Q. How, specifically, will they audit our total number? Will it be the existence of active accounts on that day, or recent activity + existence of active accounts? We want to respect the limit.
A. Ex Libris will run the Staff Login Report (found in the Alma Configuration area) for each institution and look at the total number on that page (minus any exl_ accounts), regardless of whether a date is attached.
Q. We were given an admin account from Ex Libris that seems to have greater privileges than I was able to give my own. Also, we are in a shared system. What do you recommend doing with this? If you recommend deleting it, would you be able to provide instructions on how to reproduce the permissions exactly, so I feel confident doing so?
A. You should delete administrative accounts created by Ex Libris during implementation unless you are currently using them. On privileges: if you are currently administering your system with a set of user roles, you don’t have to recreate the ones you find on the admin account if you haven’t needed those roles to administer Alma. Be sure that your system administrators have the role of User Manager and/or User Administrator. A user with either of these roles may assign user roles to other users, so if you find that a particular role is needed, you’ll be able to add it.
Before deleting the admin account, you may want to download the complete spreadsheet that lists all of the roles (see export link at the right above the list of user roles assigned to the account). Then if you wonder if you are missing a role, you can always go back to refer to it.
Q. In regards to users who only need occasional access. Jeff's example was of someone from IT needing to check an integration. What if it's a librarian who occasionally does some cataloging work? Or a student worker who comes in a couple times a week for an hour? Could we keep her internal account deactivated until she needs it, flip it back on, and then flip it off after a few hours or days without it counting as a named user? Would this be appropriate? How "occasional" are we talking here?
A. Named users will be audited by Ex Libris using your Staff Login Report. They won’t know what is actually temp use and what is not. They will only see the number of active accounts. Rendering a staff member inactive means that your user administrator is having to do some work to make this happen each time.
In addition, we might see these examples as distinct. A librarian who does a cataloging project for a few weeks out of the semester does seem quite temporary. A student worker who comes in a couple times a week for an hour sounds like a regular Alma user. Note that in this latter example, you may be able to use a shared account.
Q. During a meeting in the implementation phase, I’m not sure if it was ExLibris or a work group, but someone mentioned there could be an issue with using the same login on multiple computer stations simultaneously. We used a generic student worker login in our previous system, so we created 7 student worker logins in Alma because we have 7 circulation station computers across 3 circulation desks at 2 campuses. Now 7 logins are more than half of our named user allotment. Can we use 1 student worker login on multiple circulation computers simultaneously?
A. Ex Libris has now told us that they do not recommend simultaneous use of a single account on different computers to perform circ transactions. Doing so may result in data problems. So you can share generic logins at a circ desk, but each generic account should not be used by more than one person simultaneously.
While 7 circulation station computers exist, are 7 student workers ever working simultaneously, or is it a mix of student workers and library staff who would have their own account? If the latter, then 7 separate student worker logins would not be needed.
Q. The named user PDF Amy shared with us in the email is different than the webpage although both labeled Spring 2019. Perhaps the number on the web page is Spring 2020?
A. Assuming this question is about FTES numbers, the numbers used for allocating named users are the same numbers that were used for LSP pricing.
Q. Can additional named user licenses be purchased at any time (in case we discover we need more later), or only on the fiscal year cycle (declared by end of March this time around)?
A. The exact process for purchasing additional user licenses and schedule of payment is still to be determined. However, you can create additional named users at any time, understanding that at some point your library will be invoiced for them. More information will be provided as it becomes available.