Library Software Case Study

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Outdated System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MII's current digital system for managing various media was outdated.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.

Tools Used

Apache JMeter
DSpace
Draw.io
Loom
Trello
MS Project and Visio
Apache JMeter

What We Did

Installation
Front-end Development
Software Testing
Training

Features

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.

Highlights of this Project

9000 Visitor Count
400 Media Items
4200 Items Downloaded
15 Item Types