To give an idea of what can be derived from an analytical features list that also includes features not yet implemented and not on the roadmap consider the example of fines. Circulation needs and practises is not an area of library science expertise for me personally. Please correct any errors. In the full form of the outline with combining features from current and potential versions, there is the following edited extract. Of course, this is never meant to be seen because it is difficult to read and follow at length. The edited outline extract is followed by a descriptive explanation based on the outline. 16. Circulation. 1. Circulation Rules. 1. Circulation Material Type Based. 4. Fines. 1. Overdue fine rate. [current, version 2.2.3] 2. Lost material fine. [forthcoming, version unspecified] 2. Library Based. 4. Fines. 1. Overdue fine rate. [current, version 2.2.3] 2. Lost material fine. [forthcoming, version unspecified] 3. Item Based. 2. Fines. 1. Lost Material Fine. 1. Recorded replacement price. [current, version 2.2.3] 2. Real time web service replacement cost based. [forthcoming, version unspecified] 4. Patron Privilege Type Based. 4. Fines. 1. Overdue fine rate. [current, version 2.2.3] 2. Lost material fine. [forthcoming, version unspecified] Circulation periods in Koha are currently set by circulation material types (implemented as biblioitems.mediatype); library (branches); and patron privileges. [Here, I have edited out the portion of the outline section that shows the circulation periods to show only fines.] Lost materials fines are currently set by items.replacementprice. This value is only filled by normal accounting acquisitions. Something seems to be missing for simple accounting acquisitions. A webservices request to a supplier at the time of lost material fine assessment could be used to fill a value or even update an existing value for items.replacementprice. Calculating library time in ordering, shipping cost, and possible need for currency conversion from the supplier might all be factors needing consideration. I expect that is a few feature elements too far for what you had in mind for fines at the moment. A complimentary and much simpler approach would be to provide parameters for lost material fines set by the same elements that govern circulation periods: circulation material type, library branch, and patron privilege type. The circulation rules page could then be used to set one more value for when items.replacementprice was empty or when items.replacementpricedate was older than a set date. Thomas D Quoting Joshua Ferraro <jmf@liblime.com> :
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Thanks for the tip Chris. Hope all is well with Laurel.
I think you're right that there's still some tidying to do. So, who's using fines management in Koha? Could you describe your general expectations of the fines component? I'm thinking of re-writing it and having system parameters to define its behavoir ... anyone have any opinions on what should be 'parameterized'?
Cheers, -- Joshua Ferraro VENDOR SERVICES FOR OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE President, Technology migration, training, maintenance, support LibLime Featuring Koha Open-Source ILS jmf@liblime.com |Full Demos at http://liblime.com/koha |1(888)KohaILS
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