[Koha-devel] RFC: Modification to Fines System

[Kyle Hall]

Indeed, if everyone is on board with his idea, it would be an easy
connection. Payment -> Fine -> Item

Kyle

http://www.kylehall.info
Information Technology
Crawford County Federated Library System ( http://www.ccfls.org )




On Wed, Sep 30, 2009 at 10:54 AM, Wagner,  Jane <jwagner at ptfs.com> wrote:
> Not directly related to Kyle's idea, but one of the needs we've seen
> relating to fines is a better description of what the payment is for.
> Having Koha just say "Payment, thanks" doesn't tell staff two weeks
> later what the payment was for.  We've been planning to look at
> amplifying that description; maybe that idea could be incorporated here.
>
> Jane Wagner
> Library Systems Analyst
> PTFS Inc.
> Content Management and Library Solutions
> 6400 Goldsboro Road, Suite 200
> Bethesda, MD  20817
> (301) 654-8088 x 151
> jwagner at ptfs.com
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: koha-devel-bounces at lists.koha.org
> [mailto:koha-devel-bounces at lists.koha.org] On Behalf Of Walls, Ian
> Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2009 10:41 AM
> To: koha-devel at lists.koha.org
> Subject: [Koha-devel] RFC: Modification to Fines System
>
> Kyle,
>
>
> Sounds good to me.
>
> This suggestion seems like it could have some powerful long-term
> potential.  By modifying the system in the way you suggest, it would be
> possible to expand the kinds of payments patrons can make to include
> arbitrary services (like printing, ILL, class registration fees, etc.).
> In essence, Koha could act as the financial front end for any pay
> service patrons are offered, and the money could be properly directed to
> whatever account it needs to wind up in at the end of the day/week/etc.
>
>
> Ian Walls
> Systems Integration Librarian
> NYU Health Sciences Libraries
> 550 First Ave., New York, NY 10016
> (212) 263-8687
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: koha-devel-bounces at lists.koha.org
> [mailto:koha-devel-bounces at lists.koha.org] On Behalf Of Kyle Hall
> Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2009 10:03 AM
> To: koha-devel
> Subject: [Koha-devel] RFC: Modification to Fines System
>
> Here is my problem, and my proposed solution.
>
> One of our libraries is requesting a breakdown of payments by day, by
> account type. That is, they want a report the gives the total amount
> paid for Late Fees, for Damaged Books, and for Lost Books. Apparently,
> they have separate money accounts for each.
>
> In Koha as it stands, there is no direct way to connect a payment to a
> particular accountline that was paid.
>
> The least invasive idea I have is to add a new column to accountlines
> ( say, accountno_paid ) for payments. Each payment would then refer to
> the fine or charge that it was paid against.
>
> The largest difference, is that instead of one large payment that runs
> down the amountoutstanding field for a number of charges, the total
> payment would need to be broken down into a series of smaller
> payments, one for each accountno paid on.
>
> For example, suppose that a borrower has 3 items with and overdue fine
> of $5.00 each, and the borrower is paying in full. The current version
> would create a payment line of $15, and then set the amountoutstanding
> to $0.00 for each of the 3 accountno's. The revamped system would
> still set the  amountoutstanding to $0.00 for each accountno, but
> would create three separate payment lines, one for each of the 3
> accountno's, and the accountno paid on would be stored in
> accountno_paid.
>
> I don't think this would break any existing reports or functionality.
>
> Does this sound like a reasonable solution? Or have I missed something
> that may solve my problem without code?
>
> Thanks,
> Kyle
>
> http://www.kylehall.info
> Information Technology
> Crawford County Federated Library System ( http://www.ccfls.org )
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