TUG Statistics and Reports Group Meeting
Minutes

October 24, 2003 - 9:10-10:30 a.m. - UW Porter Library, room 407

Present: Ron MacKinnon, Joanne Oud, Gail Sperling, Linda Teather

1. Minutes of August 6, 2003

   1. Approval
      The minutes of August 16, 2003 were approved. They will be added to the TUG Statistics and Reports (TSR) area on the TUG staff web.

   2. Business arising
      List of Cognos trainees: Linda and Joanne have reviewed the list with managers and have sent changes to the Training Team.

      Cube archiving policy and schedule: The document has been added to the TSR area on the TUG Staff Web. It has not yet been announced to managers.

      Server support document: Linda is working on a draft support document.

      Request cube revision/TRELLIS bug: Gail has heard from Endeavor Support. The bug still has a pending status but may be addressed in the next Voyager release.

      Creation of new Upfront theme: Gail drafted a brief description of the work and skills required but neither Linda nor Ron have identified anyone available at UW or UG to do the work. TSR agreed that this could become a more urgent security issue when the web interface is used by more staff. Ron will ask George Loney and/or Nick Dobbing to assess what is needed and the amount of time required.

      Check of web reports: Reports users at UW and WLU have checked the web version of reports they use regularly and compared them to the desktop version. This is still a to-do for UG.

      Review of documentation by Training Team: Gail alerted the Training Team about the documentation review and will remind them about this.

      Review of ARL/CARL/Macleans spreadsheet: Ron and Linda have reviewed the data. Joanne will look at the WLU data and, where possible, will provide previous year's data to fill in gaps on the spreadsheet.

2. Training plan
   Scott Gillies has replaced Pam Jacobs on the Training Team and is doing some of the Cognos web courses to replicate the Training Team's instruction by ThoughtCorp.

   TSR members reviewed the Training Team's training outline and Gail's comments on the plan. The group suggested adding guidelines about saving reports and the basics of opening an existing PowerPlay report and printing.

   Linda Cracknell's Oct. 13th email to TSR outlined three levels of training:

   • Generic training for running reports and stats from the web
   • More intensive training for those who run more than generic reports and stats
   • Impromptu training further down the road

   TSR members discussed the Impromptu training required and agreed that the Training Team's primary role would be to serve as a basic local resource for staff creating simple Impromptu reports. More complex reports would be submitted via the report request process for more experienced reports creators to handle. Impromptu training might be offered to the Training Team and a few other staff expected to be primary users of Impromptu. TSR will discuss this with the Training Team.

   To do: Gail will update the annotated version of the training notes and forward it as TSR's feedback to the Training Team. The new TSR chair will respond to the Training Team about the proposed levels of training and our wish to discuss the third Impromptu level with them.

3. TSR chair
   Joanne will serve as TSR chair for the next year. Linda will continue as the group's recorder.

4. Timeline review
   TSR members reviewed items with a Fall 2003 date on the reports timeline. These should be in place before the Cognos training sessions are held.

   • Draft guidelines/procedures for request form & database:
     Preparation of guidelines & procedures will be an agenda item for the next TSR meeting. Gail has reported a keyword bug found in the reports database to George Loney. If possible, this should be addressed before the database goes live.

     To do: Gail will follow up with George regarding the status of the bug.

   • Implement the reports listserv:
     Gail distributed revised listserv communication templates, updated to reflect the use of the web server.

     To do: Linda will forward the introductory listserv message sent to TUG Library Managers in February 2002. TSR will review the wording and revise as needed to reflect the current situation.

   TSR will prepare a general update for TUG Library Managers. It will include the Training Team' December training plan, the listserv purpose and implementation plan, the request form and status database implementation.

5. Web reports server update
   The web reports production server requires a Windows service pack upgrade. TSR approved Gail's proposal to move all reports and cubes to the test server, ask staff to use the test server during the upgrade, then move all reports and cubes back to the production server after the upgrade is completed. Since the production server has a G: drive and the test and production servers must be identical for the upgrade plan to succeed, UW will provide the additional drive for the test server. Wolf will install this in early November and then Gail and Bill will plan for the software upgrade.

6. Next meeting
   Joanne will schedule the next meeting during the third week of November, as TSR members' schedules permit.