Testing: Alma Circulation New UI

Owned by Kara Young
Last updated: Jun 10, 2024 by Jackson Childs
3 min read

Introduction

Welcome to the Alma Circulation New UI Testing Feedback page! This space is dedicated to collecting your insights, comments, and suggestions on the Alma Circulation New UI as we test its functionalities in the Alma sandbox environment. Your feedback is invaluable in helping us improve and tailor the system to meet our users' needs.

Testing Period

  • Start Date: May 2024
  • End Date: TBD

Your Role

  1. Access the Alma Sandbox by logging into Alma, and clicking on "Harvard Sandbox," as shown below:



  2. In the Sandbox, look for the New UI Functionality:

    1. Look for Fulfillment > Manage Patron Services (New) and Return items (New).



  3. In Manage Patron Services (New):
    1. Search for patron
    2. Review account information
    3. Explore menu functionality and options as related to a typical circulation workflow
    4. Provide feedback on anything related to layout, information presented, impact on your workflow, etc.
  4. In Return Items (New):
    1. Practice returning an item 
    2. Provide feedback on anything related to layout, information presented, impact on your workflow, etc.

How to Provide Feedback

Please follow the format below to add your feedback. Add a new line for each piece of feedback. This will help us categorize and address each piece of feedback efficiently.

  1. Name: [Your name]
  2. Type of Feedback: [Bug, Suggestion, Comment]
  3. Description:
    1. What were you trying to do?
    2. What did you expect to happen?
    3. What actually happened?
  4.  Impact:
    1. How does this affect your work or the user experience?
    2. Severity (Minor inconvenience, Major issue, Blocking critical work)
  5. Screenshots/Attachments (if applicable): [Attach any relevant files or provide links to images]
  6. Additional Comments:
  7. Date: [Insert date]


NameType of FeedbackDescriptionImpactScreenshotAdditional CommentsDate
EXAMPLESuggestion

a. I was looking for patron requests

b. I expected to see barcode but it's not there.


a. This impacts both my work and the user experience.

b. Minor inconvenience.



Jacksonsuggestion

Looking at the next step in the results list for returns items. In current production, "next step" is a distinct column in the results list, so each next step for discharged items can be easily seen in one place. 

In the new UI for returns, "next step" appears at the bottom of each entry for each item returned. 

It's simply harder, visually, to see and confirm the next step for an item in hand. The next step in the list is less prominent and basically in a different place for each item, instead of being together in a column. This makes it a bit harder to do accurate routing when handling large numbers of items from a variety of collections. (6/10/24: Alma sandbox is not showing the new UI pages for fulfillment at the moment.)
6/10/24




































































































































































































Guidelines for Providing Feedback

  • Be Specific: The more details you provide, the better we can understand and address the issue.
  • Focus on Usability: How intuitive and user-friendly do you find the interface? Are there any obstacles you encountered?
  • Consider Different User Perspectives: Think about how your feedback affects not just your work but also that of students, faculty, and other staff.
  • Collaborate and Communicate: Feel free to add to or comment on feedback from other testers. This is a collaborative effort!
  • Date: Change the date on a line of feedback if you add additional comments to that line.

Thank you for your participation and for helping us make the Alma Circulation New UI the best it can be!