Alma
Your feedback matters to us. Help us improve Alma by telling us what you’d like to see using the message areas below. You can also can support something already posted.
We would love to be able to respond to every idea that is submitted, but this is not feasible. We are, however, committed to responding to the most popular ideas—those that have received the most points.
For more information please review our FAQ and guidelines. Thank you.
40 results found
-
Allow Reinstatement of Fines/Fees
Fines are occasionally processed in error or you might need to reinstate a fine payment taken on someone's account. We would like the ability to reinstate fines that have previously been paid or waived.
178 votes -
Be able to edit comment field of an active fine or fee posted to a patron's account
Sometimes, when posting a fine or fee to an account, the barcode gets scanned before entering info into the comments field requiring the removal of the fine and then having to re-post it into the patron's account. Would like an edit option in the ellipses to be able to go back into the fine and edit the comments field.
148 votes -
Fines and Fees report Excel output is dumb
Okay, in what universe does having the Fines and Fees report output the money amounts as text make any sense?
It just adds extra steps if you want to work with it - first convert that text back into numbers, then format it as currency.
It should be exported that way to begin with.
127 votes -
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).
117 votes -
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.
107 votes -
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.
43 votes -
Ability to View Fines/Fees Transactions History from Fines/Fees Section of Patron Account
Currently the Fines/Fees tab of a patron's account shows current or historical fines and fees, and the user has to click on each individual fine to see whether it was paid, waived, etc. It would be helpful to have a Fines/Fees Transactions History in the patron account, where a user could easily view the history of all payments and waives performed on the account by date.
27 votes -
Limit fine/fee payment to specific library
One of our satellite libraries would like restrict payment of fines/fees for their materials to them -- we have separate accounting and budgets.
24 votes -
Fines and Fees - Overdue fines for item not to exceed cost of overdue item
The maximum fine parameter in Alma only offers a choice between no maximum fine or a specific dollar amount that applies to everything. Would like an additional parameter to limit overdue fines for an item from exceeding cost of overdue item.
24 votes -
Add Note Option for Fines/Fees
We have several short-loan items that our patrons check out, and these items often generate small fines that are difficult to track whether or not a fine is legitimate, or if there may have been operator error.
For example, we circulate study rooms where a student may check out the room key, and a box of white board markers or a television remote. If the student returns the room key and white board markers on time, but not the remote, it's difficult to tell if that's valid.
Solution: Rather than emailing all staff that may need to interact with that…
24 votes -
Online payment - Transaction ID optional
Actually, when choosing Online as payment method, the transaction ID is mandatory. We would like it to be optional, for our staff to be able to validate a payment without having to fill out this ID when on the circulation desk.
24 votes -
Allow Bulk Fine Waiving via a set of Fine Fee IDs
By state law we are not supposed to carry fines over 5 years old in our system. Currently dates do not enter into the Bulk Fine Waiving process in Alma. I need to waive fines that are older than a particular date.
I can generate a list of Fine Fee IDs matching my criteria to waive. I need to be able to bulk waive fines in a particular set of Fine Fee IDs. I have over 7000 needing to be waived already!
Thanks for your consideration.
16 votes -
Receipt for waived fees
Customers sometimes want a receipt for waived fees. Currently that's not possible within ALMA.
15 votes -
Further define credits for patron fines
Fines often get exported through Bursar before a patron disputes them. Our lost item replacement fees and overdue fines get funneled into different accounts. The vague description for "credit" does not give our system any way to determine which account the credit should be adjusted from. (For example: A lost item replacement fee charge ends up in our materials budget once sent to the Bursar. The majority of credits are for materials returned after they were billed, so this is our default credit account. Since all credits are just defined as a "credit" when exported to the Bursar, credits for…
15 votes -
Being able to locate fines or fees owed on an item from the item record.
This would be helpful for times when returned materials generate overdue fines that require removal or adjustment and when the staff person navigates away from the screen, the session is interrupted, or other circumstance when you need to verify if a particular item has a fine or fee attached to it.
(This was a very useful feature in Voyager.)
14 votes -
Dispute all or selected fines simultaneously
Allow a patron to dispute all or selected fines at once rather than having to dispute them individually on Alma, similar to waiving them.
14 votes -
Option to turn fines off for a period
Recently one of our library is trying to look at the stocks, hence, they have sent out an announcement for all patrons at the specific to return their loaned items and we informed them that their fines will be waived for that fine free period.
But after raising a Salesforce case, we realised that Alma could not turn off fines for a certain period.
Would an option to turn the fines on and off be appropriate to be added to Alma?
13 votes -
Anonymize fines by fine type and fine amount
Add parameters to be able to anonymize fines and fees by the type e.g. can anonymize overdue fines but not lost items.
and by fine amount e.g. could anonymze fines/fees under $10.10 votes -
Expand Scope of Active Balance
As new Alma users, we struggle with Alma’s use of the Fulfillment term ‘Active Balance.’ This is the balance owing that is displayed at the top of the Patron Services screen for each user. We find the term ‘Active Balance’ to be a bit of a misnomer because it only reflects fines/fees for closed transactions as listed under a patron’s Fines and Fees tab – leaving out currently accruing fines for overdue items (support case 00673063) and accruing fines for unpaid items declared lost (support case 00667631).
The current display puts front line circulation desk operators at a bit of…
8 votes -
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.
8 votes
- Don't see your idea?