UX/UI and FM - notes, October, 12 2016

Owned by Cate Boerema (Deactivated)
Oct 14, 2016
3 min read

Charlotte is sick so Filip is facilitating

Prototype Discussion

  • Automation Page
    • Filip has been looking into existing automation systems out there
    • Two different kinds:
    • Filip showed us a bit of how these work
    • Which parts make sense for FOLIO? Filip suggests:
      • Manual with input, time and date, contextual
    • For “actions”, Filip suggests 3 types:
      1. Stuff provided by apps in the system (e.g. publish to kiosk screen, publish as a database online when I give you a bunch of records)
      2. System stuff (not related to apps)
      3. Integration stuff (e.g. whenever I give you some files, export to WordPress)
    • Might make sense to do an app with a button that scans something, for example, and you could set it up to do something like “mark the item not missing”
  • Ideas from SMEs about how this could be useful:
    • David at Chicago is currently contracting with someone to build an app that would allow users to scan a barcode and do self-checkout through their phone
    • Jesse says I see this being very useful for many activities: batch loading and processing MARC and other records, receiving new materials.
    • David thinks automation around if a user replaces her ID and we need to update her ID in other systems, this could be helpful.
      • Filip thinks some integrations are so complex that you wouldn’t want to do them within the system
      • In this case, he sees:
        • Engine
        • Apps
        • Plugins
      • David thinks a simple SQL statement might just do this
    • Jesse says a lot of larger institutions are already doing using macros (e.g. Macro Express)
  • Filip asked if people were worried that this was too powerful – what if someone does something they shouldn’t
    • We need to make sure that this feature respects other permissions.  For example, if someone doesn’t have the ability to edit users, they shouldn’t be able to set up an operation that does that here.
    • We would need two types of permissions:
      • Ppl who can do these types of operations
      • What ppl have been given permissions to do
      • Example:
        • Self check system for checking out books
        • We don’t give indiv perms for those users
        • But we do need for them to be able to do it unless there is some kind of lock
    • Putting a scope on who the automation affects makes sense
    • A way to look at it is like If this then that by whom
    • Could use groups or tags for the by whom
    • For example, they use Macro Express to: open up checkout screen, tab to the patron barcode section
    • The value of using FOLIO for this automation, the data would be more available for use

Other Discussions

  • Filip was yesterday in Sweden at a conference
    • People didn’t know much about FOLIO
    • They wanted to understand the cost
    • Filip said it was free if you have the technical people
    • They said what if we don’t have the technical people
    • Filip said he envisioned something easy like Wordpress
    • Filip is asking how difficult the onboarding process for FOLIO
    • Do you think we can get more people involved if it was easy to set up?
      • Lisa at Lehigh says that’s everything – a showstopper
    • Filip asks whether small schools lean heavily on hosted solutions and/or consultants
    • Is there any way we can make the migration easier?
      • If we knew the source data
      • But different vendors have different structures
      • Huge obstacle
    • Filip asked whether it would be realistic to help?
      • Might want to talk to a different group who has experience with migrations
  • Will try to get the agenda for this meeting out earlier so the right people can attend