Polaris Acquisitions Overview
With Polaris Acquisitions, you can automate and streamline the following common acquisitions processes:
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Managing the acquisitions budget - Using fund records linked to a fiscal year record, you can track encumbrances and expenditures for materials and services. You can also set up donor funds to track the items that were purchased using these funds. Once your acquisitions budget is set up in Polaris, the funds are available to link to selection lists, purchase orders, and invoices. When the purchase order is released or the invoice is paid, the linked funds are automatically encumbered or expended.
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Maintaining supplier records - You set up supplier records that contain all the information you need for sending paper or electronic orders to your suppliers.
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Selecting the materials - You can use selection lists to compile lists of materials to order. These materials can be approved, automatically checked for duplicates, and then copied to a purchase order.
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Ordering items - You can create purchase orders using several different methods, depending on the level of automation you want and your library’s workflow. Each purchase order has information for the order as a whole at the header level, bibliographic information for each title at the line item level, and distribution information (destination, collection, and fund) for the copies at the line item segment level.
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Receiving shipments - You can receive a whole order, all the items in an order, all copies of specific titles in an order, or certain copies of a title. You can also use Rapid Receipt to receive multiple purchase order line items from the Invoice workform. If your library sends EDI orders to a vendor that provides an Advanced Shipping Notice, you can receive an entire carton at a time. If your library sends Enriched EDI orders, your circulation staff can check in and receive shelf-ready materials at the same time.
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Claiming items - You can set up claiming criteria in Polaris, so that if you order items and do not receive them within a specified period of time, an automatic claim alert is generated and appears on the Claim Alert List.
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Canceling items - When you need to cancel items, you can cancel the entire order or specific lines of the purchase order. If you need to order from a different supplier, you can copy the purchase order or lines within the purchase order to a new purchase order with a different supplier.
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Closing purchase orders - When your library is no longer receiving a subscription or standing order An order placed with a vendor or the publisher directly for all publications in a series, all volumes in a set, or all publications of a single publisher., the purchase order can be closed. You can also close partly received purchase orders when the vendor cannot supply the materials.
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Creating invoices - Invoices are created automatically for prepaid and EDI orders. If your library prevents partial shipment EDI invoices from being created automatically, you can generate these EDI invoices separately. You can also copy purchase orders to an invoice or create an invoice without a purchase order. Or, you can simultaneously receive purchase order line items and add the corresponding invoice line items using Rapid Receipt.
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Distributing charges, credits, and discounts - You can distribute charges, credits, and discounts across multiple line items and segments within an invoice.
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Paying invoices - You can pay an entire invoice, individual line items on an invoice, or segments within an invoice line item. You can also view all charges for an invoice and the payment history. After paying the invoice in Polaris, you can print a voucher.
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Adjusting prepaid invoices - On prepaid invoices, you can adjust the discount or unit price for line items and the credits for line item segments. Header charges can be adjusted using a miscellaneous invoice linked to the prepaid invoice.
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Crediting invoices - After an invoice has been paid or prepaid, you can credit the entire invoice, multiple lines within an invoice, a single line item, or segments within a line item.
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Linking invoices - You can link multiple invoices together so that you can see debit and credit activities posted against the original invoice.
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Creating reports - Many standard Acquisitions reports are available from the Polaris Shortcut Bar. If your library has Polaris SimplyReports, you can generate order and invoice reports using a variety of output columns and filters.
For more information on the features and functions in Polaris Acquisitions, see the following topics:
Steps for setting up Polaris Acquisitions
Acquisitions Workflows, Record Types and Automatic Processes
Descriptions of the acquisitions workflows your library can use; the Polaris Acquisitions record types; and automatic processes that can streamline acquisitions.
Setting Up the Acquisitions Budget
How to establish and maintain your acquisitions budget and track fund usage.
Recording and maintaining information about your library’s suppliers; entering the EDI data for the supplier; reporting on suppliers’ efficiency in filling orders.
Setting Up Templates for Acquisitions
Using templates to speed up your acquisitions processes.
Creating selection lists and automatically copying titles to purchase orders.
Creating, releasing, and sending purchase orders; EDI ordering; Polaris Titles to Go.
Receiving orders using various methods; printing workslips; and methods for processing new items.
Claiming items that have not been received within a specified time period.
Canceling items and printing cancellation notices.
Closing partially received purchase orders.
Creating, paying, crediting, adjusting, and linking invoices; EDI invoices.
Distributing/Adjusting Invoice Charges/Credits
Distributing charges, credits, and discounts across multiple line items and segments within an invoice.
Pay an entire invoice, individual line items on an invoice, or segments within an invoice line item; printing vouchers.
Adjusting invoice charges for the invoice for specific line item segments on an invoice; adjusting the discount or unit price on a line item or the credits for line item segments.
Crediting invoices when library has received a refund or credit.
List of shortcut keys.
Acquisitions Administration Overview
Setting up Acquisitions in Polaris Administration
Acquisitions Administration Reference
Reference lists for Acquisitions permissions, parameters and profiles.