When a transaction results in a Charge, the amount is written directly to the user’s account. Charges in User Links allows display of full details of the Accounts. The right hand tab then allows payment – or waiving of fees – to be made and recorded, with a Payment receipt if required; and also allows a tax invoice to be prepared for the user. Where currency notes are offered, a Change Calculation is provided to allow automatic assistance.

Charges Display  #

From the account, the operator can select one, some or all charges displayed for payment by ticking the associated checkbox for the charge.

Selection of the rows to be settled will transfer and accumulate the amount owing to the associated payment panel(right, including any applicable tax.

Full title details are given [when available] as well as the item’s location, and the charge payable. The Transaction column indicates the process that caused the charge. At the bottom of the screen a scrollbar allows additional information to be displayed – pulling the scrollbar to the right of the screen reveals the additional fields. The full set of columns available is:

• When – – Date/Time of charge application
• Transaction
• Title
• Charge
• Paid
• Waived
• Deferred
• Loan date
• Due date
• Item barcode
• Item status

Tax #

If a charge attracts tax, e.g., GST, then when defining the charge in the System parameters, the library determines that tax is to be calculated. This is included in the amount levied, so that the operator does not need to calculate the charge in any way, e.g. if the charge for a library bag is to be set at $2.50, this amount will include $0.23 in tax (at 10%); when the charge is applied, the default value of 2.50 is applied, and if the operator does not change this, then the account display will show the details of the charge as broken down: Charge: 2.23; Tax 0.27 = payable 2.50.

Payment #

You can use the pay screen to select and pay amounts owing, or waive charges, subject to authority.

Credit #

An operator must be on level 9 task setting to be able to record a negative charge and receive credit for a user. This is applied through Add Charge

Printing charge details #

To print details the charges displayed, select the view to be printed, and click the Information tab on the Control Panel. The data may then be exported to Excel using the Excel button, for manipulation and for printing.

• w or amended call details are complete, the Save button will be enabled and the details may be committed by pressing this button.

Pay Tab #

Information/Input Boxes #

• Owed Pre-Tax – (this cannot be adjusted by the operator and calculated based on charges ticked)
• Tax – (this cannot be adjusted by the operator and calculated based on charges ticked)
• Owed After tax – (this cannot be adjusted by the operator and calculated based on charges ticked)
• Pay now –  Editable the amount the user is wishing to pay at this time allowing for partial payments
• Waive – Used to waive charges, note the pay now must be altered to 0.00 for waiving – See How to waive  for more details
• Defer – (The deferral amount is always calculated automatically from the amount entered as ‘Pay now’ – that is, the amount to be paid is entered and deferred then follows: the deferral amount is never entered directly.)
• Amount given by customer – Should be entered during normal payment proceed The ability to save the payment will only be
• Change required – Below the payment panel, a separate panel will be found. This provides some assistance with determination of the required change from the cash offered in payment, and allows for connection to a cash register. The calculation is automatically linked to the ‘Pay now’ sum as detailed above; such that the change is calculated from the amount offered

Payment type #

Boolen radio button options select to record the type of payment

• Not yet selected
• Cash – Default
• Cheque
• EFTPOS
• Payment portal

Refund #

To Be completed.

Partial payments #

Appropriate rows will then remain in the user’s account, indicating the amount that has been paid, and the amount deferred, which can be fully settled at a later date. To effect a partial payment, simply enter the sum to be paid as ‘Pay now’ and the amount deferred is calculated automatically.

Waiving #

If the operator has authority to waive amounts, then this is allowed – Aurora records the details of the operator permitting the waiver and the amount waived.

The waived amount is removed from the current outstanding charges for the user, but is recorded in the account screen. Waiver can be combined with payment or with deferral, except where multiple charges are to be paid, and if attempted, Aurora will provide a reminder:

If this is the case, then it is best to record the waiver first, and so remove the conflicting payment, save the waiver and apply the payment.

For details on how to waive single and multiple charges see the how to waive page.

The payment can then be recorded with the ‘Save’ icon.

Checkbox options #

Five checkboxes are available on the Control panel:

Prompt on fine payment #

With this checkbox ticked, Aurora will issue a confirmation message each time a payment is to be recorded. The selection is persistent, i.e. the setting will remain in the selected state for all transactions until next changed.

Paid and retained only #

This option allows the operator to review charges that have been paid. HOWEVER, please note, that once all fines and minor charges have been paid, then the details of these are removed from the User record. The details may be viewed using the Circulation History audit facilities, but not here. This feature only allows special payments (i.e. deposit, general and replacement cost charges) to be reviewed, as these are a special instance, and relate to ongoing use of the library. The display indicates the date of payment, and charge details – for a subscription, the dates covered are given in the description:

Overdue charges only #

When this checkbox is selected, any charges for the user are filtered, and a focus is applied to overdue charges, e.g. removing from display and calculation other charges such as replacement, booking, or service charges [but note that these charges are removed from the immediate display only, and can be made visible again by de-selecting the checkbox]. This allows an operator to charge the user for library fines only.

Select all on page #

This option allows the operator to select all charges for processing in one easy action. [This is the default on opening the Charges screen.]

Tax invoice #

The operator may optionally create a tax invoice for the user detailing outstanding charges, using a template designed by the library. This output is designed to be output to an attached docket printer. In this example, each specific service is shown, with the title of the item (truncated) and the amount including tax:

Default print behaviours #

The following Enterprise parameters effect the default behaviours associated with printing and payment

• DefPaymentMethod – Default charge payment method (C)ash, che(Q)ue or (E)ftpos – DefPaymentAction
• Default charge payment action (P)rint after save, (S)ave only. Email if P and EmailTaxDocketsAllowed=True
• EmailTaxDocketsAllowed – Allow tax receipt and invoice dockets to be emailed

Command buttons #

Three command buttons are available:

• This button allows a link to Audit History to show a list of all the user’s payment transactions to date.
•  This button allows output of the tax invoice
•  This button saves the payment, or other charge update