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Alma Acquisitions

Alma Acquisitions training guide.

Deleting a POL

You must have the Purchase Operator Extended role to delete a POL. 

To delete a PO line:

  • Select Delete in the PO line's row action list and select Confirm in the confirmation dialog box. The PO line is deleted.

Notes:

  • POL lines should only be deleted if there is not any inventory attached to it. For example, if you selected the wrong POL type when you created the order, you can delete the current POL and create a new order.
  • Configure the setting "pol_handle_childless_bib" setting in the "General Settings" configuration under Acquisitions to determine what happens to the bib record when a POL is deleted. The four options are: Do Nothing (default), suppress, manual and delete.
  • If you want to retain a record of the order, CANCEL the order line instead.

Ex Libris documentation on deleting POLs.

Closing a POL

Alma will automatically close one-time orders after they have been received and paid for.

You can manually close a one-time order if the status is Waiting for Invoice, if needed.

To close an order, click on Close from the row action item list, then Confirm. Alma will close the POL and release any encumbered funds. If this was the only POL or the last open POL on a Purchase Order, Alma will also close the related Purchase Order.


To close one-time POL that has been re-opened and is in review:

  1. Go to Acquisitions>Purchase Order Lines>Review
  2. Click on the Unassigned tab
  3. Click Order Now from the ellipses of the POL
  4. Click Confirm when the confirmation pop-up appears
  5. The POL is now closed

To close an electronic one-time POL in Alma:

  • The electronic portfolio needs to be activated. The POL will not close if the electronic portfolio has not been activated and if Done has not been clicked from the e-Activation task list to complete the activation process.

To activate an electronic portfolio:

  1. Click Create E-activation Task List from the ellipses of the electronic portfolio
  2. Click on the clipboard icon to view the tasks requiring your attention and select Electronic resources - unassigned
  3. Click Edit Resource to review the linking and other information
    • If you make any changes click Save or click the back arrow if no changes has been made
  4. Click on the Assigned to Me Tab
  5. Click Test Access from the ellipses of the electronic portfolio
  6. Click Done from the ellipses
    • Clicking Done will close the POL

Documentation:

Cancelling vs. Closing a POL

There is a critical difference between Cancelling and Closing a PO Line/order:

  • Cancel means you’re cancelling the order and don’t expect to receive any inventory or pay an invoice
  • Close means you’ve received the inventory and the order is complete

The one you choose has an impact on both what happens next to the order and, sometimes, what happens to the inventory records that were created at the time of order creation.

  • In Alma, if you cancel a POL that is the only order on that purchase order (including all migrated orders), Alma will delete the PO line’s inventoryboth the holdings and the items – unless that inventory has been received or activated. If the POL has a bib and holdings record, but no items yet, cancelling the POL will delete the holdings record.
  • In contrast, when you close a POL, the holdings and items remain untouched.
  • This is most important for unreceived and predicted items, such as serials issues, because you will have to go back and re-create those predicted items if you cancel the order and then they come in. For these materials, always close an order rather than cancel it.

Reopening a POL

Once you close a POL, this option in the row action item list will change to Reopen, so you can click on that to reopen the order.

Reopened orders go immediately into review, and you may need to edit the Acquisition method, price, or other details if these have changed. Once the updates are complete and the order is approved, it will either be sent to the vendor or simply changed in Alma as needed.

How to re-open a closed one-time POL:

  1. Perform an IZ repository search for the POL you want to re-open
    • When using the POL # skip to step 3
  2. Click Re-open from the ellipsis
  3. Click Confirm when the pop-up message appears that the POL with go into review
  4. The POL is now open and in review
  5. Go to Acquisitions>Purchase Order Lines>Review to review the open POL

Changing Vendors

There are two ways to change the vendor for an order that's already been sent. Find the order and use the buttons along the top:

  • Replace (only) Vendor will change the vendor and nothing else, and will not send a new order to the new vendor. Use this if there’s no reason to send another order, and the old order is still valid. To use this option, a one-time order must be in a status of Sent or Waiting for Invoice; continuous orders must be Sent, Waiting for Renewal, or Waiting for Manual Renewal.
  • Change Vendor will change the vendor and send a new order to that new vendor. This new POL will be packaged into a new purchase order and deleted from the original PO. If that POL was the only order on that PO, the entire PO will be deleted. To use this option, a one-time order can only be in a status of Sent (nothing yet received or activated); continuous orders can be Sent, Waiting for Renewal, or Waiting for Manual Renewal.

Changing Bib Reference

The bibliographic reference is the brief bib description in the POL. Changing the bib reference does not mean changing the bib record a POL is linked to, or the holdings or items. Changing the bib reference is useful when an order was made on a provisional or stub bib record, but there is now better information available on the bib record that can be added to the POL description.

This feature is relevant for title-based PO lines, and cannot be performed on cancelled PO lines.

If you click on Change Bib Reference – either in the row action list or on the POL details screen – Alma will perform a repository search to find the correct updated bib information. There may be only one result, in which case click on it, or there may be more than one, in which case find the one you want and click on that. Alma will update the information accordingly in the POL bib description.