Alma Reminders feature

Owned by Corinna Baksik
Last updated: Jun 01, 2023 by Amy Armitage
4 min read

Overview

A Reminder in Alma is like a note(s) you can attach to a bib record. The following pieces of information may be entered, or edited, for a Reminder:

  • Date  (important - there is no actual alert feature)
  • Type
  • Status (note: all Status values appear under each Type. Status values are not tied to a specific Type). 
  • Free text

The user who created the Reminder, and the last user to edit the reminder, also appear with the Reminder. Any user can edit any reminder. There can be more than one Reminder on a record. 

The Type and Status fields are configured by LTS for Harvard use and can be changed as needed. Note that all Type and Status values are shared by all Reminders users. 

IMPORTANT:

  • Reminders are not in Analytics. (Open question to ExL if this is on roadmap #00931718). 
  • Reminders are different than the assignment feature in the MDE, "Assign Record to Another Cataloger."
  • Reminders are available to staff with “Resource Management Operator” permissions. 
  • Reminders are attached to records at the bib level, not the item level. 

Using Reminders

How to create Reminders

There are two ways to create a Reminder:

1. From the bib record: When viewing a bib from a search result, choose Add Reminder from the actions menu:

2. From a search: From the Main Menu > Resources > Reminders > Add Reminder:

            

How to fill in Reminders 

Once you're on the Reminder screen you'll see the following:

  • Resource description and Date are auto-filled by Alma.
  • You will use two pick fields (Type, Status) and one free-text field (Text) to communicate with the Reminder's receiver, as shown below.
  • Click Save when you finish entering your information.  


How to access Reminders

Remember, there are no alerts for Reminders, so processors must go to them. There are two ways to do this:

1. Access all Reminders: From the Main Menu > Resources > Reminders. Use the filters and date options. 

  • When opening this page, the date filter defaults to the previous 10 days. 
  • If you want to open the Reminder (this is not necessary), click on the hyperlinked text in the Type column, or on Edit in the ellipses. 
  • The list of reminders on this page can be exported to Excel. 

2. Access only the Reminder(s) for a specific bib: From a bib in a search result, choose the Other Details tab. Click on the number of reminders.

  • From there, you may need to adjust the date range on the List of Reminders page to find what you are looking for. 

How to resolve Reminders

Workflows will vary depending on the type of error but you will most likely conduct an MMS ID (copied from the Reminder) search and then navigate to the appropriate screen (is it a screen??) in Alma to fix the error.

After resolution, return to the Reminder and use the Edit option on the ellipses to update the Status of the Reminder. 

Batch options

Reminders can be created in batch, using a set as input. 

There is no batch job to remove Reminders. (Open question to ExL if this is on roadmap #00931718). 

Reminders created via batch with have "System" as the Created By value. 

API options

  • Retrieve reminder(s) by bib
  • Create reminder on a bib
  • Delete reminder from a bib
  • Update existing reminder

Specific workflows

The Alma Reminders feature is in use between ITS and End Processing at Widener. See details on the /wiki/spaces/ITSworkflows/pages/54823404 page.