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Copy POL data to new POL with different order line type

We still experience issues when a POL is created with the 'wrong' POL type / inventory type (e.g., a print POL is created but e-inventory needs to be attached) - these 'incorrect' POLs must be deleted and recreated manually. There are other ideas out there to make POL types and architecture more flexible, such as this one:

https://ideas.exlibrisgroup.com/forums/308173-alma/suggestions/10634154-allow-linking-po-lines-to-electronic-inventory-reg

and Ex Libris has done some work on this, e.g.:

https://ideas.exlibrisgroup.com/forums/308173-alma/suggestions/13876698-ability-to-change-purchase-type-order-line-type

In the comments of that request, Ex Libris indicates that allowing the kind of flexibility to 'change' a POL order line type - or attach different types of inventory to it - would cause database conflicts.

If that is still the case, one other possible way of saving manual effort when an incorrect POL type is used on a POL is to enable a one-click 'copy to new POL' function that copies all of the data from an existing POL that is common to all POLs - vendor, price, fund, notes, etc. - and puts it into a new POL, but allows you to change the POL type for the copied POL. So you could copy your physical one-time POL data to an electronic one-time POL, and delete the physical POL if necessary.

This would solve a couple of different use cases:
-Fixing migration issues (especially if you could run in batch, e.g., take all of these physical one-time POLs and make new POLs out of their data that are electronic one-time POLs)
-Fixing an error made during the ordering process (e.g., a print POL type was created and data filled out, but the inventory actually turned out to be electronic instead of print)

Thanks for considering!

We still experience issues when a POL is created with the 'wrong' POL type / inventory type (e.g., a print POL is created but e-inventory needs to be attached) - these 'incorrect' POLs must be deleted and recreated manually. There are other ideas out there to make POL types and architecture more flexible, such as this one:

https://ideas.exlibrisgroup.com/forums/308173-alma/suggestions/10634154-allow-linking-po-lines-to-electronic-inventory-reg

and Ex Libris has done some work on this, e.g.:

https://ideas.exlibrisgroup.com/forums/308173-alma/suggestions/13876698-ability-to-change-purchase-type-order-line-type

In the comments of that request, Ex Libris indicates that allowing the kind of flexibility to 'change' a POL order line type - or attach different types of inventory to it…

20 votes

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1 comment · Acquisition - PO & POLine · Delete… · Admin →

Completed · AdminNoam Fass (Product Manager, Ex Libris) responded

Dear colleagues,
I would like to drew your attention to a new Alma Cloud App “Switch PO-Line type” which address the need presented here, please read the following documentation:

https://developers.exlibrisgroup.com/appcenter/switch-po-line-type/

Noam Fass | Alma product management team
Allow the system to change formats for example Physical One time to Electronic One-time and vice versa.

At the moment when you have created an order for a physical book, but then want to accept the e-book instead, the system does not allow you to change the format as it expects you to follow the workflow of the format you ordered in the first place.

118 votes

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4 comments · Acquisition - PO & POLine · Delete… · Admin →

Completed · AdminLiza Voloshin (Product Owner, Alma Resource Management, Ex Libris) responded

Dear community,
Changing PO lines type to a different inventory and continuity is now supported in Alma, starting from February 2025 release.
Read more in the Alma Release Notes
Change currency in the order

In the order the currency can not changed when the order is saved already. See attachment too, please.

We need a possibility to change the currency after sending the order. Here are the reasons:

a) During the order creation it was made a mistake.
b) For subscriptions and standing orders the currency changes during the lifecycle. First we used British pound and than we use Euro, for example. The vendor changes the currency and we also have to be able to change that.
- Currency_can_not_changed.docx 85 KB
228 votes

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6 comments · Acquisition - PO & POLine · Delete… · Admin →

Completed · AdminErez Shabo (Product Manager, Ex Libris) responded

Now in Alma users can change the currency after the PO line is packed. For more information see Changing Currency in PO Lines and Manually Creating a PO Line.
Automatic orders claiming

At the moment Alma only sends one claim request to the vendor. If the ordered item is still not received, staff need to follow up and re-claim manually; usually a number of times.

We would like to see claim cycle functionality in Alma so that we can configure follow-up claims based on a set interval per vendor, as well as a maximum number of claims to be sent before the order is automatically cancelled and the vendor automatically notified. It would also be useful to be able to see the history of claims for an order, and be able to report on this for vendor performance monitoring.

At the moment Alma only sends one claim request to the vendor. If the ordered item is still not received, staff need to follow up and re-claim manually; usually a number of times.

We would like to see claim cycle functionality in Alma so that we can configure follow-up claims based on a set interval per vendor, as well as a maximum number of claims to be sent before the order is automatically cancelled and the vendor automatically notified. It would also be useful to be able to see the history of claims for an order, and be able to…

130 votes

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4 comments · Acquisition - PO & POLine · Delete… · Admin →

Completed · AdminTamar Fuches (Alma product manager, Ex Libris) responded

Dear community,

As described in a comment below, In December 2019 Alma introduced the Reclaim functionality which is set to address the need described in this idea. See https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Product_Documentation/010Alma_Online_Help_(English)/020Acquisitions/050Purchasing/Receiving_Material/Processing_Claims for more details.

The concept of limiting the number of reclaims sent before canceling the order was not added as part of this enhancement, it is recommended to open a new dedicated idea exchange to validate the need and see that the community supports this.

Thanks,

Tamar Fuches

Alma product team
Better correspondence between number of items ordered and Quantity for pricing.

As a Purchasing operator, I would like a better correspondence between the number of items ordered and the "Quantity for pricing" in the PO line summary.

When we are ordering more than one item of a physical title, we have to add the extra items in the Quick add field, and then have to update the Quantity for pricing field manually. We see that Purchasing operators tend to forget to update both fields. The result is that the number of items that we intended to order, not always corresponds with the number of items that is supplied by our vendors. This causes a lot of extra work for the Receiving operators. The best thing would be if Quantity for pricing were updated automatically when we added new items. If this is not possible, it would help a lot if we could get a warning or a confirmation message when the number of items differs from the number in the Quantity for pricing field.

As a Purchasing operator, I would like a better correspondence between the number of items ordered and the "Quantity for pricing" in the PO line summary.

When we are ordering more than one item of a physical title, we have to add the extra items in the Quick add field, and then have to update the Quantity for pricing field manually. We see that Purchasing operators tend to forget to update both fields. The result is that the number of items that we intended to order, not always corresponds with the number of items that is supplied by our vendors.…

245 votes

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4 comments · Acquisition - PO & POLine · Delete… · Admin →

Completed · Dana Moshkovits responded

Completed as part of Alma February release Enhancements to the PO Line Pricing Section

For more information please see Release Notes