[Wactclc-alma] [EXTERNAL*]-POLs for electronic collections; vendor-level vs collection level

Fri Feb 4 16:05:50 PST 2022

A few more things, because eresources are complicated and state agency budgets are complicated…

1)  Our general rule of thumb is to have 1 POL (that's not a Technical POL) per invoice line.

If all 3 of my libraries subscribe to the same product and each library gets invoiced separately, then we have 3 invoices and 3 POLs in Alma.

If all 3 of my libraries subscribe to the same product, the vendor sends us 1 invoice, and the libraries agree with each other to split the cost, then we have 1 invoice and 1 POL in Alma. The POL will have multiple funds assigned to it, with each fund paying part of the total cost.

2)  We also have our funds set up in Alma so they reflect institutional budget lines in FMS/ctcLink.  This way we can easily report out by institutional funding source.

Each fund code in Alma has the associated institutional budget line (Chartstring in ctcLink terminology) listed in the External ID field.

A single institutional budget line can have multiple Alma funds, but a single Alma fund can't be associated with more than one institutional budget line (because there's only 1 External ID field in an Alma fund).

For example, Central has one institutional budget line that pays for most book orders (subobject code JD), but within Alma, each librarian has their own pots of money to spend for different academic departments (e.g. Health Sciences, Creative Arts, STEM).  So Central has 17 Alma funds with different names but all 17 Alma funds have the same ctcLink Chartstring in the External ID: WA060-7062-001-101-051-46104-5040130-N

(Side note: We list ctcLink Chartstring elements in this order: GL Unit – Operating Unit – Fund – Appropriation – Class – Department – Account – State Purpose)

If a subscription is paid for by a department outside the library, then we create a separate ledger with separate fund codes in Alma.

If the institution charges students a special fee specifically to help pay for library resources that support a specific program (e.g. Bachelor of Applied Science in Dental Hygiene, International Business, etc.), then we create a separate ledger with separate fund codes in Alma.

In these situations, we don’t add any balance to the funds because we don’t ever know what the institutional budget balance is. We just get a promise that the department will pay the cost using their budget or the fees they collect. We set these ledgers to allow overencumbrance and overexpenditure with no limits and just use the fund code to track expenses.

Maybe more detail than you need, but sharing in case it helps.

It will be ok!

Kirsti S. Thomas
Library Technical Services Manager
Seattle Colleges
kirsti.thomas at seattlecolleges.edu<mailto:kirsti.thomas at seattlecolleges.edu>

From: Wactclc-alma <wactclc-alma-bounces at lists.ctc.edu> On Behalf Of Thomas, Kirsti
Sent: Friday, February 4, 2022 13:39
To: Elena Bianco <Elena.Bianco at skagit.edu>; Guidry, Wade <WadeG at bigbend.edu>; WACTCLC Alma Discussion <wactclc-alma at lists.ctc.edu>
Subject: Re: [Wactclc-alma] [EXTERNAL*]-POLs for electronic collections; vendor-level vs collection level

Good summary Wade!

In a nutshell, we want our Alma invoices to show *exactly* what's on the invoice the vendor sends us.

One reason for this is to lay the groundwork to eventually be able to communicate invoice data between Alma and PeopleSoft (i.e. ctcLink). We know this can be done because the Cal State system is already doing this.

Just as important, making sure our Alma invoices reflect exactly what's on the vendor invoice makes managing subscriptions and invoices a lot less confusing for everyone.

I'm a big proponent of "record what you see exactly, exactly as it appears in front of you" -- probably because I'm a cataloger and we're big on transcription. 😉

So if we get a vendor invoice for 4 products, and the invoice shows a separate line price for each product, we create 4 Electronic Collection - Subscription POLs that each have the Acquisitions Method Purchase at Vendor System. Each POL will then be linked to a separate invoice line on the Alma invoice.

If we get a vendor invoice for 4 products, and the invoice shows a price for 1 product, but no price for the other 3 products, then we create 1 Electronic Collection - Subscription POLs with the Acquisitions Method Purchase at Vendor System for just the product with a listed price. We create Technical POLS for the other 3 products and list the POL for the product that has a price in the Associated POL lines field. Each POL will still be linked to the Alma invoice, but the Technical POLs will just have a zero price on the Alma invoice (reflecting what's on the vendor invoice).

If we get a vendor invoice for 4 products, but the invoice only shows a total combined cost for all the products in the package, then we create an Order Without Inventory for the overall package and Technical POLs for each product pointing to the Order Without Inventory POL.  Each POL will still be linked to the Alma invoice, but the Technical POLs will just have a zero price on the Alma invoice (reflecting what's on the vendor invoice).

Here are some specific examples:

Our Films on Demand invoice lists 2 products-- Master Academic Collection, and Archival Films & Newsreels Collections.

[cid:image001.png at 01D819D2.8B663EF0]

(Side note: One thing that's been a huge benefit to tracking eresource acquisitions in Alma is that we can upload PDF copies of our invoices into Alma as they arrive.  Then everyone (with the right permissions) can see the invoice from any computer with an Internet connection any time of day or night. This is a huge improvement over having paper copies in one person's desk or file cabinet!

This screenshot is from a PDF copy of an invoice that we saved in Alma. I was able to do this from home rather than taking 45 minutes to travel to Central's campus on transit, root around in George's file cabinet, not be able to find the invoice, discover that George and Chris weren't in on Friday afternoon, and then have to wait until Monday when they were back to ask them where it was and wait for them to send me a copy. Or alternately, have the person who paid all the invoices retire and then have to comb through the piles of paperwork in that person's office and still never be able to find any of the invoices from previous years.)

Only 1 product-- Master Academic Collection-- has a price on the vendor invoice.

So we create 1 POL with the POL type Electronic Collection - Subscription and the Acquisition Method Purchase at Vendor System for the Films On Demand Master Academic Collection.

We then create 1 POL with the POL type Electronic Collection - Subscription and the Acquisition Method Technical for the Films On Demand Archival Films & Newsreels Collection. We then manually enter the POL number for the POL with the payment information in the Associated PO Lines field under the Additional section.  In the screenshot below, the POL for Films On Demand Archival Films & Newsreels Collection has the POL number for Films On Demand Master Academic Collection in the Associated PO Lines field. Make sense?

[cid:image002.png at 01D819D2.8B663EF0]

Our Proquest invoice gives us a single price for the package, and then lists the products included in the package.

[cid:image003.png at 01D819D2.8B663EF0]

So we have an Order Without Inventory POL for "Proquest Database Collection, 7 Proquest Databases, ABI/INFORM Trade and Industry, Culturegrams Online, eLibrary Curriculum Edition, SIRS Discover, Family Health Database, Research Library, US Newsstream" (we find it really helpful to list all the products included in the package in the Order Without Inventory Description).

Then each product in the package has a POL with the type Electronic Collection - Subscription and Acquisition Method Technical. The POL number for the Order without Inventory POL is in the Associated POL lines field for each Technical POL.

If you look at the Associated PO Lines tab in the Proquest Database Collection POL, you'll see all the associated Technical POLs.

[cid:image004.png at 01D819D2.8B663EF0]

We've also got a special Subscription Eresources dashboard that we just finished work on last summer to helps us track our eresource subscriptions.  It shows us current and projected costs, Alma fund codes, institutional budget lines, renewal dates, whether the invoice has been paid or not for the current fiscal year, which Alma electronic collections are in which vendor packages, and graphs of price histories.

We had to be very deliberate in how we set up eresource acquisitions in Alma, but once the underlying structure was in place, the reports were possible.

Getting acquisitions data for our eresources into Alma has made it a lot easier to keep on top of them.

I'm happy to answer any questions.

It will be ok!

Kirsti S. Thomas
Library Technical Services Manager
Seattle Colleges
kirsti.thomas at seattlecolleges.edu<mailto:kirsti.thomas at seattlecolleges.edu>

From: Elena Bianco <Elena.Bianco at skagit.edu<mailto:Elena.Bianco at skagit.edu>>
Sent: Friday, February 4, 2022 08:29
To: Guidry, Wade <WadeG at bigbend.edu<mailto:WadeG at bigbend.edu>>; Thomas, Kirsti <Kirsti.Thomas at seattlecolleges.edu<mailto:Kirsti.Thomas at seattlecolleges.edu>>; WACTCLC Alma Discussion <wactclc-alma at lists.ctc.edu<mailto:wactclc-alma at lists.ctc.edu>>
Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL*]-POLs for electronic collections; vendor-level vs collection level

This is awesome info. Lots to consider here. Thanks, Wade!

Elena

Elena Bianco

Systems & Technical Services Librarian

Skagit Valley College Library

2405 E. College Way

Mount Vernon, WA 98273

________________________________
From: Guidry, Wade <WadeG at bigbend.edu<mailto:WadeG at bigbend.edu>>
Sent: Friday, February 4, 2022 8:11 AM
To: Kirsti.Thomas at seattlecolleges.edu<mailto:Kirsti.Thomas at seattlecolleges.edu> <Kirsti.Thomas at seattlecolleges.edu<mailto:Kirsti.Thomas at seattlecolleges.edu>>; Elena Bianco <Elena.Bianco at skagit.edu<mailto:Elena.Bianco at skagit.edu>>; WACTCLC Alma Discussion <wactclc-alma at lists.ctc.edu<mailto:wactclc-alma at lists.ctc.edu>>
Subject: [EXTERNAL*]-POLs for electronic collections; vendor-level vs collection level

Kirsti, and all

Elena mentioned on the call yesterday that SVC is considering use of acquisitions for their electronic collections now. They already use acquisitions for physical stuff.

I mentioned your newer technique of acquisitions for electronic collections, that you’ve found more “ctcLink friendly” (because it simplifies payable invoices).

My general description of your approach was:

  1.  A ‘purchased at vendor’ continuing order at the vendor level (Ebsco, ProQuest, etc), not tied to inventory
  2.  A series of ‘technical’ orders, with no price, for each of the individual packages, that is associated with the vendor level order.

This technique allows you to have an order in Alma (the “big” order line) that matches the actual payment requests you make to accounting. So, tracking and reconciling payments between Alma and ctcLink is easier.

And for collections for which you do get invoiced individually, because only one school buys them, or they are for a specific dept, etc, you also do priced POLs for those. Again to make tracking and reconciling payments between systems easier.

Kirsti, if you have any other comments or thoughts about this, please share.

Elena, this technique might apply to you SVCs situation. Though, you mentioned wanting to be able to do year over year cost comparisons for electronic resources out of Alma. If that’s the goal, you might still be better off with POLs at the individual collection level, so that you’re sure to be able to track pricing accurately at the collection level for reporting purpose. Though, with consistent use of notes, you could probably still capture good pricing info at the collection level with Kirsti’s technique.

Wade Guidry
Library Consortium Services Manager, WACTCLC
wadeg at bigbend.edu<mailto:wadeg at bigbend.edu>
(509) 760-4474
http://www.wactclc.org<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wactclc.org%2F&data=04%7C01%7C%7C4fcc4a73b5a74ec1316108d9e826e961%7C02d8ff38d7114e31a9156cb5cff788df%7C0%7C0%7C637796076114592261%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=0fFWLRqtGwfQIjbSnKZrzvl6mwsKPkSTVK5CbouhL4c%3D&reserved=0>

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