Unique Gentle Nudge Plugin for Koha
This plugin automates the process of sending patrons to the Unique Management Services (UMS) collections service and updating those patrons in Koha.
Gentle Nudge is a product offered by UMS to assist libraries with the recovery of overdue material and unpaid fines. ByWater’s Gentle Nudge plugin will generate and send reports of patrons to UMS. UMS then contacts those patrons and ‘nudges’ them to return to the library to pay their fines and/or return materials. UMS does not ‘collect’ on behalf of the library.
UMS will generally want three reports from Koha:
- Submission Report: typically a weekly report of ‘new’ patrons that qualify for collections based on the specified criteria of minimum balance, patron types, account age, etc.
- Update Report: a daily report that monitors previously referred/active accounts for changes in account balance. This report keeps UMS current on patron balances on active collection accounts
- Synchronization Report: a maintenance report of all users flagged for collection. This report sends the patron ID, patron name, and total amount owed. Unique uses this report to query against our database to look for balance discrepancies and is useful for troubleshooting or catching up on missed updates or submission files.
The plugin will automatically flag patrons who meet specific requirements as being in collections, and optionally add a processing fee and restrict their account. Once a patron clears their account by paying their fines down to a zero balance, the plugin can optionally automatically clear the collections flag. At this time, the patron’s account restriction must be manually removed by library staff.
Configuring the Plugin
Day of week to run on:
Choose a single day of the week to submit the report of new patrons in collections to Unique. Any day of the week can be selected.
Patron categories:
Enter the Koha patron category codes for the patron categories that are eligible to be sent to collections. You can enter as many category codes as you need. Remember to enter the category code and not the patron category name. You can find the category codes in Koha by going to Administration > Patron categories. If this field is left blank, all patron categories will be included.
Threshold:
This is the minimum amount owed by a single patron that will move them to collections.
Processing fee:
If you charge the patron an additional fee when they are moved to collections, enter it here. It will be added to the patron’s account as a line item.
Collections flag:
This is the field that Koha will use to identify and mark patrons as being in collections. Sort1, Sort2, or a Patron Attribute are often used. Your Data Librarian and Educator will discuss the options with you.
Count fees newer/older than:
These parameters establish the age of fees that Koha will review when determining collection status for new submissions and updates, i.e. the total fees between X and Y days old to check if a patron should be sent to collections. The default values are newer than 90, and older than 60.
Ignore fees created before this date:
Fees created before the date entered here will not be part of the total used to check if a patron should be sent to collections.
Clear collections flag for patrons with zero balance:
If you would like the collections flag to be automatically cleared for patrons who have paid their balance to 0, select Yes from the dropdown.
Add Restriction for patrons entering collections:
If your library restricts patrons while they are in collections, select Yes from the dropdown. Remember that while the collections flag can be set to clear automatically, restrictions must be manually cleared.
Remove minors from collections report:
If enabled, patrons under the age of 18 years old will not be included on the collections report.
Unique email address:
This email will be provided to you by Unique Management Systems. It is the email address at which they will receive the weekly, daily, and sync reports from Koha.
Flagging Collections
A library can use a Sort field or a patron attribute for flagging a patron.
If using sort1 or sort2 for your collections flag, make sure that there isn't already data in there! Patrons will ONLY be sent to collections if the collections flag value is either "no" or NULL.
If using a patron attribute, on the other hand, make sure that the only authorized values are 1 and 0 (preferably tied to the YES/NO authorised_value). When using an attribute, the plugin checks for 1/0 rather than literal yes/no.
CronJob
This plugin is also connected to a cronjob (a backend process). If you are a partner of ByWater Solutions, please let us know and we can ensure the set up is complete and schedule this cronjob to run nightly.
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