Standing Order PO Type for Acquisitions

[Lena Hernandez]

There is a need for a standing order solution in the Evergreen Acq module. Standing Orders are open ongoing orders that have money encumbered at the beginning of a FY (or beginning of a contract) which may be drawn against several times in a year or may be delivered at irregular intervals. Examples of standing orders could include:

1. Almanacs or who’s who annual publications that the library has contracted to receive every time they publish.
2. Series that the library has ordered to ensure that the full series is acquired.
3. Programs like Baker & Taylor’s First Look packages where the library has contracted to get a set number and type/subject of book each year but does not select the items title by title in advance.

The current options in Evergreen are insufficient to meet the needs of libraries that wish to make these encumbrances, but still have a title by title accounting of the received items.

Currently Evergreen libraries use one of two strategies. Strategy one is to make multiple POs as the libraries get notified of the title(s) and estimated cost. This allows the library to have a detailed list of the incoming items. However, this does not allow the library to encumber the funds in advance or at the beginning of the FY. For libraries using plans like First Look, this means that the available monies displayed in their funds may be off by thousands of dollars at the beginning of the year, even though they know that most will be applied to a standing order. The second strategy used is the Blanket order. Blanket orders allow the library to encumber the funds in advance, but do not allow the library to split out the PO or Invoice by item. As noted in the official documentation, “the [Blanket Order] work flow supported by this development assumes staff does not need to track the individual contents of the order, only the amounts encumbered and invoiced in bulk.”

Other ILSs handle these orders in several ways. One example workflow would be:
1. A standing order type PO is created with a generic bulk encumberment.
2. Item(s) and an invoice arrive.
3. A holding is created on the appropriate bib for each item that has come.
4. The holding is linked to an invoice which is linked to the standing order PO.
5. The invoice displays title level info and is paid from encumbered funds on PO.
6. As the PO is marked as a standing order, the encumbrance can be modified in a few ways such as:
   a. multiple invoices against the encumberment,
   b. an option to release all remaining encumberments, but leave the PO open,
   c. an option to add additional encumbered funds after the PO is activated.
   d. PO can rollover and be used for an additional year or remaining funds can be rolled over.

Alternatively, the PO can have additional order lines added to it after it is activated. These can be rolled in under the existing encumberment and essentially add additional details to parts of the preexisting encumberment. To wit,

1. PO# STANDINGORDER1 is created with an encumbrance for $1,000.
2. The PO is activated.
3. The Library receives a list of titles and prices for the first delivery from the vendor.
4. The library adds each title to the PO using a workflow like the standard process for adding line items to POs.
5. Because this PO is flagged as a standing order, the total encumbered funds stay the same.
   a. PO details:
      i. Book A - $5.00
     ii. Book B - $5.00
    iii. Book C - $5.00
     iv. Book D - $5.00
     v. Remaining bulk encumbrance $980
   b. Total encumbrance $1,000
6. As additional deliveries are sent, the library can continue to add line items to the PO.
7. Invoicing is completed through the typical process.
8. For POs flagged as standing orders, the PO level actions include the ability to
   a. Invoice multiple times against the encumberment,
   b. Have an option to release all remaining encumberments, but leave the PO open,
   c. Have an option to add additional encumbered funds after the PO is activated.
   d. PO can rollover and be used for an additional year or remaining funds can be rolled over.

The needs of some libraries were addressed with the addition of the Blanket Order type (See Bug #1287258). However, some libraries feel that there is still a need for a true standing order PO type that will allow for both encumbrances and line item details.

This bug affects all current Evergreen versions (3.11 and older)