2023-05-26 Acquisitions Meeting notes

• Brainstorming for WOLFcon. Add proposal ideas to wiki 
• FOLIO Councils election closing next Monday (5/29).
  • Ballot is email. If you have not seen ballot, can contact Marko Knepper or Boaz Nadav-Manes or Jesse at Cornell (jtk1@cornell.edu). 
• Next meeting - Tuesday, May 30 at 1 pm Eastern
  • Will post agenda or notify on Tuesday regarding meeting.
• Implmenters SIG next Tuesday meeting at 11 am Eastern - topic FYRO
• If there are any topics you would like to see arranged for discussion in our group, let Dung-Lan know.
• PC update notes posted on Tuesday's 2023-05-23 Acquisitions Meeting notes.

WOLFcon 2023 Brainstorming

• WOLFcon 2023 Acq SIG brainstorming
• Owen Stephens 8:13 AM
  Sessions are usually a bit more focussed than just a “SIG in person”
  • Joe Reimers (EBSCO) 8:14 AM
    I just wasn't sure if there was a "general roundtable" type of session
  • Owen Stephens 8:14 AM
    It’s definitely up to the proposers
• Julie Brannon (she/her) 8:14 AM
  Here's a link to last year's schedule to give a sense https://wolfcon2022.sched.com/
• Ann - In the past, we've decided on topics as a SIG that people want to address. Can usually get a little more into the details with everyone there.
• Sara - Is there any kind of discussion in wider community about slowing down the releases? Like going to two instead of three. Feels hard to keep up. Do we feel like this is an issue for us, so that we might want to bring it up as a topic and put forward?
  • Owen - Not aware of any general discussions about reducing the number of releases at the moment. Essentially two to three a year. Number of releases doesn't necessarily equate to the amount of change. In Licenses and Agreements, not seeing huge changes right now. Functionality is relatively stable and partly because of resources available to do the development. Worthwhile topic in Acquisitions in dealing with the amount of change. Doesn't necessarily need to relate to number of FOLIO releases. 
  • Sara - Bring up about the number because of only two being back-supported. Get this pressure to go to the next release. Feels like it's too fast. Finally understanding what is going on and updated workflows and have to move to new release.
  • Owen - Fact that there is a flower release doesn't have to by definition impact on any modules. Amount of functionality and changes is entirely down to that module. Have had to do releases for security purposes. Cannot continuely patch older versions of the software. Discussion in number of changes in the modules that impact you vs. flower release process. Latter is much likely a harder thing to negotiate across the board. 
  • Sara - My experience and developer or product owner's understanding are different. Gap/gulf of understanding may be something where we need to be better educated. Kind of an interesting topic. Experiencing it as being forced to go to a new flower release. 
  • Owen - No rule about what has to change for a flower release. Could put out the same version of each module every time. Nothing that forces us to make changes in general. The reason we keep changing functionality is because there are still desired changes. Can tell PO, this is happening too quickly and we need to slow down. Have to balance against other demands (those who want quick change). Having one flower release a year might become a huge amount of change at once and may be a harder and larger discussion. 
  • :28 Dung-Lan - From user point of view, by the time we actually move to new release we've already heard about the next release coming out. Sometimes new functionality interferes with how things work. Workarounds and anticipation of things being fixed. Can be confusing what to look at and where to pay attention.
    • Owen Stephens 8:29 AM
      When releases are available to libraries is down to their hosting provider (or their local staff if they are self-hosted)
    • Owen Stephens 8:31 AM
      I definitely get that - I suffer the opposite direction in that I get issues reported on changes I last worked on 6 months ago and I’m on the next (or next next) flower release
    • Owen Stephens 8:32 AM
      But the POs don’t have control over when the release happens or when a library gets a particular release
      To be clear !
  • Dennis - Maybe a Q&A would be interesting session. Maybe related to release process or more general. Maybe as POs could have a panel where people can ask more general questions about the product and the process. 
    • Joe Reimers (EBSCO) 8:31 AM
      Product Owner AMA
      (Ask Me Anything)
  • Slack Channel as resource for learning about new releases.
    • The #folio-implementers channel might be a good venue for that kind of thing?
• :35 Dennis - Having a little discussion around what workflows in acquisitons people see the most room for improvement.
  • What important functionality do you think is missing? (New features)
  • Where do they see the most room for improvement in workflow efficiency? (Existing features that could be improved)
    • Especially for folks who have been using it for a while.
  • Where do they feel there isn't much room for improvement? 
• Owen - I expect to have some ERM sessions at WolfCon. My aim is always to hold sessions that might benefit from a face-to-face experience
  • We haven’t discussed in the ERM SIG yet but I have some ideas that I’ve discussed with Martina Schild
• Julie Brannon (she/her) 8:36 AM
  I hope there might be some sessions focused on data import related to acquisitions to address pain points there
• scolglaz 8:38 AM
  Not sure these are workflows per se, but in prepping for the end of the FY/pre-FYRO, I am struggling with how I can (or cannot) search Orders (PO/POL tabs) and Finance … and how the info displays
  • In old system could easily see what have I received, but not paid for. Different elements at PO vs. POL level that are not on both. Have to do certain searches on the order level, but can't see the title. Have to click in really far. If search on Order Lines, missing other displayed information. 
  • In finance you also have to drill down so far. Gets confusing where you are at. May end up with 20 million tabs trying to get to the information. 
  • Tried to create queries in LDLite. Workarounds in orders. Ways, but it's not easy. Hard to pass it on to the people that need to do the investigating.
  • Dennis - That type of thing would make excellent discussion.
• :43 Dung-Lan - Related invoices links 
• :46 Sara - Another area we are still struggling is related to ongoing orders. FOLIO was very much focused on monographs. Ongoing and serials have always been an afterthought. How will I be able to differentiate between fiscal years once there are two? Very often the invoice date displays as official. 
  • Owen Stephens 8:50 AM
    A session on ongoing orders would be a good idea then?
    • Agreement in chat
• Owen Stephens 8:51 AM
  I’d hope also be able to demonstrate the serials work we’ve been doing (although I don’t think this will solve the specific issues being discussed right now)
• Dennis - Will identify the Fiscal Year of an invoice in Poppy. 
• scolglaz 8:52 AM
  And then we also need to remember where the data also shows in other apps and should then also display
• Kimberly - Interest in intersection of Dashboard app and Acquisitions
  • Owen Stephens 8:55 AM
    Absolutely in favour of a discussion about this
  • scolglaz 8:56 AM
    FYI: Felix & I were talking  it up in MM yesterday--Owen!