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1.3. Managing Offline Transactions
Last Updated 11/13/2023
Offline Transactions
Exporting Offline Transactions
If you anticipate a multi-day closing or if you plan to process your offline transactions at a different workstation, you will want to export your offline transactions.
To export transactions while you are offline, navigate to Circulation → Offline Circulation and click Export Transactions in the top-right of the screen. This will save a file entitled pending.xacts to your browser’s default download location. If you will be processing these transactions on another workstation, move this file to an external device like a thumb drive.
To export transactions while you are logged in, navigate to Circulation → Offline Circulation and click on the Session Management tab. Click on the Export Transactions button to generate the pending.xacts file as above. If you wish, you can at this point click Clear Transactions to clear the list of pending transactions.
Processing Offline Transactions
Once connectivity is restored, navigate back to your Evergreen Login Page — https://system.nccardinal.org/eg/staff (where system = your library system short policy code name). You will see a message telling you that there are unprocessed Offline Transactions waiting for upload.
Sign in and navigate to Circulation → Offline Circulation. Since you are logged in, you will now see a Session Management tab to the left of the Register Patron tab. The Session Management tab includes Pending Transactions and Offline Sessions.
In the Pending Transactions tab you will see a list of all transactions recorded on that browser.
If you click Clear Transactions, you will be prompted with a warning. Please do not Clear Pending Transactions.
If you are processing transactions right away and from the same browser you recorded them in, follow the steps below:
- Click on the Offline Sessions tab and then on the Create Session button.
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Enter a descriptive name for your session in the modal and click OK/Continue to proceed. You will see your new session at the top of the Session List. The Session List may be sorted ascending or descending by clicking on one of the following column headers: Organization, Created By, Description, Date Created, or Date Completed. The default sort is descending by Date Created.
- Click Upload to upload everything listed in the Pending Transactions tab.
- Once all transactions are uploaded, the Upload Count column will update to show the number of uploaded transactions.
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Click Process to process the offline transactions. Click Refresh to see the processing progress. Once all transactions are processed the Date Completed column will be updated.
- Scroll to the bottom of the screen to see if there are any entries in the Exception List. Some of these may require staff follow up.
Uploading Previously Exported Transactions
If you had previously exported your offline transactions you can upload them for processing.
To import transactions:
- Log in to the staff client via your Login Page.
- Navigate to Circulation → Offline Circulation.
- Click on the Session Management tab.
- Click on the Import Transactions button.
- Navigate to the location on your computer where the pending.xacts file is saved.
- Select the file for importing.
- The Pending Transactions list will populate with your imported transactions.
- You may now proceed according to the instructions under Processing Offline Transactions.
Exceptions
Exceptions are problems that were encountered during processing. For example, a mis-scanned patron barcode, an open circulation, or an item that was not checked in before it was checked out to another patron would all be listed as exceptions. Those transactions causing exceptions might not be loaded into Evergreen database. Staff should examine the exceptions and take necessary action.
These are a few notes about possible exceptions. It is not an all-inclusive list.
- Checking out an item with the wrong date (i.e. the Offline Checkout date is +2 weeks and the item’s regular circulation period is +1 week) does not cause an exception.
- Overdue books are not flagged as exceptions.
- Checking out a reference book or another item set to not circulate does not cause an exception.
- Checking out an item belonging to another library does not cause an exception.
- An item that is targeted for a patron hold and captured via offline checkin will not cause an exception unless that item also goes to an In Transit status.
- An item that is on hold for Patron A but checked out to Patron B will not cause an exception. Patron A’s hold will be reset and will retarget the next time the hold targeter is run. In order to avoid this it is recommended to not check out holds to other patrons.
- If you check out a book to a patron using a previous barcode for that patron, it will cause an exception and you will have to retrieve that patron while online and re-enter the item barcode in order to checkout the item.
At the right side of each exception are buttons for Item, Patron, and Debug. Clicking the Item button will retrieve the associated item in a new browser window. Clicking on the Patron button will retrieve the associated patron in a new browser window. Clicking the Debug button will result in a modal with detailed debugging information.
Using Item and/or Patron (depending on the type of exception) buttons will help staff to identify the error and resolve it.
In most cases, staff should go ahead and check an identifiable item out to an identifiable patron (regardless of whether or not the patron is normally eligible), since the patron went home with the material and their account should reflect that information correctly.
Common error messages (this is not an exhaustive list):
| Error Message | What It Means | What You Can Do |
| ASSET_COPY_NOT_ FOUND | the item barcode was mis-scanned/mis-typed | You may or may not be able to resolve this with the information available, particularly if there are digits missing.
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| ACTOR_CARD_NOT_ FOUND | the patron's library barcode was mis-scanned/mis-typed | May or may not be able to resolve this with the information available. If you cannot identify the patron, mark the item MISSING. |
| OPEN_CIRCULATION_ EXISTS | a book was checked out that had never been checked in | Open the patron account and check the item out to the patron listed in the exception. Select normal or forgiving checkin for the previous patron. |
| PATRON_ACCOUNT_EXPIRED | the patron account is expired | Click Retrieve patron and extend the expiration date a few weeks, rather than clicking on the Update Expire Date button. |
| MAX_RENEWALS_ REACHED | the item has already been renewed the maximum times allowed | |
| ROUTE-ITEM | the book should be routed to another branch or library system | You'll need to find the book and re-check it in (online) to get the Transit Slip to print |
| CIRC_CLAIMS_RETURNED | a book previously marked as claimed-returned was found and checked in | |
| COPY_STATUS_LOST | a book previously marked as lost was found and checked in |