[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Acquisitions - Prepayment

[Jennifer Pringle (Project Sitka)]

Hello Dee,

At this point (based on 2.4) the prepayment option is strictly  
informational.  If the box is checked it is indicated on the purchase  
order in red.

For your workflow I would suggest creating a dummy fund, maybe using  
the vendor name for the fund name, and use that fund to pay for all  
items ordered from that vendor.  You don't even need to put money into  
the fund, just make sure there is no Balance Stop Percentage entered.

When creating the purchase orders use the dummy fund for all line  
items and have default prices that staff enter.  (The amount entered  
into estimated price is the amount that gets entered in the price  
field in the copy editor so you may want to have different defaults  
for different types of items.)  This way the purchase orders can be  
activated and the items will appear in the catalogue and can be  
received.

For invoicing I would suggest you create one invoice for the vendor at  
the beginning of the year and have staff link the purchase orders/line  
items to that invoice throughout the year.  At the end of the year you  
have the option of entering and saving the invoice with the default  
prices or going through the invoice and entering the correct amounts  
for every item.  It all depends on how important having the amounts  
accurate are to the library and in this case it sounds like that is  
less important to the library than the other acquisitions  
functionality.  (If you do plan to go through and enter the correct  
amounts on the invoice I would recommend allocating the large dollar  
amount to the fund either at the beginning or end of the year,  
depending on when it is paid to the vendor.)

Through the reporter the library would be able to pull out information  
such as how many items were purchased from the vendor.


Hope this is helpful,

Jennifer
-- 
Jennifer Pringle
Sitka Support
BC Libraries Cooperative
Email:jpringle at sitka.bclibraries.ca


Quoting "Nolan, Delores K" <delores.nolan at mnsu.edu>:

> I have a couple of questions regarding the "Prepayment" option on   
> the Evergreen purchase order and some workflow questions in relation  
>  to that.
>
>
>
> First of all, does the "prepayment" option currently have any   
> functionality behind it, or is it strictly informational?
>
>
>
> How would other libraries handle the workflow for this scenario?
>
>
>
> A library pays a large dollar amount to a vendor annually.  The   
> library orders books monthly from the vendor.  The library wants to   
> be able to keep track of what books they order, but they do not need  
>  to know the individual cost of each book.  At the end of the year   
> they do want to know how many books they ordered from that vendor.
>
>
>
> An invoice could be created and paid the beginning of the year for   
> the annual cost.  Selection lists and purchase orders could be   
> created each month, but it does not seem possible to activate a   
> purchase order without a price or fund applied to the line item.    
> Basically the library wants to create the PO and add the bibs to the  
>  catalog so that the order status is available to the public.  They   
> also want to track the receiving and processing of the books. The   
> annual invoice could be linked to several different purchase orders   
> throughout the year, correct?  Any thoughts on how to handle the   
> purchase order piece in this situation? How can the library use the   
> function of the purchase order without adding pricing or funds?
>
>
>
> Thanks
>
>
> Dee
> Dee Nolan
> User Support and Training Specialist
> PALS
> A Program of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities
> Minnesota State University, Mankato
> 3022 Memorial Library
> Mankato, MN  56001
> Phone 507.389.2000
> Fax 507.389.5488
> dnolan at mnsu.edu<mailto:dnolan at mnsu.edu>
>
>
>
>