Alma RS has the ability to transmit and respond to patron-initiated renewals without the need for staff intervention. The below configuration automates renewals in both the borrowing and lending workflows. Although they can be enabled separately (ie, unmediated borrowing renewals, but manual lending renewals, and vice versa) they’re both controlled by steps on the Borrowing Workflow profile.
Step 1. create a new RS Workflow profile:
Config > Fulfilment > Resource Sharing > Workflow profiles
Add workflow Profile
Name: ISO Borrowing [insert something to differentiate it from current ISO profile]
Type: Borrowing
Enable: Automatic renew*, Cancelled by partner, Cancelled By Patron, Cancelled by staff, Cancel request not accepted, Conditional, Damaged communicated, Declared lost by partner, Lender check in, Lost communicated, Manual renew*, Recalled by partner, Reject, Renew requested, Request accepted, Will supply
*These two steps actually control actions in Lending and have nothing to do with Borrowing requests. In testing the system will still use the auto renew functionality (in lending) even if both manual and auto are enabled. So you can leave them both checked if you like.
ADD AND CLOSE
Step 2. Apply that workflow to particular partners
Alma Production > Fulfilment > Resource Sharing > Partners
Choose a resource sharing partner
From Borrowing Workflow dropdown: choose the new, local ISO borrowing profile
SAVE
Step. 3. Repeat Step 2 for any partners you wish to enable unmediated renewals for.
Done
Notes:
- If you are using the WorldShare NCIP partner you will want to use a different workflow profile for this partner where Mediate patron renewals is enabled. These renewal request will still need to be handled manually by borrowing staff.
- When the renewal request is sent to the partner the “Desired due date” field will be automatically populated based on the Due date policy in your resource sharing loans TOU (in RES_FU). If the lender is manually mediating their (lending) renewals, they can choose to ignore this date. If lender is using the automatic workflow, this date will be checked against their Maximum Renew Date policy, and either approved (if < max renew date) or rejected (if > max renew date). There is no way for a patron to edit the desired due date on their end.
As mentioned, Manual renew can be left unchecked, however be aware that this removes the ability for staff to renew Lending requests via the RS Lending menu (More actions -> Renew). In theory, they should never have to do this for Alma partners, as the incoming renewals will be granted automatically as long as they are within the period defined by the Maximum renew date (240 days). Manual renew does not override the Max renew date either – so the current 240 days can never be exceeded even with (lending) staff intervention on a case-by-case basis. So realistically this function does very little if you’re using auto renew for Alma partners.
In exception cases, the staff on the borrower side would have to manually edit the due date on their request – as this action is not blocked by any TOU or workflow step.
