EPrints Repository for the Malaysian Insurance Institute
We installed and set up EPrints on the cloud to create a digital library with a customized design, and a statistics plugin integration.
Work
Set up, Customization
Time
1 Months
Team
4 Members
Stack
EPrints
Category
Digital Repository
Areas of Improvement
UI Design
Security
Reporting
Statistics
About the Project
Customized EPrints for Information Managemen
The Malaysian Insurance Institute wanted a software solution for managing and sharing various media types for items like weekly news, books, journal articles,etc. Our goal was to make this happen by installing EPrints on their cloud as their digital repository software, and customizing the systems outlook as per their needs.
New Features
Custom Design
Custom Plugins
New item Types
Development Methodology
Testing Methods
User Acceptance Testing
Performance Testing
Stress Testing
QA Testing
Problems Solved
MII wanted new features, better accessibility, an improved review process, user login through existing university credentials, improved security, and integration with EBSCO.
Lack of a Digital System
Outdated System
Platform for Reading Materials
Modifying a Statistics Plugin
Even though EPrints offered a statistics plugin by default, we customized it to the client’s reporting requirements. This resulted in more time being utilized to get the plugin installed and modified.
Upgrading to Digital
MII's current digital system for managing various media was outdated. We recommended EPrints to upgrade their system. The new system allows them to publish items in bulk, reduce the time taken to upload media items, and make manage multiple content types.
How We Made this Project a Success
Installing Main Software
This project was a cloud setup, and not on premise. That's why we installed EPrints on an Apache web server, and used MariaDB as the database solution due to the size of the project.
Since EPrints is written in Perl, we set the library to Perl by installing Perl modules.
Download & Compile Source Code
Once we set up the cloud environment, the next step was to download the latest stable EPrints system source code, compiled it, and set up the mail server.
EPrints UI Customization
The new system had to look and feel like an integral part of the Malaysian Insurance Institute's brand.
We customized the EPrints UI to reflect their brand's guidelines, and visual style.
By using this functionality, the admin will be able to view all user activities. Admins can view different types of statistics like monthly downloads, most downloaded items, top authors, users’ download records, etc.
To ease MII’s burden of uploading items one by one, we recommended the use of EPrints because of its ability to carry out bulk uploads. The client can now easily upload multiple items by uploading an XML file.
The EPrints system offers a variety of filters for users to browse and find items of interest. This gives the user more flexibility to find unique items in the system.
Market Relevance
Leaders in Insurance Education
Founded in 1968, and with over 30,000 members, MII is a leader in providing education to insurance professionals in Malaysia. MII’s new EPrints solution - created by GR Tech - works as their digital library and serves all their stakeholders.