[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Deleting Patron Accounts

[Jason Stephenson]

Quoting Rogan Hamby <rogan.hamby at yclibrary.net>:

> The short answer to both questions is, yes.
>
> Obliterating a patron wipes associated records.  So for example circ
> records require a link back to a patron account, you can't not have it.
> So, to delete a patron account you have to delete those circ records and
> that will affect reports later.

Technically they are not wiped. The transactions are moved to another user.
In the case of deletion, they move to the user with id of 1, the default
admin user.

So any reports that depend on user-related data will still lose information.

You can't actually delete this stuff because of referential integrity in the
database.


>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Aug 4, 2015 at 3:26 PM, Scott Thomas <scott at albright.org> wrote:
>
>> Hi Rogan,
>>
>>    Thank you for replying.  One thing you mentioned has piqued my
>> interest. It might be easier if I gave a scenario instead of trying to
>> describe what I mean. Say, on January 2, 2016, I run a report on
>> circulation for 2015 and then, a month later, delete many patrons some of
>> whom had checked out materials in 2015. If I ran the same 2015 report again
>> after the deletions, would the numbers be different because the patrons
>> were purged? In other words, when a patron is deleted, do their countable
>> circ transactions go with them?
>>
>> Scott
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* Open-ils-general [mailto:
>> open-ils-general-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org] *On Behalf Of *Rogan
>> Hamby
>> *Sent:* Tuesday, August 04, 2015 1:33 PM
>> *To:* Evergreen Discussion Group <
>> open-ils-general at list.georgialibraries.org>
>> *Subject:* Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Deleting Patron Accounts
>>
>>
>>
>> There are a few different kinds of deleting in Evergreen.  One is to turn
>> on the deleted flag on the account.  That doesn't do much other than hide
>> the account from the staff client pulling it up and is relatively harmless.
>>
>>
>>
>> The other kind of deleting is obliterating the account.  This is the
>> delete option that is on the "other" menu in the staff client and comes up
>> with this warning:  "Completely OBLITERATE this patron account, including
>> bills, payments, bookbags, etc?  This is IRREVERSIBLE."  And it has a
>> checkbox.
>>
>>
>>
>> The good?  It deletes it and it's gone forever.
>>
>>
>>
>> The bad?  As the message warns, gone forever is also anything tied to it.
>> My accountants would throw a fit at bills and payments and other records
>> disappearing from the system and we're audited every other year.  So,
>> whether or not it's bad will depend on your circumstances, your accounting
>> environment, etc...
>>
>>
>>
>> As a result it can also throw off counts of circulations, holds, etc... if
>> you want to go back and run numbers on old data sets.
>>
>>
>>
>> If we want to truly remove a patron I run an anonymization script that
>> strips out their address except for zip code, names, phone numbers, email,
>> etc.... and leaves a generic patron in place but leaves all of their
>> associated records.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Aug 4, 2015 at 1:21 PM, Scott Thomas <scott at albright.org> wrote:
>>
>> Our old ILS would not allow you to remove a patron until all outstanding
>> bills, holds, and checkouts were cleared. We were thrilled that Evergreen
>> would simply allow you to remove the patron. However, I have heard from
>> various sources that, while EG will allow you to remove a patron with
>> impunity, it is not good practice to remove a patron with outstanding
>> transactions and bills. Can anyone clarify this?
>>
>> Thank you,
>> Scott
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Scott  Thomas, MLS
>>
>> Head of Information Technologies and Technical Services
>>
>> Scranton Public Library
>>
>> Lackawanna County Library System
>>
>> 2006 N. Main Ave.
>>
>> Scranton, PA 18508
>>
>> Ph: 570-207-2379
>>
>> Fx: 570-348-3020
>>
>> Email: scott at albright.org
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>>
>> Rogan Hamby, MLS, CCNP, MIA
>>
>> Managers Headquarters Library and Reference Services,
>>
>> York County Library System
>>
>>
>>
>> “You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit
>> me.”
>> ― C.S. Lewis <http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1069006.C_S_Lewis>
>>
>
>
>
> --
>
> Rogan Hamby, MLS, CCNP, MIA
> Managers Headquarters Library and Reference Services,
> York County Library System
>
> “You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit
> me.”
> ― C.S. Lewis <http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1069006.C_S_Lewis>


-- 
Jason Stephenson
Assistant Director for Technology Services
Merrimack Valley Library Consortium
4 High ST, Suite 175
North Andover, MA 01845
Phone: 978-557-5891
Email: jstephenson at mvlc.org