Best practice

Loan transactions

The Loan Transactions section of DiversityCollection provides a solution for managing and documenting all aspects of loaned objects. This feature enables you to handle every stage of the loan process.

Within the Loan Transactions, you can:

  • Create and manage new loans.
  • Utilize customizable letter templates, including loan slips, reminders, dunning letters, acknowledgments of receipt, and more.
  • Record and track forwarded items.
  • Manage returns and document any damages for future reference.
  • Generate statistics to analyze loan activities.

Involved Modules of the DiversityWorkbench framework are:

This chapter outlines the recommended best practices for managing loan transactions within our software. It is divided into the following steps

For further information, see the chapter Loan in the module DiversityCollection.

Prerequisites

  • DiversityAgents: The institution/lender and the borrowing institution must both be managed in DiversityAgents and have addresses stored there. The address information is used for creating letters, etc. For information on creating a new institution or person in DiversityAgents, see the Chapter Add a new Instituition/Agent of the module DiversityAgents. For information on adding an institution’s address information, see Chapter Contact Data.
  • DiversityCollection: Unlike the other data, the user authorizations for loans are not managed via projects but rather via assignment to collections. A prerequisite for processing loans is the role CollectionManager or Administrator. This means, the user handling the loans must have the role of Collection Manager or Administrator for the collection whose objects are being loaned. For more information on handling collections in DiversityCollection see the Collection chapter.

Create a new loan

To open the loan management window, select Transaction Management → Transaction… from the Administration menu in the main window (see Screenshot below).

A new window will open. Here, you can manage all transactions of different types.

  1. To add a new loan, click the button with the white sheet (see point 1 in the screenshot).

  2. A first dialog window appears in which you must select the administrating collection in which the requested objects are located (see point 2 in the screenshot).

  3. Another dialog box will appear where you must select the transaction type. In our case, this is “Loan” (see image below).

  4. In the next dialog box you have to enter the name of the transaction. In our example it is “TestAusleihe”.

  5. The new loan transaction is created.

  6. There are some required fields. The first two are pre-filled after creation (see points 1 and 2 in the image below).

  7. Next, you need to enter the “From” and “To” institutions. The “From” field contains the institution/agent from which the objects are borrowed. The “To” field contains the receiving institution. These fields will be linked to the DiversityAgents module to obtain the address information for the letters.

  8. To do so, click the “Ammonite” button next to the fields (see step 3).

  9. A query window for DiversityAgents will open. There you can query the institutions/agents. Confirm with OK.

  10. You can see the linked “From” and “To” fields (see point 1 and 2 in the image below).

  11. Next, you need to enter a start and end date for the loan (see the point 3 in the image below). The duration can be extended if necessary either within specified ranges using the ▿ button or by setting the date manually.

  12. Don’t forget to save your entries. Click the Save button (see point 4 in the image below).

Next we will add the requested object to the loan and create a cover letter.

Generate a loan slip

To enter the requested objects and create a cover letter, we switch to the “Sending” tab (see image below). To add the accession numbers, you can either scan the barcode or enter the accession numbers manually.

  1. To scan, right-click the red field (see step 1) and then scan the barcode . The accessionnumber of your object will be automatically added to the red list.

  2. If you don’t have a barcode scanner, you can enter and select the accessionnumber of your object in the field below (see step 2).

  3. The objects selected for loan are displayed in the red list.

  1. To create a cover letter, which lists all requested objects, you first need to select a schema. To do this, click the folder button (see point 4 in the image above). We provide a few predefined xslt schemas with the DiversityCollection software. However, you can also create your own. In this example, Sending.xslt was selected.

  2. To create and see a preview of the cover letter click on the preview button (see point 5 in the image above).

  3. You will be asked if you want to save the cover letter. You can access saved documents at any time via the “ Saved Documents” tab.

  4. A preview of the cover letter is shown. To print it, click on the printer button (see image below).

Record the returns of the loans

After the loan is partially or completely returned, the accession numbers and their barcodes are scanned and added to the list of returned receipts. Furthermore, a letter confirming receipt of the return is issued.

Create a return transaction

  1. To enter a return, a new object is created in the transaction tree. To do this, select the transaction for which the return is being made (see point 1 in the image below).

  2. Click the “New” button (see point 2 in the image below).

  3. A dialog opens. Select “return” from the drop-down menu.

  4. In the next dialog, enter a name for the return transaction.

  5. Then click on the newly created return transaction in the tree (see point 3 in the image below). At the bottom, you will see the tabs for entering your return (see point 4 in the image below).

Add returned objects to the list

To add the returned accession numbers, you can either scan the barcode or move the accession numbers manually.

  1. To add the returned accession numbers to the return transaction list, you must switch to the ‘Return’ tab (see point 1 in the image below).

  2. To manually move the accession numbers, select the returned items in the red field. Move them to the green ‘Return List’ by clicking the down arrow button (see point 2 and 3 in the image below).

  3. If you are using a barcode scanner, click in the red field below the green loan list (see point 3 in the image below) and scan your barcodes.

  4. The returned accession numbers are listed in the green ‘Return List’ field (see image below).

Create an acknowledgements of receipt

  1. To create an acknowledgements of receipt, which lists all returned objects, you first need to select a schema. To do this, click the folder button (see point 1 in the image below). We provide a few predefined xslt schemas with the DiversityCollection software. However, you can also create your own. In this example, Return.xslt was selected.

  2. To create and see a preview of the acknowledgements of receipt click on the preview button (see point 2 in the image below).

  3. You will be asked if you want to save the cover letter. You can access saved documents at any time via the “ Saved Documents” tab.

  4. A preview of the acknowledgements of receipt is shown. To print it, click on the printer button (see point 3 in the image below).

Create reminders and dunning letter

Create a reminder for the acknowledgements of receipt

After the loan has been sent, a letter can be created requesting confirmation of receipt of the loan.

  1. To create a confirmation letter listing all borrowed items, you must first select the transaction for which the confirmation letter is being made (see point 1 in the image below).

  2. Switch to the Confirmation tab (see point 2 in the image below).

  3. To create a confirmation letter, you must first select a scheme. To do this, click the folder button (see point 3 in the image below). We provide a few predefined xslt schemas with the DiversityCollection software. However, you can also create your own. In this example, ConfirmationReceiver.xslt was selected.

  4. To create and see a preview of the letter click on the preview button (see point 4 in the image below).

  5. You will be asked if you want to save the confirmation letter. You can access saved documents at any time via the “ Saved Documents” tab.

  6. A preview of the confirmation letter is shown. To print it, click on the printer button (see point 5 in the image below).

Create a dunning letter

After the loan has expired, a reminder letter can be created.

  1. To create a reminder letter listing all borrowed items, you must first select the transaction for which the reminder letter is being made.

  2. Switch to the Reminder tab (see point 1 in the image below).

  3. To create a reminder letter, you must first select a scheme. To do this, click the folder button (see point 2 in the image below). We provide a few predefined xslt schemas with the DiversityCollection software. However, you can also create your own. In this example, ConfirmationReceiver.xslt was selected.

  4. To create and see a preview of the letter click on the preview button (see point 3 in the image below).

  5. You will be asked if you want to save the reminder letter. You can access saved documents at any time via the “ Saved Documents” tab.

  6. A preview of the reminder letter is shown. To print it, click on the printer button (see point 4 in the image below).

Document and manage forwarding

If the borrower requests forwarding, this can be entered into the database and a letter of approval can be created.

Create a forwarding transaction

  1. To enter a forwarding, a new object is created in the transaction tree. To do this, select the transaction for which the forwarding is being made (see point 1 in the image below).

  2. Click the “New” button (see point 2 in the image below).

  3. A dialog opens. Select “forwarding” from the drop-down menu.

  4. In the next dialog, enter a name for the forwarding transaction.

  5. Then click on the newly created forwarding transaction in the tree (see point 3 in the image below). At the bottom, you will see the tabs for entering your forwarding (see point 4 in the image below).

Add forwarding objects to the list

  1. To add the forwarding accession numbers to the forwarding transaction list, you must switch to the ‘Forwarding’ tab (see point 1 in the image below).

  2. To move the accession numbers, select the items you want to forward in the red field. Move them to the blue ‘Forward List’ by clicking the down arrow button (see point 2 and 3 in the image below).

  3. The forwarded accession numbers are listed in the blue ‘Forward List’ field (see image below).

Creation of a confirmation for Forwarding

  1. To create a confirmation for Forwarding, which lists all forwarded objects, you first need to select a schema. To do this, click the folder button (see point 1 in the image below). We provide a few predefined xslt schemas with the DiversityCollection software. However, you can also create your own. In this example, Forwarding.xslt was selected.

  2. To create and see a preview of the confirmation click on the preview button (see point 2 in the image below).

  3. You will be asked if you want to save the confirmation letter. You can access saved documents at any time via the “ Saved Documents” tab.

  4. A preview of the confirmation is shown. To print it, click on the printer button (see point 3 in the image below).

Illustration of the loan workflows

graph TD;
    Anfrage[Anfrage<br/>externer<br/>Sammlung]
    Belege[Belege<br/>in Sammlung]
    Leihe[Leihe mit Belegen]
    Begleit[Begleitschreiben]
    Dauer[Dauer der Leihe]
    Mahnung[Mahnschreiben]
    Ruecksendung[Rücksendung]
    Empfang[Erstellung von<br/>Empfangsbestätigung]
    Adresse[Adressen aus<br/>DiversityAgents]
    Bestimmung[Bestimmung<br/>durch Spezialisten]

    Anfrage -->| Eingang von Leihanfrage | Leihe
    Belege --> | Zusammenstellung der Belege | Leihe
    Leihe --> | Erstellung von Begleitscheiben | Begleit
    Leihe --> | Abruf der Adresse | Adresse
    Adresse --> Begleit
    Adresse --> Mahnung
    Leihe --> Dauer
    Dauer --> | Überschreitung des Rückgabedatums | Mahnung
    Leihe --> Ruecksendung
    Ruecksendung --> Empfang
    Ruecksendung --> Bestimmung