2020-12-14 Resource Access Meeting Notes
Date
Attendees
Christine Tobias
Discussion Items
| Time | Item | Who | Description | Goals/Info |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2min | Administrivia |
| ||
| 30Min | Automated transfer of fees/fines | Holly Mistlebauer | Review and approve draft mock-up of transfer criteria page (see https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EQ7FRvzc_dsbnMxB9dYf-kv-7zMf_0YIiNB0fUmspZM/edit?usp=sharing) for feature UXPROD-105 (Automated Transfer of fees/fines to bursar or other account). | |
Meeting Outcomes
Functional Area | Product Owner | Planned Release (if known) | Decision Reached | Reasoning | Link to supporting materials | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| e.g. loans, fees/fines | Name | e.g. Q4 2018, Q1 2019 | Clearly stated decision |
| e.g. mock-up, JIRA issue | |
Notes
Holly discussed the process for transferring fees / fines as shown in the link listed above. The different fee/fine owners can set up their own lists of who the fees/fines can be transferred to, such as the bursar, or the state income tax office, or a collection agency, etc.
The top of the page of the mock-up shows the criteria that determines what will be transferred, and the bottom of the page has the configurable scheduling of the runs. There will also be a separate place for showing the scheduled runs that have been set up.
There is an option to have the database be updated or not after the run. You can choose to not have the database update in order to see what happens, as a test run.
Criteria of what to transfer includes patron groups, such as undergraduates, etc. It is possible to select multiple patron groups. It may be helpful to also have an 'All patron groups' option as well. Holly added that the transferring of fees/fines for an individual patron has already been done. Currently credits need to be transferred manually.
The fee/fine owner is not multi-selectable because different fee/fine owners can have different lists of places to transfer the fees to. It was brought up that sometimes one library does the work for another library, and in this case it might be nice if more than one fee/fine owner could be selected, but this is not an important feature.
Fee/fines to transfer can also be selected on the basis of the total amount of the fees/fines, or the amount of a single fee/fine.
Carsten mentioned that it would be good to have as a criteria the interval since the last activity of a patron, so that a patron who has not been active (no check-ins, check-outs, or fees paid) can have their fees transferred. Andrea added that expiration date needs to be another criteria. Expiration date criteria should allow the transfer of all fees/fines where there is an expiration date after a certain date – possibly a future date. This would allow libraries to transfer the fees/fines of all students who are about to / have graduated.
Brooks asked if there should be a way to transfer only certain types of fees/fines, such as only transferring fees of lost items, but not overdue fines. Some institutions do not require students to pay overdue fines in order to graduate, but do require lost item fees to be paid. Holly said that this would require a flag in the settings of fee/fine types to say whether this type of fee/fine is one that should be transferred or not. It was agreed that this feature may not be important to most places, and that this question could be put off until a later time.
The settings shown in the bottom of the screen of the mock-up allow for a one-time run or a regular schedule. For weekly scheduling, multiple days can be selected, such as Tuesdays and Thursdays, for example. The run will transfer fees/fines based on the criteria chosen in the top half of the screen. Different scheduled runs can be created, using different criteria and schedules. The various runs would be handled be a different plan.
The run would produce a generic file with all information that any institution may need (still to be determined). Then different libraries would format the file as desired before passing it on. Of course, if one institution has similar formatting needs as another, they could share the formatting code.
The transferring of fees/fines for a single individual can be done now in FOLIO, from the User interface screen. Either a single fee/fine can be selected for transfer, or multiple fees/fines can be selected from the fee/fine history. A comment is required when transferring. The fee/fine will be added to the next file that goes out.
Erin mentioned the importance of credits being transferred as soon as possible – such as in the case when a patron shows he/she did return an item that was billed. Holly said this is handled by Refunds in the Iris FOLIO release, and currently can only be done manually, as was deemed acceptable for now in a previous RA SIG meeting. Andrea said that credit transferring are at least as important as fee/fine transfers. UXPROD 2717 describes the work being done on this. Holly said that the work may be demo-able in the near future.
Holly will update the mock-up and get back to the RA SIG with it.
Jana asked if anyone has anything for the next meeting. The consensus was in favor of not meeting next Thursday, but Jana will let SIG members know tomorrow whether there will be a meeting on Thursday or not.
Happy holidays all, and best wishes for the new year!