Ex Libris Documentation
Harvard Alma Working Groups have summarized key changes below. A full list of changes for the release can be found in the official Ex Libris Release Notes.
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/010_2018/Alma_2018_Release_Notes
E-Resources
Enhancements
- CZ Now Available during Weekly Maintenance - You can now do the following while maintenance is run:
- Search from the Community Zone tab
- Export search results from the Community Zone search tab
- Activate electronic collections and/or portfolios from the Community Zone
- Link local portfolios to the Community Zone
- Synchronize changes with the Community Zone using the Synchronize Changes from CZ job
- New Electronic Collections Added to the CKB
Resolved
- When loading a SUSHI report of type PR1 or DB1 an error appeared for metric types searches_reg (instead of search_reg) and searches_fed (instead of search_fed). This was fixed, and these types are now supported.
- SUSHI reported success even when the harvesting process failed. Now if the harvesting process has errors in one or more files, the process status is Completed with Errors.
Acquisitions/Finance
Enhancements
- Copy PO LIne Prices to Items - When the PO line price is changed for physical one time orders, the price can now be copied to the item. (Note: The creation of a physical one-time PO line at an institution that has a default acquisition location should create a PO line with one default item. However, if the new copy_POL_price_to_item parameter is set to true, a PO line is created with no items in it. This issue will be fixed in a future Alma release.)
- Receive All PO Lines in a Receive Batch - You can now receive all items for PO lines listed on the Receive New Material page, up to 1,000 records. (Note that the Keep in Department check box is selected for all received records.) In addition, a new filter was added to the Receive New Materials page: Filter by owning library.
- Handling Itemless Bibs when Cancelling a POL - You can now define how an itemless bibliographic record is handled when a PO line is canceled and the item and holdings have been deleted.
- Preview of Create Invoice API - As with Real Time Acquisitions for placing orders (e.g., GOBI API), will allow specific vendors to use the API to create invoices, potentially replacing manual and EDI creation. Full implementation scheduled for the January 2019 Alma release.
- New Option for Purchasing Operators and Invoice Operators to Reassign PO Lines and Invoices - This was previously limited to those with a higher level of privileges.
- Copy PO LIne Prices to Items - When the PO line price is changed for physical one time orders, the price can now be copied to the item. (Note: The creation of a physical one-time PO line at an institution that has a default acquisition location should create a PO line with one default item. However, if the new copy_POL_price_to_item parameter is set to true, a PO line is created with no items in it. This issue will be fixed in a future Alma release.)
Resolved
- When an item is received for a PO Line with an interested user and a hold request needed to be created, Alma created the hold request every time the item left the receiving department, instead of only the first time (the item could be returned to the department after the user returned the item). This was fixed.