy to have a chat about what chairing the user group entails.

 

It’ll take me a little while to get set up in my new role, but I’m hopeful that it’ll be a good opportunity to advocate for the needs of the user community that we’ve been discussing.

 

4.       AOB

a.       Equitable Cataloguing Special Interest Group

Louise McAward-White, Product Consultant at Axiell, is keen to know if there is interest in establishing an Equitable Cataloguing special interest group.  The thinking around this is still in its early stages, but she’s keen to hear if you think this would be of value.  You can contact her directly at [log in to unmask].

 

b.      Using Axiell Collections on tablets

There was some discussion of using Axiell Collections on tablets.  If anyone is actively using them, or has tested this, a number of user group members would be keen to hear about your experiences.

 

c.       General advice for people starting to consider Collections

There was also some discussion about general advice for people who are right at the beginning of migrating to Collections.  Here are a few summary points of the advice that came up:

 

-          Talk to Axiell early on – the process of migrating can be very different depending on the age of your system, level of customisation, and quality of your data.

-          Put effort into reviewing your data early on.  Check that your data meets validation standards e.g. date fields contain valid dates, numeric fields don’t contain letters/special characters, and check that values in enumeration drop-down fields are valid.  Pay particular attention to any records you’ve imported/updated using Axiell Designer, as poorly designed imports can bypass field validation.

-          If your migration involves data mapping, put the time in to check this thoroughly.  Spotting and resolving any issues before the migration starts will make the process far smoother.

-          Talk to other members of the community – we’re all going through the same process, so if you’re unsure about something there’s a good chance one of us is also working on it or has had to address it as part of their migration.  A number of group members have learned useful techniques for data preparation / cleaning that they’d be happy to share.

 

Lastly, Axiell have a handy guide detailing the process of upgrading to Collections:

https://www.axiell.com/uk/blog-post/upgrading-from-adlib-to-axiell-collections-the-steps-involved-in-the-upgrade-process/

 

 

All the best,

Rob

 

Rob Scott | Collections Systems Manager

BFI | 21 Stephen Street | London W1T 1LN

+44 (0)20 7957 4819| [log in to unmask] | bfi.org.uk