Retain more than 36 months of Sierra data for reporting
Innovative explains that Sierra is hardcoded to retain the source circulation statistics for Web Management Reports only up to 36 months, but longer data series are needed, because the Library can make better decisions and optimize services only if we know facts, and facts are better known when seen on a larger time span. "Old data for new decisions".
This change could help both Library managers and staff to understand facts and their trends, and to see whether and how something should be changed. Three years are too few to see facts, but knowing that certain sections of the Library have not been used in the past 5 years could allow to use human resources in a different way, for example.
This is an opportunity for the whole Library in the perspective of democratized data, distributed through efficient dashboards, so that everyone can have a key participation in the Library work.
Idea Value
The ability to make better decisions thanks to longer data series is invaluable for libraries today.
In terms of time saving: the comparison of the last 2 years is often not enough to understand a trend and we are forced to keep old data that we export to Excel, so that they can be used in the future for a deeper comparison. Knowing that statistical data relating to the last 5 years can be extracted at any time, without exporting and storing it with a separate application, would be a certainty.
The time saving is also present in some queries whose space is 10 days, such as "patron searches", for example. Web Management Report is a very useful tool, but Innovative could make it even more performing. At present, all the data must be saved at variable time intervals to create a custom database: all time that could be saved if WMR were more flexible.
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Bruce Eames commented
Managers have been asking for decades for a longer reporting perspective on circulation activity than 3 years. We had hoped that Decision Centre might deliver this but alas no. Can it really be that difficult to implement this?