all you wanted to know about acquisitions in alma

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All You Wanted To Know About

Acquisitions in Alma

All you wanted to know about Acquisitions in Alma

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Table of Contents Overview ............................................................................................................................................. 5

Acquisitions Workflow Overview ....................................................................................................... 5

E-Resource Acquisitions Workflows ............................................................................................... 7

Orders ................................................................................................................................................. 9

The Order Workflow ..................................................................................................................... 10

Order Types .................................................................................................................................. 12

Fund Allocation ............................................................................................................................. 13

Interested Users ........................................................................................................................... 14

PO Line History ............................................................................................................................. 15

The Alma Task List ........................................................................................................................ 15

Ordering Alerts ............................................................................................................................. 16

EDI and Sending the Order ........................................................................................................... 18

Workflows for Non-Purchased Materials ..................................................................................... 20

Storage of - and Access to - Acquisition Records ......................................................................... 20

Searching for Orders ..................................................................................................................... 21

Display in Primo ............................................................................................................................ 22

Receiving ........................................................................................................................................... 22

Receiving Physical Items ............................................................................................................... 23

Activating E-Resources ................................................................................................................. 26

Invoicing ............................................................................................................................................ 27

The Invoice Record ....................................................................................................................... 29

Additional Charges ........................................................................................................................ 30

Payment Approval ........................................................................................................................ 30

Claims ................................................................................................................................................ 31

Renewals ........................................................................................................................................... 34

Vendors ............................................................................................................................................. 35

Funds and Financials ......................................................................................................................... 39

Funds ............................................................................................................................................ 39

Fiscal Year Closing ..................................................................................................................... 42

Moving or Transferring Funds .................................................................................................. 43


Integrating with the Campus/External Financial System ............................................................. 44

Currencies and Currency Ratios in Alma ...................................................................................... 45

Import ............................................................................................................................................... 46

PDA (Patron Driven Acquisitions) ..................................................................................................... 47

Trials and Evaluations ....................................................................................................................... 48

Acquisition Reports ........................................................................................................................... 50


Overview The Alma acquisitions module supports end-to-end acquisition processes and an acquisition infrastructure for all resource types (print, electronic, and digital). Alma employs business process automation to streamline and simplify library workflows for managing orders, claims, receiving, activation of electronic resources, invoices, vendors and vendor accounts, as well as ledgers and funds. Processes are based on a built-in workflow engine that uses a library-defined set of rules to manage many activities automatically, and alert staff to exceptional conditions that require operator handling. Alma integrates traditional collection development activities directly into the selection and acquisitions process. From a single, unified user interface, patrons and selectors can feed information into the system so that it flows seamlessly through the acquisitions process – from selection, to ordering, receiving or activation, invoicing, and finally payment. In this model, most acquisitions activities are unmediated, based on library policies and procedures. Operator intervention is needed only when staff review or mediation is required for the processes to continue. Accommodating the increased use of electronic resources, Alma features a dedicated license management module which conforms to the DLF-ERMI standard. Libraries can customize the staff-facing user interface forms so that only relevant license terms display to staff. The license management functionality is seamlessly integrated into the acquisitions process, making it simple for library staff to conduct trials, place orders, activate, evaluate, and renew electronic resources in an ongoing cycle. Given that many libraries acquire resources through consortial arrangements, Alma also supports acquisitions workflows that facilitate the purchasing of shared materials, as well as purchases for resources used by individual consortium members.

Acquisitions Workflow Overview Alma supports end-to-end acquisition processes for all resource types (print, electronic, and digital). The system employs business process automation to streamline and simplify workflows for managing orders, claims, receiving, activation of electronic resources, invoices, vendors and vendor accounts, as well as ledgers and funds. Alma’s workflow engine uses library-defined rules to manage most activities automatically, and alert staff to exceptional conditions that require manual intervention. Most acquisitions activities are unmediated, based on library policies and procedures. Operator intervention is needed only when staff review or mediation is required for the processes to continue.


Alma’s Knowledge Base, including electronic resources and other information is utilized for both discovery and for acquisitions workflows. Orders can be initiated directly from resources found in the Knowledge Base. Because Alma is a unified system, staff can easily identify resources held within their institution as well as those within the Knowledge Base through a single search, significantly streamlining activities versus other environments which require print and electronic resources to be searched separately. Orders—Order workflows in Alma include the automatic processing of purchase orders across electronic and print formats, as well as staff mediation for approval and exceptions, per the library’s rules. Alma’s workflow engine can automatically assign tasks to staff members, approve orders based on library-defined policies, aggregate purchase order lines into a purchase order, and send the order to a vendor. The vast majority of order lines are processed automatically, and flows from order line creation directly onto a purchase order. Order lines that require review are flagged and placed on an operator’s task list. The purchase order is linked directly to the metadata records in the system; there is no need for duplicate records in Alma. Order lines are linked directly to bibliographic records, or to package records in the case of groups of e-resources. Item records, which describe the resources in the library’s inventory, are linked to the metadata record, which is in turn linked to the purchase order line. The full purchasing workflow can be summarized as follows:

Receiving/Activation—Staff members receive new print material into the system using a dedicated receiving “workbench”. They locate the relevant purchase order lines with the material received, and then receive the items. Additionally, at this stage staff can add barcode information, perform copy cataloging, etc. When relevant, they can also indicate whether further work must be performed (i.e., it needs to remain in Technical Service) before the material is available to the library for which it was ordered.


Claims—When a purchase order line is overdue, an alert is generated. Once the claim alert has been created, Alma adds the item to an operator’s Task List for review. The operator then reviews his or her task list to resolve the outstanding claims. Possible actions include updating the expected receipt date based on new information provided by the vendor or cancelling the purchase order line if necessary. Updating the item information resets the expected receipt date “clock” and removes the item from the task list. By default, claims are configured to be processed automatically. They can, however, also be generated on-demand. Automatic claims are created for a Purchase Order (PO) line that has not been received within the expected number of days after placing the order (based on parameters defined in the vendor record). Invoicing—In Alma, an invoice can be created in several ways:

Electronic data interchange (EDI) with a vendor;

Creating an invoice from the PO;

Creating an invoice manually; or

Loading invoices from an Excel file. Receiving and invoicing can be done together or separately, depending on the library’s workflows. Alma uses library-defined rules to automatically process an invoice to determine whether there are elements that require special attention. If there are issues that require attention, the invoice is surfaced via the task list for review by a staff user. Payment and financial structure—Alma features bi-directional integration with the campus financial system used by the institution. This integration can be used to export payment information, as well as import payment confirmation for specific invoices and fund allocation information. The receipt of payment notification from the campus financial system or ERP, where supported by the system, can be automated by loading payment information on a scheduled basis, or using Alma web services called by the campus financial system. Alma provides a flexible, hierarchical fund structure that the library can customize to meet its needs. The financial structure comprises funds and ledgers. The ledger contains a grouping of funds, which may relate to the entire institution, to a group of libraries within an institution, or even to a single library within the institution. Vendors—Vendor data is used in almost every acquisitions-related workflow within the system. The vendor record in Alma is made up of segments that include a summary, contact information (addresses, phone numbers, web addresses), contact people, EDI information, invoices, attachments, communications, and notes.

E-Resource Acquisitions Workflows


The purchasing workflow manages orders for electronic resources similar to the way it manages orders for print material. However, there are some unique aspects to electronic resource order handling. One of these is license management. Alma enables the creation of a license record that captures detailed information about the terms of a license or contract. It also enables the creation of an addendum or amendment for a license which serves to identify additional titles covered by the existing license (such as when a library adds new titles and overall license terms do not change), or to modify the terms. Licenses can be associated with orders for electronic resources, thereby insuring they will be linked to the appropriate license terms when activated in the inventory. Another aspect specific to electronic resource orders is the identification of an access provider. Access providers are organizations (or vendors) that are sometimes distinct from the vendor the institution is placing an order with. Both considerations can be indicated on the Purchase Order Line Form for electronic resources. Purchase Order Line Form – Electronic Resource:

Alma also provides a Knowledge Base of electronic resources which can be used not only for discovery and delivery purposes but also for acquisitions purposes. Staff users can start the ordering process by searching the Knowledge Base directly and ordering from there. This search


is integrated into the repository search, allowing a staff user to perform searches both in his or her institution as well as in the Community Zone, which holds the Knowledge Base. Search and Order an Electronic Resource:

Based on agreements with the vendor, once the order has been sent, the library will be able to activate the e-resource. Staff members activate new electronic resource material via a wizard that starts from the Activation Task List.

Orders Order workflows in Alma include the automatic processing of purchase orders across electronic and print formats, as well as staff mediation for approval and exceptions, per the library’s rules. For example, Alma’s workflow engine will be able to automatically assign tasks to staff members, approve orders based on library-defined policies, aggregate purchase order lines into a purchase order, and send the order to a vendor. In Alma, the order process begins when a purchase order line is created; order lines are the building blocks from which purchase orders are created. Using business process automation, the vast majority of order lines will be processed automatically, and flow from order line creation directly onto a purchase order. Order lines that require review are flagged and placed on an operator’s task list. As an example, the screen shot below shows an acquisition staff member’s “task list” for purchase order lines in review.


Order lines may be sent for review for various reasons - that the purchase order line is missing mandatory information such as a fund, price, or location, or that a library-defined price limit has been reached. Once an operator has reviewed and updated the order lines as necessary, they move automatically to the next stage, where purchase orders are generated and sent to the vendors. In cases where an order does not need to be sent (e.g., Approval Plans), the purchase order process ends when the order is created in Alma. The purchase order is linked directly to the metadata records in the system; there is no need for duplicate records in Alma. Order lines are linked directly to bibliographic records, or to package records in the case of groups of e-resources. Item records, which describe the resources in the library’s inventory, are linked to the metadata record, which is in turn linked to the purchase order line.

The Order Workflow When initiating an order, Alma will offer the staff user the option of choosing a Purchase Type – based on the type of media being ordered. (The list can be customized by the library.)


Based on this information, the PO Line that will be created will be tailored to the type of material being order. For example a monograph fill have fields for defining library and location; journals (print and electronic) will have subscription date fields. A purchase order for physical material – where item information can be registered:

A purchase order for electronic material – where license information can be registered:

A purchase order for continuing resources – where subscription information can be registered:


In addition, Alma supports the creation of purchase order templates. The use of template decreases the need to re-enter purchase related information when creating a purchase order. Templates can be saved either public or for private use. When loading templates, the staff user can choose from private templates and public templates.

An institution can decide to hide certain purchase order types from use.

Order Types As mentioned above, Alma supports a variety of order types covering all options of material that might be ordered by a library. The list is supplied out of the box by Ex Libris, and can be customized by the library. For example a library might choose to de-activate some of the order types because they are not relevant for their library. An example of the list of order types – including continuous order types (that are active – with a yellow check mark, or not-active without the yellow check mark) can be seen in the following screen capture:


Fund Allocation Purchase orders can be associated be associated with one or more funds. While the default option is one fund with 100 percent allocation, it is possible to distribute the cost of a PO line among several funds. The distribution can be by specific amounts or as percentage amounts.

When the PO line is saved, an encumbrance transaction is created. If one of the funds does not have sufficient money (or a sufficient over encumbrance allowance) to cover the cost of the order, a warning will display when sending the order, and the staff user will not be able to complete the Send action:


An order with acquisition status technical or gift does not require a fund allocation. For all other order types fund allocation is mandatory.

Interested Users From the Interested Users tab in the PO Line it is possible to place a reservation for a patron, or to mark that the patron be notified when the item arrives:

Staff will receive items from the Receive function where it is possible to filter receive items by ‘Interested Users’

When the item is received, the Interested User will receive an email:


PO Line History The PO Line history tab, lists all the changes and updates made to the record. Changes and updates are automatically registered in this tab by Alma with no manual intervention on the part of the staff user. This information can be very useful when tracking changes or the history of the order record.

The Alma Task List The Alma Task List provides the staff user with information about tasks that need their attention. The Task List has hypertext links for easy navigation to areas of the system where records require manual intervention. The Task List is sensitive to the user’s roles and privileges so that only acquisitions staff will see ordering and invoice-related tasks.


Ordering Alerts For an order record, the system will automatically validate it against library-defined rules such as a price check, missing mandatory information, or duplicate orders. For example: A fund does not have sufficient allocation to fulfill the PO Line:

A library defined price limit for an order has been exceeded:


Order lines may be sent for review for various reasons - that the purchase order line is missing mandatory information such as a fund, price, or location, or that a library-defined price limit has been reached. The PO Line Review Task List:

Once an operator has reviewed and updated the order lines as necessary, they move automatically to the next stage, where purchase orders are generated and sent to the vendors. The following image shows the setup screen in which library staff can configure the conditions that will flag an order for review.


During the purchase order process, Alma checks purchase order lines for duplicates and alerts an acquisitions operator via his/her task list. In this way, duplicate orders can be detected at an early stage, and prevented if the additional inventory item is not warranted. Similarly, Alma will check records being imported, and identify duplicate items if a match already exists in the library’s inventory. Duplicate items are flagged prior to approval of an order so that a staff member can determine if the duplicate item is desired. Duplicate items that are not wanted can be easily cancelled. The screen shot below shows two purchase order lines on a staff member’s task list for review. In both cases, the order lines have been flagged as duplicates (“Items already exist in the repository.”)

EDI and Sending the Order


For workflows such as ordering and invoicing, Alma relies on standard protocols to facilitate interoperability with other systems – both internal to the library’s environment and externally to vendors. Alma supports electronic data interchange (EDI) using the UN/EDIFACT standard for electronic communications of order and invoice information. Library staff configure EDI information as part of the vendor record.

This information includes vendor EDI attributes, S/FTP connection information, individual library EDI information, and EAN information per vendor account. These details allow for maximum flexibility when there are multiple libraries within an institution, or when a library has multiple accounts with a vendor (e.g. for multiple formats, material types, approval plans, etc.) Storing the vendor EDI account information in Alma allows the process to be automated.

As EDI orders are sent and EDI invoices are received, the EDI files are linked to the vendor’s


record and available from the attachments tab. In addition Purchase orders can be sent by Email. Alma supports repeatable mail and email fields, as well as multiple contacts per vendor or vendor account as can be seen in the following screen capture:

Workflows for Non-Purchased Materials Contingent on library workflows, Alma allows staff to create acquisition records for non-purchased materials, such as gifts, depository materials, and an Alma purchasing type ‘technical’ without requiring that the items follow the traditional workflow of order, receipt, invoice, payment. If an acquisition process is not necessary for non-purchased materials, Alma also allows the operator to bypass the acquisition workflow entirely and simply create descriptive and inventory records in the system that are necessary to properly manage the resource.

Storage of - and Access to - Acquisition Records Alma has been designed to provide perpetual access to the information stored within the system. Acquisitions records are stored indefinitely, and are accessible for reporting and analytical use across subsequent fiscal periods. Moving forward, we plan to work with our customers in defining retention customization. Transactions in Alma are auditable, as they are recorded with a date and operator stamp that indicates when they occurred and by which staff member.


Using Alma Analytics, customizable audit reports can be generated, and can be output in various formats for immediate use, or for more permanent storage. The audit reports can be retained indefinitely, and the transactions on which the reports are based are retained in perpetuity.

Searching for Orders Alma supports searching for purchase order line via a Persistent Search Box and via a dedicated search screen ‘Search for PO Line’ as illustrated below:

It is possible to search by a variety of search indexes related to purchase order details, fund information associated bibliographic information. The search results can be further limited by facets such as based on Status, Library, Purchase order Type, Alerts, Acquisition Method, and Vendor. Alma also provides Advances search capabilities that provide the capabilities to search for PO Lines based on a complex criteria as illustrated below:


Search results can be saved as a set for PO Line batch processing such as changing vendor information, closing PO Lines and other acquisition tasks.

Display in Primo Alma supports displaying that a resource is in acquisitions, as illustrated in the screenshot below:

Libraries might wish to suppress items on order from the Discovery Tool. The configuration table “Exclude Process Types from Publication” allows for defining the process types that will be suppressed from publication in Primo:

Receiving Alma supports the automatic creation of inventory upon purchase depending on the purchase order type. For example:

When purchasing of print one time item Alma will create the relevant holding and item resources according to the details defined in the purchase order


When purchasing a print subscription Alma will create the relevant holding resource according to the details defined in the purchase order

When purchasing an electronic resource Alma will create the relevant collection/portfolio resource according to the details defined in the purchase order.

Once the Purchase order is created the purchased resources are automatically assigned a status ‘waiting to be received’ or waiting for activation’.

Receiving Physical Items

Receiving physical material means receiving the physical delivery of the material for a purchase order line. Staff members accept new physical material into Alma by matching the purchase order line with the material received. They then indicate whether further work must be performed (i.e., it needs to remain in Technical Services) before the material is available to the library for which it was ordered. The diagram below illustrates a typical workflow for receiving print materials.


Once the titles have been identified, the staff member edits the inventory information, filling in item-level details as necessary, and continues to the next item. Alma’s workflow engine then routes the item to the next step in the process, which might include further processing or cataloging, or sending the item to the stacks if it was received shelf-ready. For single-title monographs, checking-in an item triggers marking the PO line as received, as well as routing the item to the appropriate next step (cataloging, physical processing, shelves, or patron pickup if a request has been placed). For standing orders (serials and serial monographs), the same actions will be triggered, but the PO line will remain open.


Activating E-Resources Staff members activate new electronic resource material in the system using a wizard from the Activation Task List. Here, a staff member performs various activities related to activating the resource, including verification that the resource is available (using Alma’s embedded link resolver functionality), determination of the specific contents and coverage of the resource, and then making it available for end users to discover it.

Once a resource has been activated, it will be added to and indexed in the institution’s repository; it will also be published to the Discovery solution.


Invoicing An invoice can be created in one of three ways:

1. Electronic data interchange (EDI) with a vendor, 2. Creating an invoice from the Purchase Order, or 3. Creating an invoice manually 4. Loading invoices from an excel file

Receiving and invoicing can be done together or separately, depending on the library’s preferred workflows. The diagram below illustrates a typical workflow for invoicing materials.

EDI Invoices: When invoices are placed at an FTP location by an EDI-enabled vendor, Alma will automatically load and parse the invoices. Below is a screen shot of a vendor EDI setup which includes the configuration of the vendor EDI code, EDI type, ftp details etc.


Creating an invoice from the PO (Purchase Order): Alma supports the creation of an invoice automatically from a PO. Once the PO is selected Alma will automatically create invoice lines based on the PO details; the invoice line fields are automatically populated and are displayed in the Summary tab, where they can be edited as needed:

Manual creation of an invoice: Alma also supports the completely manual creation of an invoice using the following form:


The Invoice Record The invoice in Alma is unique per vendor. If a duplicate invoice is loaded Alma will prevent it from loading and will present the following error:

When creating an invoice that causes a budget over expenditure Alma will check if the fund permits an over expenditure (configurable ) - if not it will not allow the loading of the invoice:

Alma supports the option of pro rata charges on invoices. This can be based on information that is sent by the vendor via EDI, or added manually. (See following for more detail).


When saving an invoice Alma checks if the invoice foreign currency is different than the invoice line fund if there is a difference Alma will calculates the expenditure price based on the foreign currency according to the currency repository per the invoice date. Alma also supports defining an explicit ratio per invoice – in this case Alma will calculate the expenditure based on the explicit ratio and will not consult the currency repository.

Additional Charges Alma supports the recording of additional charges part of the invoice:

Shipment amount

Insurance amount

Overhead amount

Discount amount Alma also supports prorating the additional charges. In this case then, the above amounts are not displayed individually on the invoice, and their values are distributed among the invoice lines. If prorating is not selected then each additional charge is displayed as an individual invoice line. It is possible to configure Alma to use prorating as a default.

Payment Approval Approval for payment can be automatic, based on library policies, or done manually. Once payment has been approved, the invoice moves to the final stage—awaiting payment via the institution’s bill payment system or ERP. Invoice details can be edited when the invoice status is’ in review’ using the invoice form as illustrated below:


Once the invoice is sent to the ERP/SAP only the payment section of the invoice can be edited. Following approval, the invoices are automatically exported to the institutional payment system, based on definitions set in Alma’s Integration Profile framework. The export is in an XML format, to an FTP location defined in the Integration Profile framework. Approval from the payment system may be received, based on Integration Profile definitions, resulting in automatic closure of the invoice and the order process.

Claims

In Alma, by default, claims are configured to be processed automatically. They can, however, also be generated manually. Automatic claims are created for a Purchase Order (PO) line that has not been received within the expected number of days after placing the order (based on parameters defined in the vendor record – as can be seen in the following screen capture) or by the expected receipt date.

An email is sent to the vendor (generated automatically or manually) inquiring about the late delivery of the order. Claims sent to a vendor are automatically registered in the Communications tab of the vendor record:


From the actions button on each Claim line, staff has the option of editing the claim, adding a response, or sending a reply to the vendor – an example of which can be seen in the following screen capture. Note the options to add an attachment, or insert a URL, as relevant:

Claims will be automatically added to the authorized staff user’s Task List, allowing them to navigate to the list of claims in a simple and easy manner.


Reviewing claimed items:

The facets on the left side of the screen above, allow staff to filter the claim list as necessary. This


is an additional example of how Alma provides tools for staff to manage their daily tasks in a simple and streamlined manner.

Renewals Alma workflows also support automatic and manual renewals and cancellations of resources. Renewals are processed as follows: On a daily basis, Alma checks for all PO lines whose status is Waiting for Renewal and whose renewal date is equal to the current date. For the purposes of this calculation, the renewal date refers to the renewal date (according to the PO line) minus the renewal notification period.

if the PO line is marked as automatic, the Renewal date is automatically incremented according to the Renewal cycle. The PO line is then saved back in the repository for further processing.

If the PO line is marked as manual, it appears in the renewals task list and staff are required to manually update the Renewal date and/or any other fields in the Renewals section of the PO Line Summary tab.

Following is a screenshot for the manual renewal task list showing both print and electronic subscriptions:


Vendors Vendor records in Alma are available via a Vendor List as illustrated below:

Vendor records can be searched by various fields such as vendor code, name etc. using the Find option at the top right hand corner of the Vendor List screen.


A vendor record in Alma consists of a master record as well as a linked account record. In addition, library specific accounts may be created linked to the master account record. Multiple accounts for each vendor (e.g. one account for firm orders, another for approval plans, and so on.) can be created. Vendor master records store information about the vendor that, by default, is inherited by all the vendor accounts attached to them. This information (e.g. contact information) can be overridden if necessary.

The vendor record in Alma is made up of segments that include a Summary, Contact information (addresses, phone numbers, web addresses), Contact people, EDI information, linked Invoices, linked PO Lines, Attachments, Communications, and Notes. Vendor records are created for materials suppliers, subscription agents, access providers of electronic resources, and licensors. Definitions in the vendor record – such as payment and delivery information will automatically populate data in new order records created in Alma. if, for example, the ‘Expected receipt after ordering (days)’ is recorded in the vendor record it will populate by default the same field on the PO Line an order associated with this the vendor.


Additional such fields are:

Renewal evaluation interval (days)

Claiming grace period (days)

Expected activation after ordering (days)

Subscription grace period (days)

The screen shot below illustrates the vendor account details which include the delivery and claiming default setup:

The vendor account supports repeatable mail and email fields, as well as multiple contacts per account as can be seen in the following screen capture:

The PO Lines tab in the vendor record lists all the purchase orders made against this vendor. In a similar manner, all invoices from a vendor are listed in the Invoice tab. Every invoice and PO Line is hypertext linked, so that it is easy to navigate to any invoice or PO Line from the vendor record in order to view full details of the record.

PO Lines in the vendor record:


Invoice information in the vendor record:

The EDI tab of the vendor record allows for storing EDI information for each vendor account:


Alma supports communicating directly with the vendor, any communication initiated from Alma will be saved on the vendor record for future tracking as illustrated below:

Any response from the vendor can be recorded back to Alma.

Funds and Financials

Funds Alma provides a flexible, hierarchical fund structure that the library can customize to meet its needs. The fund hierarchy:

Ledger

Summary

Allocated.

A ledger must be defined, but not all the levels need to be utilized (e.g. it is possible to define a ledger, and an allocated fund, but not have a summary fund.) An institution may create many ledgers. A ledger generally contains one or more summary funds, and allocated funds under each summary fund. The allocated accounts contain actual monetary balances used to pay for library resources. There is no limit to the number of funds that can be created. An example of a ledger record with its associated funds:


Additionally, institutions can create reporting codes across the funds to include an additional layer of granularity for reporting and analytical purposes. Rules may be associated with each level of the fund tree that defines when the system will warn or block transactions—e.g., whether over-expenditures are allowed or the grace period for encumbrances before a fiscal period close. These rules may be inherited or overridden by funds lower in the hierarchy.

When creating a new fund, if a duplicate fund code is defined, the system will warn of the duplication, and will not allow the fund to be created with the same code.

As part of the online display of fund information, Alma provides a graphical display of fund balances, based on the real-time balance of the account at any given moment.


Users can also see a graphic display of the fund burn down – generated from a standard report in Alma Analytics:

The system also shows the allocations, the encumbrances (pending, actual and total), the expenditures (pending, actual, and total) and the available balance for each fund. This information is updated and displayed in real-time within Alma:


Fiscal Year Closing Alma’s fiscal period close operations provide a variety of options that allow each library to create a new financial structure and roll over current orders in accordance with the library’s financial and reporting requirements. At the end of the current fiscal period, the Purchasing/Ledger Manager rolls over the current open orders to the new fiscal period, and can specify if the encumbrances should be increased or decreased automatically by a specified percentage. The new year’s encumbrances can be based on the previous fiscal period’s encumbrances, or optionally on the previous fiscal period’s expenditures, which allows the library to base the encumbered amounts on the actual payments in the prior year. Once the orders have been rolled over to the new period, the previous fiscal year is closed and the new fiscal year becomes active. Ledgers and funds can be created as either “active” or “draft”. Draft ledgers are useful when creating the new fund structure in advance; ledgers are made active when the institution is ready to begin using the fund structure.


As part of this fiscal period closure Alma supports rolling over PO Lines which copies the encumbered PO lines to the new fiscal period. During the rollover process, it is possible to select whether to increase or decrease the amount of the encumbered PO line.

Fiscal periods are defined by each institution; Alma can accommodate any yearly definition of a fiscal period. Inactive ledgers and funds are retained in Alma indefinitely, enabling the library to use the data in previous fund structures for comparisons of purchasing patterns, order and payment history, and related analytics.

Moving or Transferring Funds Alma supports moving funds within a ledger hierarchy so that the fund is still nested under the same ledger, but is associated with a different account within the ledger. Alma also supports moving funds from one ledger to another as long as the fiscal period is the same.

Money can be transferred from one fund to another. The transaction can be viewed in the Fund transaction list (as a debit or credit line). The following screen capture illustrates the option of transferring money from one fund to another:


Integrating with the Campus/External Financial System Utilizing a number of standards, as well as Alma’s open interfaces, the library will be able to integrate with a variety of systems such as the University’s financial software. The diagram below shows the variety of integration interfaces of Alma with multiple third-party systems using its open platform.

Alma features two-way integration with an ERP or any other institute's financial system. This integration can be used to export payment information, as well as import payment confirmation for specific invoices and fund allocation information. Alma’s integration is provided by using file transfer of information from Alma to the library’s ERP or campus financial system, based on a data structure format provided by Ex Libris. Similarly, payment confirmation data for invoices can be entered manually into Alma, or a file of payment confirmation data can be imported. An integration profile to the campus financial system defined in Alma:


Approval for payment can be automatic, based on library policies, or done manually. Once payment has been approved, the invoice moves to the final stage—awaiting payment via the institution’s bill payment system or ERP. The receipt of payment notification from the campus financial system or ERP can also be automated. This is accomplished by loading in payment information on a scheduled basis, or potentially using Alma web services called by the campus financial system.

Currencies and Currency Ratios in Alma Alma holds a single universal currency repository (based on ISO currency codes) with six decimal places, which includes current and historical rates. The repository is updated on a continuous basis. To help libraries track and manage currency changes, Alma also provides an exchange rate report, which can be run in real-time to generate a list of recent exchange rates.

As part of configuration options available in Alma, the library may choose a currency subset from a list of worldwide currencies loaded and maintained by Alma. Only the currency values defined


in this subset will display in the relevant parts of the Acquisition workflows.

Import MARC records with embedded order data can be used to create purchase orders in Alma, as well as create records for the items added to the library’s inventory using data supplied by the individual institution or the library’s materials vendor. This includes support of vendor approval programs for both print and electronic resources, such as e-books. In this workflow, Alma imports an EOD record (embedded order data) and puts the description into the metadata management systems (MMS), and turns the embedded order information into a PO line. Any number of import profiles can be created and managed in Alma. An import profile will be configured based on the agreement with the vendor regarding the fields and sub-fields that will be used to supply the order and item information in the MARC record. Loading EOD files into Alma has the potential to automate the entire acquisitions and cataloging workflow, making it possible to order a resource using the vendor’s interface, and unpack and shelve the materials with minimal effort.


To import a batch of records, Alma provides features to manage import processes, including record validation, pre-import processing, importing the records, monitoring, and resolving issues.

PDA (Patron Driven Acquisitions) Alma streamlines the process for patron-driven acquisition (PDA), including e-books, by loading potential candidates to discovery, managing automatic approval plans, managing billing from the vendors and automatically adding purchased books to the institution's catalogue and inventory. The PDA workflow can be described as follows:

A PDA profile is created:

Vendor candidate e-records (with URLs) are loaded into the Alma repository

Alma publishes the records to the discovery tool (Primo)

Users discover and use the e-resources, triggering purchases (loans and over a particular threshold, complete purchases)

The vendor sends PO Lines via EOD and invoices via EDI

After a defined period, the candidate e-resources that were not used (or usage did not exceed the defined threshold) are removed from the Alma repository and from the discovery tool.


As briefly described above, based on the library’s approval profile, the vendor will provide bibliographic records which Alma will automatically load into the library’s local Library Zone catalogue and make available through Primo for discovery. As patrons select the resources via Primo, the Primo-Alma interoperability will ensure that the management processing for ordering and invoicing is automated based on the library’s business rules. In most cases, this can be a completely automated and unmediated process, requiring only that the library set up access for receipt of the vendor records [typically done via standard FTP today] and rules internal to Alma for ordering, fund management, and payment. Alma is flexible to any new product information a vendor can offer and deliver via FTP. PDA can be managed either in the Institutions Zone or in the Network Zone on behalf of the members. Alma also has the capability to alert staff if there is no more budget left for the program as well as the ability to pause the PDA program until further funds are added at which time the PDA program can be resumed.

Trials and Evaluations Alma supports a comprehensive and sophisticated Trial and Evaluation workflow for e-resource material. E-resource material is often very expensive, taking up a large part of a library’s budget. It is therefore crucial for libraries to be able to gauge whether an e-resource package should be


renewed, or whether to subscribe to a new package. The option to run a trial or evaluation prior to purchase significantly assists staff in the decision making process. Trials and evaluations can be limited to a select group of participants, or can be made open to the public The trial record includes a survey form with questions that can be defined for the e-resource package, or chosen from a pool of questions. Participants are notified of the trial and are requested to fill in the form. The results of the survey are automatically recorded in Alma, as can be seen in the following screen captures:


For each response, the trial manager or operator has the option of clicking on the View button in order to see a graphic display of the response results. This can assist in formulating a decision about whether to subscribe to the package or not.

Acquisition Reports Alma Analytics is used for a variety of reports, as well as for generating statistics from various library activities. Analytics connects to an optimized reporting view of the data stored in the Alma’s operational database. The data in the reporting views is updated on an ongoing basis. The solution serves as a smart decision tool and can improve the quality of the library's collection as well as dramatically reduce unnecessary expenses. Reports generated by the solution are embedded in Alma as widgets in the Alma dashboard or in relevant sections of the system. Advanced users may create and run customized reports. Acquisitions data in Alma Analytics covers data from vendors, transaction, funds, purchase types, bibliographic data and more. Each if the elements include detailed fields for analysis. For example the detailed data for the PO


line:

The below example shows data per fund ledger:

And per material type:


Current (YTD) Funding and Expenditure status:

Expenditure by Vendor (including top 10):

Expenditure by Reporting Code:

all you wanted to know about acquisitions in alma

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