An Update on the Horizon Upgrade Process

LINC Policy Council
OCTOBER 14, 2003

Past activities

• January 2002
  LINC Policy Council began discussions of the migration issue, knowing that the Dynix Classic product was being phased out and the current server was approaching end-of-life.
• May 2002
  LINC Policy Council representatives and LTLS staff visited Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library, a Horizon site, and talked to their staff and saw demos of the product.
• June 2002
  LTLS staff Donna Schaal, Joe Sciacca, Pat Boze, Jan Ison met with several vendors at ALA for in-depth looks at their products - SIRSI, Horizon, Innovative, Ex Libris. These vendors were chosen for their scalability and their experience working with multitype consortia. We did not meet with Endeavor because they market their product to academics/academic consortia only.
• October 2002
  The LINC Directors Group approved a recommendation from LINC Policy Council, directing LTLS to develop a proposal for changing to the Dynix Horizon product.
• November 2002
  LTLS staff Pat Boze and Rita Johnson attended the CODI (Customers of Dynix) Conference and heard from Dynix CEO Jack Blount that even better incentive pricing would be implemented for customers migrating from Dynix to Horizon.
• December 2002-March 2003
  Steps involved in preparing the proposal began. A preliminary draft was shared with LINC Policy Council on December 12, 2003. This draft was posted on the LTLS web site, along with a survey form so all LINC library staff could submit comments.
• January 2003
  Two input sessions were held with LINC library staff.
  
  
• March 2003
  The final 90-page RFQ (Request for Quote) proposal, was sent to Dynix asking for a response and quote by April 18
• April 2003
  The response was received and LTLS staff began reviewing the proposal. Functionality indicators and cost were examined. Ten Horizon library site references were called, some listed as references in the response and some we identified from the Dynix web site. Dynix rated highly on support and on functionality. Multitype consortia stated that upgrade 7.3 filled the Dynix functionality of holds placing and holds queues (something that is very important that we currently use in Dynix). We also called other systems in Illinois that had recently chosen new automation systems (RBLS - SIRSI, HTLS - SIRSI, RPLS - considering SIRSI, Horizon, and Innovative). Functionality differences between the systems in their final pool (generally Horizon, Innovative, SIRSI) were generally minimal. The prices quoted to them were between $800,000 and $1,000,000 for new systems that had fewer library members than LTLS
• April 2003
  Dynix representatives demo-ed the various modules of Horizon to LINC Library staff. Unfortunately, this demo raised many questions. LTLS staff followed up this demo with a 3-hour phone conversation with a library migration specialist on staff with Dynix - most of the questions answered to our satisfaction.
• May 2003
  The LINC Directors Group approved an action item to continue negotiations with Dynix for the Horizon product, based on the response to the proposal.
• June 2003
  Jan Ison and Pat Boze met with Sue Epstein, an independent negotiation consultant. She agreed to assist LTLS in negotiating the contract with Dynix for the Horizon product.
• September 16, 2003
  Face-to-face final contract negotiations were held between Dynix staff representatives, LTLS staff, and Sue Epstein. Final contract is now being prepared.

highlights of the negotiation session

core software Unlimited Site License for Horizon Circulation, Cataloging, PAC, Acquisitions, Serials, Community Resources, Homebound, Inventory, Reserve Room, Media Scheduling, PC Reliance (reduced price by $20,625)	$198,425
DATABASE SOFTWARE Unlimited Site License for SyBase Database Software (same price as original quote)	$85,185
ADD-ON SOFTWARE ReportSmith, EasyAsk, Remote Patron Authentication (reduced price by $395)	$16,440
WebFeat TRanslators Increased number of translators to 16 (received reduced price per translator)	$13,600
Horizon Sun server Decreased price of same size Horizon SUN Server by $2,517	$55,433
ipac dell servers Replaced 1 Sun server with 3 Dell servers (2 for production, 1 for test) (reduced price by $29,379)	$33,794
data upgrade costs Data conversion, planning/design, server staging (no change in price)	$29,550
horizon training, other incidentals	$10,200
horizon credits	$-138,869
total	$303,758

∑ ADDITIONAL NEGOTIATION
We were able to negotiate Tier 3 maintenance (24x7) for a Tier 2 price (7-5 M-F coverage only).

We were able to negotiate moving the timeline for the upgrade up to April 1.

We were able to negotiate maintenance at a smaller number of seats (500) instead of paying maintenance for the unlimited license.

We determined that DigitaLink was overfeatured for our current needs. We are negotiating additional functionality of Dublin Core integration and are also investigating e-reserves as an optional way to manage digitized images and copyright compliance issues.

We are requesting some additional functionality and are awaiting pricing on those features, including
-Ability to export holdings added/holdings deleted
-Ability to ånail portsπ so each library can only use the ports they have purchased
-Ability to import both Dublin Core and MARC records into the same bibliographic file
-Accommodation of MARC 21 Format for Holdings
-A solution for the patron logout problem on iPac