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Alma

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48 results found

  1. Add Fine/Fee ID and Transaction ID columns to User Details Fines/Fees tab

    In the Fines/Fees tab of the User Details screen add Fine/Fee ID and Transaction ID to the list of columns that staff can choose to display. Currently the Fine/Fee ID and Transaction ID is only accessible via an Analytics report and thus aren’t available until the next day after any updates to the user’s fine/fees occur. Our staff need these IDs when troubleshooting fine/fee problems which means that users are negatively impacted by the Analytics lag time.

    15 votes
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  2. Make the amount of a user account's TOTAL outstanding fees a feature in the Fines/Fees Notification Profiles

    Presently, the amount-for-user-limit in the Fines/Fees Notification Profiles targets only those accounts with fees of the selected trigger fee type(s) that are all - BY THEMSELVES - in a certain range, let's say between 1 and 25 Euros. We want to be able to select fees of a certain fee type and a certain creation period to trigger a notification, but ONLY, if the TOTAL SUM of outstanding fees amounts to a certain sum. Thus, we could decide to send letters to heavily indebted accounts and e-mails to accounts that owe not much.

    A second, immensely helpful improvement of the…

    44 votes
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  3. Optimisation of reminders and overdue letters (anti-phishing)

    The reminders and reminder letters sent to patrons currently often end up in upstream spam filters of the mail providers. If this is not the case, we regularly receive feedback that they considered some of the automated notifications to be spam or phishing mails.

    On the one hand, we would like to be able to optimise the automated notifications so that they are less automatically classified as spam according to today's standards. Ideally, Alma would already take common standards into account. On the other hand, we would like to see the possibility to personalise the notifications more and, for example,…

    58 votes
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  4. Alma Withdrawal Option

    Our library needs the Withdraw function in Alma. We request a Deposit when we lend particularly valuable items. After the reader returns the book, the Deposit should be refunded. And this option is not available in Alma. There is a Pay option, but there is no Withdraw/Refund function, and we would like to be able to settle all financial matters in Alma (and not use external fiscal programs / cash registers).

    157 votes
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  5. Send ALMA notification when fines are waived

    It would be helpful if ALMA can send a patron an email notification when fines are forgiven. ALMA is very good at communicating all other transactions, especially when a patron has generated a fine. However, when staff forgive fines in ALMA, there should be an easy way for staff to communicate with patrons. Currently, our preferred method is to directly email patrons and this reduces patron confusion on their end. Thank you! From a Circulation Manager

    1 vote
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  6. Process type "Lost and Paid" Should Not Be Added To Items After Waiving Their Lost Item Replacement Fees

    We discovered that the process type "Lost and Paid" is applied to items whose Lost Replacement Fee has been waived by staff! This is misleading. It means that we have items marked as Lost and Paid where no money has exchanged hands. This can have financial audit/reconciliation implications if a report is generated on this process type without relying on other data to clarify past transactions.

    I wonder if Alma could add an additional process type that would better distinguish between lost books that were actually paid for and those whose fee was forgiven by using, for example, "Lost and…

    4 votes
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  7. account or book alarms

    we often invoice customers for lost items only for them to return it without notifying a member of staff, meaning we have to keep checking either the book or the account to see if the books have been returned prompting us to cancel any invoices - it would be great if we could add an alarm to an account or book to notify us when a book has been returned...I envisage adding the ALARM to a BOOK or ACCOUNT when ever setting up blocks/fees associated with the account.

    2 votes
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  8. Make Author available in Ful Fines\Fees Notification Letter

    "Author" is available in some other letters, like the Courtesy Letter, so it seems like it should be available in the Fines/Fees letter and anywhere the item title is available.

    "Title" is helpful, but often not distinctive, and often does not contain the author (in 245 $c) depending on cataloging practices.

    Initially reported via case 06662985; closed and redirected to enhancement request.

    1 vote
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  9. Overdue fine

    Overdue fines should not only be configurable for a time period of 1 hour or 1 day maximum, but also for 1 week and 1 month.

    3 votes
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  10. Require a better fines and fees summary report

    Would like to see an actual report that summarizes the days transactions by transaction type (one line each for fines, lost payments, processing fees, etc., inlcuding the total number of transactions and amounts) in one section and then a summary of transactions by payment method (# of transactions and the total), with a line for the grand total. An itemized list of transactions would not be required as staff generally just need the totals to balance at the end of the day/shift. While something like this can be built in analytics, that data is not available until the next day,…

    3 votes
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  11. Disputed fine to trigger a task

    It would be good if Alma could trigger a task or notice to staff or supervisors responsible for dealing with disputed fines when public service staff mark a fine as such.

    1 vote
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  12. The Lost item process fee (aka Lost item fine) should be automatically removed when an item is found.

    The Lost item process fee (aka Lost item fine) should be refunded when an item is found. Currently, only the Lost Item Replacement Fee is refunded. This requires staff intervention, having to manually waive the fine. This is not always caught when books are returned through the drop slot, for example. It causes confusion for both patrons and staff when a fine remains on a patron's account for an item that has been found.

    50 votes
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  13. Receipt for waived fees

    Customers sometimes want a receipt for waived fees. Currently that's not possible within ALMA.

    20 votes
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  14. Option to disable circulation desk operator to waive fines/fees for themselves

    We have student workers to perform waiving fines/fees activities. We'd like an option disable certain circulation desk operators' ability to waive fines/fees for themselves.

    1 vote
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  15. Set default payment type for circulation desk

    We would like the ability to set default payment options for our circulation desks. We currently use the cash option for our student campus payment system since we do not have the ability to add custom payment types and we do not actually accept cash anymore so we use that but cash is showing as the "default" option from the payment area and most of our payments are credit card so we would like to set credit card as the default payment option.

    3 votes
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  16. Bulk waiving by date

    Currently we are unable to do bulk waives within set dates, for example - 01/04/2020 - 02/09/2020. We need to run bulk waives on fines accrued during lockdown periods.

    119 votes
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  17. Ability to run a job on items already marked lost.

    We would like the ability to run a job on lost items from other institutions, to receive a special block. This block restricts the user from placing anymore request and also (do to an app we built) blocks their electronic access. It is quite effective in getting the patron to return items the institution would then be billed for.

    The problem is a block placed on the item prior to it going lost is removed when the item is marked lost and we are not able to run a job on the lost items that would actually apply the block.…

    6 votes
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  18. Damaged item should be added under ellipsis button menu

    When a book is returned damaged we only have the ability to put it under "lost" with a note. Having the ability to mark it as damaged and have the same functions as lost would be quicker and more concise.

    11 votes
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  19. Development request: support multi-institution Alma Touchnet integration

    We're excited about using the Alma Touchnet connector to automate Touchnet payments into Alma, however we have found that in its current form we can't implement. The reason is we are a multi-branch institution with different libraries each with different funds into which fines money is paid. Right now patrons pay fines in Touchnet by navigating to a separate Touchnet payment page, corresponding to a different library and account, for each library.

    Currently, the Alma Touchnet connector can only send payments to one Touchnet site. Then when the payment request comes back, it pays against that patrons account, in Alma,…

    6 votes
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  20. Changing an item to damaged in patron services

    If we could change the status of the item to damaged on the patrons account (like you can to lost) then the fee would appear - it would save many steps.

    1 vote
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