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Alma supports both automatically generated charges and manually added charges.

Automatic fines and fees include:

• Lost Item Replacement Fee

• Lost Item Process Fee

• Recall Overdue Fee

• Overdue Fines (for short loans)

Manual fines, fees, and credits can also be assigned for the above categories, as well as a Damaged Item Fee or a Credit. Manual fines and fees should always be associated with an item barcode.

For each fine or fee, Alma records information including Creation Date, Status (Active, Closed, In Dispute), Status Date, Comment (if added), Fee Owner, Title, Barcode, Original Amount, and Remaining Balance.

• Click Remaining Balance to see the Fee/Fine Transaction List

Note that manual fines or credits do not require an Item Barcode, but it can be added later. Click the Row Action Items […] and choose Link to Item, then enter the item’s barcode.

Once a fine or fee has been exported to the external Bursar system, it will display as Closed in Alma.

Fines can also be paid via check or the online system, in which case details related to the manual Payment can be recorded in Alma. https://duke.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/LIB/pages/109969434/Advanced+Circulation#Fines-and-Fees

Payment can be accepted for all or part of the total amount of fines on a patron’s account, or for specific fines associated with particular items.

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These transactions can then be viewed by clicking the patron’s Active Balance from Manage Patron Services or from the Fines and fees tab of the User Details Record. Click on the Remaining Balance for any Closed fine to see the transaction history.

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The staff member who registered the payment is recorded, as well as the Transaction Date and Payment Method, and any Comments added at the time of the transaction.

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This information can also be generated by a report in Alma Analytics.

When registering online payments manually in Alma, the Transaction ID field is mandatory, and not auto-generated. Whenever possible, this should match the identifer attached when a patron submits the credit card payment through the DUL site.

A Transaction ID is not mandatory for payments by check.

The Fines and Fees Report is of limited use. It is a downloadable Excel file that includes a report of the fines and fees transactions that have been performed over a 1- to 7-day period.

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We expect to use an Alma Analytics custom-built report for increased functionality for reporting on Fines and Fees. More to come.