RE: [ALCTS-acqnet] reconciling ILS payments to campus payments

Hi Kim,

Are you adding the vendor discount in the vendor record in Sierra? A lot of the libraries using the Acquisitions module in my system enter the retail amount (or the vendor sends the retail amount if they use Oneclick) and Sierra adjusts based on the discount entered from the vendor record, so it’s a discounted retail amount. Encumbered amounts are hard to get accurate since publication dates and prices change so much. But it might be interesting to see if you can get a more accurate discount number from your vendor and change that value to match what you expect. Shipping, handling, taxes, or other fees are not taken into consideration in the order record.

If they order something online from a specialty vendor or from Amazon they’ll enter the price they expect to pay, including the discount, but not the shipping costs.

I’m not sure if this answers your questions, but if I can elaborate please contact me. I’m always happy to talk about Acquisitions. 😊

Amanda

--
Amanda Lee
920-832-6194
alee_at_owlsweb.org

From: acqnet-request_at_lists.ala.org <acqnet-request_at_lists.ala.org> On Behalf Of Kim Dewall
Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2018 9:54 AM
To: acqnet_at_lists.ala.org
Subject: RE: [ALCTS-acqnet] reconciling ILS payments to campus payments

To those who use Sierra Acquisitions:

Do you use the net or retail price in funds (I understand libraries use either), and if you use the retail price, how do you account for vendor discounts in the encumbered column when determining the amount you have on order?

I ask because the web management report is not only difficult for selectors to interpret, but the “bottom line” is never spot on…Every year we get closer, but I have resorted to Excel for the reconciling effort, as others have indicated.

From: acqnet-request_at_lists.ala.org<mailto:acqnet-request_at_lists.ala.org> [mailto:acqnet-request_at_lists.ala.org] On Behalf Of Pennington, Buddy D.
Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2018 9:47 AM
To: acqnet_at_lists.ala.org<mailto:acqnet_at_lists.ala.org>
Subject: RE: [ALCTS-acqnet] reconciling ILS payments to campus payments

Here is what we do:


1.       We have a long list of specific fund codes in Sierra for acquisitions and we put our collection invoices through.

2.       The collection invoices are then entered into the campus PeopleSoft system. However, the funds are mapped to a broader set of campus codes. For example, there is just one code for library general collections and then each of our gift/endowment funds will have its own campus code.

3.       On a monthly basis, the bottom line in Sierra is reconciled with the bottom line in PeopleSoft.

Our process between systems is manual. We have started exploring a scripted process to automate the migration from Sierra into PeopleSoft.

Buddy Pennington
Head of Library Systems & Technology (Librarian III)
Miller Nichols Library
University of Missouri--Kansas City

From: acqnet-request_at_lists.ala.org<mailto:acqnet-request_at_lists.ala.org> <acqnet-request_at_lists.ala.org<mailto:acqnet-request_at_lists.ala.org>> On Behalf Of Mark Hemhauser
Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2018 7:22 PM
To: acqnet_at_lists.ala.org<mailto:acqnet_at_lists.ala.org>
Subject: [ALCTS-acqnet] reconciling ILS payments to campus payments

I sent this a few weeks ago, but looking at it again, it seems I used an old acqnet email address, so trying again.

Do people still try to balance their payments in the ILS with the payments in the campus system?

Do you try to reconcile and balance your overall spending and income by fund between the two systems?

When I started in serials in 1994 we would monthly compare a campus payments sheet, printed out, to the ILS payments (also printed) to confirm campus paid the invoice and the amount correctly. Later we used the campus print out to record the voucher number and payment date in the Voyager invoice record. Some places have moved to automated processes where the ILS transmits data to campus and campus passes voucher numbers back. That is more or less automatically reconciled. The dollar amounts shouldn’t go wrong, they aren’t being rekeyed. But if you don’t have that back and forth communication between systems, do you do anything to reconcile?

Thanks for thoughts or practices.
Mark


Mark Hemhauser
​Head of Acquisitions, The Library
250 Moffitt Library, MC 6000
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000

510-664-4310