2018 ELUNA Alma Enhancement Descriptions
Acquisitions
| RequestTitle | Description |
| Acquisitions: Licenses - ability to truly delete licenses(4222) | An operator can "delete" a license record by going to Actions --> Delete. However, the license record is not actually deleted; rather, it is given a status of deleted. Please make "deleted" mean "deleted". Impact: There are many reasons why you might wish to completely delete a license from the system: obsolescence, test records, oops records, reduce clutter. You can truly delete all other record types, so you should also be able to truly delete licenses. |
| Acquisitions: Provide ability to filter out deleted license records(4984) | Problem Statement: Prior to the November 2016 release, deleted license records did not show up when the Status of “All” was selected. Now, deleted license records show up when “All” is selected. Although this is logical (All = All), there is no way to filter out deleted license records. We request that an additional Status facet be added: “All (except deleted)” that would allow us to facet license records in the same way that you may facet POLs by selecting “All (except closed)”. SFC# reference: 359593 |
| Acquisitions: EDI Invoices will successfully bill on closed PO lines(5001) | EDI Invoices will successfully bill on closed PO lines. We thought this was a bug in Alma (SF case 206190) but Ex Libris support says to add an alert that the EDI Invoice is trying to bill a closed PO Line is an enhancement. |
| Acquisitions: Enhanced order record set parameters(5019) | Creating and using Acquisitions sets is somewhat limited. Sometimes relevant sets can only be created using the Resource Management sets but then 'Update PO line information' job cannot be run. In some cases, exporting a report from Analytics and then loading it as an itemized set into Alma does not work. Or takes time to pull together an Analytics report and then upload to process as an itemized set. Proposed solution: Allow acquisition, item and bib level criteria be used to create sets for the 'Update PO line information' job or run POL jobs on Resource Management sets with more useful results with bib, holding, and item information. Important fields for consideration include: Ability to search sent date and receiving dates by range of dates, date is greater than or equal to, and date is less than or equal to; POL type; Material type; Receiving notes (by begins with, has, equals, and ends with); and Reporting code. |
| Acquisitions: Allow direct navigation from PO numbers to "Create Invoice"(5027) | After manually creating a PO or finding a PO (by clicking on "More info", then clicking on "Orders"), staff must currently cut and paste the PO number, go to the Alma drop-down menu, choose "Create Invoice", select "From PO", then paste the number into the first page of the form. This can require a lot of extra time and clicks as this needs to be done with each invoice-- particularly an issue when large orders come trickling in, each with separate invoices. Solution: Add a link from the POL that will take the user to the "Create Invoice" page. |
| Portfolios in an electronic collection/package should inherit data displays from the collection's service(5054) | While portfolios that are part of an electronic collection/package inherit the properties that are set at the service level, those inherited properties do not display in Alma in the individual portfolios. For example, the proxy value in the individual portfolios will always display in Alma as "No" even when the true value inherited from the electronic collection's service is "Yes." Similarly, a public or authentication note entered at the electronic collection or service level does not cascade down to the individual portfolio display in Alma either. Currently, the only service level information that appears in a portfolio is the Service Parse Params. Request: Data elements that are set at an electronic collection's service level (specifically, proxy settings and public/authentication notes) should cascade down to the portfolio level display. Staff shouldn't have to check two places to see the correct setting. |
| Acquisitions: Currency check in PO(5149) | When creating PO to certain vendor with multiple PO lines in different currencies there is an error message preventing to create the PO. We need a way to convert the currency before the currency check to a single local currency. |
| Acquisitions: Have the unique invoice identifier number display when looking at invoice history housed within a POL line record's history(5287) | We would like to be able to have the unique invoice identifier number display when looking at invoice history housed within a POL line record's history. SalesForce Ticket ID: 00349610 |
| Acquisitions: Change overexpenditure rules to ignore account encumbrances(5290) | Currently overexpenditure rules take into account encumbrances. This shouldn't be the case. At present the overexpenditure limit rules are actually associatied with the available balance, which includes encumbrances. Overexpenditures, by definition, should not be associated with encumbrances in their calculation. |
| Acquisitions: Assertion will be triggered when the po line price (in institution's default currency) is reached.(5501) | It is suggested to convert PO line price to our institution's default currency, so it could be compared with the value which we set in the configuration (Acquisitions > Acquisitions Configuration > Configuration Menu > General > Other Settings), this request is similar as the new parameter "invoice_high_total_use_currency" under the September 2017 Release. https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/0099_2017/04_September_2017/Alma_September_2017_Release_Notes/01Acquisitions_-_September_2017_Enhancements |
| Acquisitions: A box "holdings" to tick on Electronic Portfolio Editor level(5507) | EXL advised us to tick to box "Cancellation restriction" in the POL to mark our journals holdings... even if the feature is at first not what it takes. Editors require libraries to maintain some subscriptions (holdings) and libraries have to make yearly inventory on these holdings. Our request : a "holdinds" box to tick to be configured on Electronic Portfolio Editor level. Issue raised in case #00471360 |
| Acquisitions: Invoicing (5549) | We have set an invoice review rule "reviewing is required" (see attached - 20171106_175237 invoice review rules.png) to avoid duplicate invoicing but it does not work. Vendor may provide a new invoice no. (262128A) for the same POLs (POL-7084, 7103) in error. We prefer to have a pop-up message when we are invoicing for the same POLs. Serial titles will be invoiced for the same POLs in multiple times. That's why we prefer "pop-up" alert. We have set a rule but the invoice 262128A could go to the next status "Ready to be paid" rather than "Review". Please find screen shots for reference. We are told that "In the documentation, the AssertionCode value of "Additional invoice lines are linked to the same PO line" is defined as when The invoice contains multiple invoice lines that are linked to the same PO line. This would therefore refer only to invoice lines within the same invoice that link to the same PO Line - and not across different invoices as in your example. We do require alert message to avoid duplicate payment. |
| Acquisitions: Change currency in the order(5552) | In the order the currency can not changed when the order is saved already. See attachment too, please. |
| Acquisitions: Automated order claiming(5553) | We need a solution for order claiming that works automatically for this for groups - one time orders - subscription orders - standing orders - online resource orders. |
| Acquisitions Module - Series information in Order List Report(5561) | Refer to Salesforce case #471344: Marc field 830 is the authority field for SERIES statement. We would like to extract MARC 830 (series information) for vendor for placing order. If MARC 830 is not available, MARC 440 will be extracted instead. We would like to set this priority. |
| Acquisitions module - Vendor account email (5564) | According to online help, we have set "true" for the parameter "acq_use_vendor_account_email", all our order list reports and order claim reports can be sent to their "Vendor Account's email contact" successfully (see attached email). https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Product_Documentation/Alma_Online_Help_(English)/Acquisitions/090Acquisitions_Infrastructure/010Managing_Vendors We found that Alma sent out the "Communications" by using the email in "Vendor's" rather than "Vendor's Account" when we claimed outstanding order manually. It did not happen to auto claim. Is it normal? Provided the clip (https://polyuit-my.sharepoint.com/personal/lbsiauw_polyu_edu_hk/_layouts/15/guestaccess.aspx?folderid=00b3e36f129654fc888516af4999ee1ed&authkey=ATHBCGw5Wfg7HqPsNLSQnzM&e=038dfec7ff054a1985ad9ca4c61c912a) for reference. |
| Acquisitions: New "Move to Department" option (5577) | We would like a new option called "Move to Department" in the Receiving workbench AND in the Scan in Items form." The new option would have the effect of marking the existing Acq process as Done, and putting the item(s) in transit to the next department. Currently, if a workflow involves moving something from the Acq department to another department, such as a central End Processing unit that handles multiple libraries, the receiving staff have to perform multiple time-consuming steps. They must 1) Receive 2) Search for Physical Item 3) Create new Work Order 4) Scan in item to mark as Done. The new option would allow for batch processing of new receipts, rather than handling each item separately, which reduces productivity. In the Scan in Items form, the new option "Move to Department" would allow staff to mark something as Done at the same time as putting it in-transit to another department. Currently, staff must first search for the item to create a new Work Order for the next department, and then Scan in the Item to mark it as done. The new option would simplify this process and improve productivity. |
| Acquisitions: Create warning when inventory/POLs are linked to a deleted license(5578) | When operators link inventory or a POL to a license record, no warning is given if the license record has been deleted (i.e., is in delete status). When the user attempts to link inventory or a POL to a deleted license, Alma should warn the user that the license status is Deleted. |
| In Fiscal Year Rollover, Fund Description and Fund Notes should be rolled over to the new Fund.(5585) | When we rollover our funds to a new fiscal year the fund description and fund notes in the old funds are not rolled over to the new funds. This is SalesForce case 185828. |
| Vendor Contacts (Contact People tab) are added as internal contacts in Alma(5588) | When you enter Vendor Contact Details in Alma (Contact People tab) the internal contact form is used and the vendor contacts are stored as internal contacts. This form is inappropriate for Vendor Information. It asks for non-applicable fields such as gender and birth date and there is nowhere to add important information such as the contact's name, title and company they are associated with, work phone number, cell number, fax number, etc. This is SalesForce case 4060. |
| Acquisitions: Funds' Initial Allocated Amount(5613) | Currently in Alma, the Initial Allocated Amount for an allocated fund is e.g. 1,000.00 ZAR. When an amount from this Initial Allocation e.g. 100.00 ZAR is transferred to another fund, the 100.00 ZAR gets deducted from the Initial Allocated Amount of 1,000.00 ZAR and is now displayed as 900.00 ZAR. In Aleph, the amount was transferred, yet the Allocated Amount remained the same, which is correct. When running reports on the Initial Allocated Amount in Alma, the adjusted 900.00 ZAR for the Initial Allocated Amount does not give a correct indication of the amount originally allocated from the institutional budget. |
| Acquisitions: Percentage load on vendor/order records(5614) | In Alma, on the Vendor Account Details, provision is made for Account discount percent. This works well, thank you. However, we have a need to load a percentage also, as was the case in Aleph, in order to cover postage, possible price increases, exchange rate depreciation, etc. We require the option on the vendor record as a default for all associated orders and to change it per individual order. |
| Load usage data: Create different symbols in Missing Data page to differentiate between technical errors and no recorded usage(5618) | In Alma, the Missing Data page (Acquisitions > Load Usage Data > Missing Data tab) is a summary page, which shows the activities of Alma SUSHI harvesting of electronic resources usage data by platforms and by months. A green check mark symbol against a platform in a certain month indicates the harvesting job was successful, whereas a red triangle symbol indicates there were errors. Currently, the red triangle symbol does not differentiate between technical errors (e.g. connection failure) and no recorded usage. This is undesirable. |
| Acquisitions: Notify receiver of Hold Items for Interested Users(5620) | Upon receipt of an item that contains an Interested User with the Hold Item checked can you please generate the same pop up notification generated for physical item requests. Currently within an order when the Hold Item box is ticked for an Interested User the patron physical item request is not placed for the item until after the item is received. This means that receiving staff do not get the pop up notification that the item has a user request at the time the item is received. We have found that we have to manually add the physical item request to ensure receiving staff notice that the item has a request on it. This is the same as the following item on the Ideas Exchange: https://ideas.exlibrisgroup.com/forums/308173-alma/suggestions/19943713-notify-receiver-of-hold-items |
| Acquisitions: More order type options for Additional Orders(5627) | We would like more order types to choose from when creating additional orders on a portfolio using the “Additional Order” button. Particularly, Electronic Book - One Time and Electronic Title - One Time. Currently there are only a limited number of order types available when creating an order via this method. This creates inefficiencies, because using the Additional Order button is the easiest, quickest and neatest way to create an additional order on a portfolio. |
| Acquisitions: Run Import Norm Rules before Portfolios Created(5642) | I would like to propose that during import norm rules are processed before portfolios are created in order to give as control over the portfolios. Perhaps this could be a setting on import profile so that each order is possible. |
| Acquisitions: Allow data from the POL notes to inform/be inherited by portfolio notes, much the way information from the POL informs physical inventory.(5652) | Allow data from the POL notes to inform/be inherited by portfolio notes, much the way information from the POL informs physical inventory |
| Streamlining the identification and deletion of disused financial information(5654) | As per our retention schedule: Accounts Payable Records Invoice Payable Records Records document a department's expenditures and purchases. The series may also be used to research, evaluate, and monitor prior transactions and/or track the budget. Records may include but are not limited to departmental purchase orders; contract release orders; balance sheets; bills; invoices; invoice vouchers; journal voucher/entry forms; price quotes; State of Oregon Purchase Orders; departmental requisitions; justifications of purchases; payment authorizations; reports of receipt of goods or services; and related documentation and correspondence. Record Copy: Units Retention: Retention: 6 years, destroy. Other Copies: Units Retention: 2 years, destroy In practical terms, this means that we need to get rid of invoices, POLs, and other financial documents that have been disused for 7 years or more. In III Millennium, we were able to use create lists to identify disused order records (POLS) and quickly delete them from the system. Due to the differences in our current products, I’ve spent months working to identify these records. Deleting them has been more challenging than it needs to be as a result. For instance, we’re unable to delete POLs that have activated resources. In practical terms, this means that we can’t delete the POL for the ebook we purchased ten years ago, because the resource is still active. We can’t delete POLs with linked invoice lines. In practical terms, this means that we can’t delete POLs that have any payment activity in Alma. This isn’t a big problem now, but will be in 4 years when we can’t delete any of the POLs for monographs we purchased in Alma. Apparently, Analytics holds onto all of this information. So even if we manually unlink each invoice line from each of the thousands of POLs we’ll eventually need to delete (which I’m not suggesting is a viable option!) the information will still persist in Analytics, in violation of the retention schedule. So, I’d like to see an enhancement that allows us to easily and efficiently identify and delete disused financial data from our ExL products. |
| Acquisitions: Add fields to the Update PO Lines information job(5655) | The Update PO Lines information job allows operators to run batch updates on select fields in the POL. We would like more POL fields made available for update (e.g., License link, Claiming Grace Period, List Price, Cancellation Restriction, Cancellation Restriction Note, Vendor Reference Number, Vendor Reference Type, Note to Vendor, Renewal Date, Renewal Reminder Period). |
| Acquisitions: Allow batch updating of POL fields via a spreadsheet(5656) | Some fields in the POL contain a value that is more or less unique to that order (e.g., Identifier field, Vendor Reference Number field). We would like the ability to batch update the unique values in these POLs by uploading a spreadsheet containing the field's new value. For example, if we want to update hundreds of POLs with new Vendor Reference Numbers, we need to edit each POL manually. We cannot use the Update PO Lines information job, because the same update would be applied to all POLs. It would be a time-saver if we could take a spreadsheet that had each PO Line Reference Number in one field and its corresponding vendor reference number in another field, and use that spreadsheet to update all of our Vendor Reference Numbers in batch. |
| Add ownership and availability by other institutions in the Network Zone to the Discovery Interface Display Logic Rules functionality(5660) | Currently, Discovery Interface Display Logic Rules only allow manipulating services based on availability and ownership by campus and institution, not by availability and ownership by other other institutions in a shared Network Zone. |
| Acquisitions: Optional disable of download option of Alma-D files in digital viewer(5661) | Currently, when viewing Alma-D files in the digital viewer users are able to download the file by clicking the 'Download' button. There are certain instances where we are able to provide the file to be viewed/streamed but cannot allow users to download the file. We request that the ability to download a file be removed. We would only want to remove the download option for certain files so this functionality should be an option that is chosen on a per file basis. |
| Serial management issues - provide a flexibility to select number of items to be created in prediction.(5664) | Prediction of serial issues The current setup is to create items for a whole year. Please provide a flexibility to select number of items to be created. We don’t want to have 365 items for a daily publication. It is difficult for us to locate a particular issue to receive (e.g. 2018: Jan 21), especially when the items do not contain Enumeration information (e.g. Apple daily .o1616992x). When we sort the items by description, Jan is filed behind Feb. Is it possible to filter/sort the item list by Chronology I and Chronology J? Also, for the weekly magazine, there will be 52 items per year and its pattern may change slightly year by year due to the public holiday, e.g. Time magazine ISSN0040-781X. When there is a combined issue pattern change, we have to withdraw all forthcoming items with incorrect enumeration/chronology information and re-create a new set of items by prediction, another 52 items will be added and we will need to repeat this exercise every year. Is there any setting that we can change to help us to filter a long list of items? |
| Create ability to accurately predict serial items for subscriptions starting in “Winter”(5665) | How to create predicted items for the first issue of the subscription year starting from Winter issue? Currently Alma ignores MARC Holding field 854 subfield x (Calendar change) which prevents the system from accurately predicting the serials with this pattern. Currently, it is not possible to state that both of the following will happen simultaneously: (1) first issue to be published is winter, i.e., chronology j = 24 and (2) it is not the last issue of the cycle. What is wanted is this prediction: v.65:no.1(2016:Winter) v.65:no.2(2016:Spring) v.65:no.3(2016:Summer) v.65:no.4(2016:Autumn) What Alma creates is: v.65:no.1(2016:Winter) v.65:no.2(2017:Spring) v.65:no.3(2017:Summer) v.65:no.4(2017:Autumn) |
| Add ability to customize Purchase Request online form(5685) | 1. The existing Purchase Request online form (after login Primo) only have two citation types – book or journal. Other common types such as ebook and AV materials should be included. 2. Only Title is the mandatory field. It’s suggested allowing the Library to decide which field(s) are mandatory. 3. All the fields are fixed and could not be changed on this Purchase Request. It’s suggested allowing the Library to add and remove the fields so that this form could be customized. At least, A Note field should be added in this Request form. 4. The ISBN entered in this Purchase Request form is used to check the Library’s holding. If it’s found in Library, the Full BIB will be populated into that Purchase Request. It is suggested the Purchase Request showing a message and alert the requestor that the Library already has the holding before submitting the Request. |
| Acquisitions: Display local price in addition to the foreign currency price(5686) | We need the display of the local price in addition to the foreign currency price on the Invoice Lines tab and in the POL summary tab. |
| Acquisitions: Manual packaging, PO lines(5687) | At Stellenbosch University we will always be using Manual packaging in the Purchase order line details > PO Line Details section. Please see screen capture attached. It will be very useful to be able to choose in the Acquisition configuration settings whether we want the Manual packaging checkbox marked or unmarked by default so that we can select the mark option for all our orders. |
| Acquisitions: Configuration > Searchable Columns(5693) | As advised from EXL Support team and Product management, the following search operators and columns are not available, and we would like to raise it as an enhancement request. In Alma, under Acquisition Configuration > Searchable Columns: Add the following 6 options - (a) PO Line creation date, (b) PO Line sent date, (c) PO creation date, (d) PO sent date, (e) Receiving Date, (f) Activation date For all searches such as searching for Order lines, Vendors, Invoices, etc., provide more advanced Boolean operators such as AND, OR, NOT, BETWEEN, etc. to facilitate quick data compilation (instead, we currently rely on the Analytic to do this) |
| Acquisitions: Export of funds and ledgers(5698) | In Alma new UI, all funds can only be exported alphabetically by fund names from A to Z totally, regardless of our pre-set hierarchy. In Alma old UI, the export can be done correctly according to our report hierarchy. Can EXL implement this function in the new UI or at least provide an option on how to export the funds by a pre-set hierarchy. |
| Display order for Interested Users(5699) | After adding “Interested Users” to 3 POLs that already contain 1 Interested User, though the input sequence is the same, we found the display order of the names is different to the order during input. The final display of the new users are also different in the 3 POLs. We would like the display order to show the list of names in the order to which we input them. |
| Acquisitions: Ability to see and filter interested user requests when view items in department(5712) | When Interested user requests are added at the order stage, and then arrive in the department, we need a more visible method for being alerted that these items need fast-tracking when they are in a work order. They do not appear in the Tasks menu Items in department - requested by patron list. |
| Acquisitions: Item Search in Amazon(5715) | Using Item Search in Amazon with the NZ. Currently, when using the Item Search in Amazon feature to create orders, there is no way to link to a bibliographic record from the NZ. A brief record is created in the IZ, which then requires an extra step of linking to the NZ. Our consortial policy is to use the NZ record whenever possible, to best make use of our shared NZ environment. |
| Acquisitions: View and search by import file name in Monitor and view imports(5716) | It would be really helpful if the file name of the marc files was visible at the monitoring screen and have the ability to search by file name or partial file name. The JOB ID number is not really that useful on this screen. |
| Acquisitions: ISSN in Description Tab of Continuing POL does not change when POL is re-linked to a different bibliographic record(5728) | When POL is relinked from one serial bib record to another, the value in the Identifier/ISSN field in the POL description tab is not updated. All other fields in the POL description tab appear to be updated with information from the new bib, except for the ISSN. Impact: In the Alma Receiving Workbench, staff frequently use the ISSN to receive serials. Issues may be received on the wrong POL, or staff may not be able to find an issue, because an incorrect ISSN appears in the Description field. |
| Ability to Preview Letters(5730) | At present, it is difficult to customize patron letters, especially if you do not have a sandbox in which to test. It requires 8 separate steps outlined in the product documentation and requires use of XML and XSL, with which library staff may not be familiar. One way to simplify the process would be to provide a link that generates a preview of each letter as currently configured. This would cut out steps 1-5 of the current procedure and allow staff to more easily make and preview changes to the XSL. |
| Acquisitions: Invoice pop-up on unmatched vendor(5743) | Generate Pop-Up Alert for Invoice having different vendor account than some of the linked PO lines. Currently when the vendor code in the Invoice does not match the vendor in the PO Lines, there is an alert created provided that there is an Invoice Review Rule created to watch for this situation. The alerts also contain items that are less critical in Acquisitions due to their being managed at the accounting review stage and reconciled (e.g., the net price not matching the total price, but tax amount added in a later step). It would be helpful to have a pop-up alert so that the invoice operator can correct this before routing the invoices further. In addition, this invoice alert data is not available in Analytics. An alternative solution could be to provide this data in Analytics, so that an invoice alert report could be included on a dashboard, allowing the more critical alerts to be caught earlier in the workflow. See examples in attachment |
| Acquisitions: Make temporary move requests visible in receiving workbench(5761) | When in the Receiving workbench, we are not able to see if there are temporary move requests attached to items. The situation arises when an item is requested for course reserves (temporary move request) after the item has already been ordered for an unrelated reason. The problem is that acquisitions staff have no way of knowing that the item is needed for a course, so they do not know to rush the order and as a result students have to wait longer for the item to be ready for Course Reserves. |
| Disencumbrance & expenditure dates (5774) | Currently the disencumbrance date within a fund transaction list matches the date of the original encumbrance on that PO line and the expenditure date matches the date of the invoice. This makes each of these essentially meaningless (since the fund was not actually disencumbered on the date it was originally encumbered and the expenditure does not usually take place on the same date as the invoice date). Logically, it would make more sense for the fund transaction history to show a PO line as disencumbered and expended on the date the corresponding invoice was either approved or closed; either would make sense but should be consistent. |
| Acq-Invoice lines on “in review” invoices should not be counted as expenditures or disencumbrances until the invoice is approved(5776) | Acq-Invoice lines on “in review” invoices should not be an expenditure or disencumbrance in the fund until the invoice is approved (right now it looks like all lines attached to our loaded EDI invoices are expenditures even before the material has been received) On idea exchange already.Currently a PO line added as an invoice line shows as being disencumbered and expended immediately when the line is added to an invoice, regardless of invoice status. It would make more sense for the line to continue to remain as encumbered (not expended or disencumbered) until the invoice is either approved or closed; either would make sense but should be consistent. |
| Acq-show history in vendor /vendor account record (person who created record, date, person who modified record, what they did, date)(5778) | Vendors and vendor accounts in Alma are used for material suppliers (traditional vendors), access providers and licensors. In our case and in that of most larger libraries, these functions are handled by different staff members. |
| Acq-ability to change location, add item policy & temporary location directly from the summary page in a POL rather than being forced to go into the item to update this information(5780) | When creating a print PO line, we currently have to open the item from the PO line summary page if we need to update the permanent location, temporary location and item policy. We would like to make it easier to update inventory information from directly on the PO line summary page. |
| Add URL checker(5789) | URLs are constantly breaking as resources move, or as websites are redesigned or simply disappear. Request a URL checker be added to Alma that regularly checked URLs in all portfolios. The URL checker should create a report or set of screens that show the title of the resource (and linking to the resource's bibliographic record), the type of problem, the link (which could be clicked to confirm the problem), and easy access to the portfolio editor so the URL could be quickly changed. The operator should be able to perform all functions within this area and be able to easily return to the report/problem list at the same place they were working. |
| Acquisitions - Fiscal year rollover, ability to rollover remaining balances(5793) | Add an option to allow institutions to choose whether they want to rollover ledgers at the end of a fiscal year to allow the carryover of any remaining fund balances. |
| Acquisitions - Hotlink needed for Invoice number from Purchase order--Line Details--Invoice Lines Tab(5794) | We would like to make the Invoice Number a direct link from the Purchase order --Line Details--Invoice Lines Tab, to the Invoice. Currently we are only able to view the Line Item Detail from the Invoice Lines Tab. We frequently also need to see the Summary Tab of the invoice, or refer to other Line Items on the invoice. |
| Improvement to Receiving Workbench(5797) | Add buttons to "Open Expected Items" and "Withdraw Items" on the Received Items List (receiving workbench) and make the Receiving Note box trigger a pop-up alert during receiving (or just make that box a brighter color when it contains text) to ensure that the receiving operator notices it, since it can sometimes contain important information. |
| Acquisitions: Display all past-due reminders(5798) | Currently, Alma displays only the past two weeks of reminders by default. It would be better if it displayed all of the past-due reminders, and they should also appear on the Task List when they are past due. |
| Acquisitions: Improvement to claims functionality for continuous titles(5799) | There should be a way to indicate more specific information about why a continuous PO line is on the claims list. Currently claiming with vendors through Alma is only useful for one time orders, since a claim at the title level is meaningless to a vendor when claiming a specific serial volume/issue. The PO line assertions currently say “No item was received in more than x days” which is great for letting library staff know that a PO line hasn’t been received on in a set increment of time, but if the last previous issue received was indicated (to say “send next issue after x”), or the exact predicted item past due (if it exists) was indicated, then this functionality would be much more useful and more efficient to the library staff and for automating claims within Alma if desired. |
| Acquisitions: Timestamp for Disencumbrance and Expenditure to relflect actual transaction time rather than tied to(4564) | We would prefer that the timestamp for the disencumbrance and expenditure reflect the actual transaction date in Alma, rather that the current procedure of tying the disencumberance and expenditure to the encumbrance date plus one millisecond. |
| Acquisitions: Change the timing of the actual ‘expenditure’ - it should only take place upon ‘approval’ of the inv(4610) | Actual ‘expenditure’ should only take place upon ‘approval’ of the invoice. At the present time, expenditures take place as data is entered into the invoice for processing. |
Administration
| RequestTitle | Description |
| Primo widget in Alma(4648) | Currently you can only have one primo widget that searches multiple views. At minimum you should have a widget available for each library in Alma. However, each library could have multiple views in Primo and would want a widget for each views. These widgets should be able to recognize who is logging on and set the widgets for the library the user is associated with. This could be accomplished by adding additional parameters to the “Primo Widget Configuration” table, allowing for view ID and location to be selected, in order to limit one’s search query. Additionally, you would like to see this be auto-populated based upon the “Current Location” of the user that is logged into Alma. |
| Ability to choose which notes appear on the User Notes tab or to control the order(5102) | We would like to request an enhancement for User Notes. We would like to be able to choose which notes appear on the User Notes tab or at least be able to control the order of the notes. The most common business case is our patrons have to fill out an equipment checkout agreement form in order to check out laptops. When this has been filled out we put a note in their patron record stating it is okay for them to check out laptops. We need to be able to see this when we open a patron record (or at the very least when we click on User Notes), without having to click on More user notes exist in order to see if the note might be there. In general, being able to manipulate the order of user notes would be very useful, rather than relying on a strict chronological order of notes. |
| Add condition to repository import profile to prevent barcode duplication upon import(5186) | Duplicate inventory with duplicate barcodes currently are allowed to be created from embedded holdings data when bibliographic record files using a repository import profile. Alma batch imports are not currently designed to match on barcode, and there is no fail-safe mechanism to prevent or warn against creating items with barcodes that already exist in the system. It would be preferable to have an automatic match and reject on barcode function be added to the match profile or inventory information tabs of import profile. This match and reject on barcode function would have to operate simultaneously with the main match profile chosen for the import profile. |
| Increase options and flexibility for scheduled job frequency(5223) | Currently, scheduled jobs are run on a frequency pre-set in Alma. Libraries do not have the ability to customise the frequency to suit our business needs. An example would be the Fines/Fee Bursar Transfer job, it is currently restricted to Every Sunday, Everyday and Every 2nd of the month. Another example would be the Inventory Remote Storage Update job, which is scheduled to be run every 2 hours. Neither of these schedule suits our business workflow. We would like to have the flexibility to indicate a time/date when the job should run. |
| Add a Preferred Name field to Alma(5300) | Currently the only option to bring preferred names into Alma is to replace the legal name with the preferred name. However, we still need to be able to verify a user by their legal name in cases when the only identification they have available is a legal form of identification, such as a driver’s license. Therefore, we request the ability to load a preferred name to the Alma User Record as a separate field from Legal Name. This would involve creation of three new fields in the user record: Preferred First Name, Preferred Last Name, and Preferred Middle Name. |
| Ability to run patron purge on a set of user records(5304) | We would find it helpful to be able to run patron purge on a set of user records, or alternatively for Alma to add a user delete job that runs on a set. |
| Alma letters: provide a label for each and every xml element (e.g. add missing @@due_back@@ label for xml element /notification_data/incoming_request/due_date in Resource Sharing Shipping Slip Letter)(5341) | In Fulfillment / Alma letters please provide a label for each and every xml element. Right now it may happen that for a xml element in a letter the related label is missing (for example, @@due_back@@ label for xml element /notification_data/incoming_request/due_date is available in may letters but is missing in Letter Resource Sharing Shipping Slip Letter), thus preventing real multilingual communication with the patrons. |
| Add the ability to schedule custom jobs in both the NZ and IZs(5498) | Add the ability for customers to schedule custom jobs in both the NZ and IZs. |
| Incorrect estimates for records in sets. Number exported is not number given from Alma.(5590) | Alma seems to have two issues with sets: 1. the number of results in the set are estimated and are not the exact number of results. Users would like to know the real number of results and not an estimate 2. The number of records exported is far less than the number of estimated results if the result set is large. For example: I created a set of Physical Titles where material type = 'Journal'. The result set was 330,227 records. I then ran process 'Export Bibliographic Records' on the set. Only 46,901 records were exported (instead of 330,227). I ran the job twice and got the same results both times (see SalesForce case 21980). |
| Make fine/fee types editable(5636) | Many of the fine and fee types in Alma's FineFeeTypeDefinition's Description table do not apply to us. Rather than providing customers with a fixed list, why not create an editable table of Manual Fine and Fee Types, similar to the Reasons for Transactions table that controls options for waiving fines? |
| Make "Recent Pages" Optional(5641) | "Recent Pages" display on Alma dashboard/landing page should be optional and users who want more real estate on the dashboard should be able to remove them. |
| Split role user manager in 2: the user manager and the patron manager(5713) | Right now any operator at any level with a role enabling the right to edit/delete users in Alma has the rights as well to change or delete roles or scopes of anyone else, even of the Alma administrators (!). Roles shall be fine tuned in a much more granular way, as to have two separated types of managers and administrators. - Patron managers shall be enabled to create and edit Patron Users, but not to edit/delete roles assigned to other users, esp. Libray staff Users. - User administrators instead should be enabled to edit/delete roles of other users, including Library Staff Users. |
| 12 hour clock for loan due times(5718) | Allow libraries to use the 12 hour clock or the 24 hour clock for loan due times. |
| Create separate roles for Fines/Fees Payment and Waiving, and Claims Returned(5734) | The auditors at our institution require us to limit the number of staff members who have PAY_FINES_FEES and WAIVE_FINES_FEES PRIVILEGES. We also noted that the CLAIMED_RETURNED_PRIVILEGE is present in roles that we cannot accept as belonging in Repository Manager role, among others. The Circulation Desk Operator - Limited should not have this privilege at our institution. For larger institutions there are some privileges that need to be assigned more judiciously. |
| Ability to download job report/events for all reports, successful, completed with errors, failed, etc., without contacting Ex Libris(5741) | Currently, in order to receive the job results for some Fulfillment Jobs which have failed or completed with errors, in this case the Restore Job which fails constantly, we have to put in a SalesForce ticket with ExLibris. |
| Proxy relationship needs to be visible in both accounts; proxy relationship needs an expiration date(5745) | Currently we are unable to tell by looking at a patron's account if they have a proxy. Further, we are unable to set an expiration date for a proxy relationship. Many of the patron to patron relationships at our institution are Faculty to Student or research. Further they are only for a set time. Having an expiration date for a proxy relationship would allow the relationship to expire on it's own with any interjection from a staff member. Additionally, because Alma does not have a carrel feature like Voyager, we are using the proxy feature to simulate a carrel to student relationship. Having this relationship expired at the end of the semester would also be helpful. |
Analytics
| RequestTitle | Description |
| Article details in RS borrowing requests in Analytics(3929) | Journal details (title, volume, pages) are needed to be added to the Analytics Borrowing Request subject area to identify multiple articles being requested from the same journal issue. |
| Add Fulfillment Unit as a data point in Analytics.(4889) | We should be able to list or count all Items that belong to any location mapped to a particular Fulfillment Unit, e.g. list all items for a library in any No Loan location. |
| Suppress from Discovery flag for the Holdings record should be added in Analytics(4923) | A Suppress from Discovery flag exists for both the Bibliographic and the Holdings record, but only the Bib flag is present in Analytics. This field should be added [and is yet another example of how poorly Analytics handles Holdings data as opposed to Bibliographic or Item data] |
| Retain Patron Statistical Identifiers(4986) | For anonymization to occur in Alma Analytics, first the Handle Historical Archiving job must be run and then the ETL must occur. After anonymization, none of the user details are displayed in Analytics; however, the following information is kept: Patron Details (job category, user group, record type, and account type). However what is not maintained and needs to be is the statistical identifiers. We had planned to use them for grouping patrons in reports based on user type, major, department, etc. However, right now they are removed and provide no use if you have anonymization turned on. These are not at a level that they cause us any concerns with privacy. Please pull these out of Borrower Details and put them in Patron Details so they are retained. |
| Set column properties by user/set default column property to “Repeat”(4997) | The column properties in Analytics should either default to “Repeat” or be able to be set as a preference by the user. |
| 583 on holdings and/or bib records should be indexed in Alma and available in Analytics(5255) | 583 field (all subfields) data, whether on the bib or holdings is not available through analytics. |
| How can we improve Alma? Report on empty viewit screens and better link resolver usage reports(5487) | I would like to be able to report on empty viewit screens. Currently the link resolver usage area is not so useful, missing the openurl itself, and limiting the data that is being reported to very few request metadata elements. Im missing, in addition to the openurl, the date/vol/issue details as well as request article title and book titles. My goal is to be able to use these reports in order to analyze problem points - currently I'm missing crucial data that will help me analyze problems. |
| "Manage purchase request" available in Analytics reports(5559) | Alma allows the export to Excel of the data found in the "Manage purchase request" option. The export is usually a slow process, which will surely slow down as the purchase requests stored in Alma increase. We would like all this information to be available in Analytics so that we can manage it in a simpler way. We request the implementation of this improvement in Analytics |
| In Analytics -> Requests SA -> Physical Item Details, work order department is missing(5586) | In Analytics -> Requests Subject Area -> Physical Item Details, when Process Type = Work Order Department the actual work order department the item is in is missing from the Physical Item Details. This is SalesForce Case 140601. |
| Alma Analytics - Physical Items SA - Holding Details dimension is missing creation and modification information(5593) | In Alma Analytics > Physical Items Subject Area > Holding Details dimension the Creator, Creation Date, Modified By and Modification Date fields in Alma are missing from the Holdings Details in Analytics. Users want to know when any record (be it bib, item or holding) is created and who created it and modified and who modified it. This is SalesForce case 459284. |
| Analytics: Add indicator for Course Reserve Loans(5595) | Current methods for running reports in the Fulfillment subject area for items on course reserve are clunky and, we suspect, unreliable, especially when reporting on loans for items that are no longer on active course reserve. We would like to see a Course Reserve Loan indicator, much like the In House Loan or Booking Loan indicator added to this subject area. This indicator would allow us easily report on Course Reserve loans, or exclude them from a report. |
| Analytics e-inventory area: create more granular fields for coverage(5596) | Currently, the coverage of portfolios is covered in Analytics the following way: - coverage information combined - embargo months - embargo operator - embargo years We would like to have a more granular set up for the coverage, as is is presented in the portfolio (in addition to what is already availabe): - coverage from year - coverage from month - coverage from day - coverage from volume - coverage from issue - coverage until year - coverage until month - coverage until day - coverage until volume - coverage until issue |
| No NZ-level file sharing area in Alma Analytics for consortia(5611) | The following folders are available for Alma Analytics users: My folders – A read / write personal folder accessible only to the logged in user. Alma – A read-only folder containing out-of-the-box reports produced by Ex Libris. Your Institution – A read / write folder for the institution or consortium to save and edit reports. It is accessible and visible only to the institution/consortium. It has the name of the specific institution/consortium. Community – A read / write folder visible and accessible to save and copy reports for all institutions. Includes reports and dashboards of all the institutions with Alma in the world. It contains only queries (no data of other institutions is visible). The only way for consortial members to share reports is through the community folder or through the use of the institution folder, where a consortial level could be an institution but all consortial members would need a separate login to the consortium-level instance. |
| Create a new field in Design Analytics for OCLC identifier 035 only (5619) | Currently in analytic reports, the Network Number field in Bibliographic Details pulls identifiers from 019 a,z, 035 a,z, 774 w, 773 w, 775 w, 777 w, 786 w, 800 w, 810 w, 811 w, 830 w from the bibliographic records. Depending on how many the above-mentioned MARC fields are present in the bibliographic records, there could be numerous numbers with OCoLC prefixes in the Network Number field. It is impossible for institutions to identify the OCLC identifiers of the resources described in the bibliographic records (035 a). |
| Enable more than 5 Local fields in Analytics(5637) | You can have up to 100 local field 9xx but can only publish to analytic 5 at the time, please add the option to publish all fields to analytic and if there is a problem to publish them all, enable to publish at list 25 local fields. Also give the option to decide which fields you want to publish to the customer and not through Exlibris SF case. |
| Harvest more fields into Analytics that will allow the reporting of Subsets of Digital Usage, in particular Collection(5647) | Currently if an institution wishes to create digital usage reports the only option appears to be to export usage information for every digital object in Alma, or export digital usage for digital objects attached to an active course. This reporting is extremely limiting if you have multiple Collections with digital objects attached and they aren’t attached to an active course in Alma. As we are required to report digital usage on digital items attached to a specific collection, and a number of our collections do not contain course material and are therefore not attached to a course our only option is to export all digital usage for a period and use Excel to isolate the titles attached to the collection. In some cases to be able to identify the Collection titles correctly this also requires exporting a list of MMS IDs attached to a specific Collection and then using Excel to match those MMS IDs to their usage information. We would like more fields to be harvested into Analytics that will allow Institutions to isolate and report on a specific subset of Digital Objects. In particular we would like the Collection title to be made available in Analytics. |
| Add 880 field to the Bibliographic Details dimension table in Analytics(5649) | In MARC bibliographic records, the 880 field is used for non-Roman script equivalents of other fields in the bib record. CJK (Chinese, Japanese & Korean) libraries, for example, may use the 880 to record the non-Roman script equivalent of the Romanized characters in a 245. We would like the 880 field to be searchable in Analytics. |
| Alma Analytics: Interested User field in the Funds Expenditure Subject Area, to also include the primary identifier(5695) | Orders are created by users via portal forms, where the interested user is captured. When reporting on theses orders in Analytics however, you can see the interested user, but not the primary identifier attached to the interested user. This causes problems when the analytics report is used to feed into other systems, i.e. CRM system., as the interested user is not unique and there could be more than one individual with the same name. I would like to request a new field is added in Analytics to be able to report also on the primary identifier of the interested user, in addition to their name. When an interested user is selected in the Alma interface, it is usually from a drop down list, where you can choose the list of users, and so there will always be a primary identifier attached. |
| Add POL "Receiver" as an element in Analytics(5742) | Add POL "Receiver" as an element in Analytics. (Or, modify POL fields available to include History tab aka Purchase Order Line Details.) Add POL Receiver as an available element in Analytics. The order operator is available in the Fund Expenditure area called "PO Line Creator," however the receiver operator is mixed in with the general "PO Line Modified By" field, which also includes catalogers who may touch the item, or System changes (see Figures 1 and 2 in attachment). |
| Add timeout warning to Design Analytics module(5753) | Currently, there is no way to know when Design Analytics is about to time out or when it has already timed out. A timed-out screen is visually indistinguishable from a logged-in one. There also seems to be absolutely no consistency in the length of time one can be logged in prior to a time out. |
| Fix post-timeout reentry to Design Analytics Module(5755) | Following a Design Analytics timeout, reopening the module from Alma leads to a non-functional login screen. |
| Acq-make vendor information reportable : (right now almost no vendor information is—only create date, modification date, vendor code, vendor name, additional code, ERP code are currently available):(5781) | Add status, vendor account, libraries, creator, modifier, vendor type, payment method under account, contact information. Currently there is a very limited amount of information that is reportable about vendors—create date, modification date, vendor code, vendor name, additional code, ERP code. We would like to make more vendor and vendor account information reportable through Analytics. We propose adding the following: At vendor level--financial system code, Notes, Vendor type; At vendor and vendor account level--Status, Libraries, Contact information, Creator (person who created record), Modifier (person who updated record); At vendor account level--Vendor account code, Note, Expected receipt after ordering; Interface names |
Electronic Resources
| RequestTitle | Description |
| CZ Updates Task List: report type 'Portfolios Added to Non Auto-Active Packages' in Review tab(3933) | It would be very helpful if items of report type 'Portfolios Added to Non Auto-Active Packages' were included in the Review tab of the Community Zone Updates Task List, as well as in the All tab. It would also streamline processes if there was a function next to the titles so that if we wanted to activate one we were taken through to the Portfolio List screen in the Community Zone where we could then select which portfolio we want to set up. This would avoid repeatedly going in and out of the Community Zone Updates Task List. As with the other reports, it would also be helpful if we could dismiss titles in the report which we know we do not want to activate. This would then make the list more manageable when dealing with the titles we do want to activate. |
| Resource Management: Indicate whether electronic collections are active in the Institution Zone when searching for portfolios in the Community Zone(4787) | When searching for and activating new portfolios in the Community Zone, it is preferable to add portfolios that belong to collections already active in the Institution Zone. As the CZ often includes many portfolios for each e-journal or e-book from multiple collections with similar names, it would be helpful if there was an indicator informing the user whether each collection is already being used in the IZ or not. This functionality was available in SFX and would improve workflow in Alma. |
| E-Journals by Subject option (4816) | We would like to see an option to search and/or browse ejournals by subject. |
| Improve Manage Electronic Resource Activation Task List(5217) | Problem: The Manage E-Resource Activation Task List does not adequately cover the multiple tasks and steps that operators need to complete during the resource's lifecycle. For example, for most electronic resources, there are usually multiple tasks in progress simultaneously (e.g., entering the EZProxy stanza on the server, ensuring admin access to the publisher's site) but because the Manage E-Resource Task List allows only one status to be assigned to a resource, there is no way to manage multiple simultaneous tasks nor easily determine what task has already been completed. Request: We request that the Manage E-Resource Activation Task List be improved so that operators can display a comprehensive customizable list of tasks to attend to for the resource, the status of each task and the ability to record comments relevant to each of the tasks to be completed/in progress. NB the operator needs to be able to view/have multiple tasks in progress simultaneously. |
| Improve display of Electronic Collections, Services, and Portfolios(5276) | The Alma display of Electronic Collections, Services, and Portfolios is very confusing. It's hard to tell at a glance which level you are in. Our institution uses campuses, and there's no way to quickly tell which level has the campus setting applied. |
| Trial process - Survey form(5565) | The trial process for electronic resources in Alma is hardly usable. For the moment we had to stop electronic resources' assessment by our acquisition team. The matter is each question selected in a new trial is then added once more to the list of the survey form. You have to know we usually set up around 20 trials a year with about 20 questions each. So after one year, it will be a big mess in the questions list. |
| Trial process - POL(5566) | The trial process for electronic resources in Alma is hardly usable. For the moment we had to stop electronic resources' assessment by our acquisition team. We don't find it logical to start a trial with a POL Collection > Order > Order line type + PO line owner > Save and Start Trial If the trial is positive, we go on with a POL If the trial is negative, the trial is closed but the POL remains in ALMA which causes trouble since it can't be deleted. |
| Trial process - archive(5568) | We need to archive the history of all our trials, even the negative trials with no purchase At the moment, we haven't be able to manage this in ALMA. |
| Trial process - participants(5569) | It would be very useful to input a list of participants in one click. We usually send trials to the same set of 30 colleagues. |
| Trial process - error message(5570) | When we save a trial, there is an alert notice without any further explanation. "Mandatory information is missing or erroneous". We don't know what to correct. We don't know if our trial is configured correctly or if it needs any correction, and which one. |
| Ability to log 2 sets of dates on electronic portfolios - Perpetual and Current Access(5625) | Most publisher packages only allow perpetual access for subscribed years, post-cancellation, but they give you access to a much larger set of dates during your active subscription. For example, many of our Wiley titles have access back to 1997, but our perpetual access does not begin until 2003. If we could select both perpetual and current access for a title, and have the ability to log both sets of dates, that would be very helpful. Ideally, we would like to use this to do a broad overlap analysis between our print and perpetual electronic holdings. Please see the Idea Exchange item: https://ideas.exlibrisgroup.com/forums/308173-alma/suggestions/14127195-ability-to-log-2-sets-of-dates-on-electronic-portf |
| Add a public note field in interface record(5626) | From time to time, a vendor interface goes down temporarily. While we follow the access issue up with the vendor, we add a public note for our students and staff indicating that the interface is temporarily down. The issue is that often we have many electronic collections with the same interface, and therefore must add a public note to each and every electronic collection that uses the affected interface, and then remove all of the notes once access is restored. Since all of these electronic collections link back to a single interface, it would be great if there were a field in the interface screen to add a public note about temporary interface unavailability that would appear in the discovery layer for all eresources (portfolios) in the electronic collections linked to that interface. This would improve the process by significantly reducing the time it takes to add/remove public notes to multiple electronic collections - and also reduce human errors when a public note for a particular electronic collection is missed. See the Ideas Exchange item: https://ideas.exlibrisgroup.com/forums/308173-alma/suggestions/16374049-add-a-public-note-field-in-interface-record |
| CZ Update task list: add Test access to row actions list(5630) | Please add "Test access" to the row actions list (the ... menu) in the CZ Updates Task List. |
| Include an “add from a set” option for adding local portfolios to CZ-linked electronic collections(5651) | Currently, local portfolios can only be added to CZ linked electronic collections individually (one by one) or via file upload using the portfolio loader option. We'd like the ability to add local portfolios to CZ linked electronic collections using the "add from set" option. This is the same option that already exists for adding local portfolios to local electronic collections. |
| Batch update e-collection information using jobs(5663) | We find that there are limited jobs available to globally update fields at the e-collection level. In case there is a change of policy (e.g. update the EZProxy setting), we have to update the e-collections one by one, which is time consuming and labor intensive. Can more global update job options be included for e-collections? |
| Make it possible to change the default behavior for “Handling bibliographic records without inventory” when deleting a portfolio(5707) | When deleting a portfolio, the current default option for "handling bibliographic records without inventory is "Do Nothing." It's not possible for institutions to change what displays as the default in the drop down list. Make it possible to change the default behavior for “Handling bibliographic records without inventory” to “Delete bibliographic record(s)” or “Suppress bibliographic record(s)”. |
| Last time portfolios were added, modified, or deleted in Community Zone e-collections(5749) | When viewing an electronic collection in the Community Zone, a modification date displays, but this only reflects modification of the collection itself, rather than the portfolios included. When viewing a CZ collection, we'd like to see additional dates provided specifying the last time that portfolios were added, modified, or deleted. |
| Automating assignments for the Electronic Activation Task List(5807) | Electronic resources are automatically added to the Electronic Resource Activation Task List page if they are ordered from the Community Zone or Institution Zone. We would like to see more options to configure or automate how the tasks are assigned. The current workflow requires someone with the permission of Repository Manager to assign electronic resource activation tasks to others or individual operators to own the tasks themselves, which could be incredibly inefficient if there are many resources that need to be first triaged. |
Fullfillment & Resource Sharing
| RequestTitle | Description |
| Resource Sharing: Assignment of lending requests(3674) | To assist in managing Resource Sharing requests a new “All” tab is required to allow all requests to be seen at once. This will allow all team members to action items assigned to other team members more easily, rather than having to search the Unassigned and/or Managed by Others tabs. It will also allow a team leader more oversight and management of the requests. This new tab should be visible to all Resource Sharing users (Operator and Manager). |
| Add the ability to "or" data inserted into parameters of a General Electronic Service url(4920) | Add the ability to "or" data inserted into parameters of a General Electronic Service url. This is needed as different sources put the title in different OpenURL fields (for instance title vs. btitle). If Alma allowed "or-ing", we could do something like "https://search.library.wisc.edu/search/catalog?match=All&title={rft.title}|{rft.btitle}" (where the | is "or-ing"), we would only need one GES to cover the variations in OpenURL data. |
| New service type needed for CCC Get It Now platform(4951) | We have activated several of the CCC Get It Now collections, and find it problematic that Alma considers the Get It Now platform to be a Full Text service. It is not. It is a document delivery service. While it does, eventually, provide patrons with full text articles, it does so on a pay-per-use basis, which is vastly different from traditional subscription full text services and more like Interlibrary Loan. The Full Text categorization means that we are unable to use Display Logic Rules to prevent Get It Now from displaying to patrons if we also have full text available from a subscribed resource. We need Get It Now to appear only when full text is unavailable from any other source. Either the Display Logic Rules need to be enhanced to provide additional Boolean or logic operators, or a new service type (e.g., Pay-Per-Use, Document Delivery) needs to be created to account for this type of service model. This could also be used in situations where content from subscription collections overlaps with a DDA/PDA collection. Rather than painstakingly dedup all titles from the DDA collection, one could create a rule to hide the DDA link if any other full text link exists. |
| Add Proxy Enabled and Proxy Selected to e-book/e-article brief record templates for Course Reserves.(5002) | In Course Reserves please add Proxy Enabled check box and Proxy Selected drop-down to the e-book/e-article brief record template. It is our best practice to enable the default proxy for both electronic articles and electronic books when we are linking to subscription articles or e-books that are password protected but this information is not on the brief template. We have to create the brief record, find it in the list, go into the portfolio, then update it and save it. This is a lot of extra work when these fields could be on the brief template. |
| Improvements needed for Claims Returned Process Type(5095) | Since moving to Alma Claims Returned processing has become overly complicated because Alma’s functionality for Claims Returned does not align with library needs: 1. Most users only report an item as returned when it is billed to their account as Lost. Yet in Alma once the item is Lost the option to use the process type Claims Returned is no longer available. 2. Claims Returned cases are time sensitive. Searches in Alma will return a set of Claims Returned items, but it does not include the loan note or a modification date when exported to Excel. Claims Returned does not appear in Monitor Requests and Item Processes. We are forced to use Analytics, which adds 1-2 business days to search turn-around time. 3. Claims Returned is a user service issue, very sensitive in nature. We need to be able to track notes about the user’s claim and subsequent searches. These notes are attached to the loan itself and will be deleted if the item is located and returned, which is not desirable for many libraries. 4. Claims returned cases often drag on for months. Currently we cannot retain the Claims Returned status if the item is billed as Lost as part of the library’s automated processes. At this point the Claims Returned process type is removed, which makes it difficult to keep track of the item. Meanwhile, the patron may still have an active dispute with the library. Libraries need to be able to retain the Claims Returned process type alongside Lost. For these reasons the Claims Returned process type is not used by many libraries. We would prefer a usable process in Alma that removes the need for workarounds. We recommend an overhaul of this process type in order to make Alma’s internal process more usable: 1. The ability to mark an item billed as Lost as Claims Returned with the option to retain Lost as the primary process and retain fines. 2. If the library opts to remove the Lost process type when marking an item as Claims Returned libraries they will have the option to retain or refund fines. 3. If fines are retained they will not be billed a second time if the item is returned to Lost status 4. That we have the option to retain notes related to Claims Returned cases if the item is located and returned (currently viewable only through Analytics) 5. Simple management of Claims Returned items from the fulfillment menu. We need to be able to easily track Claims Returned cases without the need for Analytics. In a perfect world it would be easy to see items most recently marked Claims Returned, view and update notes associated with the item, and email users. |
| Ability to choose whether books are due when the patron record expires, or at the normal time(5103) | Option to set configuration rules for fulfillment so that if you checkout a book, it always goes for the entire loan period and does not automatically get the expiration date of the patron record as it's due date. Business case: expiration dates for most patron records come from an external system, but the library wants patrons to be able to complete their loan of an item instead of getting a truncated due date. The truncated due date confuses patrons, who are used to a specific loan length (i.e. 6 weeks). |
| Change citation type after resource sharing request created(5156) | If a patron selects the wrong citation type (book or journal) when they submit a resource sharing request via Primo, it's not possible to change the citation type in Alma. This means that the wrong fields display when you open the RS request in Alma and has an impact on statistical reporting. We have to delete the request and create a new one to get around this problem. |
| Add more then one Auto-renewal period(5178) | We need to have the option to configure auto-renewal jobs for different item policies and/or fulfillment units. As things are now, library policy is dependent on software limitations. The single auto-renewal interval works ok with one policy e.g 14 days, but if there is another fulfillment unit with other policy, for instance 3 days, the auto renewal will either produce too many courtesy letters or will not renew some of the loans. |
| Enable staff users to override any TOU(5179) | Enable staff users to override any TOU. Library staff need to have the option to perform certain actions that otherwise might need manual handling. For example, we would like reference (not for loan) items to be non-requestable for patrons but for Library staff to be able to override this as needed. Work orders do not always provides the desired solution. We are trying to minimize the use of work orders that sometimes bring unnecessary complications to our work flows. |
| Ability to activate / deactivate Notes in User Account(5185) | The functionality to activate/deactivate Notes (same as for Blocks), by use of active/unactive option. There are occasions where we want to keep the note for future reference but record that it’s not currently applicable, e.g. if we’ve had a conversation with the user about returning items late owing to a particular reason. We may want to refer back to that note if it happens again, but we also want to have a way to record it’s not ‘currently’ applicable. |
| Set Pick-up Locations to the Circulation Desk Level(5192) | We would like to be able to set Alma pick-up locations to the circulation desk level; currently it can only be done at the library level. We would like to be able to distinguish between multiple circulation desks at the same library. In our case "a library" can have multiple physical locations and this functionality would allows us to offer pick-up at other locations as well resulting in a better service to our students. |
| Ability to sort Resource Sharing borrowing and lending requests list(5224) | Currently, the Resource Sharing Borrowing and Lending Request lists' facet allow us to filter results but not sorting. For example, the "Request Date" and "Last Updated Date" can be filtered by "Today", "Up to a month ago", "Up to a week ago" etc, however, the individual requests are still sorted only by Title alphabetical order once the filter is applied. We would like to have the option to sort by date |
| Split the function of the User Manager role(5288) | Creating a User Record entry level permission would help alleviate issues for our circulation staff. Currently, staff without User Manager cannot bring in walk-in users or enter in new community users to the system. At the same time giving them this permission allows them to edit roles permissions for any other user in the system, which is a bit of a security problem. User Manager role should be split up to be something like User Entry and then User Manager. |
| Add Pop-Up Notice at Scan in Items(5299) | Please add an option to allow a pop-up notice in Scan in Items for hold requests. These pop ups are important, as staff have to acknowledge them before proceeding. Right now while we scan in materials returned from other consortium libraries, the only way we know that there is a hold on an item is the on screen display. Since staff are usually processing these in bulk, the chance of missing the hold is more likely without an additional alert. |
| Course reserve workflow(5390) | Streamline the workflow for adding an item to a course reading list. Reducing the number of steps required to add items to courses will simplify and streamline workflows. Add a new option to the action menu of a Reading List line that allows a user to go directly to “Change item information at Scan in items". |
| Alert message when lost item is checked in(5395) | Currently the lost item check-in message does not appear if no lost item replacement fee and refund policies of the lost loan fines have been configured. Request ability to configure Alma so that the lost item check-in message appears regardless of lost loan fines configuration. |
| Circulation Desk History(5402) | We would like to have a Circulation Desk History. It would be something similar to the "Loan History" in Aleph. The loan history in Aleph is more or less a list with all the actions done by this Aleph-Client. We are aware that ALMA is a cloud-based system but it would be good to have a function like this. When a worker has many patrons at the same time - mistakes can happen, like a wrong fee/type. This is a problem because the cash booking will be wrong. With the history they could always control their own - and usually when you see what you have worked on in a list, it is easier to remember and to fix it shortly afterward. It could be some kind of widget or button where you see "listed" everything that was done in this circulation desk, descending by date/time. Of course not everything done at a circulation desk has to be kept. Only recent history would be kept, with number of days configurable by the library. The list needs to be "live", not a report that is only available a day later, because to have a list one day afterward because some issues must be fixed the same day. Operators like to get things done when is not so hectic anymore but also in the same day. |
| Need item-based request priority(5491) | We need to be able to configure a request TOU which allows to define an item-based request priority, based on item policy. When there are two identical items available for requesting, I want to indicate to Alma which one to prefer. We have a library responsible for legal deposit. Of all documents of legal deposit, we have two items, one which can be requested for the reading room, the other which can be requested for loan. When a patron places a request on the holding, Alma decides randomly which one of the items to provide. We would like to configure Alma to say that the loanable item for home use is of higher priority than the one for the reading room. There exists currently the possibility to add a request priority in a request TOU, but it only applies two patrons of a different user group (as informed by case #00434491) |
| Retain the External ID even if the Resource Sharing request is canceled.(5497) | After a Borrowing Request is sent to a partner library, upon cancelling the request, the External Identifier will also be removed from the request. Only the Internal Identifier will be retained. As a result, when the partner library get in contact regarding the request, a search by External Identifier in the Borrowing Request queue will return with no request information. We would like the External Identifier to be retained.The reason we would like the Ex ID is because it is a patterned identifier and that makes it easy to limit down, where to us the internal ID is just a string of random numbers. Our goal is to be able to run reports on either the Lending or Borrowing Request subject areas in one set. If we need to run some on Ex ID to get the Borrowing and Lending sides to match up and then run more on the Internal ID just to get a full snap shot of our RS environment that is a lot of work. |
| Avoid User Submitted Duplicate Request via Resource Sharing Network(5500) | Library staff received many duplicate Resource Sharing requests. When we receive user submitted server requests to the same item from same Library, we request Alma can block such requests and hide the request link for items with an active request. |
| Fulfilment unit / TOU and age restriction(5503) | Currently, it is not possible to restrict user under age to access content that are restricted (e.g. over 18 years old) although there are already birth date information in user's record. Staff could check student age manually at the counter but it is not possible to handle in self-check machine. EXL has suggested an alternative approach to move under-aged user to a special user group but this approach would need alternative update routine other than normal synchronization job. |
| Setting "Physical non returnable" as default value for articles in the Resource Sharing Form displayed in Primo(5550) | In the 2016 August release of Alma there was introduced a possibillity to configure the Resource sharing form displayed in Primo. We have done that and we have removed the "Digital"-option in Requested format as we only want Physical and Physical Non Returnable as the two possible options. When a user opens the Resource sharing request for a book the default format is checked as Physical. Thats fine. When a user opens the Resource sharing request for an article the default format is checked as Digital. This is not visible, but it is set as hidden. We want the possibility to set the default form to be Physical Non Returnable for articles and not Digital. |
| Placing digitization requests via Primo on holdings without items(5576) | Currently, titles with no inventory for their holdings do not appear to provide a title-level Digitization Request option in Primo. A General Digitization Request functionality (like there is currently already one with the General Hold Request) would allow libraries to offer broader Digitization services. This missing functionality has unfortunately a negative impact on the patrons and the services that libraries offer. |
| Non-requestable Items on Course Reserve can be requested when submitting a temporary move request.(5584) | We have discovered that items on Course Reserve can be selected by Alma to fulfill temporary move requests. All of the course reserves belong to a Fulfillment Unit that is designated as 'No Requesting' and we need to ensure that materials on CR are truely 'unrequestable'. We are able to work around this by placing temporary move requests at the item level but we would prefer to continue submitting at the title level and rely on Alma to select the optimal copy for recall. This is more efficient. |
| Add Destination Location as a required element for Temporary Move requests (5589) | When creating a temporary move request, the Destination Location should be required. If users neglect to add a location to a temporary move request it is not clear where the item should go once it arrives at the destination Library. Staff see two errors: "Failed to change the item information. Please use the Change Item Information tab." & "The field Location is mandatory, please enter the required data." If the location is mandatory for the item to be received, it should be a mandatory field in the request. |
| Add expiration date and renewal options to Proxy User(5594) | Add expiration date and renewal options to Proxy User. This is SalesForce case 9470. Our faculty usually provide assistants with proxy permission for a semester or academic year, it would be great if staff were able to set an expiration date and action renewal of proxies. Currently staff need to maintain lists of proxies outside of Alma to delete on certain dates. 1. Ex Libris should add expiration date and renewal options to the Proxy User. 2. When expiration dates are able to be added to the proxy relationship, the patron granting proxy access should receive an email notification when the proxy is about to expire. 3. When a proxy relationship is established, the patron granting access should receive a confirmation email. Currently we spend a great deal of time at the beginning of the semester, emailing patrons to confirm their request has been received. 4. We have found multiple instances of faculty and staff who have more than one proxy associated with their account - in some cases up to 10. It is time consuming to go to each proxy account and add the same faculty or staff details, it also presents a problem if a faculty member asks who their current proxies are, we have no way to retrieve this information from Alma. We must consult our increasingly large spreadsheet maintained outside of Alma. It would be very helpful if we could click on the proxy tab and see a list of all the associated accounts. A better design of this workflow would seem to be allowing the proxy relationship to be created from the requester's account, this would enable a staff member to open up Prof Smiths account, add as many proxies as they need and see any existing relationships. |
| Resource sharing form customization(5622) | Increase the customisation available for the Alma resource sharing form. The ability to edit the HTML, CSS and branding of this form would be ideal. Currently this form lacks the ability to add custom/library branding, and the accessibility of the form is extremely poor. This is particularly noticeable when direct linking to the form in Primo. Libraries would like the ability to add custom branding such as heading and logo image to the forms page, plus the ability to customise the CSS of the page. In an ideal scenario we would gain the ability to edit the HTML of this page. |
| User profile: General message by sms(5628) | From the user profile it is possible to send a general message by email. We would like to be able to send a general message by sms as well. Sometimes, for small messages like "you have forgotten your library card in the counter", it is easier to reach a user by sms. |
| User profile - Add field for last active date(5631) | We would like to have a field in the user profile that shows user’s last active date, i.e. loan, request or return. This field should also be available in Analytics. This field will be useful when deciding which user profiles to purge. We would like to limit the number of user accounts in Alma by purging regularly. Students are loaded into Alma from our SIS, with an expiration date. We purge these accounts a year after expiration date. If they still would like to use our library, we add them with a new account and different user group. |
| Automate Borrowing Request Processes(5632) | Currently, we create a weekly Analytics report of all items with status Request sent to Partner and Update Date of more than three days, and then send email reminders manually to each partner via General Message. There is no status update for the request that we can apply in Alma, and the whole process is time-consuming and open to human error. We would like a set of options that allow us to automate processing for borrowing requests. When a partner does not respond within a configurable number of days, a reminder letter will be sent by email to the partner and the status of the request will be updated to indicate that a reminder has been sent. Alternatively, the request to that partner could be automatically cancelled and sent to the next partner in the rota (as is done for lending requests). |
| Customize display of fields in Alma Article request form(5633) | We would like the option to display the fields in the Alma article request form (found in Alma --> Fulfillment --> Resource Sharing --> Borrowing/Lending Request list) in the following order: Journal name, year, volume, issue, pages, article title, article author, and issn - and not in the order these fields are currently hard-coded (e.g. author initials splits volume and issue, and publication date is at the end of the form). |
| Re-loan should not cause automatic renewal of items already on loan(5634) | When loaning an item to a patron, who has this item already on loan, the system automatically renews the loan (if possible). An option in configuration is needed to suppress this automatic renewal for the following reason: too many errors occur, when the item is automatically renewed. If the patron intends to return the item and the circulation desk operator by accident scans the item for loan, then the item is back in the library stacks but by accident renewed for the patron (who will get claimed!). |
| “Restore” the reading list to its original location (5639) | We often have large amount of course reserve items that need to be moved from a permanent to temporary location and back again. We would like to be able to “restore” a reading list to its original location in ALMA by running a restore job on a defined set of reading lists or through adding a restore action to reading list functionality. Bulk restore would improve efficiency by removing the need to scan in items individually. |
| Ability to add Citation Details fields to the Citation display in Edit Reading list or Edit Citation screens(5648) | Currently important information for reading list workflows like Edition are not displayed in the Citation, but only in the tab ‘Citation Details’. Fields like Edition are more important to display at a glance for citations, than the currently displayed Subject or Series. We would like to be able to display all Citation Details fields in the Citation display, configurable through the manage column display feature |
| Assessed Fines Letter - Ability to Send a Letter Notifying Users That Fines Have Been Assessed(5650) | 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. |
| Addition of a new fulfillment policy type for a flat overdue charge/fine(5657) | This request is for the addition of a new fulfillment policy type for a flat overdue charge/fine. This policy should be able to be used alone or in conjunction with the Overdue Fine policy type in Terms of Use for Loans. So, it would need to be a separate policy type from Overdue Fine. We are requesting a functionality enhancement to allow a library to use both period-based fines (hourly, daily) in addition to a flat overdue charge, as it encourages library patrons to return items with short-term loan periods in when they are due. The addition of a new fulfillment policy type for a flat overdue charge/fine, separate from the Overdue Fine policy type in Terms of Use for Loans, would allow a library to use either or both policies as needed. |
| Ability to both include and exclude facets on Borrowing Requests, Lending Requests, and Monitor Requests & Item Processes pages(5658) | Currently when using the Borrowing Requests, Lending Requests, and Monitor Requests & Item Processes pages, you can limit the results via facets by including the records with the a facet value you want to see (but even then, only one per category). It would be helpful and easier sometimes to be able to use a process of elimination and eliminate what you know you don't want to see, especially when you aren't sure exactly what you want to see. |
| Allow Rollback to previous Request Status in Resource Sharing Requests(5659) | Resource Sharing Requests are frequently scanned too many times or otherwise mishandled by staff, causing them for instance to arrive at the borrowing library in a Completed state instead of in a ready to be received state. The ability for staff at the borrowing library to rollback the Request Status from, for instance, Complete to Shipped Physically would allow the borrowing library to "revive" the request, instead of coordinating a new request with the lending library. |
| Automatic loan renewal (5667) | Currently, a loan handled by the job “Notifications - Send Courtesy Notices and Handle Loan Renewals” where renewal was prevented due to a number of reasons, it is not included in future instances of the job, unless its due date has changed. When a block is lifted we need to do a manual job in order to get the loans that weren`t renewed back in to the “Notifications - Send Courtesy Notices and Handle Loan Renewals” job. Since we don`t know which loans that are affected, it requires us to make lists in analytics and then manually change due date on these loans. This is complicated and can`t be done by all the staff. It is also time consuming since we ideally need to do this every day. Loans that weren`t renewed due to blocks will be handled by the “Notifications - Send Courtesy Notices and Handle Loan Renewals” job when the blocks are lifted. Much the same as currently is the case with loans that weren't renewed because of pending requests. They will be renewed when requests are cancelled or fulfilled by another item. |
| Local control of copy used to satisfy "Patron Physical Item Request"(5681) | When a user requests or recalls a book in Primo where the library has multiple copies, we would like to be able to control which copy gets recalled. This is similar to request ID 5491, but we'd like even more granular control than setting up a rule.Currently, the system places the request on whichever copy has been checked out the longest, but often we want the system to recall a specific copy of a book (i.e. we’d like to recall the copy that is not on loan to a faculty member). If there is a request or recall on a title where the library has multiple copies, it would be sent to a queue where a staff member could choose the item to be recalled. |
| Expand Display Logic Rules for physical fulfillment services(5682) | Current Alma functionality only allows for Display Logic Rules to be defined based on a selection of User Groups. Large institutions may have many libraries and hundreds of locations to configure and manage. Defining what locations allow for physical requests, booking, digitization, etc. would result in the need for dozens of Fulfillment Units. Also some services, e.g. general holds could not be controlled in this way. It would be much simpler to manage and more flexible in practice if the Display Logic configuration allowed for us to turn on/off services based on library, location, and availability. Relevant parameters to be able to control the display of services might include: 1. Physical Item Library 2. Physical Item Location 3. Physical Item Availability This enhancement would allow for a sustainable, simplified approach to Fulfillment Units while still allowing for the flexibility/complexity of a library that has several hundred Alma locations. e.g. if a particular library collection did not want to offer booking services or general holds, it would not be necessary to create a new Fulfillment Unit, it could simply be hidden from patrons using Display Logic Rule. The service is turned on, but patrons cannot access it, essentially turning it off. This approach also allows for the flexibility for library staff to initiate requests for special circumstances within Alma as needed while keeping the services "turned off" to patrons. At present, if a service is denied to users via the Fulfillment Unit, it prevents staff from overriding the system in special circumstances. |
| Enable customer-defined order of locations in the Get It menu(5683) | Currently, the locations in the Alma resolver (Get It menu) are not sorted in a consistent, meaningful manner. There is a "use IP best locations ordering" option, but this option is insufficient for many institutions. For instance, in many cases, users are off site or not in a library building, and many institutions do not reserve IP addresses for specific buildings Ideally, we would like the ability to explicitly define the preferred order in which locations are sorted. For multi-campus institutions, customers should be able to define the location order for each campus. |
| Applying fees when an item is requested but not picked up by the requester(5690) | Current behavior : There is no such option in Alma for applying fees by the system automatically when a request is not picked up by the requester before the hold expiration date. Charges can only be added manually. Desired behavior : The system should provide an option so that a fee could be generated by the system automatically for every request that is not picked up or cancelled by the patron on or before the hold expiration date. This will prevent the abuse of the request service and to encourage users to cancel the request when the item is no longer needed. |
| Include call number for Resource Sharing Borrowing Requests(5691) | Resource sharing item records from affiliated libraries contain no call numbers. The call number is not part of the information currently sent through to create the request on the borrowing side, so the call number does not exist in the record in the borrowing library. We organize our hold shelf by call number. Without the call number, it is difficult for counter staff to find borrowing requests on the shelf, making it difficult to locate the book on the shelf when the user comes to collect it and to clear the hold shelf when the request expires. If the call number were imported it would appear under the Request tab in the user’s account, and in the Expired Hold Shelf list, which would solve this problem. |
| Generate Fulfillment Network On Hold Shelf Letters from the Pickup Library, not the owning library(5703) | Currently when an item requested through our consortium’s fulfillment network is scanned in at it’s pickup location, the “On Hold Shelf Letter” that is sent to the patron is generated from the item’s owning library instead of the pickup library. We would like the On Hold Shelf Letter to be generated from the pickup library’s “On Hold Shelf Letter” instead. |
| Allow pickup library staff to change pickup location on a fulfillment network request(5704) | A fulfillment staff member at the pickup institution should be able to change the pickup location on a patron's fulfillment network request before the item is placed on the hold shelf. Changing the pickup location should result in the patron being notified of the new pickup location when their "On Hold Shelf" letter is generated. This should be possible for requests on local items (this is currently possible), as well as requests on items owned by consortial members within our fulfillment network (this is not currently possible). |
| Add Leganto discussion notes to Brief Citation display(5708) | When a new library discussion note has been added to a citation, we would like this to be visible at list level in Alma (Edit Citation screen) and on the full citation list (ie, the note will display next to the blue 'Alert' text). Currently we need to click into each citation to view the notes, and cannot use use ctrl + F in browser to identify similar notes. |
| Add the Citation Id to Citation Brief display and Citation Edit page(5709) | We would like the citation ID to display on the citation search screen, reading list view/work on screen and on the edit citation screen as it would speed up searching functionality and directly improve cross working between Leganto and Alma. |
| Add Course Information to the Excel columns exported from the Alma Citations page(5710) | We would like Department Name, Number of Participants, and Term added to the export from the Edit Citations screen. We make purchasing decisions based on citations tagged as Key Texts, which department they are for and how many students are on the course. It would be useful to have all this information in one place and would allow us to work more efficiently and effectively with this export. |
| Add information to Lending reject screen(5719) | When rejecting a lending request, display the request title and external identifier on the reject screen. |
| Audit for lending request printed/reported(5720) | Create an audit trail when a request has been printed or reported. Include the date, time, and operator. |
| Place requests on books in missing status(5721) | Allow staff initiated patron physical item requests for items in a missing status. We frequently need to place a patron physical item request on an item in missing status so we can notify the patron if and when an item has been found. Currently we must keep track of these holds outside of Alma, then clear the missing status before placing a hold for the patron. This hold will allow us to keep track of these requests in Alma which would streamline the process. We cannot user the parameter that allows missing item requests, because this will allow users to request the item themselves via Primo/Summon. |
| Improvements to Library selection for Overdue and Lost Loan Profiles(5729) | When setting up an Overdue and Lost Loan Profile it is not clear that if the field is left blank the profile will apply to all libraries. This is not clear unless you refer to the documentation for setting up the profile. This information is essentially hidden, which can lead to setup errors with deep ramifications to user accounts. In addition, when setting up an instance of a rule you are limited to selecting one library. This means that if just one library within your institution needs an exception you are obliged to create separate profiles for each of the other libraries, even though each of these other libraries may have identical profiles. The solution for these problems is twofold. First, we would like for “All Libraries” to appear in the text field so that it is apparent that this is the default selection for the rule. This option should also appear in the dropdown menu. In addition, the dropdown menu should also allow us to choose one or more libraries from the library drop down list in the overdue and lost profile, as is possible for other lists on this profile page and elsewhere in Alma. This would allow us to manage multiple libraries' notice scenarios with one profile. |
| restore item to permanent location upon return (optional)(5731) | We would like the *option* to set particular locations so that when items are returned in Fulfillment Check Out/Checkin (whether the items are actually checked out or not) they would be restored to the permanent location of the item. |
| Prevent patron physical item requests are unavailable copies(5732) | Patrons are occasionally able to request items through the discovery interface with a physical status of "item not in place" in the system. When this happens, Library staff are not notified of the request, which sits on the item until it is filled or cancelled. If there is an available item (physical status "item in place") on another holdings, Alma does not move the active request to that holdings. This type of behavior is problematic for our institution. We provide a number of paging request and request delivery services at Penn and throughout our consortia. We advertise swift turn around for patron requests (1-2 business days) and record statistics on this turn around. If the system is not going to notify us that a request is pending on an unavailable item, then the request needs to move to an item that is available to fulfill the request. One solution to this problem is to enable requests to move from holdings to holdings until an available item is found. Staff who monitor the Pick from Shelf list for that library will be alerted that the item in question is needed to fulfill a patron physical item request. We would also be able to configure whether or not this request can be converted to a resource sharing request or moved to another holdings. |
| Alert for requests on unavailable items that are older than 24-72 hours(5733) | Currently Alma does not proactively report whether there are patron physical item request on items with a physical status of "item not in place". This is problematic for our institution because we are a large institution with a large amount of requests daily. As a result, we have multiple units that handle the request process. without a proactive and obvious report or notification that requests are not being filled, these requests will go unattended, and our patrons unsatisfied. As we have discovered, using the monitor requests and in process feature does not provide all requests on unavailable items (if there is more than one holdings, or two items on a holding, one that is unrequestable and one that is not, the "owning library" will come up as undefined.). As a result we must use analytics to capture the rest and there is no telling whether or not that report is complete as well. If a list of unfilled requests over an amount of time was present in the Tasks widget, similar to the "pick up from shelf" list, that would be helpful. If the system is unable to move an active request to a holdings with available items, then the system should alert the staff either with an emailed notification, a generated list that posts to a widgit, or a configurable, reoccurring report, that there are pending patron physical item requests on items with a physical status of "item not in place" |
| Add/Remove/Edit drop down menus w/o Contacting ExLibris: Fines/Fees types(5736) | We would like the ability to add and remove options from the Fines/Fees Types menu without having to contact Ex Libris. Currently, the workflow is to contact Ex Libris if we'd like to have options added. We cannot request to have options removed. The ideal functionality would be a configuration menu, not unlike the waive fee reasons, that we could use to add and remove fine/fee types. In the least a way to reorganize the list would be helpful. |
| Ability to select which user groups receive the FulUserBorrowingActivityLetter (5737) | We would like the ability to send the FulUserBorrowingActivityLetter to our student groups mid-semester before we block registrations and at the end of the semester to our faculty and staff before they leave for vacations/sabbaticals. When we first came up on Alma at the beginning of the Spring Semester in 2016, our users were shocked to get the Borrowing Activity Letter, as they were not expecting it. We now feel that it would be useful if we could send this letter out for our students before registration period, so they can clear their fines/fees and not be blocked from registering. Likewise, it would be very helpful to send these reports to our faculty/staff users or to all our university community members before the end of the term. The ability to create and enable profiles that allow for setting the user groups to whom the notice should apply is available for the Fines and Fees Notification. We would like to see the same functionality for the Borrowing Activity Letter. This would allow us to control who receives notices before a scheduled or on-demand run of the job. |
| Add date range parameter field to Bulk Waive Job; move it under Fulfillment Menu(5738) | We had a mishap with the Overdue and Lost Loan Profile configuration feature in early January that resulted in a couple hundred patrons receiving lost loan fines and their loans receiving the lost status prematurely. I was able to use the Bulk Waive Job to waive their fines but with one very big complication: because I could not specify, by date, the fines for the patron groups affected, we ended up waiving fines/fees for lost items that were marked lost ourside of that time period. So faculty members and graduates who had legitimately lost our books or had not returned them received forgiveness because Alma did not allow us to set the fine dates to a specific range. This is problematic for our institution because we rely on the lost item fines and lost item replacement fees as a tool to ensure we receive our items back. Because of the size of our patron population we need to be able to control better who is affected, by this job in particular, and who is not. A simple solution to this feature would be to add date range fields. If I could have chosen to forgive only fines that were applied between 1/8/18 and 1/23/18, it would have saved us a lot of additional work and explanation. Unfortunately, because date range was not available as a parameter, I had to send out a number of emails and create workflow work- arounds to fix the additional problems the Bulk Waive Job feature caused. Further adding it under the Fulfillment menu makes more sense. There should be no other department in a library that is adding/fines fees other than Circulation and Resource Sharing. I understand not every institution is organized to have those two areas under the same department, but having this feature under Admin, opens it up to people who should not have access to it. able to use the Bulk Waive Job to waive their fines but with one very big complication: because I could not specify, by date, which fines for the patron groups affected, we ended up waiving fines/fees for lost items that were legitimately lost. So faculty members and graduates who have legitimately lost our books or have not returned them just received forgiveness because Alma did not allow met to narrow the fined date to a specific range. |
| Allow desktop printing directly from Alma (5746) | When staff print in Alma what they are really doing is sending an email. Alma's print function consists entirely of generating and sending emails, however printing is an essential function of a library management system. For a library that allows requests and transit of materials between locations, it is crucial that the books have a slip of paper in them to move them around efficiently, and keep them organized. Current recommendations are to tack on third party software (Namtuk, Outlook, Papercut), introducing breaking points, breaking points that we should not have in an end-to-end solution like Alma. Microsoft and Google (among others) provide desktop printing for their cloud-based systems. Under this email-based system Alma allows just one 'printer' to be connected to each circulation desk. Relying on one printer to print request slips, transit slips, and loan receipts creates confusion. In a large library where each circulation desk has multiple staff performing different tasks at different workstations, sometimes on multiple floors of the same building, this creates an unmanageable situation. We have had to create additional circulation desks to manage our operations. Alma should allow multiple 'printers' to be connected to a circulation desk, with a configuration option to send certain types of prints to the chosen printer. |
| Add permanent call number as a keyword under "keyword search" in repository search Physical title and Physical item search(5748) | The permanent call number in Alma corresponds to our local call number in our Holdings records. Often times, when asking for help finding an item at our circulation desk, patrons will bring the call number they found on their own. They want to know prior to going up 3-4 floors to the stacks whether the book is even available. |
| Add "proxy for" and "proxy of" to user search criteria in the persistent search(5750) | We would like to see "proxy for" and "proxy of " added as user search parameters in the persistent search menu, as part of All and as separate criteria. As it is, there is no easy way to search for a proxy relationship in Alma. One has to know who the proxy is in order to confirm whether or not they are a proxy. For example, a faculty member may have 1-3 research assistants and they want to ensure that they are all in good standing. We should be able to search for the faculty member and see all proxy relationships together. |
| Add print slip option to Active Hold Shelf Screen for print on demand option(5751) | The ability to print hold slips from the Active Hold Shelf feature would be extremely helpful for our institution. If for some reason, automatic printing in Alma malfunctions, which often happens, we can still print on demand hold slips for patron holds and get them on the hold shelf and ready for pick up. Please add a print option to the Active HoldShelf screen that will allow us to download the slip as a PDF so that we print from a local printer. |
| Add bulk recall job with ability to truncate due date) of recalled item(5752) | Currently, in Alma, an item can only be recalled by placing a request. When a large number of items need to be recalled we must place requests individually, which can be a lot of work for staff. A useful solution would be to add a bulk recall job with a number of parameters pertaining to the item. Ideally, the bulk recall feature would do the following: submit the recall to the patron, truncate the due date (configurable), and place a resource sharing request on their behalf (enable/disable option). The truncated loan period time should be configurable in days and hours. |
| Make “ignore_lender_due_date” parameter a partner specific parameter(5756) | Currently the ignore_lender_due_date setting is a global setting that determines when the due date for resource sharing items is decided. If the setting is turned on the due date is decided by local rules at patron checkout, and if it is turned off the due date is decided by the lending library when the materials are shipped. In our consortia, we want our consortia materials to have a loan period decided at checkout so our patrons have a consistent loan period for all consortia items regardless of how long it takes for materials to travel between campuses. All the rest of our resource sharing items come from libraries around the world with varying loan periods that we should adhere to. By making this a partner specific setting we would be able to respect non consortia library’s policies and provide consistent loan periods for consortia items at checkout. |
| Auto-Fill Booking Form(5769) | Currently when a patron selects “Booking request” in Primo for an eligible item, they must then enter a specific hour and minute for both “start time” and “end time”. Since patrons are generally not familiar with our booking Terms of Use, this often results in a cryptic “No items can fulfill the submitted request” error message if the booking duration requested is longer than what is allowed. The enhancements we’d like to request are two-fold: start and end time should be less granular, using hour or half-hour increments rather than minutes, and “end time” should auto-fill based on whatever “start time” the user selects based on the duration allowed by the relevant TOU. |
| Allow patrons a minimum loan period before items can be recalled(5779) | Alma should be able to allow patrons to have a loan for a minimum amount of days before it can be recalled. Currently, we can only set the number of days a patron can have an item after it has been recalled, regardless of how long the patron has already had the item. An example: If a person checks out an item, then someone else puts a hold on that item the next day, the first patron only has the loan for one day plus the post-recall period. We would like a patrons to have a general circulating item for a minimum set period of time before it can be recalled. This period would ideally be configurable by number of days or weeks allowed. |
| Provide patrons notification of reasons for failure to renew a loan(5782) | We would like it to be possible to notify users when they have an item on loan that cannot be renewed, and to explain the reason to them so as to avoid confusion to patrons. Reasons may include: - because it is requested, - the patron has reached their expiry period - or the item has reached its maximum renewal period. Currently when an item is about to go overdue a notification is sent to warn a user that an item must be renewed or returned even if there is a request on the item. However, when a renewal is attempted, whether by the patron, automatically, or by staff, it fails, e.g. because of the request, with no notification of the failure which is confusing to the end user. |
| Option to auto-populate Reading List Name and Code fields with identical values from Course Name & Code Fields(5785) | In course reserves, we use identical Name and Code values for a course and its corresponding reading list. Would it be possible to auto-populate a Reading List's Name and Code values based upon its course? |
| Add Repository Citation Improvement in Reading Lists(5787) | When adding multiple repository citations to the same reading list we have to click through the same sequence of buttons over and over. Specifically, from the reading list page you click Actions --& Add Citation --& Add Repository Citation --& search for the title and click Select --& return to reading list page. You have to go through this sequence for each new citation. It would be more efficient to allow the user to remain on the search screen so that additional searches can be performed instead of being returned to the reading list page after clicking Select. A Done/Finished/Back button could be added to return the user to the reading list when all citations have been added. |
| Waitlist functionality for short term loans(5791) | Our reserve materials circulate for 2 hours and 4 hours, and they are non-requestable by patrons. They are on a first come, first served basis. Patrons frequently come to the reserves desk to ask if certain items are available. When we tell the the item is checked out and due back in 2 hours, the patrons have no way to ensure that they will be the next person in line to check out the item. This often results in frustration for the patrons because someone else might come in sooner and check the item out before they return. It would be helpful to have a waitlist functionality for short term loans. This would allow patrons to put their name on a list to be next in line once a short term loan item has been returned. Alma would send an email/text to the patron when the item is returned telling the patron they have a specific window of time (e.g. 5 minutes) to check out the item. During that window of time no other patrons can check it out. After the window of time has expired the next person on the waitlist receives an email/text from Alma saying they can now check out the item. For the circulation desk operator it would be helpful to have a waitlist page in Alma that displays which items are currently on the waitlist, how much time is left in each one before the window of time expires. This will help operators to know at a glance where all the waitlisted items are in the waitlist process. This waitlist system is different from a booking request because the waitlist does not require a patron to select the date and time of when they want an item. Instead, it is simply a list of names of patrons who want to be next in line when an item arrives. The waitlist functionality would only be available when an item is checked out; a patron can't put their name on the waitlist if the item is on the shelf. Ideally the waitlist function could be done by both staff and patrons, but this should be up to the Alma institution. The institution can decide whether to turn waitlist function on at all. If they turn it on, it will at a minimum be administered by staff. Additionally, they can decide to turn on a patron-facing side that allows patrons to add their names to the waitlist. Ex Libris also plans to develop an embargo period on loans, which means items can't be checked out to the same patron within a specified window of time. This is very helpful, but it is not the same thing as a waitlist functionality. We need a system that will let patrons get in line for a loan. |
| More Citation Type Options When Adding Brief Citations(5795) | Description: When adding brief citations to a reading list we are only presented with these options: "Physical Book," "Physical Article," "Electronic Book," and "Electronic Article." However, we often create brief citations for other citation types such as DVDs. The options for citation type should be expanded to When adding brief citations to a reading list we are only presented with these options: "Physical Book," "Physical Article," "Electronic Book," and "Electronic Article." However, we often create brief citations for other citation types such as DVDs. The options for citation type should be expanded to include many more types of materials. When the citation type is incorrect it confuses both reserves staff and patrons. For example, we create brief citations for DVDs, but unless we change the citation material type they show up in the reading list as a book. If the citation material type is changed to DVD, this does not affect the display of the record in Primo, which will still display as book because the bibliographic record’s resource type and material type are set for book. The options for citation type should be the same as the options for material type found in other modules of Alma. Adding additional citation types should result in records that display properly in Alma and in Primo, without needing to modify the bibliographic record. |
| Choosing hold or recall when placing a physical item request(5801) | When entering a physical item request, there should be an option to override the Loan Recalls Configuration table. In most cases, we want to recall the item, but there are circumstances in which we may prefer not to. There is currently no way to control this on a case-by-case basis. Currently Alma requires a blanket decision on whether to initiate a recall when placing a physical item request, with no way to handle exceptions. When placing a physical item request that will result in a recall, the form should include an option to place the request without enforcing the recall (a passive hold that will prevent renewals). |
| Configuring different email addresses for each circulation desk in letters(5802) | We have multiple circulation desks, and we would like Alma to be able to use a different email address in the "From" field for each desk when sending letters. This way, when a user replies to the letter, the reply is sent to the appropriate desk. |
| Make personal delivery labels in Resource Sharing request form configurable. (5809) | We have had many complaints from users who do not understand what Work Address means in the pickup/delivery location drop down menu in the resource sharing form, or they don't even see it. We much prefer the layout within the patron physical item request form where home and work address are separated from pickup locations under a personal delivery heading and where we can customise the labels for Home and Work Address. Please make the same functionality available in the resource sharing request form so that we can make all of our request forms a consistent experience for users. |
| Fewer clicks should be needed for Fulfillment Network Requesting (5818) | Fulfillment Network Requesting should take fewer clicks and be less confusing, especially for Guest users. When requesting from Fulfillment Network institutions through Primo, it takes a lot of extra clicks, is confusing to users, and Guest (non-logged in) users especially are likely to be misled about whether their request has been placed. For Fulfillment Network items, when a patron clicks Request they should be taken directly to the request preferences screen (the dialog where they select the pickup location) whenever possible. If they must login first, then upon clicking Request they should be taken directly to the login screen then redirected to the request preferences screen to complete placing the request. |
Interoperability & Integration
| RequestTitle | Description |
| Display of request history in Primo(3931) | Currently end users can see the history of their loans in Primo. It would be of benefit to them to see the history of their requests placed in Primo. |
| Make available via the Retrieve Job Instance Details API a full report of scheduled SIS user batch load jobs, including reports of rejected users(4969) | Make available via the Retrieve Job Instance Details API (https://developers.exlibrisgroup.com/alma/apis/conf/GET/gwPcGly021p29HpB7XTI4If2K/a0Xsh6fJL0RW8W442AeK7R1hXqv2jFFMKx9DsER7MNJPGkb5Q=/37088dc9-c685-4641-bc7f-60b5ca7cabed) a full report of scheduled SIS user batch load jobs, including reports of rejected users. Currently, only details of manually scheduled jobs are available via the API, and the list of rejected users is not included. |
| Add subscription from and to dates to the invoice information that Alma exports(5181) | Subscription From Date and Subscription To Date fields from Invoice Line Details should be included in the invoice XML export files when they contain data. This will aid integration with finance systems where the institution does monthly accounting and subscription payments are spread out over months. |
| Ability to include "Interested user" functionality in the Order API (5220) | Currently the Order API does not include the function that can map the “requester's email” field on the vendor's platform to ALMA's "Interested User" in the POL. Without this function, acquisition staff have to order on the vendor's platform first, then complete the order information in Alma by adding "interested user" and selecting to notify the user. This creates unnecessary inefficiency. |
| Alma Resource Sharing - OCLC Interoperability(5222) | Currently Alma and WorldShare (OCLC) are not interoperable as the integration between the two systems has not been established. An enhancement request has been made to OCLC via TopDesk and the feedback is that establishing the integration would require work done by both Ex Libris and OCLC. Furthermore, a new update of the ISO Standard (ISO-18626) is to be released soon and vendors would be scheduling to move to the new protocol. This submission is to request Ex Libris implement Alma-WorldShare (OCLC) integration after the new ISO protocol is released. |
| Ability to acquire Multiple copies or multiple accesses on a single order using Order API(5225) | When we purchase multiple physical copies on Gobi on a single API order e.g. 6 copies, the API order created 6 items, and the “quantity for pricing” are correctly copied in to the order, but in the percentage of funds, it only funded 1/6 of the item price (16.7%), thus the order landed in the inReview status. When multiple electronic copies are ordered in one API order, only one portfolio is created, and not all electronic copies are funded and the order lands in an inReview status. i.e. if we order 3x3Users - we need the correct number of inventory to be created in order to track our electronic holdings (for industry reporting purposes - number of items acquired). |
| option to not show related holdings locations (5340) | related holdings are confusing to our users, and there is currently no way to stop these from showing. See attached file for a screenshot. We have been told this is an Alma configuration that cannot be changed, but the way it is presented in Primo is the issue: either have an opt-out from showing these, or re-design the display in a better way |
| Improved CSS in getit and viewit tabs(5574) | Improve and Enhance the options for customizing use and application of CSS within the data results that Alma provides to the GetIt and ViewIt tabs in Primo, so that the CSS in custom system delivery skins can be used control the display of information in those tabs at a more granular level. For example, the use of CSS IDs for individual form elements to enable customization of the look and feel of request forms.This would greatly enhance the enable more robust delivery options through Alma service pages. |
| Extension Indexing for Alma-D(5580) | Publish the complete amazon S3 repository URL of a file contained as a digital object, so that Primo could fetch the data with a file splitter. |
| Allow institutions to customize the order of locations which appear in RTA(5638) | The locations which appear in Primo's RTA section of brief results are ordered alphabetically by Alma location code. Display order should be more customizable by the institution. Use case: an institution's first location code is A&SC, which is "Archives & Special Collections." This is a non-circulating collection, but because it's first in the institution's Alma location code list, it shows as the first "Available at" location to users in the Primo interface. Users go through the effort to get to the Archives & Special Collections unit, only to discover that they can't check the item out from that location. |
| Using the Mac Safari browser for Alma should be fully supported.(5640) | Currently, the Mac OS Safari browser is not supported for Alma (https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Product_Documentation/010Alma_Online_Help_(English)/010Getting_Started/050Alma_User_Interface_–_General_Information/010Browser_Requirements) Furthermore, until the February 2018 release, Safari has successfully worked in Alma without problem, going back at least until late 2014. However, with the February 2018 release, you now get the endless spinning blue line when loading several pages, such as the User search results screen. Safari is supported by Primo: https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Primo/Product_Documentation/New_Primo_User_Interface/010Frequently_Asked_Questions#Browser_and_Device_Support Safari is supported in SalesForce: https://help.salesforce.com/articleView?id=getstart_browser_aloha.htm&type=5 |
| locations & holdings info from Z39.50 server(5735) | Please note that I took this ticket content from previous tickets submitted by Orbis Cascade as this is having significant impact on us as new customers, but doesn't seem to have progressed thru the process previously. We have attempted to set up ILLiad to check local holdings and availability using Alma's z39.50 client. The problem is, we are unable to get availability information as well as holdings information. In the developer's network, here: https://developers.exlibrisgroup.com/alma/integrations/Z39.50, the supporting attributes listed are all bibliographic. We want Availability added to the supported attributes. Use Case: ILLiad Z39.50 settings allow us to map to XML or MARC format records, but not both simultaneously; we have to pick one or the other. From what I can tell, our XML records contain availability details but no holding-level details (which volumes we own of a serial, specifically), and the MARC records do not contain availability details, but do contain holdings-level information. We need both availability and holdings-level information to be returned, so it seems Ex Libris will need to allow more data fields in either the XML or MARC records. |
Resource Management
| RequestTitle | Description |
| Administration: Add fields in the Change Physical Item job for alternative call number (3977) | In the Change Physical Item job, on the Create Job – Enter Task Parameters screen, add “Alternative call number type” and “Alternative call number” to the list of fields that can be changed in item records. Impact: We need to update this information in a large number of item records, and it is time consuming to do it record by record. |
| Administration: Resource Management (Sets): Ability to save queries in the Community Zone Or Network Zone(4144) | It is possible to search the Institution Zone and save your search strategy as a saved query. It is not possible, however, to save a search strategy done in the Community Zone or Network Zone. |
| Change Physical Items job – adding notes(4918) | The Change Physical Items job allows you to add notes to Internal notes 1-3 or Statistical notes 1-3 as the only value in those fields, and there are options to not add the note if text already exists, but there is no option to add the note IN ADDITION TO notes that already exists. In other words, append additional text either before, or after, text already existing in the field. Also, when you choose the option to skip adding the note if the field is not empty, there is no report identifying which records were skipped. The addition of a report would provide evidence that the current text has not be inadvertently changed. Both of these conditions should be addressed. |
| The “Create Physical Item Work Orders” job should be expanded to allow users to add work order Status in addition to Type and Department to a set of records.(4922) | The “Create Physical Item Work Orders” job should be expanded to allow users to add work order Status in addition to Type and Department to a set of records. Currently adding Status is a 2nd separate step. After running the job to apply Type and Department, you must then sign into the appropriate Currently At location, Manage In Process Items, and then apply the Work Order Status (limited to one screen of 20 records at a time). Very Inefficient! |
| Add OCLC number to physical item export(5041) | Large scale weeding projects would be made much more efficient if Alma offered the ability to include OCLC numbers in the physical items set export details. Currently, we are in the position of using a work-around where we must create a title-level set based on the same items. There are bib-level elements present in the physical item export, so we assume this is possible. Ultimately, we would prefer the option to select which fields export for every export we perform, but the addition of OCLC number to physical item exports would be a great first step. |
| Provide the ability for an institution in an NZ environment to load files with local fields to the NZ and have the local fields localized to their IZ as part of the loading process(5076) | Create the bility to import bib records into the Network Zone with local fields and keep/protect the local fields in the bib local extension. Currently, we can import a batch of bib records with local fields into Network zone, e.g. our theses with local subjects in 690s. However, the local fields are stored in the Network zone bib records without the local field icons. The next day when the Alliance picks up the records from OCLC and drops them into the Network Zone, the local fields are wiped out. We request an enhancement that, for institutions in an NZ environment, will provide the ability for an institution to load files with local fields to the NZ and have the local fields localized to their IZ as part of the loading process |
| Add a “Back to Results” button that removes the current need to back out of a record multiple times to get to a logical continuation point in the original list.(5246) | When it is necessary to work through a list of records manually, it would be very helpful to have a “Back to Results” button that removes the current need to back out of a record multiple times to get to a logical continuation point in the original list. For example, when going into an Item record and switching to the Notes tab - it takes three clicks to back out to the results list. The “Back to Results” button would need to return to the same point at which you left the list to work on a record. |
| Scores should be separated out as its own bib-level material type(5248) | The bibliographic material type of Music inexplicably combines scores (Leader/06 c or d) and sound recordings (Leader/06 i or j) into a single facet. Scores should be separated out as its own bib-level material type. |
| Be able to configure Alma pop-ups in Acquisitions and Resource Management(5277) | Many parts of the acquisitions and resource management workflows include pop-up messages to alert you about something related to a change you are making. For example, if a description template will be applied. For our work, these are often unnecessary and a nuisance. They slow down processing of materials, rather than assisting it. We'd like the ability to turn off pop-ups at an institution or individual user level. |
| In the MDEditor using “Expand from Template” functionality have templates apply fields/subfields regardless of whether they currently exist in the bib record(5278) | When using “Expand from Template” in the MDEditor we would like to see templates apply fields/subfields regardless of whether they currently exist in the bib record (e.g., bib record already contains a 546 for language, and we want to add an additional 546 for type of notation via template. Using the template will do this: 546 $a Spanish words with interlinear French translation $b Staff notation. It adds the subfield b for type of notation to the existing 546 rather than adding a new 546 field: 546 $a Spanish words with interlinear French translation. 546 $b Staff notation. ) |
| configure the order of the holdings records in the GetIt tab(5365) | It would be very useful to have an option in the back office to configure the order of the holdings records to be displayed in Primo (e.g. according to the loan period). |
| Add ability to search description field on List of Items page(5489) | Please add the ability to search the "list of items" pages in Alma using the text in the Item Description field. The list of searchable fields on this page is hard-coded and can't be changed locally. Those searchable fields currently consist only of call number and barcode. |
| Enable Individual Portfolios for PubMed(5540) | There is not a way to set up individual profiles for the Publish to PubMed Profile for individual colleges that share one Alma instance. This functionality is important and should be enabeled. Without it, patrons using PubMed will not be aware which results are available in full-text through their college's databases. |
| Produce a Publishing Profile for BrowZine(5555) | Create a specific publishing profile for sending data to Third Iron’s BrowZine on a scheduled basis. The Publishing Profile should be able to accommodate a library's holdings containing both of NZ and IZ holdings. We have worked closely with John Seguin, President of Third Iron (john@thirdiron.com) on this initiative and he would welcome further discussion about details needed to improve the process of automated data transfer between Alma and BrowZine. |
| View title statement(245p) in community zone(5567) | Currently 245p were not displaying in the electronic collection of community zone record. It creates difficulty to distinguish them when viewing journals such as "Nature Publishing Group Journals" Steps to replicate: Search for “Electronic Collection = Nature Publishing Group Journals” > “Edit Service” > Portfolios > A list of titles without |p is displayed. |
| Job to scan in items in bulk(5571) | The Alma system does not currently allow users to “Scan-in” items via any kind of batch process. This leaves our student assistants and other staff with two options for accomplishing work that requires scanning in numerous items: 1. Students place items on a cart and bring them to the Stacks Management office, where the student can scan them in one-by-one and then return them to their proper shelving locations. 2. Students scan the items with portable barcode scanners before re-shelving them. Once the students have finished these scanning and re-shelving tasks, they return to our Stacks Management office, where they download the scanned barcodes from the portable scanners to a computer workstation as a .txt file. The student then uses a locally-written macro script that feeds one barcode at a time from the list to Alma’s “Scan-In Items” page. |
| Single Issue/Journal Binding requires a lot of extra steps, process should be the same as for multiple issue binding.(5587) | In Alma the steps to bind a single issue/journal are not the same as for binding multiple issues. Single issue binding takes a lot of extra steps that should not be necessary. This is SalesForce Case 89590. |
| Cannot search MARC field 790 in Alma(5591) | For a variety of benefits we plan to implement use of the 790 field for local tracings (such as former owners) to be used for special collections materials. Now we see that we can't search that field at all in Alma, only Primo. Since Alma does index 59X fields as "local notes" and 69X fields as "local subjects" would it be possible to index 79x as well? This is SalesForce Case 472025. |
| Serials: Editing of Description Needed(5612) | When opening predicted items, the Description-Field is populated by the data provided in “Next Predicted Item´s information” and displays these data in a certain interpunctuation-logic. Unfortunately, this logic is not equal to the description- (and interpunctiation-) logic used in German speaking countries (which is following ZETA-Standard) – and there is no possibility to edit this. Since there has to be a correct description (for sorting etc.), the only way is to open and edit every single item once it is created by prediction pattern. This is causing a lot of unnecessary work to be done manually - we need the description template to be editable so that items with a correct description can be created automatically in the first place! |
| Split screen option in MD editor(5615) | When working with serials holdings records, the ability to have a list of associated items open in a split-screen view. |
| MD Editor drag-and-drop fields(5616) | The ability to easily move fields in the MD editor, preferably by drag-n-drop or some other one-step process. |
| Add representation for Dublin Core records in MD Editor(5621) | Enable the Add Representation button in the MD Editor to work for Dublin Core records. Currently this functionality is only supported for MARC records. |
| MARC for Enduser Deposit Profiles(5623) | Add support for MARC records via the End User Deposit functionality for digital records. Currently only Dublin Core records are supported for end user deposit. |
| Add a linking job for mass linking of NZ records to IZ(5662) | Currently the only way to use records from NZ in an IZ is to search them in the NZ and perform an action like "order" or "link" on every single record one by one. There are, however, situations where an IZ wants to use a bulk of records. For this purpose we need a possibility to link records in bulk and create inventory for the linked records. We imagine a linking job that takes as an input a logical or itemized set of records saved from a search in the NZ. The linking job can create physical and electronic (and digital) inventory, similar to current import profiles. The inventory operations for electronic inventory should include an option to specify the desired action if the record and a portfolio exist already in the IZ, out of the following choices: - Add new portfolio. - Update portfolio information (the URL). - Don't do anything. |
| Create a Separate Search Index for Specific OCLC Number(5684) | Currently, the OCLC Number for a record is indexed in the search index "Other System Number." This is not ideal, since the Other System Number indexes other numbers related to vendor record, CONSER, related item, etc. We request that Ex Libris provide a separate search index for OCLC number based on the presence of the '(OCoLC)' prefix in the 035 $a and/or $z, or (without prefix) in the 019 $a if there is a number in the 035 with an (OCoLC) prefix. Currently these specific (OCoLC) numbers are mixed in with other numbers occurring in the 019, 035, 773, 774, 775 777, 786, 800, 810, 811, 830 $w tags and subfields. Disambiguating these specific (OCoLC) numbers from the "other system numbers" would allow us to use them as unique identifiers. We see the potential for: Improved search Improved matching upon record import Cleaner Excel exports from Alma (we currently have to clean this field every time we export) Creation of a new Analytics field for OCLC number in Alma Analytics Establishment of a model for non-OCLC systems to create other unique search indexes |
| Add advanced search for audience level search(5694) | Besides availability to create additional search indexes, adding advanced search item for the audience level in the 008 field is useful. |
| Adding more search criteria to local field in Repository Search(5696) | One of our local fields (997) is used for searching catalogue date (“catdate”) in Repository Search. Since we can only search the field by "Contain keywords, Contain phrase or Is empty", we would like to be able to have "Equals" and "Between" as searchable criteria, or some other criteria like "> , >= , < , >=" instead to search a range of specific cataloguing dates. |
| Provide Overlap Analysis Functionality for Print(5711) | Currently, Alma’s native overlap analysis functionality is limited to electronic resources. We want to be able to run an overlap analysis on our print holdings to compare them with an external print preservation repository to determine what we have in common, what is unique to them, and what is unique to us. Having this data will allow us to make evidence-based weeding and preservation decisions. |
| Add due date sorting facet in list of item records(5717) | There is no way to sort the list of items under a bibliographic record by due dates. |
| Batch remove process types(5725) | We need the ability to remove/change an existing process type on an item record in batch. This will aid immensely in correcting record sets and other record misconfigurations. |
| Allow for users to delete multiple sets at the same time(5744) | Currently when a user needs to clean up their list of sets they have to do so one by one. This requires clicking on a drop down list, finding the delete option, confirming that you want to delete it, and the page resets to the top. See attachment |
| Increase Search External Resources search options in the MD Editor and auto-populate the search fields following no results found in Alma(5758) | The Search External Resources page has a limited number of search options. For example, the LCCN (010) and Publisher or Distributor No. (028) are common standard numbers that are not listed for searching WorldCat. Also, after getting a "No records were found" in a repository search, having the Search External Resources page auto-populate with the search criteria used would save time. |
| In the MD Editor, move the Set Management Tags options out of the Tools menu into top-level check boxes or displays(5762) | The Set Management Tags (Suppress from Discovery; multiple Export to WorldCat options) are not easily accessible. |
| Expand Export to WorldCat options(5764) | Allow insitutions to fully configure publishing default from Alma to OCLC. When creating a new MARC21 Bibliographic records in the MD Editor, the Export to WorldCat default setting is Publish bib. It is an incorrect assumption that every newly created bibliographic record should be sent to OCLC. An institution should be able to set the publishing default as it prefers. In the MD Editor, the Export to WorldCat "Don't publish" option results in a record being sent to OCLC with "d" (Delete) in the Leader 05 position. The record is exported to OCLC and the institution's holdings symbol is removed. It would be helpful if the terminology used for Export to WorldCat was more explicit. "Don't publish" should mean don't export/send to OCLC. "Publish bib" should mean export to OCLC based with the Leader/05 position as set (and retained) in the MD Editor (e.g., If the record has LDR/05=d (Deleted), it will be exported and the institution's holdings symbol will be deleted from OCLC). Ex Libris acknowledged the problem by adding a single statement in the Publishing to OCLC documentation that reads: If a record is marked as Don't publish, it is published as deleted (a d is added to the LDR position 5). |
| In the MD Editor, have the ability to create item record templates(5766) | To streamline item editing, the user should be able to create item record templates to set values that are used repeatedly. It is preferable that all tabs are available for the template. The General Information and Notes tab fields are needed most. |
| The spreadsheet created when exporting a search result to Excel combines too many fields into single cells(5768) | The Excel spreadsheet produced from an All Titles search result combines Creator/Publisher into a single cell, all of the Subject fields into a single cell, and all of the holdings into a single Availability cell. It would be helpful if the spreadsheet data was split into more refined cells and/or if the spreadsheet could be configured on demand. Attachment provided. |
| Allow the Browse Bibliographic Headings/Heading Type: Subjects list to be configured so vocabularies not used by the institution can be suppressed or moved to the bottom of the list(5770) | For Resources > Browse Bibliographic Headings > select Heading Type: Subjects, the Vocabulary list includes vocabularies that we don't normally use. We would like to prevent a vocabulary from displaying in this list or re-order the list so most used vocabularies appear at the top of the list. |
| Update the Metadata Configuration for MARC21 Bibliographic and MARC21 Holding to include all valid MARC21 fields and subfields(5771) | When editing in the MD Editor, an alert may appear indicating that a field or subfield is not valid or is not listed in the profile. However, the field or subfield is valid for MARC21. The user is not able to easily add the valid field/sufield to the Profile Details page. An effort should be made by Ex Libris to bring the MARC21 fields and subfields up-to-date in Alma and to maintain currency if users are not permitted to add/edit the MARC21 configuration. |
| Add the ability to edit the labels of non-local fields as one can do with local fields on the Customize Indexes Labels page(5772) | When only certain subfields of a MARC are indexed, it would be helpful to be able to indicate on the Advanced search screen which subfield is being searched. |
| Provide the ability to search on a bibliographic record's Leader position 05 (Record status)(5773) | Add MARC Leader position 05 (Record status) to the list of bibliographic tags that can be searched. |
| Allow NZ searches to identify what type of institutional inventory is attached(5775) | In finding and removing bibliographic records without inventory from the NZ, and when looking for specific types of inventory, it is essential that we are able to use the Physical titles and Electronic titles advanced search parameters. Unfortunately, since Alma can't currently see what type of inventory is attached to NZ bib records (when the inventory is stored in IZ accounts), these advanced search parameters do not currently work in the NZ account. Request an Alma enhancement that allow NZ searches to know what type of inventory is attached to NZ bib records. |
| New NZ normalization rule action be created that would allow removal of duplicate 035(5777) | When we load updated OCLC WorldCat or vendor-supplied records into the Alma Network Zone, there are times when we need to retain a vendor record numbers (e.g., a YBP Gobi ID or Marcive Shipping List Record Number) which are not present in the OCLC master record. Therefore, we would like to create a normalization rule that allowed the existing 035 fields to be carried forward to the replacement record. However, after 2, 3, 4, or even 5 overlay cycles, the resulting record could have a hundred or more 035 fields, with many fields containing identical content as other 035 fields. Therefore, we would like to carry forward the 035 fields, but only retain a single instance of identical 035 fields. |
| Copy numbers in List of Items (5783) | Add the copy ID number to List of Items display screen. |
| Improve Upload electronic holdings job - Missing titles(5788) | The automatic upload of institutional holdings (Elsevier, Ovid...) is a very interesting functionality. It would be great if all "subscribed" titles available in the publisher's holdings file would be taken into account. This would increase the service. Currently, portfolios not available in the CKB are not added. They should be added and at least, listed in the weekly job report. This report should also draw our attention to non activated portfolios with multiple MMS records found for identifier in catalog. |
| Provide an option to view URL in CZ portfolios(5790) | It would be helpful to be able to look in any Portfolio (particularly Community Zone portfolios) and be able to quickly see exactly what the Linking URL is, eg by providing a View link under the title. This would be helpful for link troubleshooting as well as allowing for quicker capturing of the link (without having to decipher the Service Parameters or actually click through the Test Access process) for adding to documents, emails etc and enables ability to confirm that the portfolio or package information is the one we want to link to. |
| Add index for MARC 867/868 fields in Alma(5796) | Alma's index for the summary holdings field only searches the MARC 866. The 867 and 868 are also standard summary holdings fields for supplementation and indices, but they are currently not searchable in Alma. |
Miscellaneous
| RequestTitle | Module | Description |
| Local work order types(5554) | Our workflows are organized with local work order types. Now we need the full functionality: searching, updating, control the publishing process and statistical analysis via Analytics analogous Alma process types. | |
| Configurable item lists(5557) | In the several item lists we need to display several columns. In the item list "Item - in department" we need for instance columns for the item fields Description Inventory number Item policy We would also like to have more sorting possibilities, for example for Description Inventory number Call number Furthermore it would be good if the notes were completely visible, for example via tooltip. | |
| Convert list price to local currency in item's inventory price field(5583) | In Aleph, when creating an order, the system converted the list price to our local currency and the item's price field was automatically populated. When an invoice and accompanying item were received, the final price updated the item's price field content automatically. In Alma, we also require - for reporting purposes, inside the library and to our finance dept - that the final price from the PO line is converted to our local currency and automatically written to the item's Inventory price field. | |
| Reset persistent search box by clicking logo in persistent menu(5629) | We would like to have the possibility to reset the persistent search box to a default search type by clicking the logo in the persistent menu (top left), similar to Primo. The default search type should preferably be configurable per institution, or if possible, per user. | |
| The Ability to Export PID Numbers From All Set Types(5676) | After creating a set with cataloging information such as MMS IDs, it is then impossible to export that set and create a different type of set because most set creation is based on PID numbers, and that information is not available when exporting an excel spreadsheet of the previous set’s information back out of Alma. The PID internal numbers need to be added to all set export files, when possible. | |
| upload additional files to add records to existing itemized managed sets(5705) | We would like to be able to upload files of identifiers, barcodes for example, to an existing itemized managed set in order to easily add additional records to the managed set as a batch operation | |
| Add facets to itemized managed sets(5706) | Requesting that facets be added to itemized managed sets as they are in logical managed sets |