Circulation - Charge History

Circulation - Charge History

About

This article and video tutorial (below) cover configuring the Charge History feature in WorkFlows. Patrons who opt into turning Charge History on for their accounts allow the Symphony software to track their historical checkouts.

Before Using Charge History

Before turning on Charge History for your library, keep in mind:
  1. This configuration defaults to off for all libraries and all library users.
  2. Turning charge history functionality on for your library doesn't automatically turn it on for your users, it merely gives them the option of having it or not. Users who want their charge history retained will need to opt in either by speaking to a staff person or by turning charge history on in their Enterprise account.
  3. Charge history isn't eternal. While the system will retain a user's charge history as long as they're opted into it, there are scenarios that will affect what appears in charge history:
    1. If an account's charge history setting is turned off, either by staff in WorkFlows or by a patron in Enterprise, all saved data will be erased at the end of the day.
    1. If an item is deleted or discarded, its charge history will also be removed. Make sure to inform your patrons that items removed from the collection will disappear from their charge history.
    1. Once purged, charge history isn't recoverable. The user can opt back in, but they'll be starting from scratch.

How It Works

  1. Charge history is recorded at check-in. It records item ID, title, date charged, date due, and date discharged.
  2. If a patron has previously checked out the same title, charge history will inform you, but won't prevent the checkout.

Using Charge History

1. Open a ticket

If your library wants to implement Charge History, open a ticket to let MSC admins know. Once setup is complete, you can turn this Charge History on for patrons who opt in.

2. Set your properties

Follow the instructions below to add Charge History viewing tabs and a helper in certain wizards, as well as to make sure charge history won't prevent you from removing users and items from the system.
Viewing Tabs
Charge History viewing tabs are available in the following wizards:
  1. Display User
  2. Item Search and Display
To see Charge History in those wizards, right-click the Display User wizard and select Properties... From the Behavior tab, check the box titled Show Charge History Tab. Click OK.
Charge History setting in the Display User wizard properties

Next, right-click the Item Search and Display wizard and select Properties... From the Defaults tab, check the box titled Show charge history. Click OK.
Charge History setting in the Item Search and Display wizard properties

Once those settings have been turned on, you'll see a Charge History tab in Display User and in Item Search and Display when looking at a record's detailed view, from the Call Number/Item tab.
Charge History tab in Display User wizard

Charge History tab in Item Search and Display wizard

Helpers
The Charge History helper is available in the Checkout and Remove User wizards. To turn on the helper, right-click the Checkout wizard and select Properties... From the Helpers tab, check the box titled Charge History. Click OK. Do the same for the Remove User wizard.
Charge History helper setting in the Checkout wizard properties

Turning this setting on puts a button (a helper) at the top of the wizards that you can click to display a patron's charge history.
Charge History helper icon in Checkout wizard

Removing Users and Deleting Items
Charge History will prevent you from removing users and deleting items unless you turn on the option to remove history along with them. To do that, you need to change settings in the Remove User and Call Number and Item Maintenance wizards.

Right-click the Remove User wizard and select Properties... From the Behavior tab, check the box titled Prompt before removing charge history. Click OK.
Charge History setting in the Remove User wizard properties

Next, right-click the Call Number and Item Maintenance wizard (in the Cataloging module) and select Properties... From the Behavior tab, check the box titled Delete items with a charge history record. Click OK.
Charge History setting in Call Number and Item Maintenance wizard properties

3. Turn on Charge History for the patron

You can turn Charge History on for a patron in the User Registration or Modify User wizard. When the account is open in either wizard, go to the Basic Info tab and select ALLCHARGES from the Charge history rule drop-down.
Change history rule drop-down
The Charge history rule default is NOHISTORY, which means Charge History is off and nothing is recorded. ALLCHARGES means Charge History is on and items checked in from patrons are recorded. Don't select CIRCRULE - this setting isn't configured in our system.

A patron can also opt in via her Enterprise account without staff intervention. To view her charge history in Enterprise she'll need to:
  1. Log into her Enterprise My Account.
  2. Click the Personal Information tab.
  3. Click the Preferences section drop-down.
  4. Check the box titled Show my checkout history.
Checkout history preferences in Enterprise My Account

Checking this box will turn on an extra section drop-down from the Checkouts tab that lists the history.
Checkout History section under Checkouts tab in Enterprise My Account
Patrons can also turn Charge History off from their Enterprise accounts, which will erase all of their saved history at the end of the day. To turn this feature off, they need to un-check the Record my checkout history box.

Errors

Sharing group libraries may see the following error in Display User: Charge History not found.

This error occurs when a patron has Charge History turned on, but the history cannot display because of the wizard's property settings.

To fix this when helping the patron:
  1. Click OK on the error pop-up message.
  2. Click the Charge History tab in the account.
  3. In the Display options at the bottom of the screen, select All libraries from the drop-down.
Display setting to fix error for sharing group libraries in Display User.

To prevent the error in the future:
  1. Close the Display User wizard.
  2. Right-click on the wizard and select Properties...
  3. From the Behavior tab, select All libraries from the drop-down in the Checkouts Tab section.
Checkout Tab setting in Display User wizard properties

Video Tutorial


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