Billing an Unreturned INN-Reach Item

To enable the "Billing Unreturned INN-Reach Items" feature for your INN-Reach System, all Local Servers in the INN-Reach System must enable the feature at the same time, and the INN-Reach Central Server and Local Servers must be operating on the appropriate release. For more information on enabling this feature, ask your Central System Administrator to contact Innovative.

The Billing Unreturned INN-Reach Items feature enables a patron site to bill its patron for an INN-Reach item that has not been returned within the time period specified in the penultimate overdue notice. When the bill is paid, the system communicates the status change to the owning site.

The time period for the penultimate overdue notice is specified in the Time Odue element of the INN-Reach Patron Circulation Loan Rule. The maximum number of overdue notices sent is specified in the Max Number of Odues Loan Rule element.

To bill a patron for an unreturned INN-Reach item, you must either prepare and send the bill manually or create an auto notices job for bills.

When a replacement bill is printed, the system sets the virtual item's STATUS to 'n' (BILLED) and adds a replacement charge to the patron record. For more information on how the system calculates the replacement charge, see the description of the Item Charge, Processing Fee, and Billing Fee elements of the replacement bill.

Once you have billed an INN-Reach item, the system modifies the virtual item record and/or the patron record, depending on which of the following actions is taken:

The patron returns the billed item.
The patron site staff mark the billed item as lost.
The patron site staff resolves the replacement bill.

Each of these actions is described below.

Patron Returns the Billed Item

If the patron returns the billed item, the system adjusts the total amount owed. If the patron is present, you can collect the adjusted amount at checkin. If the patron is not present, you can generate an adjustment bill that reflects the new total owed.

Patron Site Staff Marks the Billed Item as Lost

If the patron does not return the billed item, you can mark the item as lost.

Patron Site Staff Resolves the Replacement Bill

If you resolve the replacement bill for the item, either by collecting the total amount due or by waiving the charge, the system:

Removes the virtual item record.
Removes the replacement charge from the patron record.
Sends a circulation message to the owning site via the INN-Reach Central Server.

At the INN-Reach Central Server, the circulation message causes the system to:

Update the item status in the INN-Reach Catalog to 'm' (MISSING).
Update the entries in the Pickup Anywhere MySQL database to indicate that the item has been billed and paid.

At the owning site, the circulation message causes the system to:

Remove the virtual patron record.
Modify the item record as follows:
- Change the STATUS field to '$' (BILLED AND PAID).
- Clear the OUT DATE, DUE DATE, and LOANRULE fields.
- Set the LCHKIN field to the current time.
- Replace the INN-Reach message field with a message indicating the book has been billed and paid. For example:
  
  xIR03:Mon Jun 14 2009: $35.00 paid by .p107915@9loc2