Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Fwd: Acquisitions issues (Sitka)

2012-05-07 Thread Lebbeous Fogle-Weekley
Hi again Sharon,

I've begun opening new bugs for those items on your list that didn't
already have them, including some comments for the developer community on
how these problems can be addressed from a technical perspective.

The following numbered items from your PDF now have the following
associated Launchpad bugs.  Feel free to comment on those or to link in
other bugs or other documents if you know any other places where the same
issues have been discussed.

3.  http://bugs.launchpad.net/evergreen/+bug/996016
6.  http://bugs.launchpad.net/evergreen/+bug/996020
7.  http://bugs.launchpad.net/evergreen/+bug/996026
8.  http://bugs.launchpad.net/evergreen/+bug/996029
10. http://bugs.launchpad.net/evergreen/+bug/996033

Additionally, regarding your number 9, sites can customize the line item
worksheet.  The template is defined in an Action Trigger Event Definition
with the name 'Lineitem Worksheet', and changing it to work on
narrow-format printers should just be a matter of HTML and/or CSS.

I will add more commentary on other items on your list as I am able, and I
hope that this begins to spur a two-way conversation between Acq uses and
the developer community.

Thanks!

Lebbeous

On Tue, 01 May 2012 11:53:57 -0400, Lebbeous Fogle-Weekley
lebbe...@esilibrary.com wrote:
 Hi Sharon,
 
 Thanks for bringing this discussion to the mailing list.  Regarding the 
 items on your top ten list, I will offer my input on how development can

 address these issues in the related LaunchPad bug for each one (or 
 create a new bug where there isn't already one for an issue) over the 
 next little while.
 
 Of your two biggest issues, the slow response time is pretty self 
 explanatory, but as to the workflow, I would recommend that the 
 discussion continue right here on the mailing list about what exactly 
 must change about the workflow, to the extent that those changes are not

 already covered in your top ten list.
 
 My thanks to you, to Jennifer Pringle, Megan Maurer, Tara Robertson, and

 to everyone else helping to communicate the needs of Acq folks in 
 general to the development community.
 
 Lebbeous
 
 On 04/30/2012 06:45 PM, Sharon Herbert (Project Sitka) wrote:
 And here's the attachment with our Top 10 list
 - Forwarded message from sherb...@sitka.bclibraries.ca -
 Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:44:29 -0700
 From: Sharon Herbert (Project Sitka) sherb...@sitka.bclibraries.ca
 Reply-To: Sharon Herbert (Project Sitka)
 sherb...@sitka.bclibraries.ca
 Subject: Acquisitions issues (Sitka)
 To: open-ils-general@list.georgialibraries.org

 Thanks Kathy for keeping the great conversation from the conference
 going on the list. I hope that the developers won't regret asking us
 to make some noise ;) I'm hoping that we can find some areas of
 consensus with all of our top issues lists.

 I've attached Sitka's top 10 development/bug fix requests, which was
 compiled by Jennifer Pringle, our Acquisitions lead for Sitka support;
 I shared our top 5 at Megan Maurer's Acquisitions session on Friday.
 Our development list is based on the experience of running
 Acquisitions live on production for 6 sites, including a large
 15-branch system that has been using EG Acquisitions since September.
 I've included the Launchpad numbers for the top 5.

 As Tara Robertson has already explained, our biggest issues in using
 Acquisitions on production are the workflow and very slow response
 time around purchase order handling. These two issues are inextricably
 linked:

 1.Ability to Batch Link Line Items to Invoices – LP #985308
 Scenario:
 -Library receives a shipments of items from a provider that does not
 use EDI. The invoice for this shipment contains 4 items from purchase
 order A, 3 items from purchase order B, 12 items from purchase order
 C, 7 items from purchase order D and 2 items from purchase order E.
 Each of these purchase orders also contain line items still waiting to
 be shipped that will appear on a different invoice.
 -To create an invoice for these items the user must individually link
 each of the 28 line items from their purchase orders to this invoice.

 Solution:
 Have a function that allows a user select a number of line items on a
 purchase order using the tick box and then batch link the items to an
 invoice through the main Actions menu. Similar functionality currently
 exists for deleting line items, updating funds on line items, and
 cancelling line items.

 2. Purchase Order and Invoice slowness – LP #985295

 Large purchase orders are consistently slow to open.
 A very large purchase order of 382 line items (a hotlist from a
 vendor) takes over 4 minutes to load. During that time the staff
 client stops responding and no tasks can be performed in Evergreen
 until the purchase order has fully loaded.
 This is particularly a problem when users are linking line items from
 a purchase order to an invoice. Line items are linked individually
 from a purchase order to an invoice and the invoice opens in 

Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Fwd: Acquisitions issues (Sitka)

2012-05-01 Thread Lebbeous Fogle-Weekley

Hi Sharon,

Thanks for bringing this discussion to the mailing list.  Regarding the 
items on your top ten list, I will offer my input on how development can 
address these issues in the related LaunchPad bug for each one (or 
create a new bug where there isn't already one for an issue) over the 
next little while.


Of your two biggest issues, the slow response time is pretty self 
explanatory, but as to the workflow, I would recommend that the 
discussion continue right here on the mailing list about what exactly 
must change about the workflow, to the extent that those changes are not 
already covered in your top ten list.


My thanks to you, to Jennifer Pringle, Megan Maurer, Tara Robertson, and 
to everyone else helping to communicate the needs of Acq folks in 
general to the development community.


Lebbeous

On 04/30/2012 06:45 PM, Sharon Herbert (Project Sitka) wrote:

And here's the attachment with our Top 10 list
- Forwarded message from sherb...@sitka.bclibraries.ca -
Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:44:29 -0700
From: Sharon Herbert (Project Sitka) sherb...@sitka.bclibraries.ca
Reply-To: Sharon Herbert (Project Sitka) sherb...@sitka.bclibraries.ca
Subject: Acquisitions issues (Sitka)
To: open-ils-general@list.georgialibraries.org

Thanks Kathy for keeping the great conversation from the conference
going on the list. I hope that the developers won't regret asking us
to make some noise ;) I'm hoping that we can find some areas of
consensus with all of our top issues lists.

I've attached Sitka's top 10 development/bug fix requests, which was
compiled by Jennifer Pringle, our Acquisitions lead for Sitka support;
I shared our top 5 at Megan Maurer's Acquisitions session on Friday.
Our development list is based on the experience of running
Acquisitions live on production for 6 sites, including a large
15-branch system that has been using EG Acquisitions since September.
I've included the Launchpad numbers for the top 5.

As Tara Robertson has already explained, our biggest issues in using
Acquisitions on production are the workflow and very slow response
time around purchase order handling. These two issues are inextricably
linked:

1.Ability to Batch Link Line Items to Invoices – LP #985308
Scenario:
-Library receives a shipments of items from a provider that does not
use EDI. The invoice for this shipment contains 4 items from purchase
order A, 3 items from purchase order B, 12 items from purchase order
C, 7 items from purchase order D and 2 items from purchase order E.
Each of these purchase orders also contain line items still waiting to
be shipped that will appear on a different invoice.
-To create an invoice for these items the user must individually link
each of the 28 line items from their purchase orders to this invoice.

Solution:
Have a function that allows a user select a number of line items on a
purchase order using the tick box and then batch link the items to an
invoice through the main Actions menu. Similar functionality currently
exists for deleting line items, updating funds on line items, and
cancelling line items.

2. Purchase Order and Invoice slowness – LP #985295

Large purchase orders are consistently slow to open.
A very large purchase order of 382 line items (a hotlist from a
vendor) takes over 4 minutes to load. During that time the staff
client stops responding and no tasks can be performed in Evergreen
until the purchase order has fully loaded.
This is particularly a problem when users are linking line items from
a purchase order to an invoice. Line items are linked individually
from a purchase order to an invoice and the invoice opens in the same
tab as the purchase order. Users have to re-open the purchase order
for every line item they wish to link to the invoice.

Large invoices result in an unresponsive script warning. You are able
to continue loading the invoice by clicking Continue.

Finally, a significant issue that hasn't made it into our top 10 list,
but might be low-hanging fruit, is the extremely small 8 point font
size across Acquisitions. Very challenging for aging eyes when you are
working in Acq all day.

Looking forward to working with other libraries using or planning to
use Acquisitions. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any
questions.

Thanks,
Sharon




--
Lebbeous Fogle-Weekley
 | Software Developer
 | Equinox Software, Inc. / Your Library's Guide to Open Source
 | phone:  1-877-OPEN-ILS (673-6457)
 | email:  lebbe...@esilibrary.com
 | web:  http://www.esilibrary.com