evergreen_documentation

offline_mode.adoc

Offline Transactions

Evergreen’s Standalone Interface / Offline Interface is designed to log transactions during network outage, which can be uploaded and processed once network operations are restored.

The terms Offline Interface and Standalone Interface mean the same thing: a separate program to handle simple circulation tasks while the network is down.

To access the Offline Interface, navigate to the Staff Client login screen and click Standalone Interface. The Evergreen Standalone Interface window opens.

Patron Registration

Patron registration on the Evergreen Offline Interface records the minimum patron information necessary to register a new patron.

All of the fields, except for Line 2 of Billing Address, on the Patron Registration screen are required. If your library does not record information for any field, you need to work out a standard fake value for it, for example, 1900-01-01 for Date of Birth.

The account password is automatically generated. Patrons can access their account with the password after the offline transactions are uploaded and processed.

To register a patron:

1. Click Register Patron on the top menu bar. The Patron Registration window opens.

2. Fill in the form with patron information, using the drop down list if available.

3. Click Save patron registration. A confirmation dialog opens.

4. Click OK to finish registering the patron.

Checking Out Items

To circulate items from the Evergreen standalone interface:

1. Click Check Out on the top menu bar. The Standalone Check Out screen opens.

2. Ensure that the date on the left-hand side of the menu bar is correct.

3. Enter the patron’s library card barcode in the Enter the patron’s barcode field by scanning or typing the barcode.

4. Ensure that the due date is correct in the Enter the item due date field. You may enter a different due date manually, or select a different duration from the dropdown list to select a relative due date based on the loan period.

5. Check out items:

   • For cataloged items, scan each item’s barcode in Enter the item barcode field. The barcode appears on the right side of the screen.

   • For non-cataloged items:

     1. Click Choose a non-barcode option to select a non-catalogued category from the drop-down list.

     2. Enter the number of items you want to check out, then click OK on the prompt window.

6. Scan all items, changing the due date if necessary.

7. To print a receipt, select the Print receipt? checkbox.

8. Click Save these transactions.

The default dates are based on your computer settings.

Pre-catalogued item circulation is not available on Offline Interface. If an existing pre-cat barcode happens to be used, it is checked out with the previous author and title. If a new pre-cat barcode is attempted, an error of ASSET NOT FOUND (item not found) is returned upon processing offline transactions.

Renew

To renew an item, you must know the item’s barcode number. The patron’s barcode is optional.

To renew items from the Evergreen standalone interface:

1. Click Renew on the top menu bar.

   Note	The Renew window is very similar to the Check Out window. The differences are that a patron’s barcode is optional on the Renew window, and the non-barcoded option is not available on the Renew window, as non-barcoded items can not be renewed.

2. Ensure that the date on the left-hand side of the menu bar is correct.

3. (Optional): Enter the patron’s library card barcode in the Enter the patron’s barcode field by scanning or typing the barcode.

4. Ensure that the due date is correct in the Enter the item due date field. You may enter a different due date manually, or select a different duration from the dropdown list to select a relative due date based on the loan period.

5. For each item to be renewed, enter the item’s barcode in the Enter the item barcode field. The barcode appears on the right side of the screen.

6. To print a receipt, select the Print receipt? checkbox.

7. Click Save these transactions.

In-house Use

To record in-house use transactions from the Evergreen standalone interface:

1. Click In House Use on the top menu bar.

2. Ensure the date is correct.

3. Enter the number of uses to record for the item in the Enter the number of uses of the item field.

4. Enter the item barcode number in the Enter the item barcode field.

5. Repeat the previous 2 steps until all items have been scanned.

6. To print a receipt, select the Print receipt? checkbox.

7. Click Save these transactions.

Check In

To check in items from the Evergreen standalone interface:

1. Click Check In on the top menu bar. The Check In screen opens.

2. Ensure the date is correct.

3. For each item you want to check in, enter the item’s barcode in the Enter item barcode field. The number is displayed on the right side of the screen.

4. To print a receipt, select the Print receipt? checkbox.

5. Click Save these transactions.

Note	Without access to Evergreen database, items on holds or with special status will not be captured in offline mode.

Uploading Offline Transactions

Once you are able to connect to the server, you need to upload the offline transactions. To avoid confusion for patrons and in the system, you should upload the offline transactions as soon as possible.

Once you can connect to the server, there are 3 steps to uploading offline transactions:

1. Create a session: to be done by local system administrators at an administration workstation.

2. Upload transactions to a session: to be done by circulation staff at circulation workstations.

3. Process the uploaded transactions: to be done by local system administrators at an administration workstation.

Once network connectivity has been restored, a local system administrator must create an offline transaction session. Then, staff can upload transactions from each of the workstations used in offline circulation mode to that session. Once all of the branch workstations have uploaded their transactions to the session, the manager processes all the transactions from all the workstations at once.

Uploading transactions to the session does not put the transactions into the Evergreen database. The transactions will not be sent to the Evergreen database until the manager processes the session.

Creating an Offline Session _~~~~~~~~~ In the Evergreen staff client:

1. Log into Evergreen using an account with local system administrator privileges.

2. Select Admin (-) → Offline Transaction Management from the menu. The Offline Transactions screen opens. Previously created sessions are listed in the Offline Sessions section.

3. In the upper Offline Sessions section, click Create to create a new session.

4. Enter a name for the session, like Internet Down 2012-12-02. Click OK.

5. In the Offline Sessions section, highlight the session you created. An Uploaded Transactions section appears in the bottom of the screen. Initially, this section is empty.

6. Inform library staff that the session has been created and tell them the name of the session.

Uploading Workstation Transactions to a Session

Wait until the local system administrator has created a session and told you that it’s ready for your upload. There may be several sessions shown on the Offline Transaction Management screen, so you will need the name of the correct session from your local system administrator.

Each workstation used to perform offline circulation during the outage must upload its transactions to the offline transaction session.

To upload offline transaction from a workstation to a session, perform the following steps in the Evergreen staff client:

1. Log into Evergreen with your regular username and password.

2. Select Admin (-) → Offline Transaction Management from the menu. The Offline Transactions screen opens. You should see at least one session in the Offline Sessions section. You may also see older sessions.

3. In the upper Offline Sessions section, highlight the correct session, then click Upload. The transactions are transferred to the Evergreen server.

4. When the transactions have been uploaded, select the session in the Offline Sessions section. The value in the Upload Count column has increased by 1 and your workstation is now listed in the Uploaded Transactions section.

5. Inform your local system administrator that your transaction has been uploaded to the session.

Processing the Transactions

When all of the participating staff workstations have uploaded their transactions to the offline session, the workstation names are listed in the Uploaded Transactions section. To process the offline transactions and make them live on the Evergreen server:

1. Log into Evergreen using an account with local system administrator privileges.

2. Select Admin (-) → Offline Transaction Management from the menu. The Offline Transactions screen opens. Previously created sessions are listed in the Offline Sessions section.

3. Highlight the correct session and, if necessary, click Refresh to verify all the participating workstations have uploaded their transactions to your session.

4. Click Process. The processing may take some time to complete, depending on how many transactions you have done. Click Refresh to see the updated status of the processing step. Processing is complete when the Processing? column shows Completed.

The number in the Transactions Processed column is equal to the number of items checked out or checked in. For example, 5 transactions processed could mean that:

• 5 items were checked out, or

• 3 items were checked in and 2 items were checked out, or

• 5 items were checked in.

Exceptions

Exceptions are problems that were encountered during processing. For example, a mis-scanned patron barcode, an open circulation, or an item that was not checked in before it was checked out to another patron would be listed as an exception. Those transactions causing exceptions may not be loaded into Evergreen database. Staff should examine the exceptions and take necessary action.

These are a few notes about possible exceptions. It is not an all-inclusive list.

• Checking out a DVD with the wrong date (leaving due date set at +2 weeks instead of +1 week) does not cause an exception.

• Overdue books are not flagged as exceptions.

• Checking out a reference book does not cause an exception.

• Checking out an item belonging to another library does not cause an exception.

• The Standalone Interface does not recognize books on hold, so no exceptions will be generated when matching items are checked in or checked out.

• The Standalone Interface can recognize blocked, barred, and expired patrons, as well as lost cards, if you have recently run an Admin (-) → Download Offline Patron List action on the workstation on which you are using the Standalone Interface. You will get an error message indicating the patron status from within the Standalone Interface at check-out time.

Common error messages

• ROUTE-ITEM - Indicates the book should be routed to another branch or library system. You’ll need to find the book and re-check it in (online) to get the Transit Slip to print.

• COPY_STATUS_LOST - Indicates a book previously marked as lost was found and checked in.

• CIRC_CLAIMS_RETURNED - Indicates a book previously marked as claimed-returned was found and checked in.

• ASSET_COPY_NOT_FOUND - Indicates the item barcode was mis-scanned/mis-typed.

• ACTOR_CARD_NOT_FOUND - Indicates the patron’s library barcode was mis-scanned/ mis-typed.

• OPEN_CIRCULATION_EXISTS - Indicates a book was checked out that had never been checked in.

• MAX_RENEWALS_REACHED - Indicates the item has already been renewed the maximum times allowed (or it’s a video/DVD).