Alma
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21 results found
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More Options for Fulfillment Notice Scheduling (SMS)
Job schedules for fulfillment notifications are limited to terrible times for receiving text messages. SMS notifications run on the same job as the email letter notifications. For example, the "Send Courtesy Notices and Handle Loan Renewal" job has scheduling options of Not Scheduled, Everyday at 20:00, and Everyday at 24:00. The "Send Overdue Notices" job has scheduling options of Not Scheduled, Everyday at 03:00, Everyday at 05:00, or Everyday at 23:00.
Needless to say, these are not ideal time for our users to be receiving text messages on their phones. We would like to see more scheduling options during regular…
64 votesDear Customers,
The Alma scheduler for this job was improved and already supports much more flexibility and scheduling options, see attached picture.
Thanks,
The Alma Team
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Make fine/fee types editable
Our library has many unique types of fines/fees, AND many of the fine and fee types in Alma's FineFeeTypeDefinition's Description table do not apply to us. Rather than providing customers with a fixed list, why not create an editable table of Manual Fine and Fee Types, similar to the Reasons for Transactions table that controls options for waiving fines?
50 votesHi,
Please note that the list of fee types can be updated by Ex Libris support, which can add up to 10 institution defined fee types.
Moshe
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Notify libraries when e-mailed notices bounce
I just discovered an e-mail address for an internal patron (non-student) was entered incorrectly, so the patron could not possibly have received any of the overdue notices that were sent to her. If the the person who handle bills and overdues or someone at the library could receive notification when an e-mail sent out through Alma bounces, a problem of this sort could be rectified quickly. If I had not stumbled across the error, the patron might never have been notified about her overdue book.
31 votesDear Customers,
This request is already supported, there are instructions in the OLH explaining how bounced emails can be handled.
Check out - “Configuring the From and EnvelopeFrom Addresses for Outgoing Email”:
Best Regards,
Uri Beladev,
Product Manager, Platform Infrastructure
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Display Logic by Location
At this time you can only hide Resource Sharing Requests by Availability, Ownership, or User Groups with Display Logic. But there are times when we need to hide the Resource Sharing Requests for a location when the item is still Available.
30 votesHi,
There are two options you may consider.
1. The display logic rules hide resource sharing requests when there are available copies. However, if the location of the available items has a ‘unavailable’ type then Alma will consider the items unavailable for this rule, even though they are on shelf.
The location ‘type’ is an attribute of the physical location.
2. As mentioned in my comment, you can define general electronic requests that can help hide the resource sharing link depending on item locations. For example, assume you have a ‘Laptops’ location, and you do not want a resource sharing link to show up when searching items of this location. You can:
1. Define a dummy General Electronic Service that will show when the location is ‘laptops’.
2. Define a Display Logic Rule that hides the resource sharing link when the above mentioned service exists (i.e. when the location is… -
Add column to Patron service on the Loan-tab which shows that the item has been requested by another user
Our fulfillment department often gets phone calls of patrons who do not understand why their loan can not be renewed. Now we have to click the View queue in Actions to check this, but it would be much more convenient to see in a blink of an eye that there are requests immediately on the loan tab.
25 votesTwo columns in the Manage Patron Services page display the most recent status and date for the item if any renewal has been attempted. See https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/0099_2017/100_March_2017/Alma_March_2017_Release_Notes/04Fulfillment_-_March_2017_Enhancements#Renewal_Enhancements_in_Manage_Patron_Services
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Pop up note for item with a status
I would like to see a pop up note when an item is in Missing status. We add additional notes in Statistical fields to track missing items. It would be good to be able to clear those at the point of scan in instead of having to investigate. In fulfillment you don't know if you scanned in a "missing" item.
17 votesDear Alma users,
Currently when an item that has a process type “missing” is scanned in, Alma prompts a pop-up message stating that “Item’s missing status was removed, barcode xxxxxxxxxx” (see attachment for example).I believe this answers the need you raised: “In fulfillment you don’t know if you scanned in a “missing” item.”
If for some reason you do not see this message when scanning an item that has a process type “missing”, please submit a Salesforce case.
Thanks,
Noam Fass | Alma product management -
Default pickup location in direct requesting
In Direct Requesting, have the default pickup location be the PATRON'S home library OR have the default be BLANK. Right now, the default is the ITEM'S location. If the default is accepted, the patron may have to travel some distance to pick up the item.
16 votesSee July 2017 Release Notes -
“A new customer parameter, ful_network_default_pickup_inst, controls the initial value of the pickup institution field in a fulfillment network request form.
*If the parameter’s value is set to blank, the initial value of the pickup institution is blank.
*If the parameter’s value is set to patron, the initial value is set to the patron’s institution, meaning that linked account users will show the patron’s source institution.
*If the parameter’s value is set to local, the initial value is set to the local institution, as it has been in the past. This is the default."
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automatically remove lost item fees at discharge
When a lost item is returned and discharged, by definition it no longer requires replacement, so all replacement costs (except overdue fine) should be automatically deleted from the patron's record. It looks like we have to do that manually now, which is unnecessary and time-consuming.
14 votes -
Booking requests such as a Study room request should be canceled automatically after more than booking release time if it is not loaned
In this document: https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Product_Documentation/010Alma_Online_Help_(English)/030Fulfillment/080Configuring_Fulfillment/050Physical_Fulfillment#fulfillment.tou.termsOfUseManagement
Is indicated that if the booking release time passes and the requesting patron does not loan the resource, the booking request is still in effect but the resource can be loaned to another patron.
It would be very useful if the booking request, for example study room request, were canceled automatically after more than booking release time if it is not loaned. So we should not be pending to cancel them manually if it is not occupied.
Thanks in advanced!11 votesThe Handle Expired Booking Requests scheduled job considers all expired booking requests that are not in Failed, Rejected, or Completed statuses and cancels each request that meets the criteria. The job also anonymizes the request according to the institution’s request anonymization configuration.
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History of Transactions
After a transaction (checking out/in material) has been performed, is it possible to access that transaction? There have been numerous occasions where this would be beneficial. This will allow us to access patrons records where information was not written down, but needed, in order to clear a hold or other restrictions that had been placed on their account.
5 votes -
Add a column on the User Details display under the User Roles section that contains the Expiry Date for each role
An additional column that includes the Expiry Date for the listed role would be useful when working with groups that expire at various times as happens with emeriti at universities. I am sure that public libraries would also find this useful as their patrons expire at many different times so they would be looking at the expiration data for roles for users much more often.
The addition of a column that shows the Expiry Date for a role would make finding the expiration date take one fewer click.
This enhancement would also make monitoring of temporary roles that are given…4 votesHi,
This column is not in the user roles by default, but can be added, see https://www.screencast.com/t/GGdVWztYxCN
Thanks,
Moshe -
Alma automatically logs off too frequently for our busy front desk. Would like a way to stay logged on for our entire shift.
If there is a way to set the frequency of Alma automatically logging us off, we have not discovered it. We have a busy front desk and are using Alma for student fulfillment duties for up to 10 hours per day. Many times we turn back to the computer to complete a transaction only to find that we have been logged off and need to log back into Alma.
3 votesAs noted in the comments, there is a parameter for controlling the Alma timeout (see https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Knowledge_Articles/Timeout_in_Alma) and a parameter for controlling the circulation desk timeout (see https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Knowledge_Articles/Timeout_in_Alma_-_Circulation_Desk)
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Add a copy (bcc) to the library when cancel request
When a cancellation is made, a message is sent to the user notifying them, but a copy of this message does not reach any of the libraries involved. I suggest adding a BCC for the library.
3 votesHI,
It is possible to send system emails with blind carbon copies (BCC) for any preconfigured email address. All letter tables will contain the new field, bcc_address. This can be used to send copies of letters to the relevant library’s email address.
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Calendar Details Accessible to Circulation Desk Managers
To configure a library calendar (Adding/Editing Calendar Details), one must have the Fulfillment Administrator or the General System Administrator role. Those roles are often given to very few people within an institution.
Modifying the calendar details of an institution or library and configuring the hours during which the institution/library is open or closed must be done on a regular basis. We find it would be much easier if the "Calendar management" tab could also be edited by Circulation Desk Managers, and not only by Administrators. This would give more flexibility to the library and allow its staff to directly manage…2 votes -
Configurable display text for Reasons for Nonrenewable Loans
In the Aug 2019 release Display Reasons for Nonrenewable Loans were introduced.
However, the text for these are not configurable.
This means long technical reasons are being presented to end users.
We would like the ability to add display text for non-reasonable resources to be used here. This would enable us to present a clear and concise message to our users.2 votesDear Amelia,
Thanks for submitting this idea.
Alma does support the customization for the labels presenting the reasons for nonrenewable Loans, you can find the option to customize these labels under Configuration menu → Fulfillment → Discovery Interface Display Logic → LabelsThanks,
Noam Fass | Alma product management -
Could there be a system alert when you mistakenly record a loan while it is already registered on another patroon account ?
We want to confirm when we record a loan to a patron while the item is already on loan on another patron account.
2 votes -
Anonymize loans and request older than X
Hi there,
We need to access the recent history of patron loans and requests. For example, when a patron returns an item and there is damage found afterwards or something is missing, we contact the last patron to know what happened.
This way we can resolve about 80% of such cases.But by law, we are bound to anonymize loans and requests older than a year. We don't have this possibility in Alma.
It would be great to add a parameter in the configuration interface in order to anonymize all loans or requests completed before [date].
2 votesPlease note the ‘Loan Anonymization Rules’ configuration option, found under the Fulfillment Configuration. This option allows to set under what conditions loans will be anonymized, including the ‘Days Since Loan Ended’ or the ‘Number of Loans to Retain’.
These rules are especially required for loans, in order to be able to retain history information that is required for inventory management, for example if item is lost ordamaged. The rules are less of an issue for requests history.
Thanks,
Moshe -
Overdue block equals to the number of total overdue days of all book
In Alma, we have overdue block for users who overdue books since 2015 November release. But, I need more option for overdue block: overdue block should be "ACCUMULATED". I want to create overdue block which is same to the number of total late days of all overdue book.
For example, when a user returns items, and if the user has two overdue items - one is 5 days overdue. and the other 10 days overdue.
The user will be blocked from loaning forward for 15 days. After 15 days, he/she will be automatically released.
(with current overdue block system in…2 votesHi,
Accumulative blocks are supported. See https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/01_2016/December_2016/Alma_December_2016_Release_Notes/04Fulfillment_-_December_2016_Enhancements#Enhancements_to_Block_When_Overdue_Policy
Regards,
Moshe -
Default of "partial" for Digitization Request Form
We primarily get digitization requests for book chapters or journal articles. We would like to have the option to set the Digitization Request Form so that it by default opens with the "partial" box checked. this would simplify requests for patrons and make the workflow less inefficient due to "bad" requests.
1 vote -
Extend or allow one to be able to extend the time it takes to time-out when on the Manage Patron Services screen.
Please extend or allow one customise their own time-out settings for the Manage Patron Services screen.
Gets on my nerves when I'm in the middle of composing an email to a Patron about their loans and I have to keep bringing up their account because it goes back to the search screen.
I need more time if I'm dealing with: fines, loan history, and making notes on an account, whilst trying to communicate what I'm doing.
1 voteCirculation desk timeout is configurable, see https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Knowledge_Articles/Timeout_in_Alma_-_Circulation_Desk
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