Alma Acquisitions Resource Guide

Acquisitions Workflow Guides

Overview and Acquisitions Infrastructure Videos: 

The following videos are an overview of the acquisitions workflow tutorials available in this series, as well as the Acquisitions Infrastructure Components, including Vendors, Ledgers, Funds, and Transferring Funds.

Acquisitions Roadmap: Alma Acquisitions supports the full end-to-end workflows required for various types of acquisition methods from the point of order to the point of usage harvesting and analysis. 

Purchasing Workflow ( Note: Harvard)

• Orders can be created either manually, or via an order load (called EOD: Embedded Order data)
• Orders can be either One-time (monographs) or Continuous (serials and standing orders)
• Purchase order lines (POLs) contain the order information, vendor, budget, renewal period for ongoing orders, etc
• Inventory (meaning: items and holdings) can be created automatically or manually during the POL creation 
• Purchase order lines go through a validation phase to check for mandatory information and an additional review phase (if there is inaccurate or missing data) 

• Once the POL passes review and validation it is "packaged" into a Purchase order (PO) and sent to the vendor (if applicable), either by EDI or email

Purchasing Workflow General Explanation

Best Practice Toolkit: Conducting a Purchasing Workflow Review: Directions on conducting a purchasing workflow review.

Purchasing Workflows Videos: Purchasing workflows for manual physical items and bibliographic record uploads with embedded order data (EOD).

• Purchasing One-Time Print Items

• Purchasing Continuous Print Items

• Using Import Profiles to Upload Bibliographic Records

• Purchasing One-Time Print Items
• Purchasing Continuous Print Items
• Using Import Profiles to Upload Bibliographic Records

Invoicing Workflow (Note Harvard)

• Invoices can be created manually (either from scratch or from a POL or PO), from an Excel file uploaded into Alma, or loaded as EDI
• Invoices go through a system validation and review (if there is any missing or inaccurate data) process after creation
• Invoice approval is the final step

Invoicing Workflow Explanation

Invoicing Workflows Videos: Invoice creation workflows that show how to create invoices manually, using a purchase order, and using a file upload.  Also includes a a tutorial showing how to handle invoices waiting for payment.

 

• Creating an Invoice: Manual
• Creating an Invoice: From PO
• Creating an Invoice: From a File
• Invoices Waiting for Payment

• Creating an Invoice: Manual
• Creating an Invoice: From PO
• Creating an Invoice: From a File
• Invoices Waiting for Payment

Receiving Workflow (Note Harvard)

• Receipt of Physical material is indicated via a Receiving process on the item records
• Items can be marked as Received as a separate process or during the invoicing process
• After receipt, the titles can be assigned to another section for cataloging, binding etc, or marked In transit to be sent to their final destination
• One-Time orders close when fully invoiced and received
• Continuous orders remain in the status "Waiting for Renewal" once an item has been received and the invoice paid: these orders are closed manually

Receiving Workflow: Receiving workflows for physical one-time and serial items, and how to manage post-receiving processing and claims.

• Receiving One-Time Print Items
• Receiving Continuous Print Items
• Post Receiving Processing and Claims

• Receiving One-Time Print Items
• Receiving Continuous Print Items
• Post Receiving Processing and Claims

Acquisitions Jobs: This session allows you to choose from the five available Acquisitions Jobs and walks you through the steps of using that job to update PO lines.

Update PO Lines via Acquisitions Jobs