Troubleshooting/business intelligence: Make authentication method field useful (searchable in Alma, reportable in Analytics, customizable)
We need business intelligence about the big picture of which authentication method we use for each eresource.
There is an "Implemented Authorization Method" field in the vendor interface record but this data is only available by drilling down into the vendor record, and to those users with appropriate permissions. It's essentially invisible; there is no way to expose this data: it's not a searchable field in Alma, it's not a queryable field in Analytics, and it's not available through the APIs. The values are also not customizable but do not encompass the real life categories we need.
why?
1) troubleshooting: we want a way for staff to see how a resource is authenticated so that they can effectively troubleshoot at the point of need with patrons
2) trends: we want to understand what proportion of our resources use which kinds of authentication methods and how that is shifting over time in order to plan (staffing, outreach, costs, infrastructure)
3) we want the drop down choices to be customizable. They do not currently encompass all the authentication methods we have implemented/that vendors require.
Here, https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Product_Documentation/010Alma_Online_Help_(English)/020Acquisitions/090Acquisitions_Infrastructure/010Managing_Vendors#Editing_Vendor_Interface_Information I see "Much of the information you enter here is for informational purposes only, and has no effect on Alma's functionality. "
The documention states that the Implemented Authorization Method dropdown is not editable: "Method of authorization. Possible values are:
Empty, Certificate, IP address, IP address + password, Other, Password, Script, Unrestricted. These values are pre-defined by Ex Libris."
We need to be able to expose, analyze, and make available on the fly in support of use cases.