Migrating from Surpass for Windows

If you are coming to Surpass Cloud from Surpass for Windows, you'll find a lot that feels familiar. The major concepts you learned while using Surpass Central and the other Windows apps are still here, with some minor changes, and even the menu layout is similar to what you're used to from Surpass Central.

Login

Surpass Cloud's security requires that you login using the email address or patron number and password from your patron account. If you are used to logging into Surpass Central and other apps using "Admin" with a global password and don't remember your own personal password, just let Surpass Support know and we'll send you an email to reset your password.

Terminology

Surpass Cloud uses different names for a few things. You'll probably pick up on these on your own, but here is a list:

Windows vs Cloud Apps

Things to Do After Migration

• Review Resource Category Icons
  Surpass Cloud uses different types of icons for resource categories, so they will look different from what you're used to in Surpass Central. Go to Settings : Resources : Categories to review the icons selected for your resource categories and make any changes you desire.

• Configure Security Roles
  Surpass for Windows used 8 security levels, where each level could do everything the ones below it could do plus a little more. Surpass Cloud uses a much more flexible Security Roles system, where permissions are assigned based on the role that the user plays in your library. There are roles for administrators, circulation clerks, etc., each with different permissions. See Settings : Security : Roles.

• Send Welcome Notices
  Notify your patrons of their new public catalog by sending them a Welcome Notice. This notice will provide them with the link to their new catalog, as well as their login information.

• Customize OPAC Home Page
  Surpass Cloud OPAC's home page can be customized similar to the way you could customize the home page in Surpass Safari, but with a lot more options. Change the banner image to a photo of your library, add your library logo, set your library hours, edit home page widgets, and more. Just log into Surpass Cloud OPAC using your Administrator credentials and you'll see the options. Documentation is coming, but Surpass Support is always happy to help.

What's Not in Surpass Cloud

• Database Maintenance - No need! Surpass Cloud is self-maintaining.
• Editing Directly in Resource and Patron Search Result Grids - This feature may appear in the future if there is demand for it.
• MARC Subfields in Resource Search Result Grids - This feature may appear in the future if there is demand for it.
• Purge - The purge features in Surpass Central come from a time when data storage was limited and expensive. Surpass Cloud retains all records indefinitely.
• Deleting Resource Records - Deleting records in Surpass Central meant that you lost all history related to those records. How many books did I delete last year? There was no way to know because all record of them was gone. How many books did 12th grade patrons check out last year? Again, impossible to know because the records have been deleted. In Surpass Cloud, resource and holdings records are not deleted -- they are withdrawn. They disappear from searches (unless you want to see them) but the history of them lives on.
• Deleting Patron Records -- Similar to resource records, the default setting is that patron records are not deleted but are made inactive, which hides them from searches and reports unless requested. You can, however, delete a patron, resource, or holdings record if it has no history of circulation, etc. This is mostly to delete something that was just added. If you prefer to delete patron records completely, you may disable the "Retain Patron Records" setting on the Settings : Patrons : General page.
• Backup - Your Surpass Cloud database is secure and is backed up on a constant basis.
• Restore - Contact Surpass Support if you need to revert to an earlier version of your database.
• Installing Updates - Surpass Cloud is always up-to-date. There are no updates to install, ever.