[OPEN-ILS-DEV] Modifications to Circ Matrix Matchpoint checking

[Thomas Berezansky]

Theory:
Make the things returned (circulate, duration_rule,  
recurring_fine_rule, max_fine_rule) "fall through" when set to NULL.

The attached patch attempts to make this happen on the back end, but  
provides no front end interface changes for configuring it.

IT HAS NOT BEEN TESTED, mainly because I don't want to screw with our  
test system right now when others may be trying to test existing  
functionality.

It also adds in the ability to pass in one more (optional) boolean  
parameter to the function to return the entire list of rules used to  
create the final result, intended for "debug/test" front end  
functionality to show what rules were considered in the fall-through  
checking.

Pros:

You can override a subset of those fields with a specific rule while  
allowing broader rules to fill in the holes.
This may result in less duplication of information across rules,  
making things easier to maintain.
Thus, this may result in less rules in general, and thus less  
processing time on sorting them overall.

Cons:

Manually figuring out the specifics of what will happen will take more  
time/effort.
Changing a single rule may have a greater unintended effect on other rules.
Staff would need training for when to have a rule fall through and  
when to set it.
More time to return from the DB for any rule that is "falling through"  
to broader rules.

Examples for the following org tree:

CONS
-SYSA
--LIBC
--LIBD
-SYSB
--LIBE
--LIBF

Implementing the following "business" rules:

At the CONS level:
By default, everything circulates, uses DFLT_DUR duration, DFLT_RFINE  
recurring fine, and DFLT_MFINE max fine.
Circ Modifier "book" uses the duration BOOK_DUR
Reference flagged materials don't circulate

At the SYSA level there are no special rules.

At the SYSB level the max fine should be SYSB_MFINE.

At the LIBC level the recurring fine is LIBC_RFINE

At the LIBD level circ modifier "book" uses the DFLT_DUR duration  
instead of "BOOK_DUR"

At the LIBE level reference flagged materials circulate.

At the LIBF level there are no special rules.

The current method would require the following circ rules to implement  
those business rules:

CIRC_LIB CIRC_MOD REFERENCE CIRC? DURATION_RULE RECURRING_FINE MAX_FINE
CONS     NULL     NULL      TRUE  DFLT_DUR      DFLT_RFINE     DFLT_MFINE
CONS     NULL     TRUE      FALSE DFLT_DUR      DFLT_RFINE     DFLT_MFINE
CONS     book     NULL      TRUE  BOOK_DUR      DFLT_RFINE     DFLT_MFINE
CONS     book     TRUE      FALSE BOOK_DUR      DFLT_RFINE     DFLT_MFINE
SYSB     NULL     NULL      TRUE  DFLT_DUR      DFLT_RFINE     SYSB_MFINE
SYSB     NULL     TRUE      FALSE DFLT_DUR      DFLT_RFINE     SYSB_MFINE
SYSB     book     NULL      TRUE  BOOK_DUR      DFLT_RFINE     SYSB_MFINE
SYSB     book     TRUE      FALSE BOOK_DUR      DFLT_RFINE     SYSB_MFINE
LIBC     NULL     NULL      TRUE  DFLT_DUR      LIBC_RFINE     DFLT_MFINE
LIBC     NULL     TRUE      FALSE DFLT_DUR      LIBC_RFINE     DFLT_MFINE
LIBC     book     NULL      TRUE  BOOK_DUR      LIBC_RFINE     DFLT_MFINE
LIBC     book     TRUE      FALSE BOOK_DUR      LIBC_RFINE     DFLT_MFINE
LIBD     book     NULL      TRUE  DFLT_DUR      DFLT_RFINE     DFLT_MFINE
LIBD     book     TRUE      FALSE DFLT_DUR      DFLT_RFINE     DFLT_MFINE
LIBE     NULL     NULL      TRUE  DFLT_DUR      DFLT_RFINE     SYSB_MFINE
LIBE     book     NULL      TRUE  BOOK_DUR      DFLT_RFINE     SYSB_MFINE

16 circ rules total.

The new method would require the following circ rules to implement  
those business rules:

CIRC_LIB CIRC_MOD REFERENCE CIRC? DURATION_RULE RECURRING_FINE MAX_FINE
CONS     NULL     NULL      TRUE  DFLT_DUR      DFLT_RFINE     DFLT_MFINE
CONS     book     NULL      NULL  BOOK_DUR      NULL           NULL
CONS     NULL     TRUE      FALSE NULL          NULL           NULL
SYSB     NULL     NULL      NULL  NULL          NULL           SYSB_MFINE
LIBC     NULL     NULL      NULL  NULL          LIBC_RFINE     NULL
LIBD     book     NULL      NULL  DFLT_DUR      NULL           NULL
LIBE     NULL     TRUE      TRUE  NULL          NULL           NULL

7 circ rules total.

Starting with the above, lets assume that SYSA wants to change their  
recurring fine to SYSA_RFINE.
LIBC's recurring fine is to be unchanged.

The current method requires the following changes:

ADD the following entries:
CIRC_LIB CIRC_MOD REFERENCE CIRC? DURATION_RULE RECURRING_FINE MAX_FINE
SYSA     NULL     NULL      TRUE  DFLT_DUR      SYSA_RFINE     DFLT_MFINE
SYSA     NULL     TRUE      FALSE DFLT_DUR      SYSA_RFINE     DFLT_MFINE
SYSA     book     NULL      TRUE  BOOK_DUR      SYSA_RFINE     DFLT_MFINE
SYSA     book     TRUE      FALSE BOOK_DUR      SYSA_RFINE     DFLT_MFINE

UPDATE the LIBD entries:
CIRC_LIB CIRC_MOD REFERENCE CIRC? DURATION_RULE RECURRING_FINE MAX_FINE
LIBD     book     NULL      TRUE  DFLT_DUR      SYSA_RFINE     DFLT_MFINE
LIBD     book     TRUE      FALSE DFLT_DUR      SYSA_RFINE     DFLT_MFINE

4 rules added, 2 changed, total is now 20 rules.

The new method would require the following changes:

ADD the following entry:
CIRC_LIB CIRC_MOD REFERENCE CIRC? DURATION_RULE RECURRING_FINE MAX_FINE
SYSA     NULL     NULL      NULL  NULL          SYSA_RFINE     NULL

1 rule added, 0 changed, total is now 8 rules.

Thomas Berezansky
Merrimack Valley Library Consortium
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Signed-off-by: Thomas Berezansky <tsbere at mvlc.org>