SCILS

South Carolina Information and Library Services Consortium

SCILS Acquisitions Policy
Approved 10/8/2009

 Glossary

Approval order-New books sent automatically by a publisher or wholesaler in accordance with a pre-established profile of the library's needs, rather than ordered title by title by the selectors responsible for collection development. Approvals not returned within the agreed-upon time are understood to have been accepted by the library. No one in SCILS is currently using Approval orders.

Blanket order-An agreement in which a publisher or dealer supplies to a library or library system one copy of each title as issued, on the basis of a profile established in advance by the purchaser. Blanket order plans are used mainly by large academic and public libraries to reduce the amount of time required for selection and acquisition and to speed the process of getting new titles into circulation. Unlike approval orders, most blanket order plans do not allow returns. Most in SCILS are not using Blanket or Standing Orders.

Cancel Segments-You may enter a cancel segment when one or more items on a line item must be canceled. The cancel reason identifies the origin of the cancellation as the library, a user, or the vendor. If the cancel reason is VENDOR, then the vendor cycle record is updated with the number of items canceled.

Each cancel segment includes a cancel reason (either LIBRARY, USER, or VENDOR), a date canceled, the part/volume canceled (if order is for a multipart item), number of items canceled, date mailed (supplied by SirsiDynix Symphony when the Report Utility generates a cancel notice).

Claim Segments-When an order passes its Date to Claim, the Create Late Order Claims report can automatically add a claim segment to the appropriate outstanding line items on that order. SirsiDynix Symphony automatically creates a claim segment if, for a multipart or multicopy line item, some, but not all of the parts or items are received. A workstation operator may create a claim segments as well.

Each claim segment includes a claim reason, claim on (date), number of items claimed, times claimed, part/volume claimed (if a multipart item), date mailed (supplied by SirsiDynix Symphony when the Report Utility generates a claim notice), vendor response, date of vendor response, and status (OPEN, RECEIVED, CANCELED).

Copies(under Funds)- When working with funds, information on the Copies tab refers to items specified in the associated funding segments of the orderlines.

Deposit Account – The Deposit account option is used when funds are sent to a vendor in advance and they charge against those funds for incoming orders.  Some in SCILS are or have used this type of account.

SirsiDynix Symphony vendor records provide a mechanism for you to track monies you have on deposit with vendors. For example, you have a deposit account with a vendor, and you deposit $5000 with the vendor. In the vendor record, you enter the deposit amount on the Deposit Account tab. SirsiDynix Symphony does not encumber any funds at the point of deposit. Thereafter, when you order using this vendor record, the fund or funds specified in the order are encumbered and eventually paid. Additionally, a separate tally of encumbrance and expenditure is tracked against the deposit amount in the vendor record.

Deposit Order-A vendor prepayment account into which the customer deposits a substantial sum, against which orders are subsequently charged. When the balance in the account reaches zero, an additional amount must be deposited for fulfillment to continue. In return, the library receives a financial incentive in the form of an annual credit based on an agreed rate, a larger than normal discount on purchases, or interest paid on the balance in the account. A library's funding authority usually dictates the feasibility of this type of account (some institutions prefer to earn interest on the money rather than allow the library to expand its purchasing power). There is risk to the customer, should the vendor go out of business before the end of the deposit period.

Distribution Segments-A distribution segment allows the library to define how the items will be distributed, or the eventual destination of the items received under this line item. Ordered material may be sent to a library location, external department, or user. In the case of a multipart item, a distribution segment may need to identify when different parts or volumes were received.

Encumbered - The Encumbered field displays in relation to both funds and vendors.

In funds, the encumbered amount is the money committed to be spent from a particular fund. SirsiDynix Symphony automatically maintains the amounts as orders are placed. The Encumbered amount includes orders placed from a particular fiscal cycle that have not yet been invoiced, paid, canceled, or removed.

In vendors, this is the total amount of money committed to the vendor in orders, which have not yet been invoiced or paid. SirsiDynix Symphony automatically keeps track of the amount currently encumbered.

Expenditure- An expenditure is an amount of money spent.

Financial (under Funds)- When working with funds, information on the Financial tab refers to all information about budget, encumbered, spent for each fund.

Firm order –A Firm order placed with a publisher, jobber, or dealer for a specific title(s) and number of copies, usually with the expectation that the items will be shipped as soon as they are in stock.  Sometimes you can specify a maximum price and time limit for delivery to not to be exceeded without prior approval of the ordering library. Firm orders can be placed for materials requested by individual selectors responsible for collection development.

Fiscal Cycle (or Fiscal or Cycle) - This field identifies a particular funding period. The funding period can be set up in quarters, calendar years, or fiscal years.
 

SCILS Acquisitions Fiscal Cycle Policy- Will always be the last number of the first year and the last 2 numbers of the second year. Ex. In fiscal year 2007-2008, the acquisition fiscal year will be 708. In fiscal year 2010-2011, the acquisition fiscal your will be 011. There is more on this in the policy.

Free Balance -This field displays the total amount of money available from the deposit amount minus any amounts invoiced, paid, or encumbered.

Free Balance %- This field displays the available balance as a percentage of the whole deposit amount.

Funds - Funds are the representation of your library’s budget. A fund record identifies a sum of money or other resource which can be drawn on to pay for services or materials being acquired. Every fund account, grant, or budget portion which the library uses to pay for acquisitions should be represented by a fund record in SirsiDynix Symphony.

Funding Segments -A funding segment defines which fund or funds are to be used to pay for an ordered item(s). Copies ordered on a orderline may be funded from a single fund or from multiple funds. If using multiple funds, item costs may be divided by percentage or by specific amount. There are two kinds of funding segments.

·         SINGLE_FUNDING segment allows you to pay for copies of the item from a single fund. A single funding is displayed by default. You may either for pay all items on the orderline out of a single fund, or you can pay for each item with a different fund using single funding segments.

·         MULTI_FUNDING segment allows you to split the payment of a single item between two or more funds. You may split a payment by either percentage or by amount.

Gift-An item that has been given to the library at no cost for consideration within the receiving library’s holdings, is a gift.

Holding Distributions - allows you to designate the location to which the items should be distributed. A holding distribution represents a material that will be in the SirsiDynix Symphony catalog. A holding code from policies designates holding characteristics to be assigned to the item when you load the item in the catalog, such as library, the item type, the location, the item categories, permanence, and circulating permissions. A holding distribution segment is displayed by default.

Invoice- An invoice is a list that describes individual items or services provided by a vendor, and the costs/prices/charges associated with those items.

Loaded-When an on-order item is “loaded” this means that it is cleared of the “ON-ORDER” status in the catalog and can be processed. Most SCILS schools load items when they receive them. There is a setting in the “Receive Orders” wizard properties that let you do both in one step.

Membership order-The order is paid for the library, which is a member of a society or association for a subscription to one of its serial publications, usually lower than the rate charged nonmembers.

Monographic series order-A series of monographic orders, usually issued under a collective title by a university press or scholarly society. Each volume in the series may contain more than one monograph, each with its own title in addition to the series title.

Monograph-any publication that is not a serial in that no more is expected. It is usually on a single subject or related subjects and is complete in itself.

Order Maps for Segments -In some libraries, multiple copy orders may frequently be placed using a common funding and distribution pattern. Fundings and distributions may be predetermined using the Order Map policy. As an order is placed, the Replace Fundings & Distributions helper can be used to select a pattern funding and distribution as a starting point for completing the order. This is particularly useful when several items are typically ordered from an established pattern of multiple funds and distributed to multiple holding codes or users. No one in SCILS is currently using this.

Over encumbered – An Over encumbrance occurs when the budget has been overspent.  The Over encumbered/spent field displays Y (Yes) when a fund is over encumbered, and N (No) when a fund is not over encumbered. The encumbered amount is the money committed to be spent from a particular fund. When a fund is over encumbered, the encumbered amount exceeds the fund budget amount.

Packing slip- A printed form sent by a vendor or supplier with a shipment of goods, listing its contents, to allow the customer to compare items shipped against those that were ordered, not to be confused with an invoice.

Performance (under Funds)- When working with funds, information on the Performance tab contains information on “Average Price Paid,” “Average Order Price” and “Average Discount” for each fund per fiscal year.

Rental order- Orders for items that are in high demand such as fiction, books on CD, or bestsellers. The library only leases the item and replaces it when it is no longer popular with newer more popular items. Not all libraries provide rental collections.

Requisition- A requisition is an official request for materials through the business office at your school. Some schools require requisitions for the purchase of library material and some do not. Each school would want to check on their local policies.

Segments- A segment is a special part of an orderline record that allows you to adjust the orderline to your specific needs for paying for the order or distributing the materials when it arrives. A segment can never exist by itself, but must be attached to an orderline record. Segments are not only attached to the orderline record, but are also attached to each other. There are different kinds of segments, and each kind has different fields. Every orderline item (orderline) record may have one or more funding, distribution, claim, and or cancel segments.

Serial- Can be magazines, journals, newspapers, or monograph serials. Are considered serials if they are titles that are being published continuously with no end in sight like the Annual Almanac or Time magazine.

Special order-A request to purchase a single copy of a publication, requiring special handling by the publisher or bookseller, usually because the item is not in stock. Special orders are generally sold at no discount or a short discount, and a modest service charge may be added to compensate the seller for the extra effort. This is not usually used at SCILS libraries.

Standing order-A Standing order is placed with a publisher, jobber, or dealer to supply volumes or titles in a series as published, matching a specified criteria such as best sellers, books in a series, and continuations in a reference series.  The library does not know the titles, specific volumes, and time of receipt of items purchased through a standing order usually until they are received.  Unlike subscriptions, which must be paid in advance, standing orders are billed as each volume is shipped. This type of order can usually be cancelled or materials returned without penalty.  Sometimes used synonymously with continuation order. Most in SCILS are not using Blanket or Standing Orders.

Subscription order-An order that must be paid for in advance, (usually for the serial collection) that can also be cancelled or claimed at any given time.

User Distributions- This is used if your library lets users (departments) purchase items through the library.  User Distribution allows you to send the received materials to a designated department or person. A user distribution represents a material that will not be in the SirsiDynix Symphony catalog. Currently no SCILS members are using.

 Volume Distributions -Allows you to monitor the receipt of partial sets by part/volume name. Typically this segment is generated automatically by SirsiDynix Symphony when a partial order of volumes is received.

Vendor- A vendor record identifies the source of materials being acquired. Every vendor, jobber, publisher, or donor from whom the library acquires material should be represented online by a vendor record in SirsiDynix Symphony.

Fiscal Cycle Policy

Fiscal Cycle (or Fiscal or Cycle)- This field identifies a particular funding period. The funding period can be set up in quarters, calendar years, or fiscal years. When you are looking up orders, the fiscal cycle field defaults to the session setting for fiscal cycle. You can override the default by entering another valid fiscal cycle. If you select ALL from the drop-down list when you look up orders, you need to type a specific order ID to display orders across cycles. All lines will be available for display, regardless of any value entered in the Order Line field. A fiscal cycle is typically associated with every order, vendor cycle, or fund cycle. The number of fiscal cycles that an order, vendor, or fund has been used in Unicorn is sometimes displayed in a Cycle or Cycles field. The year may be indicated with the labels: Fiscal, Cycle.

SCILS Acquisitions Fiscal Cycle Policy- Will always be the last number of the first year and the last 2 numbers of the second year. Ex. In fiscal year 2007-2008, the acquisition fiscal year will be 708. In fiscal year 2010-2011, the acquisition fiscal your will be 011.

Table of upcoming Fiscal years

Funds

You need to follow the naming convention that your school has already established. If your school hasn’t entered any funds yet, then a naming convention needs to be established. A lot of Acquisition reports are run based on funds, funds should be broken in enough detail that you will be able determine what is spent for annual reports, accreditation teams, etc.

Funds IDs-Enter your schools initials plus enough information to distinguish the fund. Limited to 10 characters

Example of fund IDs: TCTCA&S, GTCGENAV, SCCBUSREF, NETCIND 

Fund name - Enter in the name where it is written out

Example of fund names: TCTC Arts & Science Books, GTC General Audiovisual, SCC Business Reference, NETC Industrial

Account number-Most schools leave Account number blank, but is local policy whether to enter in something in that field.

Funds Levels-There are 4 Fund Levels that can be set when adding a Fund, so reports can be run on the levels.  They are: Funding Source, Material Type, SCILS Item Type, and Department/Divisions.  Each fund is described below in tables from Workflows. If you need anything added to a fund level, contact the SCILS Librarian.

Level 1-Where the funding comes from. Most schools use local and grant funds.

Level 2- Is for when you break down funds by general material type.

Level 3-Match SCILS item types.

Level 4- Are departments and divisions.  This is used if you want to keep track of what a department or division spends on items.

Over Encumbrance and Over Expenditure- These are local decisions, so there is no set policy.

Block Over Encumbrance-This field can prevent the placing of additional orders or encumbrances against a fund cycle that has reached the amount determined in the Encumbrance Percentage field. When Block Over Encumbrance field of a fund cycle is selected, the Ordering Active field is automatically cleared when a blocked fund reaches its percent encumbrance allowed level.

Block Over Expenditure-This field can prevent making additional payments against a fund cycle that has reached the amount determined in the Expenditure Percentage field. When Block Over Expenditure field of a fund cycle is selected, the Payment Active field is automatically cleared when a blocked fund reaches its percent expenditure allowed level.

Encumbrance Percentage-This field allows you to set a limit on the percentage of funds that can be committed to spend before the system sends you a warning. For example, you may type 100%, meaning you may create orders for a fund that are committed to spend the entire budgeted amount. However, you may want to be warned when ordered items encumber a certain percentage of the whole amount. For example, if a fund is set for 90%, when the encumbered amount reaches 90% of the total budgeted amount, Unicorn displays a warning when an order is created that is encumbering an amount from this particular fund. If no value is entered, the system will begin warnings with 0% of the budgeted amount. This warning does not prohibit you from continuing to commit money for additional materials from this fund, unless the Block Over Encumbrance field is selected.

The default Encumbrance Percentage and Block Over Encumbrance values are defined in the Add Fund wizard’s properties.

Expenditure Percentage -This field allows you to set a limit on the percentage of funds that can be spent before Unicorn sends you a warning. When invoicing or paying against an orderline’s funding segment, the system checks this field for an over expenditure. For example, you may type 100%, meaning you may pay invoices (or directly pay orders) for a fund until the entire budgeted amount is spent. However, you may want to be warned when a certain percentage of the whole amount has been spent. For example, if a fund is set for 90%, when the expended amount reaches 90% of the total budgeted amount, Unicorn displays a warning when an order or invoice is paid using this particular fund. If no value is entered, the system will permit the expenditure of 100% of the budgeted amount before warning the workstation operator. This warning does not prohibit you from continuing to spend money for additional materials from this fund, unless the Block Over Expenditure field is selected. The default Expenditure Percentage and Block Over Expenditure values are defined in the Add Fund wizard’s properties

Budget Amount- A Budget Amount should be entered for every fund. Most schools pick an arbitrary amount (like $500 for all AV, $1000 for books, etc. If you can, you want to match as close as possible the amount you expect to spend though you can add or subtract money from a budget easily. You also have the option of “NOLIMIT.” SCILS recommends that it is not $0.00, because every time an item is order and charged to that fund an error message will come up saying the fund is overspent.

Vendors

Vendor records must be created before an order can be created. You need to follow the naming convention that your school has already established. If your school hasn’t entered any vendors yet, then a naming convention needs to be established. Vendor Records are not shared.

Vendor records contain multiple tabs but most information will be entered on the Vendor Information, Addresses, and Vendor Cycle Information Tabs. To enter a new vendor, use the Add Vendor option. To view all vendor records for your specific library use the Review All Vendors option.

Vendor Information Tab: Vendor ID and Vendor Name must be supplied. Other fields are optional

Vendor ID (Required) – A unique identifier that helps you quickly identify the vendor. Can be up to 20 characters. The ID can be alphabetic or numeric. For example Baker & Taylor could have a vendor ID of Baker or B&T. These are set by each library. Do not select the Auto-generated ID option on default properties.

Vendor name (Required) – This is the official name of the vendor.  This field appears as the first line in the mailing address.

Customer Number(Optional) – The account number used by the vendor to identify your library. May be up to 20 characters long.

All groups are for running reports.

Group 1(Optional) – Type of vendor. Make appropriate selection using drop down arrow based on the type of vendor.

Group 2(Optional) – Location of vendor . Make appropriate selection using drop down arrow.

Group 3 (Optional) – How payment is setup. Deposit is defined in the glossary. Make appropriate selection using drop down arrow.

Currency – US should default in. This field indicates the native currency of the vendor. All currencies are defined in policies, including the library’s native currency. The vendor’s currency is specified when you order or invoice material from this vendor. If no currency is indicated, SirsiDynix Symphony defaults to the native currency of your library.

Ordering Allowed and Paying (Optional) - Check box should be selected by default. These fields determine whether or not you can order for the budget cycle.

Vendor Extended Information Tab (Optional) - Most libraries currently leave fields blank, but it is used to put any relevant notes for the vendor, such as discounts or special instructions.

Addresses (Optional) – It is not required, but it can be useful in keeping all contact information in one place.  Enter appropriate information in field. Have the option to enter up to 3 addresses if Accounting, Ordering and Service addresses are all different.  This is a good place to keep contact information for vendors including phone numbers and contact names. Address information will be needed if any reports for claims, cancellations etc. will be generated from the system.

EDI Address – Most libraries are not currently using. This information is used for electronic data interchange.

Vendor Cycle Information – Library and current fiscal cycle should default in based on the Session Settings. Information can be entered in the order claim and order cancel period. For example you could set an order claim period of 15 which would allow the system to generate a claim for items not received 15 days after an order was placed with the vendor. Order cancel period could be set to 120 which would allow the system to create a report to cancel items not received 120 days after an order was placed. % encumbrance allowed should default to 100, but if your school has regulations on maximum encumbrance allowed, you may want to account for it here as well as in the funds.

Deposit Account – This field is only used with vendors that require that funds sent to keep on account. All purchases are then charged to the deposit. The government printing offices can require this. Not many vendors use Deposit accounts. Enter amount of the funds deposited in the deposit amount field.

Discount Table – Used if receiving set discount for all items ordered from a specific vendor. Defaults to None. Most libraries are not currently using, because not all items from a vendor receive the same discount.

Display All Vendors (All Cycles)

This information is populated from orders placed during all fiscal cycles. It lists information about vendor performance.

Customer Number

            The account number used by the vendor to identify your library.

Number of Cycles

This field displays the number of fiscal cycles linked to this vendor record.

After choosing a specific vendor, you have access to more information.

Vendor Cycle Information Tab

            List all Fiscal Cycles with Order Claim Periods and Order Cancel Periods.

Invoices Tab

This information comes from invoices that are created for a vendor. It lists all information about all the invoices for that vendor. Only invoices that are linked directly to the vendor are displayed. Click the heading of a column to sort in ascending or descending order. To see information for a specific cycle you must select the Display Vendor specific cycle option.

Amounts Tab

Information for every vendor for the selected fiscal cycle will be listed. Ordered column contains the total dollar amount of orders placed, encumbered column shows the dollar amount for items on order but not yet invoiced, invoiced column shows the total number of items invoiced that are have not yet been paid, paid shows the total amount of invoices paid. To see information for a specific cycle you must select the Display Vendor specific cycle option.

Averages Tab

Displays averages for all fiscal cycles. Display average order price, average discount (difference between order price entered and invoice price paid), and average price paid. To have statistics in Average Days to Receive column see information below.  To see information for a specific cycle you must select the Display Vendor specific cycle option.

Counts tab

Shows  item totals for each fiscal cycle for number of orders, quantity ordered, quantity paid, quantity not paid, claims sent, quantity claimed, and quantity canceled.  To see information for a specific cycle you must select the Display Vendor specific cycle option.

Review All Vendors

This information is populated from orders placed during the selected fiscal cycle. It lists information about vendor performance.

Amounts tab

Lists Vendor ID and Vendor name and amounts for items Ordered, Encumbered, Invoiced, and Paid for fiscal year searched. Ordered column is total ordered and then it is divided in Encumbered (Ordered, but not received), Invoiced (Received, but not paid), and Paid (Completed).

Averages Tab

Displays averages for each fiscal cycle. Display average order price, average discount (different between order price entered and invoice price paid), and average price paid. To have statistics in Average Days to Receive column see information below: 

Average Days to Receive-To get this information you have to put in a “Date Mailed” for each order. The Update Vendor Average (Updatevendavg) report is an optional maintenance report that updates vendor performance regarding the average number of days between the dates ordered and received. The Update Vendor Average report compares the date each order line was mailed with the date the material was received in the distribution to produce the average. When this report is run, the Average Days to Receive field in the performance section of each vendor cycle record is updated.

This must have a property change on “Add a Basic Order” wizard before ordering. Will not be given the option after order is complete unless going under “Modify Order” and choosing “Date Mailed.”

Quantities tab

Shows item totals for each fiscal cycle for number of orders, quantity ordered, quantity paid, quantity not paid, claims sent, quantity claimed, and quantity canceled. 

Orders

Required to enter an order in Sirsi:

• Record for the vendor
• Fund code that want to assign (with budget numbers entered)
• Bibliographic record for every item ordering (if no full record found then a brief record can be enter)
• Holding code (most schools use an on-order holding code, but some use ones associated with location the item will be added)
• Items should be already on-order from the vendor
• Orders in Sirsi should exactly match the orders in the vendor system
• Any local requirements like requisitions and/or approval

For schools adding non-library material to acquisitions such as supplies, travel, printing, etc., there would not be an order for those types of charges since there would be no bibliographic record attach to. To handle those items, there would only be an invoice created to account for the expenses.

Order types

Most schools only put in “Basic” orders. See glossary to find out more about the other types of orders listed below.

Basic Orders- For any basic order type, such as a firm order for a one time purchase of one or more monographs, or alternately approval or gift items. This wizard can be used to order any material that is complete as soon as a finite number of ordered bibliographic parts are received, paid for, and loaded into the catalog.

Dated Orders- For orders, using subscription or membership order types. Subscriptions and memberships are typically for a given time period, so they use a dated function order type. For subscriptions, each orderline is linked to bibliographic information in the catalog.

Recurring Orders- For orders that has multiple receipts that are not pre-determined, such as a blanket order selection plan for multiple titles from a single vendor or a standing order for a single title with pocket parts or loose-leaf updates that are not based on a particular subscription period.

Order IDs: This is a local decision. It is up to the school whether these are auto-generated or manually entered. Some school use their requisition or purchase number as their Order ID. Auto-generated Order IDs will start the schools initials and PO and a sequential number. Ex. PTC-PO-125 or YTC-PO-25

Currency-SCILS uses only US dollars.

Unit price: This should be entered for every item ordered. If the price is different when the invoice is received, it can be changed on the invoice. Do not change it on the order.

Quantity: Enter the quantities that are on order for that item.

Parts in a Set-“V.” is usually the only choice used in the “Part in a Set” option when ordering multi-volume sets otherwise it is not needed when order.

Funding: Can have more than one funding code on 1 item if needed. Items can be assign amount or percentage of cost to different fund codes. For more on funding, see that section of the Acquisitions Policy.

Holding codes-This can be used if you have more than one campus to indicate where the item is going or it can be used to indicate what location the item will end up though most schools use the “ORDER” holding code related to their school. Holding code has a library, location, and item type associated with it.

As of 9/2009