What are data migration and premium services (and why should I care)?

Hello!  My name is Nicole Errante, and I am one of the product managers here at Species360 (formerly ISIS).  Currently I am the product manager for our Premium Services team.

What is a premium service, you ask?  Well, premium services can really be divided into two categories.  The first is data migration.  Of course, we migrate our member’s data from our legacy software (ARKS, MedARKS, SPARKS) as part of their membership services.  But sometimes people have been keeping track of data in other places such as spreadsheets (think Excel), older databases (think Access, Paradox, etc.), or even paper-based records.  We offer our data migration services to get this data into ZIMS so that you can use one data system instead of several!  We enjoy helping our members integrate their data and data entry efforts into ZIMS.

The second category of premium services is feature sponsorship.  For any given release, Species360 receives input and feedback from members to determine what functionality will be developed.  We then take that feedback and determine the overall priority of these items based on the needs of our overall membership.  However, there are times when a member organization might have a feature they really want built in order to help ZIMS work better for them.  By sponsoring a feature, the member directly affects the priority and timeline of when that functionality will be built and released into ZIMS. This provides any member with a vehicle to have a feature included in ZIMS earlier than might otherwise be the case.

Does this sound like something that would interest you?  Have a spreadsheet of data you are dying to get into ZIMS but don’t have the time to hand-type it?  Have a great idea for a feature that your institution will be willing to help support get into ZIMS?  Please contact us and let’s talk about how we can help!

–Nicole Errante
Product Manager, Species360