Alma Q&A and Chat Transcript 2/2/17
- brandon dudley (Unlicensed)
- Mallory DeBartolo (Unlicensed)
2/2/17: Letters & Notices
Scenario 3: How does the editing process work for letters? How do you get a copy of a specific letter to see how it looks? with Scenario 2: Demonstrate what would happen if a resource sharing request cannot be filled - what does that look like as far as the notification that's sent out?
- Customizing Text Elements / Label
- Administration > General Configuration > Configuration Menu > General Configuration > Letter Emails
- Actions → Edit on the letter that you want to change
- Open Footer..xsl
- You can customize the email addresses (or URL) to which the Contact Us and My Accountlinks are directed by modifying the parameter values of the email_my_account and email_contact_us parameter keys in the General Customer Parameters mapping table (Administration > General Configuration > Configuration Menu > Other Settings).
- Customizing Look & Feel of Letters
- Administration > General Configuration > Configuration Menu > General Configuration > Customize Letters
- Note that other XSL template are calleds (e.g. Sender/Receiver and MailReason) that can be used to drill down to the specific point of customization
- Note @@variable@@ which indicates that data is pulled from the text elements & labels area
- Administration > General Configuration > Configuration Menu > General Configuration > Customize Letters
- To get a copy of a specific letter to see how it looks:
- Two options:
- Easy – do an activity in Alma that causes the email to be sent to your email address
- Not as easy:
- Navigate to Administration > General Configuration > Configuration Menu > General Configuration > XML To Letter Admin
- Select a letter administrator from the dropdown and then select the letter for which you want to receive the XML
- Do an activity in Alma that would generate the letter (Example: Cancel a RS request)
- You can also utilize the XML of letters found on the Developers Network
- See helpful links below
- Save the XML, navigate to Administration > General Configuration > Configuration Menu > General Configuration > Notification Template and upload the XML that was sent, choose whether to receive in email or view in browser
Scenario 1: We want to set up automatic renewals for people. However, we are aware that a notice is not sent out when something auto renews. Is there an alternative to auto renew notices that we can use?
- Not currently, but there is an active idea on the Idea Exchange on this very topic: http://ideas.exlibrisgroup.com/forums/308173-alma/suggestions/12846096-fulfillment-automatic-renewal-notices-email-let
Scenario 4: How to find out if a letter has been sent? For instance, if a patron claims they never received the letter in their email, but we can get a report saying that it did send to them.
- Search for a user in Find & Manage Users, navigate to attachments tab
Scenario 5: our library allows self pick up of holds. Normally we have a receipt that is generated to put in the book so that the person can find their name and pick up their items. We know that we can't format our pull slips to look like the receipts we are currently putting in these held items, what does Ex Libris suggest as an alternative to this?
- To format the Resource Request Slip letter for receipt printers, reach out to Alma-L
Other Questions
We want to send a notice when an item is 7 days overdue, 14 days overdue, 21 days overdue – however the wording could be the same. Just that the items is overdue and what the due date is. Do we need to use 3 separate overdue notification letters (i.e. overdue notification 1, overdue notification 2, overdue notification 3) or can we just use overdue notification 1 for all 3 notices and set them to trigger at the different times?
- If the wording is the same, you would use overdue notification 1 for all 3 notices and use the profiles to trigger them at the specific intervals
Our community users accrue overdue fines but students and staff do not. Can we use the same overdue notification letter with an if … when … statement that will use a different line of text depending on the user group?
- The data will display according to what the user is charged
Similarly, when items are billed to lost. Students need an added line of text that we have placed an academic hold on their account. Can we use if … when … statements to give different text for patron types or do we need to use totally different letters?
- You could use an xsl if statement to test for a specific user group code – I’d recommend reaching out to the Notices task force or Alma-L for assistance
Can we set a “coming due” reminder 2 days before item due? I don’t see it on the overdue/lost profile page. What if the item doesn’t autorenew – is a notice sent? What notice is it?
- Courtesy notice, configured at Fulfillment > Fulfillment Configuration > Configuration Menu > General > Fulfillment Jobs Configuration.
I’ve been told that no notices are sent to patrons when their materials successfully autorenew, but I see automatic renewal as loan status in the overdue and lost loan profile record configuration—can that be used to send autorenewal success notice?
- Possibly – I would recommend testing this to be sure
- Also reach out to Alma-L for other workarounds that institutions have implemented
I’m wondering do we have 5 notification letters total for the whole system or 5 for each fulfillment unit?
- 5 overdue / lost loan profiles for each institution
Is it better to use separate notifications for each scenario or use if … when … statements which will allow us to consolidate letters.
- Depends on what you are trying to accomplish and your comfort with XSL coding
Helpful Links:
https://developers.exlibrisgroup.com/blog/Alma-letters-XML-samples-for-working-on-XSL-customization
Chat Transcript
from Fresno State to Everyone:
Can it be increased?
from Fresno State to Everyone:
Ok. That looks great
from Laura (Sonoma) to Everyone:
Does it have to be just an email address or an email URL?
from Laura (Sonoma) to Everyone:
So the coding will work for an email with having to say mailto: at the beginning. Great. :-)
from Megan Drake to Everyone:
kind of out of the blue but is there a way to generate a letter to see what it looks like without having to create the letter situation (like an overdue for example)
from Christina (CSUCI) to Everyone:
thx megan
from Christina (CSUCI) to Everyone:
:)\
from Christina (CSUCI) to Everyone:
okay so that scenario is fairly easy to create
from Christina (CSUCI) to Everyone:
you're scaring me!
from Cal Poly SLO to Everyone:
we came in late today, where was that documentation sent/posted?
from Natasha Allen (privately):
Does it have everything? Last time we checked it didn't have every letter.
from Natasha Allen to Everyone:
Does it have everything? Last time we checked it didn't have every letter.
from Christina (CSUCI) to Everyone:
humm... so what i'm wanting is to show the letter itself not the xml
from Christina (CSUCI) to Everyone:
to show to our circ folks
from Natasha Allen to Everyone:
ok sounds good
from Christina (CSUCI) to Everyone:
yup
from CSUN to Everyone:
Where can we change the Dear Sir/Madam?
from CSUN to Everyone:
thank you
from Christina (CSUCI) to Everyone:
oh i want to call ppl sir/madam ;)
from Cal Poly SLO to Everyone:
how can we eliminate the sir/madam salutation line all together?
from Christina (CSUCI) to Everyone:
dammit!! i thought i got away from xsl when we moved away from tomcat webvoy!!!
from humboldt (privately):
xsl is inescapable Christina!
from humboldt to Everyone:
xsl is inescapable Christina!
from Christina (CSUCI) to Everyone:
starbucks barista???
from Christina (CSUCI) to Everyone:
;)
from David Walker (privately):
everyone send their XSLT questions to Christina
from humboldt to Everyone:
is blank workable
from humboldt to Everyone:
for dear Sir/Madman
from Natasha Allen to Everyone:
is there a way to comment out a line without deleting?
from Natasha Allen to Everyone:
i am as well. ;)
from humboldt to Everyone:
<!-- comments are good -->
from Cal Poly SLO to Everyone:
can we just disable the salutation for letters rather than changing the code?
from Laura (Sonoma) to Everyone:
The   is a non-breaking space. The numeric entity reference for
from Mark B. (Los Angeles) to Everyone:
So...many comments help explain (I learned that in the Load Profile work in Millennium)...just be as clear as you can...
from David Walker (privately):
Laura raises a good point -- character references like have to be declared in the document, whereas you can always use the numeric reference.
from Mark B. (Los Angeles) to Everyone:
Very good point, Dolph.
from David Walker (privately):
.. use the numeric reference without having to declare it
from Bin - Sacramento (privately):
Can you have nested comments?
from David Walker (privately):
no, you can't
from humboldt to Everyone:
no reason to comment in comments
from Cal Poly SLO to Everyone:
thanks.
from Cal Poly SLO to Everyone:
we came in late today, where was that documentation sent/posted?
from Mark B. (Los Angeles) to Everyone:
Megan: Does removal of the components (such as 'greetings') eventually affect the display (i.e., does the 'print' via email look odd if I've removed some of these pieces)
from Mark B. (Los Angeles) to Everyone:
Many thanks,!
from Christina (CSUCI) to Everyone:
in our spare time you know
from Natasha Allen to Everyone:
oh that is so nice
from Mark B (Los Angeles) to Everyone:
Does this record bounced email?
from Cal Poly SLO to Everyone:
can circ desk operator limited see this?
from Mark B (Los Angeles) to Everyone:
Thank you
from Fresno State to Everyone:
How much history is kept for the notices in the patron's account?
from Natasha Allen to Everyone:
we could at least view their email to find out if it's the correct email
from SFSU (privately):
Can letters be sent by SMS?
from Dolph Chaney to Everyone:
from SFSU: Can letters be sent by SMS?
from Cal Poly SLO to Everyone:
thanks.
from Natasha Allen to Everyone:
can the notices be removed?
from Natasha Allen to Everyone:
in bulk?
from Natasha Allen to Everyone:
no problem, just curious. :-)
from Natasha Allen to Everyone:
thank you
from CSUN to Everyone:
From the alma-l list serv: "Dear Colleagues,
Following a recent conversation on the list we would like to update you that we are currently developing functionality that will automatically remove -on a daily basis - notifications that are attached to user records. This feature will make use of an institution level configurable table, allowing each institution to define a retention period for every type of attachment that needs to be purged. Alma will automatically remove these attachments as per the retention period defined in this table.
This feature is currently being developed, targeted for the May Release.
Alma Product Management
"
from SFSU to Everyone:
thanks
from David Walker to Everyone:
Belated XSLT question: Let's say you forget to close a tag or mistype an xsl directive or make some other mistake that render the XSLT invalid. How can we see error messages to troubleshoot those?
from David Walker to Everyone:
but the mistake will show up as a malformed email basically?
from David Walker to Everyone:
cool
from Natasha Allen to Everyone:
so we just put in the receipt inside the slip and it has the patron's name on it so they can go find their item on the shelf under their name
from Natasha Allen to Everyone:
inside the book**
from Natasha Allen to Everyone:
sorry
from Natasha Allen to Everyone:
it's a tiny receipt as opposed a huge 8.5x11 page
from Christina (CSUCI) to Everyone:
bless you!
from Christina (CSUCI) to Everyone:
i have a question for dolph but unrelated to notices, etc
from Christina (CSUCI) to Everyone:
bwahaha
from Christina (CSUCI) to Everyone:
no it's on the health check list
from Christina (CSUCI) to Everyone:
when are you wanting it?
from Christina (CSUCI) to Everyone:
for real
from Christina (CSUCI) to Everyone:
sorry yes i'm sure
from Christina (CSUCI) to Everyone:
thx
from Christina (CSUCI) to Everyone:
that's good
from Christina (CSUCI) to Everyone:
thx megan
from CSUN to Everyone:
thank you
from Christina (CSUCI) to Everyone:
i know this is sad
from David Walker to Everyone:
XSLT is awesome!!!!!
from Christina (CSUCI) to Everyone:
lol
from Christina (CSUCI) to Everyone:
indeed
from A Hor to Everyone:
thanks
from humboldt to Everyone:
<!-- Thanks all --> xsl will never let you go
from Mark B (Los Angeles) to Everyone:
Thank you Megan and Dolph, very much
from Natasha Allen to Everyone:
thank you!
from Janee Mason (HSU) to Everyone:
thanks
from Christina (CSUCI) to Everyone:
bye
from David Walker to Everyone:
thanks Megan, Dolph