Planning for 8.0 and 4.0 4.2: Decisions You Need to Make (Jolynn Halls)
The title of this had changed subtly – with 4.0 long gone and 4.1 nearly here, plans are already afoot for HIP 4.2.
Jolynn rattled through some of the PowerPoint slides, so some of my notes aren’t complete, plus the discussion kinda jumped around a bit.
Introduction…
- you need to look forward to 8.0/4.2 like any other upgrade and plan accordingly
- you need to plan on getting staff involvement earlier than with other upgrades – there’s much more they need to learn
- you need to be on the current releases (7.4/4.1) …apparently Jack has promised there will be an upgrade path from 7.3x? (Jolynn: “He’s the man!”)
- you need to relish change 🙂
- staff need to understand and implement the new functionality
- take advantage of any training (web sessions available from December, although some will be chargeable)
HIP…
- requires Java JRE 1.5 on the admin workstation – you can run different versions without any problems – use the Java App Cache (javaws.exe)
- new indexing paradigm – all indexing done on the app server for both Horizon and HIP (instead of separate indexes for StaffPAC, etc)
- one unified User/Patron database
- uses filters instead of separate indexes
Hardware… (official specs released in Jan 2006)
- Horizon 7.x architecture – two tier model
- Horizon 8.0 architecture – three tier model (DB server, app server, clients)
- lower client bandwidth
- less CPU
- app & DB can be combined onto one server (small to medium sized library)
- for medium to large libraries, you’ll need 4 servers (app server being the beefiest)
- for security reasons, you don’t want HIP + app + DB on single server
- Web Reporter will be a requirement for 8.0 and would usually sit on a separate server
- client hardware specs available by Jan 2006
Horizon 8.0
- Database Server – DB2 V8, MS SQL Server 2000/2005, or Oracle 10g (that’s right – no Sybase!)
- Application Server – Linux 4.0 AS/ES, Solaris 10, or Windows 2003
things that change in Horizon 8.0
- different DB structure
- agency vs location
- indexing
- record ownership
- security (roles/staff users)
- user interface/presentation (navigation/hot keys)
- inheritance (sharing codes/rules)
- library type (Horizon vs Corinthian)
Before moving to Horizon 8.0, you need to think about and understand your existing:
- policies & procedures
- security/roles
- privileges/parameters
- sorts/limits
Highlights of the 8.0 modules…
- ACQ
- VIP against multiple vendors
- create and copy budgets spreadsheet
- carry forward defaults
- EDI from client (auto invoicing and response loading)
- research from selections and POs
- open with from MARC record to PO
- approval plan loading
- processing centers
- quick entry of invoice lines using order ID
- access to MARC record from PO and Selection
- CAT
- MARC record lists
- items lists
- spine label config
- import/export profile tag action
- import profile enhanced match points for overlay
- import/export profile scheduling
- MARC Editor non-MARC view & overview template
- URL verification
- MARC Batch Editor
- Syntax & Validation Label expections
- CIRC
- patron photos
- request groups
- linked patrons
- email patron from check in
- batch requests (by title/patron)
- calendar exceptions
- circ rules/codes inheritance
- custom blocks
- ID patron access
- display of student and/or outreach patron data dependent on Patron Type
- notification preferences
- Searching
- broadcast searching
- limiting on a browse search
- multiple search tabs open at the same time
- extractions
- indexing (HIP & Horizon)
- Serials
- Serials CKI
- Routing lists
- Pattern setup
- copy pattern and pub pattern templates
- MARC Holdings support
- Claims Management
What should you be doing now?
- review existing Horizon policies & procedures
- prepare for new UI
- participate in training
- upgrade to the most current versions
- allocate time…
- look at your current hardware
Finally, Jolynn cleared up the situation with TeleCirc…
Basically, Edify were slow in coming up with a version of their software (which underpins TeleCirc II) which would work with Windows 2003 Server. As Microsoft no longer support Windows 2000, Dynix were unhappy with Edify not coming up with a Windows 2003 version of the product. So, Dynix began evaluating solutions from Talking Tech. In the meantime, Edify finally came up with a new version (I think it’s v9.5) that does work with Windows 2003.
The outcome of all that is that there will be two solutions that work with Horizon 8.0 (one from Edify and a new one from Talking Tech). If you don’t already have TeleCirc, then you’d need to decide which solution to use and then buy the hardware and software.
If you already have TeleCirc, then you can either:
- a) move to the Talking Tech solution – you will need to pay to get a new license and also replace the telephony hardware card in your TeleCirc server (as that hardware isn’t compatible with their software)
- b) stay with TeleCirc – you will need to upgrade your server to Windows 2003 and also upgrade TeleCirc to the latest version, but you can still use your existing telephony card
The dropping of Sybase as a DB option surprised me, although at Huddersfield we’d been thinking about possibly moving to MS SQL or Oracle… I guess now we don’t have a choice about moving!
It’s going to be interesting to see what the recommended hardware specs are for the servers. At Huddersfield, we run Horizon on a top end Sun V240 with the Sybase database held on our SAN (storage area network) – even when running complex reports, the server barely breaks into a sweat. I’ve got my fingers crossed that the server will still be powerful enough to run both the database and the application servers.