Acquiring Subscriptions

A subscription is an order for a periodical that requires payment before issues are sent to the library. The payment covers a certain number of issues received over a certain period of time, called the “subscription period.” Before the end of the period, the library must renew the subscription to continue receiving issues. This is done by sending payment for the next subscription period. Journals, magazines, and newspapers are the most common types of subscriptions.

Follow these procedures for acquiring subscription orders and renewing them:

Create a purchase order header for the standing order (or orders).
Mark the option you want for creating copy records in the Copy/Item Creation field on the PO header.
Set the Spent Event field on the PO header to “Statement Approval.” Since renewals of existing subscriptions are generally not printed or received, you should set the Spent Event field to “Statement Approval” to ensure that funds are expended each time you invoice a subscription.

If you are creating a purchase order for a new title subscription and the vendor requires payment at the time of order, you can set the Spent Event field to “Create Invoice at PO Line Approval (Prepaid).” This lets you print a voucher for purchase order before you receive or invoice it. After you print the voucher, change the Spent Event field to “Statement Approval” to ensure that funds are expended for lines that are added for future renewals.

If you want Horizon to automatically renew a subscription, then complete the Renewal Type and Subscription Period fields on the PO header.

(For a complete description of these fields, see the steps in Setting Up Renewals. For more information on renewing subscriptions, see Standing Order and Subscription Renewals.)

Add a line for the subscription to the purchase order. You can still keep the subscription period in the Internal Note field on the PO line (for example, “January 2001 to December 2001”), but Horizon does not use it to automatically renew orders.

If a bib record already exists for the title, create the line by copying the title from staff searching. (For information, see Creating a PO Line for a Title in Staff Searching.) This links the bib record to the PO line. The PO line must be linked to a bib record in order attach copies and view copy information in Acquisitions.

Make sure the bib record is linked to the PO line so you can view copy information in Acquisitions. (For information, see Linking Bib Records to PO Lines.)

Communicate the purchase order to the vendor if the order is for a new title subscription. Typically, vendors do not require a purchase order for the renewal of an existing subscription.
Claim and receive the first issue of new title subscriptions, unless prediction and claiming is already set up for the title in the Serials module. If prediction and claiming is set up in Serials, cancel the claiming in Acquisitions to avoid double claiming. (To do this, see Canceling, Suspending, or Forcing Claims.) Once prediction and claiming is set up in Serials, all claiming and receiving of subsequent issues and future subscriptions is handled in Serials.

Normally, you do not need to receive PO lines for subscription renewals since the items are received with the Serials Checkin feature. However, if the line has been ordered, you must either receive the line or cancel the claiming on it to avoid double claiming.

If you choose to not have Horizon automatically renew subscriptions, record subscription renewals; otherwise, Horizon automatically renews the subscription. (For more information, see Standing Order and Subscription Renewals.)
Typically, the vendor will send you an invoice for the next subscription period sometime before the current subscription period begins. You must record the subscription renewal and invoice it to continue the subscription.

You can manually record a subscription renewal in one of two ways. The first method is to add a new line to the original purchase order. This method is recommended if you have only one subscription title per purchase order. To do this, copy the title from staff searching and enter the dates of the new subscription period in the Internal Note field. (To preserve the link to the bib record, be sure to copy the title from staff searching; if you copy a line on a purchase order to the same purchase order, the link to the bib record is broken for the new line.) The other method is to create a new purchase order. This method may be preferable if you have multiple subscription titles for a vendor on the same purchase order.

Notes

When you create a purchase order for a new title subscription, Horizon will record it as being complete if you process, receive, and invoice it. However, when you add new lines for subsequent subscriptions, the purchase order goes back to an incomplete state and will remain that way, since you neither process nor receive subscription renewals. If you create a separate purchase order for renewals, the original order will remain completed. However, all subsequent purchase orders will remain incomplete since you neither process nor receive them.
If you cancel a subscription and you want to change the purchase order to a completed state, do the following: (1) Process the purchase order by creating a BISAC order for it, (2) delete the BISAC order, and (3) receive all unreceived quantities. After you do this, Day End will record the purchase order as complete and enter a date in the Completed field on the PO header.

 


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