Collection Agency Settings Table
If your library has acquired the Collection Agency Report product, you can set up the Collection Agency Settings table to specify when to report delinquent patrons to a collection agency.
You can access the Collection Agency Settings table via the following menu path:
For information on modifying this table, see Maintaining System Parameter Tables and Maintaining Circulation Parameters.
For related information, see Functionality Information and Data Elements.
Functionality Information
When viewing and modifying the Collection Agency Settings table, note the following:
- Maximum Number of Entries
- The Collection Agency Settings table can contain a maximum of 500 entries.
- Non-required Fields Can Be Left Blank
- You only need to add information to the required data elements (those marked "Required" in the table below) in the Collection Agency Settings table. The system can generate a collection agency report if you leave all of the non-required fields blank.
Data Elements
The tables below describe the data elements in the Collection Agency Settings table. Note that the elements available vary depending on the model of collection agency your library is running.
Sierra Fines Paid & Collection Agency Model
Legacy Collection Agency Model
Sierra Fines Paid & Collection Agency Model
Use this table if your library implemented the Sierra Fines Paid and Collection Agency model. This model is optional in Sierra 3.4 and 4.0, and is mandatory starting with Sierra 4.1.
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| Name (Required) | A name of up to 35 characters that identifies the entry. |
| Home Library | The values in the HOME LIBR fixed-length field in patron records to which the entry applies. You can enter up to 100 location codes from the Branches table. A blank entry represents all branch locations. |
| PTYPES to Include | The P TYPE(s) that are eligible for inclusion in a New Submissions report. A blank entry represents all P TYPE(s) specified when setting up the Collection Agency Report product. |
| Minimum Owed (Required) | For the patron to be eligible for inclusion on the New Submissions report, the sum of their fines generated between the absolute or relative start date and the absolute or relative end date must be greater than or equal to this Minimum Owed value. |
| Use Relative Dates |
Radio buttons that dictate whether the system uses absolute or relative fine assessment date values when determining if the patron is eligible for inclusion on the New Submissions report. If this option is set to "Yes", the system displays Relative Start Date and Relative End Date elements in the Collection Agency Settings table, and uses sliding relative dates when calculating fine assessment dates. For more information, see the discussions of the Relative Start Date and Relative End Date parameters, below. If this option is set to "No", the system displays Absolute Start Date and Absolute End Date elements in the Collection Agency Settings table. These elements accept calendar dates only. For more information, see the discussions of the Absolute Start Date and Absolute End Date parameters, below. |
| Relative Start Date |
Relative sliding parameter indicating the earliest possible fine assessment date the system uses when calculating whether the patron is eligible for inclusion on the New Submissions report. This parameter appears when the Use Relative Dates radio button is set to "Yes". For a patron to be eligible for inclusion in the New Submissions report, the sum of the patron's fines assessed between the specified Relative Start Date and Relative End Date values must be greater than or equal to the amount specified in the Minimum Owed parameter. This parameter accepts whole numeric values, representing days. Every time the New Submissions report is generated, the system counts back the number of days specified in this parameter from the report generation date and uses the resulting date as the fine assessment period start date. For example, if the Relative Start Date parameter is set to "16" and the Relative End Date parameter is set to "4", the system always calculates the sum of the patron's fines assessed between 16 days before the report generation date, and 4 days before the report generation date. If the report is run on April 28th, 2015, the system calculates the sum of the fines generated between April 12th and April 24th, 2015 (inclusive), and compares this value to the amount specified in the Minimum Owed parameter. If the report is then run on May 17th, 2015, the system calculates the sum of the fines generated between May 2nd and May 13th, 2015 (inclusive), and compares the result with the amount specified in Minimum Owed. The Relative Start Date is normalized to 0:00 of the system's time zone. (That is, the Relative Start Date parameter is inclusive.) This setting has a 4-digit maximum. Note that if:
|
| Relative End Date |
Relative sliding parameter indicating the latest possible fine assessment date the system uses when calculating whether the patron is eligible for inclusion on the New Submissions report. This parameter appears when the Use Relative Dates radio button is set to "Yes". For a patron to be eligible for inclusion in the New Submissions report, the sum of the patron's fines assessed between the specified Relative Start Date and Relative End Date values must be greater than or equal to the amount specified in the Minimum Owed parameter. This parameter accepts whole numeric values, representing days. Every time the New Submissions report is generated, the system counts back the number of days specified in this parameter from the report generation date, and uses the resulting date as the fine assessment period end date. For example, if the Relative Start Date parameter is set to "16" and the Relative End Date parameter is set to "4", the system always calculates the sum of the patron's fines assessed between 16 days before the report generation date and 4 days before the report generation date. If the report is run on April 28th, 2015, the system calculates the sum of the fines generated between April 12th and April 24th, 2015 (inclusive), and compares this value to the amount specified in the Minimum Owed parameter. If the report is then run on May 17th, 2015, the system calculates the sum of the fines generated between May 2nd and May 13th, 2015 (inclusive), and compares the result with the amount specified in Minimum Owed. The system normalizes the Relative End Date to 23:59 of the system's time zone. (That is, the Relative End Date parameter is inclusive.) This setting has a 4-digit maximum. Note that if:
|
| Absolute Start Date |
The earliest possible fine assessment date the system uses when calculating whether the patron is eligible for inclusion on the New Submissions report. This parameter appears when the Use Relative Dates radio button is set to "No". For a patron to be eligible for inclusion in the New Submissions report, the sum of the patron's fines incurred between the dates specified in the Absolute Start Date and Absolute End Date parameters must be greater than or equal to the amount specified in the Minimum Owed parameter. If this setting is left blank, the system treats it as January 1st, 1970. |
| Absolute End Date |
The latest possible fine assessment date the system uses when calculating whether the patron is eligible for inclusion on the New Submissions report. This parameter appears when the Use Relative Dates radio button is set to "No". For a patron to be eligible for inclusion in the New Submissions report, the sum of the patron's fines incurred between the dates specified in the Absolute Start Date and Absolute End Date parameters must be greater than or equal to the amount specified in the Minimum Owed parameter. If this setting is left blank, the system treats it as the current date. |
| Grace Period |
Relative sliding parameter which defines the grace period during which assessed fines should not be included when calculating whether the patron is eligible for inclusion on the New Submissions report. This parameter accepts whole numeric values, representing days. Every time the New Submissions report is generated, the system counts back the number of days specified in this parameter from the report generation date to determine the grace period. Note that the system counts the report generation date as the first day. For example, if you generate a report on December 31, 2017 and the Grace Period parameter is set to "30", the system counts back from the report generation date (counting December 31st as the first day) to determine the grace period. In this instance, fines assessed between December 02 through December 31, 2017 are not included when calculating the fines owed by a patron. Note that:
|
| Require Bill |
When evaluating patrons for inclusion on a New Submissions reports and the Require Bill is set to "yes", a patron satisfies the Require Bill criterion if, for one of the patron's fines, the assessed date falls between Absolute or Relative Start Date and Absolute or Relative End Date (inclusive), and the charge type is 3 (replacement). For example, if a patron has fines within the start and end dates which meet or exceed the Minimum Owed amount, but none of the fines are for replacement charges, the patron is not included on the New Submissions report. |
| Remove If Less Than |
Minimum amount that a patron must owe to remain in the Collection Agency Report. Note that if this element is set to "0", the system removes all patrons who owe zero or less (not just those that owe less than zero) from the Collection Agency Report. If this element is set to any other value, the system removes all patrons who owe less than the Remove If Less Than amount. |
| Agency Fee | The amount of the fee that patrons are assessed for being included in the New Submissions report. This fee is added the first time a patron record is included in the New Submissions report only. |
| Transfer Method |
(Sierra 5.3 & Later) The method used to transfer collection agency reports. Options include "Secure Drop (S3)", "Email", and "None". In Sierra 5.5 and later, the "Email" option is no longer available. |
| Base Filename |
(Sierra 5.3 & Later) The file name used when saving a copy of the report to the Sierra server. The system appends the report type ("new" or "update") and a timestamp in the YYYYMMDDHHMMSS format (for example, "main-branch_new_20210304090452.txt" or "south_update_20210409114329.txt"). If this setting is blank, Sierra uses the internal numeric ID of the collection agency setting. Valid characters include all alphanumeric characters and the following punctuation: period (.), underscore (_), and hyphen (-). This value must be unique in the Collection Agency Settings table. When you save your settings, Sierra validates this field and displays an error message. |
| S3 Bucket Path1 | (Sierra 5.3 & Later) The bucket name and path to the Amazon S3 bucket created by your collection agency. This setting is used only if you have selected the "Secure Drop (S3)" method above. |
| S3 Access Key ID1 | (Sierra 5.3 & Later) The Amazon S3 Access Key ID provided by your collection agency. This setting is used only if you have selected the "Secure Drop (S3)" method above. |
| S3 Access Key1 | (Sierra 5.3 & Later) The Amazon S3 Access Key provided by your collection agency. This setting is used only if you have selected the "Secure Drop (S3)" method above. |
| Email Source | The "From" address in the header of the Collection Agency Report email. The "From" address must be a fully-qualified email address of less than 49 characters in length that does not resolve to the Innovative server that originates the email. If you leave this element blank, the system uses a default "From" address. To change the default "From" address, contact Innovative. |
| Email To (Required) | Comma-delimited list of email addresses to which the collection agency report should be sent (maximum 200 characters). |
| Email Cc | Comma-delimited list of email addresses to which the collection agency report should be copied (maximum 200 characters). |
| Email Subject | Subject line used for the collection agency report (maximum 200 characters). |
| Auto New Submission | Radio buttons to enable or disable automated generation and sending of New Submissions Reports to the collection agency. |
| Auto Update Submission | Days of the week on which you want to automatically send Updated Patrons Reports. Possible values are a number or range of numbers that represent days of the week (for example, 1=Sunday, 2=Monday, and so on, through 7=Saturday). Use a comma to indicate discrete days (for example, 1,4 to send the report on Sunday and Wednesday) or a hyphen to indicate a range of says (for example, 1-4 to send the report on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday). |
1The S3 Bucket Path, S3 Access Key ID, and S3 Access Key settings are stored in this table unencrypted. For security reasons, your collection agency should set up the Amazon S3 bucket with write-only access.
Legacy Collection Agency Model
Use this model if your library is running a version of the system prior to Sierra 3.4 or your library chose not to implement the Sierra Fines Paid and Collection Agency model when upgrading to Sierra 3.4 or 4.0.
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| Name (Required) | A name of up to 35 characters that identifies the entry. |
| Home Library | The values in the HOME LIBR fixed-length field in patron records to which the entry applies. You can enter up to 100 location codes from the Branches table. A blank entry represents all branch locations. |
| PTYPES to Include | The P TYPE(s) that are eligible for inclusion in a New Submissions report. A blank entry represents all P TYPE(s) specified when setting up the Collection Agency Report product. If you add a new P TYPE that was previously ineligible for inclusion in the New Submissions report, contact Innovative. |
| Minimum Owed (Required) | Minimum amount that a patron must owe to be eligible for inclusion in a New Submissions report. |
| Start Date | Earliest possible fine assessment date for including patrons in a New Submissions report. For a patron to be eligible for inclusion in the New Submissions Report, the oldest fine on the patron record must have been assessed against the patron on or after this date and time. If this setting is left blank, the system evaluates all fines that were generated before the date specified in the End Date element. |
| End Date | Latest possible fine assessment date for including patrons in a New Submissions report. For a patron to be eligible for inclusion in the New Submissions report, a fine must be first assessed against the patron before this date and time. If this setting is left blank, the system evaluates all fines that were generated after the date specified in the Start Date element. |
| Grace Period | Number of days the system waits after the date specified in the Start Date element to check for newly assessed fines. The system also adds the Grace Period days to the date a fine is first assessed against a patron, so newly assessed fines are considered for inclusion in the New Submissions report only after the number of days specified in the Grace Period element. Therefore, to be eligible for inclusion in the New Submissions report, the sum of the date a fine is first assessed against a patron plus the days in the Grace Period element must fall after the sum of the date specified in the Start Date element plus the days in the Grace Period element and before the date specified in the End Date element—and the patron must still owe money on this fine. If the patron has paid the incurred fine(s) during the grace period, those incurred fine(s) are not eligible for inclusion in the New Submissions report. |
| Minimum Days Overdue |
Minimum number of days past the due date of a checked-out item (the number of days overdue) before a patron is eligible for inclusion in the New Submissions report. If the Fines/Bills: Charge fines for days closed circulation option is set to "YES", the system includes closed days when calculating the number of days an item is overdue; otherwise, the system excludes closed days from this calculation. The Minimum Days Overdue value only applies to patrons who could be added to the New Submissions report. It is ignored for patrons already included in the Collection Agency Report. |
| Remove If Less Than |
Minimum amount that a patron must owe to remain in the Collection Agency Report. Note that if this element is set to "0", the system removes all patrons who owe zero or less (not just those that owe less than zero) from the Collection Agency Report. If this element is set to any other value, the system removes all patrons who owe less than the Remove If Less Than amount. |
| Agency Fee | The amount of the fee that patrons are assessed for being included in the New Submissions report. This fee is added the first time a patron record is included in the New Submissions report only. |
| Email Source | The "From" address in the header of the Collection Agency Report email. The "From" address must be a fully-qualified email address of less than 49 characters in length that does not resolve to the Innovative server that originates the email. If you leave this element blank, the system uses a default "From" address. To change the default "From" address, contact Innovative. |
| Email To (Required) | Comma-delimited list of email addresses to which the collection agency report should be sent (maximum 200 characters). |
| Cc Email | Comma-delimited list of email addresses to which the collection agency report should be copied (maximum 200 characters). |
| Email Subject |
Subject line used for the collection agency report (maximum 200 characters). |
| Auto New Submission | Radio buttons to enable or disable automated generation and sending of New Submissions Reports to the collection agency. |
| Auto Update Submission |
Days of the week on which you want to automatically send Updated Patrons reports. Possible values are a number or range of numbers that represent days of the week (for example, 1=Sunday, 2=Monday, and so on, through 7=Saturday). Use a comma to indicate discrete days (for example, 1,4 to send the report on Sunday and Wednesday) or a hyphen to indicate a range of says (for example, 1-4 to send the report on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday). |