Collection Processing Reports
Three reports are created in Polaris and sent to the collection agency. The Submission Report and the Update Report are scheduled to run in overnight batch processing, while the Collection Agency Synchronization Report is run on demand. These reports are ASCII text files that can be imported into Microsoft Excel or another spreadsheet application to format as needed.
Important:
Collection Agency reports depend on the SQL Server job Polaris_Collection. Before running reports, in SQL Enterprise Manager, check that the SQL Server job Polaris_Collection is scheduled properly and enabled. The schedule should not interfere with other running jobs.
- Submission Report - Includes all patrons who have been flagged for collection since the last Submission Report was generated. See Using a Collection Agency. These patrons are not included in subsequent Submission reports unless their patron records are cleared, and they qualify at a later time. The report runs in overnight batch processing on a regular schedule and is transmitted to the collection agency automatically.
- Update Report - Includes all patrons whose accounts are in collection and have had any activity (new charge, payment, or waive) at the reporting organization since the last report (Submission or Update) was generated. The report runs in overnight batch processing on a regular schedule and is transmitted to the collection agency automatically.
Important:
To be sure the system reports the recovery of lost items correctly, set the Patron Services parameter Overdues: Billed items set to lost to Yes.
- Collection Agency Synchronization Report- Summary of all patrons currently reported to the collection agency. It includes each patron’s barcode, name, and the amount due. The Balance Due System is the amount a patron owes to all reporting organizations, and the Balance Due Org is the amount a patron owes to the reporting library. (If the reporting organization is the system, the amounts are the same.) It is possible that the patron may be reported on behalf of more than one library; for example, if the reporting options are set to Item’s Branch. In this case the patron would appear twice in the report, once for each reporting organization, and the Balance Due System is the total amount owed to both organizations. Also, the patron may have an actual account balance greater than the Balance Due System. This would happen if the patron owed additional charges to a third library that did not report to the collection agency. That larger amount, the sum of amounts due to the two reporting libraries and the one that did not report, is not included in the Synchronization Report because it does not impact any collection agency processing. The collection agency may use this report to verify that its records are accurate. You can run this report on demand, at any time. When you run the report, it is automatically transmitted to the collection agency.
In addition to the three reports intended for the collection agency, formatted reports for library use are available from Utilities, Reports on the Polaris Shortcut Bar:
- Collection Agency Summary - Lists all patrons in collection and the amounts they owe.
- Collection Agency Detail - Lists all transactions on accounts submitted to collection within a specified date range.