Multi-Item Purchases on a Single Purchase Order Line
- Lewis Day
This procedure documents the process for purchasing multiple items on a single budget line which are destined for multiple bibliographical and holdings records in Alma. Sample occurrences include books removed and cataloged apart from manuscript collections, manuscript material removed from books, and collections of books and/or manuscripts which are not kept together on single bibliographical and holdings records.
Note: This procedure should not be used for blanket order receipts (Wave Books, Ugly Duckling Presse), or for publication archives (New Directions Press, Yourcenar, Houghton Archive).
Each group of materials will have a base record and additional records. Each record has several characteristics:
Base record
The record with the complete financial transaction attached.
Contains within it the list of Associated POLs for additional records.
Additional record(s)
No financial transaction.
Linked to the base record.
Ordering Procedures
Create Bibliographical record for the base record.
Create POL for the base record (which also creates holdings and item records).
Create Bibliographical record for the additional record.
Create POL for the additional record (which also creates holdings and item records) with the following steps, starting from the Order prompt or shopping cart image:
➤Order
PO Line Owner and Type
PO Line type = Recommended: Print Book - One Time (or whatever)
PO line owner = Houghton Library
Assign inventory manually = check
➤CREATE PO LINE
Update Physical Line Editor
Ordered Items
+Add Location
Number of items = 1
Supported libraries = Houghton Library: GEN (GEN)
Item policies = Special Collections requestable (91)
Receiving note = Paid for on <base POL number>
Vendor Information
Material Supplier = <vendor code>
Pricing
(nothing)
Funding
(nothing)
PO Line Details
Acquisition method = Technical
Material Type = material type (book, manuscript, photograph, etc.)
Reporting Code = reporting code (7021, 7022, 7026, etc)
Additional
Associated PO lines = the POL of the base record
This step caused the POL of the additional record to populate the Associated PO Lines tab in the base record.
➤ORDER NOW
Payment Procedures
Create Invoice
Add base item via POL; this will be an item with both a fund and dollar amount
Add additional item(s) via POL; these will be items with no fund and no dollar amounts
➤SAVE AND GO TO RECEIVING
Receive all items.
Close out “In Transit” status for all items.
Example
Invoice = SECONDSHELF 119
POL-475470 base item
POL-475589 additional item
POL-477584 additional item
POL-477595 additional item
POL-477789 additional item
Retrospective Work
It is not anticipated that we would regularly engage in retrospective work.
When an invoice has been closed it shouldn’t be reopened. However, if it is desired to link a particular purchase, some steps can help staff with finding a prior purchase.
For an item which does not appear on invoice the following steps may be followed.
From the Bib record, create POL for this additional record (which also creates holdings and item records) with the following steps, starting from the Order prompt or shopping cart image:
➤Order
PO Line Owner and Type
PO Line type = Recommended: Print Book - One Time (or whatever)
PO line owner = Houghton Library
Assign inventory manually = check
This is especially important, since the record presumably already has a holdings record.
➤CREATE PO LINE
Update Physical Line Editor
Ordered Items
+Add Location
Number of items = 1
Supported libraries = Houghton Library: GEN (GEN)
Item policies = Special Collections requestable (91)
Receiving note = Paid for on <base POL number>
Vendor Information
Material Supplier = <vendor code>
Pricing
(nothing)
Funding
(nothing)
PO Line Details
Acquisition method = Technical
Material Type = material type (book, manuscript, photograph, etc.)
Reporting Code = reporting code (7021, 7022, 7026, etc)
Additional
Associated PO lines = the POL of the base record
➤ORDER NOW
There is no invoice procedure for this item, since the invoice is closed.
Receive the item.
There will be a second item record, and it is important that the two items be collapsed into one (preserving the POL).
The practical benefit of this procedure is that it links the secondary record to the base record in both the additional record’s Purchase Order Line Details in POL Receiving note and Additional line sections, and in the base record’s Associated PO Lines tab.
Example
Invoice = BONHAMS 1092540
POL-370872 base item
POL-478733 additional item