Collaborative testing for Voyager 8

Volunteers needed!

The IGeLU Voyager Product Working Group is seeking nominations/volunteers to take part in the collaborative testing of the Voyager 8.0 release on behalf of the Voyager user community.

Collaborative testing provides an opportunity for customers to test new releases of the Voyager software, working closely with Ex Libris staff to identify critical issues in the version early in the testing process.  This process gives a representative group of customers the chance to evaluate new and existing functionality in a new release prior to the Field Test process. See our page on Collaborative Testing for more information.

Collaborative Testing is scheduled to take place March 14‐18, 2011, and nominations must be submitted to Voyager Product Working Group Coordinator, Habib Tabatabai, htabatabai@uco.edu,  by January 1, 2011.

Two individuals from IGeLU member institutions will be selected to join the Collaborative Testing team.

What’s involved?

Volunteers for the Voyager 8.0 round of testing should have broad familiarity with the Voyager system, and particular knowledge of one of the key functional areas being enhanced in this release:

• Cataloging (Global Data Change)
• Circulation/Access Services (Circulation and OPAC enhancements)
• System Administration (PDS, SMS messaging, Operator Security)
• Your institution is a current member of IGeLU

For Voyager 8.0, it is important that at least one of the participants be focused on testing Global Data Change, but it is not necessary for all participants to test all areas of the system.

Participants in the Collaborative Testing process will spend a week with the Voyager product management, development, and Quality Assurance teams in the Des Plaines (Chicago) office, performing functional tests and providing feedback on the Voyager 8.0 release.

Participants will be asked to submit a report about their Collaborative Testing experiences to the Voyager PWGs following the event. The Voyager PWGs will forward the testers’ reports along with a summary report to Ex Libris. The reports will be posted on the Doc Portal for review by other customers. [Voyager 7.0 Collaborative Testing reports are still available on the Doc Portal for your review: Voyager_Customers > User Groups > Collaborative Testing.]

Participants in the Collaborative Testing process are sponsored by Ex Libris. Travel, lodging, meals, and related incidental expenses will be reimbursed by Ex Libris. Depending on individual library policies, participants may need to request approval from their employers in order to participate.

At the end of Collaborative Testing phase, Field Test will begin. In order to include as many customers as possible in the testing of Voyager 8, Ex Libris requests that participants in Collaborative Testing be different from those who plan to participate in the Field Test process.

How to volunteer

If you want to volunteer please provide your contact information and a statement outlining your experience with the product area that you would be interested in testing. Participants will be selected in early January so that testing logistics and travel details can be sent to all participants.

Thanks in advance for your willingness to be a part of this user based experience.

Habib Tabatabai, IGeLU Voyager Product Working Group,