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Meet the FOLIO Flock: Project Management Implementation Consultants (PM ICs)
A key responsibility of a FOLIO Implementation Consultant is to really understand FOLIO and libraries in general, so that when we have someone migrating to FOLIO, we're able to quickly assimilate their current workflows into what FOLIO can do for them. Either that means like changing up some workflows and policies to really reflect what they actually need, or it's adapting FOLIO to the library itself. So you really have to understand both the system and library culture I have 11 team members that report in to me and they are responsible for implementing FOLIO worldwide. We normally have clients interact with us throughout their implementation process. So once they get through sales and everything is buttoned up, then we start interacting with clients and we're pretty much with them throughout their lifecycle. We help support their customer service rep at the end, so we definitely keep in touch with our clients throughout. We are a part of the implementation process from day one. We meet with sales and have a formal internal handoff so that we can get to know the library and pull together all the different pieces and parts of the library's implementation so that we understand what are all the teams that need to be involved in implementing FOLIO and other products, such as GOBI or EDS or OpenRS. So there's all these certain things that we touch on during the implementation process. And we're here to help libraries pick those up at the right point in the implementation process. There's always something unexpected or there's some delays either on the library side or on our side, or even the FOLIO community side. Maybe a release is delayed a few weeks, and so we're picking up that slack. The key is open and honest communication back and forth. My team can't help the library unless the library says that they need help. I really don't believe in no news is good news. I think constant talking is good news, and it helps us build relationships with the library to really turn around internally and express what that library is going through in that moment to raise the issue to the appropriate level. So implementation is an iterative process in which we gather data that is supplied by the library and then we put it into FOLIO. As part of the validation process we have libraries test it and go through, and we have some sample test cases, but only a library or a librarian or staff know their workflows. So we help them document how they're going to test and then perform those tests and also set them up for future upgrades after they're out of the migration process. So if there is data issues or configuration issues, we discover those together and we adjust those for the next time. So it's really up to both of us, the library and EBSCO, to make sure that all the data is there and appropriate. EBSCO has the most experience in migrating libraries to FOLIO. We have been a part of the process from the very beginning. I myself have been a part of FOLIO and EBSCO from the very beginning, and I have watched it grow from Aster to where it is now today. So we have deep embedded knowledge of where FOLIO was and where it's going. We also have a great understanding of libraries and library practices. We hire librarians and we make sure that we keep on top of current trends in the field.