Work Order Statuses for Technical Services Staff

Work order statuses – which status to use and when in the workflow it should be applied

Acquisitions and Cataloging Work Orders are built into Alma. New items ordered, coming on approval, etc., are automatically put into a work order with the status In Acquisitions.

Shelf ready

Beginning work order status is “In Acquisitions”

1. Receive (in this case, no status is applied because the item is processed immediately)
2. Scan as Done

Non shelf ready - records loaded

Beginning work order status is In Acquisitions

1. Receive – work order status should be set to Cataloging (if processed by ACQ and PCRP) and passed on to ACCT (carts for non-member/member copy)
2. Search* -- Can it be cataloged?
1. NO – work order status set to Hold (693). Items taken down to hold and shelved
2. YES – after cataloged work order status set to Physical Processing. Items taken to hardbound/softbound carts.
3. Scan as Done

Note: If receiving is done by CaMS, the status does NOT need to be set to Cataloging 

Non shelf ready – NO records loaded

1. Start in Metadata Editor – import or create records
2. Create PO lines, package PO, and receive -- work order status set to Cataloging (if processed by ACQ) and passed on to ACCT (carts for non-member/member copy). If receiving is done by CaMS, the status does NOT need to be set to Cataloging.
3. Search* -- Can it be cataloged?
1. NO – work order status set to Hold (693). Items taken down to hold and shelved
2. YES – after cataloged work order status set to Physical processing. Items taken to hardbound/softbound carts.
3. Scan as Done

*For material going to the Hold

We will now use Alma Inventory Numbers instead of item record IDs for shelving in the Hold. The Inventory Number is created from the Item Screen in edit mode. 

Procedure:

1. Search books as usual, making a pile of those that are destined for the Hold. 
2. Make any necessary location changes before assigning an Alma inventory number.
3. When you are ready to send items to the Hold:
1. Scan the barcode of the first book, click Edit Item. 
2. Scroll down to Inventory number and click Allocate. 
3. Click Save.
4. Repeat process for all books in the pile.
4. Go to Fulfillment, Scan in Items. 
1. Scan the barcode of the first book in the pile.
2. Make sure Automatically print slip is set to Yes.
3. Set Status To Hold (693). 
4. Leave the No button checked where it says Done.
5. Place slips in books with the Alma number sticking out, and immediately shelve the items downstairs.
6. If you are unable to do this, put your items—in order—on a Hold truck that will be shelved within 24 hours.

Rationale: we want to avoid, as much as possible, the laborious process of sorting and re-shelving. Therefore, we want to assign inventory numbers in as close a sequence as possible, and get the books on the shelves in that sequence as soon as possible. If this does not happen, we are back to the inefficient process of sorting and moving books from the shelves. Therefore, avoid allocating numbers as you go along; do them at the end of your searching so that the numbers form a tight sequence.