Alma performance issues and tracking
- William Walsh
- Corinna Baksik
- Maureen Elizabeth Driscoll
DRAFT: Instructions on capturing slow tasks in Alma
If there is a task you perform that is always slow, follow steps 1-7 below, except you only need to starting record+tracking with the actions that lead up to the task. Stop recording+tracking after the task has completed.
If there is a task you perform that is periodically slow, these are difficult to capture since they cannot be predicted, therefore we ask that you record a video of your screen while you are working for an hour or so and you expect to be performing that task multiple times. Follow steps 1-7 below.
- Start a Zoom meeting with just yourself (Zoom > New Meeting), Share Screen, and Record to the Cloud (under More menu).
- In Alma, under Help menu, Start Performance Tracking session. Click Yes in dialog box.
- Work for an hour or so and make note of roughly what time it was when the slow task occurred, what the task was, and what record number was involved. When you capture slowness, you can end your session or you can keep working to try to catch another slow task.
- When you wish to stop, select the Alma option to Stop Performance Tracking Session and Generate File.
- End Zoom meeting.
- Send email to Corinna and Amanda with:
- What task was slow, when it occurred record number involved
- Tracking file attachment
- Link to cloud recording when you get it from Zoom
- Corinna/Amanda will update relevant ticket
Open tickets
| Functional area | Brief description | Salesforce Case No. | Date of last update | Need more video/tracking from Harvard? | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acquisitions | Associating/disassociating a POL with a holdings record | 07042729 | 3/13/2024 | No | Target fix date July 2024 |
| Acquisitions | Saving a POL after editing (any field) | 07042732 | 3/6/2024 | Yes, when task takes excessive time | ExL: task happens within reasonable time - an average of around 2 seconds |
| Resource Management | Duplicating/creating items | 07042917 | 3/14/2024 | Yes, when task takes excessive time | ExL asked for video and tracking file where it takes > 20 seconds |
| Resource Management | Saving item records after editing | 07042973 | 3/1/2024 | Yes, when task takes excessive time | ExL asked for video and tracking file |
| Resource Management | Pushing a record to the MDE | 07042911 | 2/23/2024 | No | Will be addressed in the August 2024 release. |
| Resource Management | Withdrawing items from the item list | 07058934 | 3/6/2024 | Yes, when task takes excessive time | ExL: task happens within reasonable time: average 2 seconds for the "Confirm" popup, less than 6 seconds until the "Last item of holdings deleted ..." dialog to load, 3 seconds from "Go" until the end of the entire withdraw process. |
| Resource Management | Deleting a holdings record | 07042981 | 3/1/2024 | Yes, when task takes excessive time and you are not starting from a large result set of a Physical Titles search | ExL: task happens within reasonable time. ExL: when deleting a holding from a list of holdings and then using the back button, Alma must again perform the "Physical Titles" search and reload all of the data because a holding was deleted. The amount of data that needs to be reloaded affects the processing time. Considering the amount of data, the action is done reasonably fast. Consider other methods to delete holdings, especially using the Physical Holdings search and deleting from there. |
| Resource Management | Physical titles search | 06869946 | 3/11/2024 | No | ExL: Under review |
| E-resources | Opening any tab after the summary tab of a license record | 06891709 | 10/12/2023 | Yes, when task takes excessive time | Performance has improved since ExL made changes, but task is still intermittently slow |
Resolved or Closed tickets
| Functional area | Description of Problem | Date | Your Name | URL for Video Capture | Salesforce Case No. | Status | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Multiple | Slow response | 3/21/23 | Maureen | Ex Libris Support Center | 06695539 | Pending development | Last updated 3/26 | |
| MDE | Slow to open, slow to load records even after open | 9/2/21 | Corinna Baksik | See Salesforce | 00989963 | |||
| MDE -Browse Bib Headings | Browse Bib Heading slowness - new MDE | 4/13/21 | Corinna Baksik | (See Salesforce) | 00946117 | |||
| MDE typing speeds | 2/7/19 | Corinna Baksik | See Salesforce | 00649883 | ExL closed case. | |||
| API | API slowness - update holdings | 2/7/2020 | Corinna Baksik | 00810250 | Pending development | |||
| Searching | Searching Alma slowness | 4/13/21 | Corinna Baksik | https://www.screencast.com/t/mfk6BmM9 - searching by bib MMS ID - 6 seconds https://www.screencast.com/t/xfc910oqvHH - keyword search - 35 seconds https://www.screencast.com/t/X2J05mTcCJ - series keyword search - 1 minute | 00946133 |
| Description of Problem | Date Resolved | Description of Problem | Salesforce Case No. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Editing Online Services Order tables slow | December 2019 | Editing Online Services Order tables slow | 698624 | |
| ACTL slowness | September 2019 | ACTL slowness | 00628094 | |
| Loading Reading List Task list takes 30 seconds, changing between tabs takes many seconds as well | November 2018 Release | Loading Reading List Task list takes 30 seconds, changing between tabs takes many seconds as well | 00595488 | |
Calling up an order from the list of POLs in review: ca 12 seconds Note from Elizabeth: I also experienced the same thing when I search a PO Line by PO number. | Fix implemented in May 2018 release. | Calling up an order from the list of POLs in review: ca 12 seconds Note from Elizabeth: I also experienced the same thing when I search a PO Line by PO number. | 472977 | |
From Authority Control Task List, filter the previous week to only one type of report: 59 seconds From the resulting list, push a record to the MDE and wait for it to open: 46 seconds From MDE, hit back button to go back to task list: 21 seconds From task list, dismiss the list item: 23 seconds | Case closed on 2/22/2018; Ex Libris switched authority_control_link_available to false for February test load. | From Authority Control Task List, filter the previous week to only one type of report: 59 seconds From the resulting list, push a record to the MDE and wait for it to open: 46 seconds From MDE, hit back button to go back to task list: 21 seconds From task list, dismiss the list item: 23 seconds | 472990 | |
| Clicking tabs in Vendor Interface details causes Alma crash. | Fix implemented in August 2018 release. | Clicking tabs in Vendor Interface details causes Alma crash. | 473183 | |
| Alma API too slow to deliver holdings information to full display page in Primo. "Get It" area in Primo full display page for a record with multiple holdings was blank for unacceptable period of time until holdings loaded. (18 seconds) | August 2018 included improvements; case still open as of October 2018. Had been scheduled to be fixed in the March 2018 Alma release, but slowness remained. Case updated by CB on 3/5/18; Lynn Higgins forwarded to ExL Development. | Alma API too slow to deliver holdings information to full display page in Primo. "Get It" area in Primo full display page for a record with multiple holdings was blank for unacceptable period of time until holdings loaded. (18 seconds) | 474157 | |
| Calling up the Receiving Dashboard (Acquisitions > Receive) for the first time in a session (ca 43 seconds) | Fix implemented in July 2018 release. | Calling up the Receiving Dashboard (Acquisitions > Receive) for the first time in a session (ca 43 seconds) | 476143 | |
| Creating a one-time Purchase Order Line for a shared service ordering unit: 3:34 minutes | Submitted video comparisons of order creation in Aleph v Alma to Claudia Balby on 2/12/18; the videos were attached to ExL internal development ticket (URM-81736) which is in analysis process. Claudia requested update from Development on 3/28/18. ExL requested updated video on 10/31
| Creating a one-time Purchase Order Line for a shared service ordering unit: 3:34 minutes | 478818 | |
| Looking for the postage on an invoice, 2 minutes | Fix implemented in May 2018 release. | Looking for the postage on an invoice, 2 minutes | 480382 | |
Viewing invoice with large number (975) of line items: 3:55 minutes Starting point: invoice lines tab of POL 119674-4 3 people viewing EBSCO renewal invoice concurrently >10 minutes | Fix implemented in May 2018 release. | Viewing invoice with large number (975) of line items: 3:55 minutes Starting point: invoice lines tab of POL 119674-4 3 people viewing EBSCO renewal invoice concurrently >10 minutes | 480382 | |
MDE-related: 5 seconds to open MDE | Version commitment July | MDE-related: 5 seconds to open MDE | 486979 | |
| 9 seconds for physical title search | Fix was implemented in August 2018; case remains with Ex Libris development as of October 2018. | 9 seconds for physical title search | 492156 | |
| "Currently at…" takes 6 seconds to change to a different department | Fix implemented in July 2018; case remains with Ex Libris development as of October 2018. | "Currently at…" takes 6 seconds to change to a different department | 492161 | |
Saving a record in MDE takes 13 seconds | Fix implemented in July 2018 release; case remains with Ex Libris development as of October 2018. | Saving a record in MDE takes 13 seconds | 493689 | |
| Running simple analysis takes more than 5 minutes in group training session. Additional example, 2/12/18: ~1:30 for a brief list of column values to load when working with prompts | Fix implemented for June 2018 release. | Running simple analysis takes more than 5 minutes in group training session. Additional example, 2/12/18: ~1:30 for a brief list of column values to load when working with prompts | 516138 | |
| Berenson reports recurring slowness opening the MD Editor. Videos document it taking between 2.5 and 3 minutes. The issue generally takes place between 9 and 11:30 am in Italy. The MD Editor opens normally otherwise. | Berenson reported significantly improved response speeds in MDE beginning in February 2019. | Berenson reports recurring slowness opening the MD Editor. Videos document it taking between 2.5 and 3 minutes. The issue generally takes place between 9 and 11:30 am in Italy. The MD Editor opens normally otherwise. | 626671 | |
| Reaching, filtering list of course reserve citations is slow. | Fix implemented January 2020. | Reaching, filtering list of course reserve citations is slow. | 638955 | |
| Quick print slow to bring up print dialog. | Fix implemented July 2020. | Quick print slow to bring up print dialog. | 754788 | |
| Receiving Department Items / Manage In Process Items slow | Fix implemented July 2020. | Receiving Department Items / Manage In Process Items slow | 724503 | |
| Receiving 20 POLs takes nearly 2 minutes | Performance improvements to receiving list made March 2021 | Receiving 20 POLs takes nearly 2 minutes | 594223 | |
| Receiving list slow to open at Berenson | Performance improvements to receiving list made March 2021 | Receiving list slow to open at Berenson | 604938 |