Alma supports these basic Acquisitions workflows:
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Can you please add somewhere: what should staff do if they need to back out of a step? Such as:
- they click "Save and Continue" on an order but they meant to click "Order Now", etc.
I can make a list of where I think these potential trap spots are if that would be helpful...
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Primary Acquisitions Workflows
Alma supports several basic Acquisitions workflows, plus other activities that - at Harvard - fall under Order Maintenance.
Flowchart: POL lifecycles
Purchasing Workflow
- Orders can be created either manually, or via an order load (called EOD: Embedded Order data)
- Orders can be either one One-time (monographs) or continuous Continuous (serials and standing orders)
- Purchase order lines (POLs) contain the order information, vendor, budget, renewal period for ongoing orders, etc
- Inventory (meaning: items and holdings) can be created automatically or manually during the POL creation
- Purchase order lines go through a validation phase to check for mandatory information and an optional additional review phase (if there is inaccurate or missing data)
Once the POL passes review and validation it is "packaged" into a Purchase order (PO) and sent to the vendor (if applicable), either by EDI or email
- If it is neccesary to printout an order, it may be possible to send the email to a printer rather than to an email recipient.
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Receiving Workflow (Physical titles)
- Receipt of Physical material can is indicated via a Receiving process on the item records
- Items can be marked as Received as a separate process or during the invoicing process
- For continuous orders, the Renewal date can be generated either automatically or manually
- After receipt, the titles can be assigned to another section for cataloging, binding etc, or marked In transit to be sent to their final destination
- One-Time orders close when fully invoiced and received
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- Continuous orders remain in the status "Waiting for Renewal" once an item has been received and the invoice paid: these orders are closed manually
Activation Workflow (Electronic titles)
- Electronic titles go through an Activation process (rather than a Receipt process) in Alma; the link is tested and then made active
- For continuous orders, the Renewal date can be generated either automatically or manually
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- One-Time orders close when fully invoiced and activated
- Continuous orders remain in the status "Waiting for Renewal" once activated and the invoice paid: these orders are closed manually
Invoicing Workflow
- Invoices can be created manually (either from scratch or from a POL or PO), from an Excel file uploaded file uploaded into Alma, or or loaded as EDI
- Invoices go through a validation and optional review process system validation and review (if there is any missing or inaccurate data) process after creation
- Invoice approval is the final step
Related Information
POL Statuses
See: POL Statuses (jmg--draft)