While the Vanguards will continue testing and documenting findings, the project now turns its attention to all institutions. On July 12th, 2016, we begin our bi-weekly meetings with the institutional leads from all institutions. These meetings will contain information from the vendor, the vanguards, and implementation team. Our first goal is to prepare for a test migration of data from our current system, Voyager, to our next generation system, Alma. We are excited to begin this phase of the project!

Select project team members from each of the vanguard institutions will gather together next week, along with the implementation team and vendor Ex Libris, to review all workflows. The three day workshop from June 14th - 16th is designed to review each workflow from one of the vanguard's Alma test environment to make sure each participant understands how Alma is designed to work. The goals include:

• Validate team knowledge of relevant background concepts and basic workflows
• Review and discuss workflows relevant to the local institution
• Identify gaps that require further configuration or investigation
• Progress readiness planning activities for functional areas, integrations, training, and rollout
• Identify opportunities for standardization

Two back to back events occurred last week (May19 and 20th, 2016) where the USG Alma & Primo (OPAC) Implementation Project was highlighted. First, the GIL User's Group held their annual meeting in Macon, Georgia on May 19th. Over 280 members of the GIL community attended GUGM 2016. The Alma implementation overview was presented during the attendee wide opening session. To view a complete agenda and presentations, you can visit: http://www.usg.edu/galileo/gil/conference. The second event occurred late on May 19th and continued through May 20th. This event, the G3 Alma and Primo (OPAC) Implementation Technical Kickoff was for the project's designated institutional leads. Ex Libris, Alma's vendor, presented a project roadmap that detailed what we can expect over the next year. The attendees heard a great deal of information about next steps for the effort. Talk to your institutional leads is you have any questions about this event. Thanks to the presenters and attendees for all the effort put into these events!