The vanguard test institutions are using the month of March to develop testing scenarios for data that has been migrated to Alma and for functional configurations. These scenarios will guide the vanguards through testing when they receive their Alma pre-production environment near the end of March. The entire testing process is being documented as they progress so all of the institutions will have the benefit of their work. We are fortunate to have testing participants who are representing both their home institution and community well.

On February 29th, the project team met with leads from all institutions. This meeting was significant as it served as the official release of an Alma sandbox for use by all institutions. Now that the sandbox is available, we are able to identify and establish timelines for the initial set of Alma training. We have asked all institutional leads and project teams to complete the following training by the end of April 2016:

* Acquisitions
* Administration Fundamentals
* Alma and Primo Interoperability
* Fulfillment
* Navigation and Searching
* Orientation
* Resource Management
* User Management

This training will require a 7-10 hour commitment from your institutions' project teams. Please talk with your institutional lead if you have any questions or concerns or contact the project director.

A lot has happened this week for the vanguards institutions!

• The vanguards have completed the Voyager data cleanup necessary for this phase (and will be updating the spreadsheet)
• GIL has performed a test SFX extract for two of the vanguards and provided to Ex Libris
• The third vanguard completed a Local Link Resolver (non-ExL) form and provided to Ex Libris
• GIL is currently performing the vanguard test Voyager data extract and will provide to Ex Libris shortly
• The vanguard pre-implementation environment will be going offline as well

We look forward to providing a detailed update during our next Institutional Lead online meeting on 2/29!