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 fines created in error or that were from a different budget still end up coming out of the materials budget.)

This could be greatly improved by adding additional Credit types rather than just "Credit" (such as "Credit Overdue Fine" and "Credit Replacement Fee")

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 a disadvantage when a user asks them to provide a total amount owing on the spot. Likewise, patron facing Fines\Fees Notification and Borrowing Activity letters reflect the ‘active balance’ as stated in the Fines and Fees Summary, and leave out currently accruing fines for overdue and unpaid lost items.

We would like to propose that the Patron Services screen display a more complete ‘Active balance’ that reflects all amounts owing -- ie., applied fines from Fines & Fees tab + currently accruing overdue amounts. The ‘Active Balance’ should change daily as additional charges are accrued, paid or waived, etc. Supporting Fines/Fees Notification and Borrowing Activity letters should reflect this broader focus.

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 patron in a dispute, we would like to be able to attach a note to the specific fine stating the reason the fine isn't being waived (e.g. the remote was left in the room and our staff found it at the end of the day). This leaves inboxes clear, removes any need to go digging through old emails, and creates access for new staff and student workers who may onboard after the original email.

We need the ability to notify patrons at the point that fines are assessed on their library accounts. Some libraries use the Borrowing Activity Letter for this purpose, but we find that this approach causes confusion for our library patrons. The solution to these problems is to send a letter when fines are actually assessed on user accounts. The letter would be triggered either by the renewal of items resulting in fines or by the return of items resulting in fines. The existing Return Receipt Letter contains all the necessary data elements for this purpose. We request a similar letter that can optionally be configured so that it will be triggered any time a fine is assessed on an account. This would occur when overdue items are scanned in via “Scan In Items” or “Return Items” as well as in the Returns tab of the patron account. It would also occur when items are renewed.

Confusion: The Borrowing Activity Letter is received too far away in time (in our case, once per month) from the assessed fine. Oftentimes, patrons are confused by the fact that they are being notified of fines because time has passed since the fines were actually assessed. It would be better to send this portion of the letter as fines are actually assessed. Further, the statement of fines on the Borrowing Activity Letter is misleading. This statement tells the patron that a fine is currently accruing (meaning that it could be different tomorrow!). We need a statement that informs the patron once a fine has been assessed (and is therefore a stable reckoning of their account). Ex: On Tuesday, student receives notification that they have an overdue item with $7.00 in fines currently accruing. When the student brings back the item on Wednesday, they will have accrued $7.50 in fines. Wednesday evening, the $7.50 assessed fine will be exported to Bursar. (This is the information that the student needs to receive.) On Thursday, the student's Primo account will say that they have $0.00 in "Active" fines.

The solution to these problems is to send a letter when fines are actually assessed on user accounts. The letter would be triggered either by the renewal of items resulting in fines or by the return of items resulting in fines. The existing Return Receipt Letter contains all the necessary data elements for this purpose. We request a similar letter that can optionally be configured so that it will be triggered any time a fine is assessed on an account. This would occur when overdue items are scanned in via “Scan In Items” or “Return Items” as well as in the Returns tab of the patron account. It would also occur when items are renewed.

Feature Requested:
The auto-waive functionality upon item return and ability to set the % to be refunded are wonderful features. To fully meet our needs though we need the % refunded to change after x period of time to a different % to be refunded.

One possible solution could be to add a parameter that could be set to specify a time limit threshold for auto-waiving of replacement fees of a lost item upon return.

Use Case:
After a physical item has been lost for a year we have already bought a replacement and do not want to refund the replacement fee. However prior to a year if the patron returns said item we will honor the action and refund them.