Change Physical Items Job

REMEMBER: Only designated staff members are permitted to run jobs. Refer to the matrix at Jobs & Batch Processes to see which staff members are approved to run which jobs.

Do not use this job to change items to offsite storage locations (permanently or temporarily). This requires special handling. Please consult LTS before such changes are made.

Parameters and Planning

Let’s go over the parameters and notes for the Change Physical Items job:

[Go to EL Knowledge Center page: https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Product_Documentation/010Alma_Online_Help_(English)/050Administration/070Managing_Jobs/020Running_Manual_Jobs_on_Defined_Sets#Manual_Jobs_and_Their_Relevant_Parameters]

There are additional notes about the effects of running jobs scattered elsewhere in the documentation.

Very important notes about using this job

When making a permanent location change, only use this job if SOME OF THE ITEMS are moving. Why?
- This job will create a new holding record, if one does not already exist.
- If all items on the holding move to the a new location, the old holding record is DELETED, including all holding record version history.
- For this reason, if all items on the holding are moving, it is preferable to update the location in the 852 of the holding record.
Avoid breaking links to POLs for continuous orders
- If the previous holdings record with the old location was linked to a PO line (which is the case for continuous orders in Alma), the PO line link is broken.
- You'll need to manually associate the PO line to the new holdings record using the Actions >> Associate a PO Line option on the List of Holdings page (see Working with the List of Holdings in the Ex Libris Knowledge Center).
Temporary Locations
- If all items on a holding are Temp Loc'd to a new location, the original holding record will not display to the user in HOLLIS (including any of its notes). Only the new Temp Loc will display to the user.
- If the original holding has some items temp loc'd and others that are not, the user will see two separate locations, each with the appropriate item records.

Creating the Set

Create the set for the Change Physical Items job using the following criteria:

Use Physical Items search type to act on item records
Use any criteria to search, depending on what they need to do
Possible changes include: any editable field in an item record, see https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Product_Documentation/010Alma_Online_Help_(English)/040Resource_Management/050Inventory/040Managing_Physical_Resources#Updating_Item-Level_Information for more information

If you use a file to create your set: For the Change Physical Items job, you can only use Barcode or Item ID as a unique identifier. To get a list of Item IDs, you can ask for or run an Analytics report based on other criteria that includes the Item record ID in the report, then move that column to the first position and upload it to create the set.

On the Analytics menu, most staff should be able to run the RES-Physical items details with core holdings, bib data - Flexible input report. This will allow you to retrieve item records matching specific criteria, and then save the report as an Excel file to edit as needed and upload to create your set. It will include the barcode and Item ID.

Change Physical Items Job Cannot Be Restored

Notice that our Change Items job is not on the list of jobs that can be Restored. You cannot hit “undo” for this job, which is why it’s so important to fully understand the changes you’re making before you make them.

Running the Job

Based on the parameters you reviewed earlier, select the rows for each change you want to make and indicate what should be changed:

Select the check box at the beginning of each row for which you want to make a change. If you don't ticky the box, the job will run with errors and/or won't change that row.
You can temporarily or permanently change the location of an item (due back date optional).
Options to change include any editable field in the item record, especially:
1. material type (e.g. Issue to Bound Issue)
2. public note
3. fulfillment note
4. internal notes 1-3
5. receiving date
6. PO line
7. item policy
8. remove temporary library & location
Choose how you want to apply the change. Remember that this will happen to all records in the set, consistently.
1. If field empty = add the option you choose to empty fields; fields with content in them will remain as is
2. If field not empty = replace existing content of the field with the option you choose; empty fields will remain empty
3. Unconditionally = regardless of whether the field currently has content, the option you choose will fill that field

Reviewing Job Results

Reviewing records changed by the job: In addition to the general ways to review the effect of your job, for Change Physical Items you can review the item history for each item (in a small set). To review an individual item, click on Edit Item and review all the fields in the Physical Item Editor. In addition, you can view the Item History tab to see any changes made during the job update – they’ll be identified as having been made by the System.

In the Job Report: The Counters section for the Change Physical Items job will include the fields that were changed, how many records had that field changed by the job, and any records that failed to update.

Request permission to run this job

After you have opened a ticket with LTS to run this job, please review the documentation and create an example on the Sandbox with the following information:

Expected outcome of the job (changes that need to be made)
Screenshot of job parameters used (prior to job being run)
Name of set created to run job
Does this involve changing the permanent location (has impact on continuous POLs)?

Please make sure to complete the process and run the job so that LTS can review the outcome. Please update your request ticket with the above information.

Once you have received permission, you are free to run the Change Items job as needed.

Library Technology Services: Staff Documentation Center