faqs:evergreen_companies:faqs
Differences
This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.
Both sides previous revisionPrevious revisionNext revision | Previous revision | ||
faqs:evergreen_companies:faqs [2014/10/16 14:39] – yboston | faqs:evergreen_companies:faqs [2022/02/10 13:34] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1 | ||
---|---|---|---|
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
====== Frequently Asked Questions | ====== Frequently Asked Questions | ||
- | These are the frequently asked questions | + | These are the frequently asked questions for the [[faqs: |
+ | **A note on the word " | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== 1) Should I use a vendor with Evergreen? ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Though there is no requirement to use a vendor when using Evergreen, it may be convenient to do so. The software is freely available to be downloaded and installed by anyone, and there are no licensing fees or contracts required for using, distributing, | ||
+ | |||
+ | You should hire a vendor for the same reasons you would hire anyone--you want or need them to do work and/or you want or need to make use of their resources. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Most Evergreen libraries use vendors in some way or another and are successful. | ||
+ | |||
+ | * hosting | ||
+ | * support | ||
+ | * training | ||
+ | * consulting | ||
+ | * customization | ||
+ | * software development | ||
+ | * data migration | ||
+ | |||
+ | Different libraries mix and match these services, performing some in-house and hiring one or more vendors for others. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== 2) How do I " | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== Questioning the vendor directly ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Just like you would interview a potential new hire, you should interview the vendor. | ||
+ | |||
+ | * hosting | ||
+ | * What service-level agreements do you offer for uptime? | ||
+ | * What is your backup policy? | ||
+ | * What redundancies do you have? Do you have more than one data center? | ||
+ | * What are you responsible for and what is out of scope of a hosting contract? | ||
+ | * support | ||
+ | * What service-level agreements do you offer for response time? How do you escalate support tickets? | ||
+ | * What support tiers do you offer? | ||
+ | * What are the normal support hours? | ||
+ | * What does support cover exactly, and what is out of scope of a support contract? | ||
+ | * training | ||
+ | * What are your policies for recording and redistributing sessions and training materials? | ||
+ | * software development | ||
+ | * How do you interact with the wider Evergreen development community? | ||
+ | * What are your policies for acceptance testing and bug reporting? | ||
+ | * data migration | ||
+ | * What experience do you have with the software we're coming from? Could you perform our data extraction? | ||
+ | * Do you offer test loads? | ||
+ | * What are your policies for resolving data-related issues post-migration? | ||
- | 1) Why do I need to use a vendor with EG? | + | ===== 3) What information should I have available for the vendor(s)? |
- | + | ||
- | There is no requirement to use a vendor when using Evergreen, the code is freely available to be downloaded and installed by anyone. A library could choose to run Evergreen without the need of a vendor. The three most common situations where a library may choose to hire a vendor are for migration, support, and/or development. A library could choose to only use a vendor for the migration, and handle support and development on their own. Other libraries may choose to hire a vendor or vendors to handle all three. The more inexperienced a library is with Evergreen' | + | |
- | + | ||
- | + | ||
- | 2) What questions should I ask the vendor(s)? | + | |
- | + | ||
- | The questions you may want to ask a vendor will vary by the type of work that you may want to use the vendor for. When hiring a vendor for migrating to Evergreen, one key first question to ask is if the vendor has ever migrated another customer from your current ILS to Evergreen. You may also want to ask for a reference of one of their customers who was migrated from that same ILS brand and/or version. | + | |
- | + | ||
- | When hiring a vendor for support, make sure to ask how many library employees are allowed to submit support requests. Also, ask for expected response times to emergency help requests, and what hours of the days will they be available to respond to help requests. | + | |
- | + | ||
- | When hiring a vendor for development, | + | |
- | + | ||
- | + | ||
- | 3) What information should I have available for the vendor(s)? | + | |
Vendors typically would like to know upfront if you require the use of an RFP. Also, vendors would like to know if there is a need to wait until an upcoming fiscal year start date to be able to pay them for their services. Additionally, | Vendors typically would like to know upfront if you require the use of an RFP. Also, vendors would like to know if there is a need to wait until an upcoming fiscal year start date to be able to pay them for their services. Additionally, | ||
- | + | | |
- | + | ===== 4) How do I use this vendor list? ===== | |
- | 4) How do I use this vendor list? | + | |
This vendor list is provided as summary of vendors that have self-identified as companies or consultants that work with Evergreen. This list is intended to help save research time for existing or potential new members of the Evergreen community. The Evergreen community has required vendors to pass a limited set of requirements to be listed on this page, [[faqs: | This vendor list is provided as summary of vendors that have self-identified as companies or consultants that work with Evergreen. This list is intended to help save research time for existing or potential new members of the Evergreen community. The Evergreen community has required vendors to pass a limited set of requirements to be listed on this page, [[faqs: |
faqs/evergreen_companies/faqs.1413484742.txt.gz · Last modified: 2022/02/10 13:34 (external edit)