[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Display of canceled line items in acquisitions

[Kathy Lussier]

Hi all,

Based on feedback from the acquisitions staff here in Massachusetts, 
MassLNC is considering a small development project that would change the 
way canceled line items display on a PO. I wanted to get some feedback 
from the Evergreen acquisitions community in case people like the way it 
currently displays.

The concern from our acquisitions staff is that line items display as 
canceled even in cases where the order isn't truly canceled. This 
scenario most often occurs in cases where a title is backordered. You 
identify something as being backordered by marking it as canceled and 
then identifying the cancel reason as backorder quantity. The status of 
the line item then displays as canceled, even though the library fully 
expects to receive the title at some future date.  Acquisitions staff 
find this label misleading and confusing, and, at times, it has led to 
some extra time in their workflow as they ascertain whether the line 
item is truly canceled and needs to be re-ordered through a different 
vendor.

In 2.5, there have been some improvements in the PO display, with the 
cancel reason displaying to the right of the title (see attached image) 
and a different background color used for truly canceled line items and 
those that are just delayed. These changes should address the problem 
with added time in the workflow. However, the canceled status still 
displays, and we believe it continues to be a misleading label for the 
status of the line item.

We would like to suggest that, in cases where the line item is canceled, 
that the cancel reason display in the status column of the PO instead of 
displaying the status as canceled. For example, in the attached image, 
"backorder quantity" would display in the status column for the first 
line item and "not accepted" would display for the second line item. In 
the case where line items are not canceled, we would like to continue to 
see the line item status display there.

Would there be any objections to pursuing this approach? Are there 
reasons I'm not thinking of where it would be beneficial to display the 
status as canceled for line items that are delayed?

Thanks!
Kathy


-- 
Kathy Lussier
Project Coordinator
Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative
(508) 343-0128
klussier at masslnc.org
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier

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