FAQs: Adding Dated Orders

Dated orders are used for serial publications issued in successive parts, typically with chronological or numerical designation, over a defined subscription period. A dated order in SirsiDynix Symphony is any order with a known start date and end date at the time the order is placed. Any materials purchased between the dates are paid with a single payment. The orderline for dated orders contain two special fields for the length of the subscription period (in days) and the date to renew the subscription. A dated order is used for initial orders as well as renewal orders.

Based on the date in the orderline Renew Date field, the Rollover Dated Orders report can automatically duplicate subscription orders to create renewal orders.

What order type do I use for subscriptions?

Make sure you have an order type defined in policies that identifies subscription orders as DATED order types, because the Days in Subscription Period and Renew Date fields are only available with DATED order types. SirsiDynix delivers the SUBSCRIPT order type for this purpose, but you can have multiple dated order types.

If the library uses just one order type for subscriptions, such as SUBSCRIPT, you may type Order Extended Information on the order indicating whether the subscription is a new order or a renewal.

For example:

*** This is a NEW subscription. ***

*** This is a subscription RENEWAL. ***

It is recommended that only one subscription line item be on each order.

You could also distinguish between new and renewal orders in the serial control record. You may use one of the Serial Category fields to record whether the control is NEW or RENEWED. You may also add NEW and RENEWED to the Status policy for serial control. When a serial control record is linked to a renewal subscription order, you could change the NEW status to RENEWED.

How do I place a subscription order with the vendor?

If you plan to create subscription renewal orders automatically through reports, then create only one subscription line item on each order. Generate a purchase order with either the Print Ready Purchase Orders Report, Print Purchase Orders Report, or Print Specific Purchase Orders Report.

For example, a purchase order generated for a subscription order might look like the following:

Wednesday, July 14, 2004 -- PURCHASE ORDER # PO-101/2004
Main Library
101 Washington Ave. SE
Huntsville, AL 35801

Customer Number: 670-234

Pierian Press
P.O. Box 1808
Ann Arbor, MI48106

Note:*** This is a NEW subscription. ***
Please start the subscriptions listed below according to the instructions.

The purchase order number printed above must appear on all invoices, shipping papers, packages, labels, bills of lading, etc.Thank you for your prompt attention to this order.

1. copies:1 unit price:$55.00 extended price:$55.00
Title:UNIX/world.
ISSN:0739-5922
Publication info:[Los Altos, CA : Tech Valley Pub.
Description:1 year subscription (11 issues/year)
Instructions:Subscription should start with
Vol. 20, No. 9 (Sept 2002).

total line items:1
total copies:1
total unit price:$55.00
TOTAL PRICE:$55.00

Before the first issue of the periodical arrives, the linked title in the catalog displays the “ON ORDER” message.

How do I receive a dated order?

When the first issue arrives, use the Modify Order Wizard to update the received date, and change the Date Received from NEVER to TODAY, or any MM/DD/YYYY date.

Optionally, in the Packing field, you can mark this as a received new subscription with text such as “SUB2004.” By using the Packing field to mark all received new subscription orderlines, you can display all new subscriptions in fiscal cycle 2004 when displaying orders by searching the value “SUB2004” in the Packing field index. You can view new dated orders in all fiscal cycles by typing SUB in the order search if your packing receipt convention remains the same over several years. If you want the Packing field to apply to all active orders in a fiscal cycle, instead of just new orders, updating the Packing field should be added to the steps for getting renewal orders ready. See the FAQ “How do I get renewal orders ready for the new year?” FAQs: Renewing Subscriptions and Memberships.

The Date Received cannot be NEVER if you want to use the Packing field to mark dated orders. If the Date Received is modified to NEVER, the data in the Packing field is cleared.

Once a new dated order is placed and the first issue is received on the order, the order may be paid and loaded into the catalog. If your SirsiDynix Symphony system has the Serial Control module, a serial control record, linked to the order, should be created for the subscription. With the first issue in hand, you can use the Create Serial Control Wizard to generate predictions for the length of the subscription. Each subsequent issue should be received using the Check In Issues of a Serial Wizard.

What about claiming a dated order?

Periodicals may be ordered using a different claim and cancel criteria than monographs. You can set the Date to Claim and Date to Cancel individually at the time of order for different subscriptions, depending on the frequency of the publication and when the subscription should start.

For example, although the library orders and pays for a new journal subscription in July, the journal may not publish the first issue until September, and so the Date to Claim should be a September or October date. Another subscription, ordered from the same vendor, is ordered in July to start as soon as possible. The Date to Claim might be a date in late July or early August.

Only the first issue of a dated order is claimed through acquisitions. If the first issue does not arrive by the date specified in the order’s Date to Claim field, the Create Late Order Claims report must be run to create a claim segment. Then the Vendor Acquisition Claim Report can be run to generate a claim notice for the vendor.

You may set up a special Vendor Acquisition Claim report for subscriptions. It may run more frequently, and contain special notice text prompting the vendor to reply with the expected delivery date of the first issue of a new subscription. If a special dated order claim is used, the standard Vendor Acquisition Claim report that is run for monographic firm orders should be set to exclude dated order types.

If your SirsiDynix Symphony system has the Serial Control module, a serial control record should be created and predictions generated for the length of the subscription once an initial dated order has been established with the first issue received. From this point, all of the serial’s claims are generated using the serials claiming reports, Prediction As Late Report and Serial Claim Notices Report.

How do I see how a subscription has been paid for over the years?

When you use the Display Order wizard to display an orderline for a dated order, the Order History tab displays the orders that have been linked to the serial control record for that title. These links are made on the Subscription tab of the serial control record. If the link had not been established on the Serial Control tab, nothing displays on the Order History tab when the order is displayed, whether or not the subscription had been previously paid for with a SirsiDynix Symphony order.

You can also see an order history when orderlines are sequentially linked to a serial control record from the Order History tab or button. The tab displays all subscription orders which have ever been linked to that control record. A special (current order) marker identifies the active subscription order.

What is the general purpose of a membership order?

A membership is a special type of dated order for certain publications which cannot be purchased or subscribed to directly, therefore, a user in the library must become a member of the organization that produces the publications. One or more journals or periodicals may be issued with a membership. Sometimes membership privileges include discounts on the organization’s other publications. Ordering a membership usually involves membership fees or dues, sent on a regular renewal basis to ensure uninterrupted receipt of the membership publication(s). Dues are encumbered from funds and sent to the organization. A purchase order may be printed identifying a library staff member to whom membership information should be sent, based on the value in the User ID distribution field. If the organization sends a membership card or some other acknowledgment, you may type any membership numbers in the customer number field of the organization‘s vendor record.

Like subscriptions, memberships are assigned an order type with the DATED function. SirsiDynix delivers the MEMBERSHIP order type for this purpose. With the Days in Subscription Period and Renew Date fields produced by this order type function, the membership can be automatically renewed (duplicated) on a specific date using the Rollover Dated Orders Report. The membership order itself is not linked to bibliographic information in the catalog, but is described in the additional orderline text fields. Dues are encumbered from funds and sent to the organization, perhaps identifying a library staff member to whom membership information should be sent. Unless you edit the order and set the date received, the membership order never appears to be “received.” But if the organization sends a membership card or some other acknowledgment, you may want to type any membership numbers in the Customer Number field of the organization’s vendor record.

How do I receive a membership order?

Typically, a membership order is never actually received.

How do I handle publications received as a result of a membership?

If you want to keep track of all the membership material received, you may use the Modify Orderline Tool of the Modify Order Wizard to add as many DESC extended information fields as necessary to the membership orderline to record the titles of the received materials.

Once recorded on the membership order, monographic materials may be cataloged and added to the collection. You may want to add a note to the bibliographic or copy record indicating that the material was received as part of a membership order, and reference the order ID in the note.

For serial publications such as the membership newsletter, or for membership benefits such as periodic loose-leaf updates, you should catalog the materials separately and create a serial control record for the ongoing receipt of each membership title. You may record the first receipt in the DESC field of the membership orderline, but for the remainder of the subscription period and beyond, record the receipt of materials on the serial control record. Be sure to link the serial control record to the membership orderline. Often membership includes receipt of more than one journal. When multiple serial titles are received through a single membership, these titles are called “siblings,” meaning that these publications have a common parent, which is the membership order.

Can you give me an example of how membership orders are used?

For example, there is a membership order for the Organ Historical Society. The membership includes the quarterly journal The Tracker, the annual Organ Handbook, and a 10% discount on all purchases.

To create this membership order

If the Society does not already exist as a vendor, use the Add Vendor wizard to create the full vendor record with ORGANHIST as the Vendor ID.

On the Discount Table tab, click the Monetary or Quantity buttons, and click Modify Vendor. Type 10.00 in the first Discount Percent field. Leave the Over fields blank. This creates a flat discount of 10%.

On the Vendor Cycle tab, set the Claim Period and the Cancel Period to 0, or a reasonable period.

Click Modify Vendor.

Click the Create Dated Order wizard to create a membership order.

In the Item Search, click Skip Item Lookup to skip the title identification.

The order will not be linked to any title information. A membership is typically not described with a catalog record, even though a catalog record may be the result of membership.

Select the ORGANHIST Vendor ID, MEMBERSHIP Order Type, and the Fiscal Cycle for the order. Click OK.

In the Unit Price field, type the dues for a single membership.

In the Quantity field, type the number of memberships.

Type the Days in Sub Period and Renewal Date according to the dates associated with the membership.

In the Additional Orderline Information, type the membership conditions in the DESC field. In the NOTE field, indicate the publication(s) you expect as a result of the membership. In the INSTRUCT field, indicate how the serial publications will be received.

Click Continue.

On the Segments tab, create a funding/holding distribution. Click Add Orderline.

For example, if the SENDINFO Shipping policy is set up to print user name and address and you entered a holding distribution with SENDINFO selected, the order would print the message “SEND information to the attention of: Main Library, 101 Washington St. SE, Huntsville, AL 35801.”

You may want to identify a library staff member to whose attention membership information (other than periodicals) should be sent. This means that you must have a user distribution segment rather than a holding distribution segment associated with the funding for the membership. The same SENDINFO Shipping policy in a user distribution segment would produce a purchase order message like the following. “SEND information to the attention of: Olson, Charlotte C,.Technical Services, Main Library,101 Washington St. SE, Huntsville, AL 35801.”

Click Add Orderline to display the Orderlines Tab.

Click Finish.

In the Mark Order Finished window, update the Date to Claim and Date Ready. Click Save and Close.

Note: If your library plans to create membership renewal orders automatically through reports, then create only one membership orderline on each order.

Generate a purchase order with either the Print Ready Purchase Orders Report, Print Purchase Orders Report, or Print Specific Purchase Orders Report. A purchase order generated for this membership order might look like the following.

Thursday, November 4, 2004 -- PURCHASE ORDER # ORGANHIST/2004

Madison Main Library
124 Forge Street
Huntsville, AL35806

Organ Historical Society

Please ship the items listed below. The purchase order number
printed above must appear on all invoices, shipping papers,
packages, labels, bills of lading, etc.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this order.

1. copies:1 unit price:$100.00 discount:$0.00
parts: extended price:$100.00
Description:One Year (JAN-DEC 2004) membership to the Organ
Historical Society.
Note: Membership entitles Library to a 10% discount on
all OHS publications, and subscriptions, The Tracker
quarterly) and Organ Handbook (annual).

SEND information to the attention of: Madison Main Library

total line items:1
total copies:1
TOTAL PRICE:$90.00

For each title received through the membership, create a bibliographic record using the Add Title Wizard or use SmartPort Wizard to capture a record. If you do not want the title to be searchable in the standard catalog index, use the Shadow helper on the bibliographic record to mark the title as shadowed.

Once an acknowledgment of membership is received from the Society, or if an issue from one of the membership publications arrives, use the Modify Order Wizard to change the Date Received from NEVER to TODAY or any MM/DD/YYYY date. You may also use the Packing field to mark this as a received membership, by typing MEM2007 in the Packing field. Use the same packing list notation for all of your 2007 memberships. The Display Order Wizard will allow you to display all orderline items by packing list identification. You can display all active memberships in fiscal cycle 2007 by typing MEM2004 in the order search by Packing List to identify the orderlines. The Date Received cannot be set to NEVER if you want to use the Packing field to mark memberships. If the Date Received is set to NEVER, any data in the Packing field is cleared.

If nothing is received from the Society, a claim segment in the membership order may be created with the Create Late Order Claims Report. A claim notice can be generated with the Vendor Acquisition Claim Report.

For each journal title expected with the membership, after the title has been added, use the Create Serial Control Wizard to set up a means for receiving the issues. On the Subscription tab, make sure the Order ID, Fiscal Cycle, and Line fields correctly record the order for the membership.

The Expiration field on the control record is automatically updated with the same date as in the Renew Date in the membership order record. If possible, generate prediction records according to the expected journal’s name, numeration, and receipt calendar patterns. Without an actual issue of the ordered title, it may be difficult to complete these fields, but necessary corrections can be made when the first issue of the publication arrives. All titles received as a result of a membership must have the same order ID, fiscal cycle, and line item number in their control records. Order history and sibling titles display together for the membership order and the Subscription tab in the serial control wizards.

Once the first issue of the subscription is received, claims for subsequent membership issues that are not received may be created with the Prediction As Late Report. The claim notices can be generated with the Serial Claim Notices Report.

How can I change fundings, distributions, and other orderline information?

The Segments tab displays the fundings and distributions segments for an orderline. In the left pane, a Segment tree displays the orderline with its associated fundings and distributions. You can click anywhere in this tree to display the current segment information for the orderline. The editing pane allows you to modify the current segment information, or add or remove segment information as required.

For detailed information, see the following topics.

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Segments Overview

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Segments Tab

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FAQs: Working with Orderline Segments

Can I have the wizard automatically calculate funded orderline quantities?

Yes. The Sum Distribution Quantities check box appears on the Orderline tab when creating or modifying an order. You can select this check box to sum distributed quantities and automatically calculate the orderline quantities. This feature is useful when you are ordering many copies of a title and don’t want to be concerned with adding up the funded quantities to calculate the total quantities.

When you select this check box, the total Quantity field on the Orderline tab is unavailable. After typing values for Unit Price, Parts in Set, and so forth, when you click Continue, you will see that the Funded Quantity field on the Segments tab is also unavailable. But as you add distributions and distribution quantities, the Funded Quantity fields will be automatically updated, as well as the Quantity field on the Orderline tab.

If you start the order, but then decide to use Sum Distribution Quantities, you can use the Recalculate Funding and Orderline Quantities Helper helper to update the Quantity and Funded Quantity fields from the distributed quantity. This helper is also useful when using Modify Order to modify orderline quantities.

Is there a limit to the number of copies I may add to an order?

Yes. No more than 32000 copies may be added to one order in a given fiscal cycle.

When I try to create or edit an orderline, a message about the fund cycle not having library authorization for the library of the distribution holding code displays. What does this message mean?

In multilibrary systems that use the Fund Library Authorization policy, each fund cycle‘s library authorization is compared to the holding code library in the associated holding distribution(s). The library of each holding code must be present in the fund cycle’s library authorization. When the holding code library is not authorized in the associated fund cycle, the following message displays.

This fund cycle does not have library authorization for the library of the distribution holding code.The message lists the fund ID and the holding code name that did not pass validation. When the message window is closed, the insertion point will be placed in the first fund ID field that did not pass validation. An invalid fund cycle/holding code pair will not be saved.