Can Voyager calculate accrued fines for overdue items still on loan?

• Article Type: General
• Product: Voyager

Description:
Can Voyager calculate accrued fines for overdue items still on loan? How do accrued fines behave?

Resolution:
Circjob 30 (Accrued Fines/Demerits) calculates accrued fines on outstanding loans at the time the batch job is run. It updates the patron record with the Accrued Fine amount for each overdue item. Circjob 30 may be run regularly, even multiple times per day, in order to keep current rates on hourly fines.

In Circulation, operators can access fine/fee information from the patron record, where the Fine/Fee Reason will display as "Accrued Fine" for any accrued amount on an outstanding loan. Payment cannot be posted to these fines until the item is returned & discharged, but the amount is available for reference.

Accrued fines are also included in the calculation against the maximum fines defined in patron blocks - patrons with many overdue items that are not yet lost can be blocked from further circulation transactions if their accrued fines exceed the maximum allowed for their patron group.

Once an item is returned and discharged, the accrued fine is replaced with the calculated overdue fine and payment can be posted to the fine at that time.

Best practice: implement Circjob 30 and test in traindb before applying to production to ensure blocks and other behavior is as desired.

• Article last edited: 3/17/2015