RE: Pharos Storing Patron Money

["Peter Caton" <peterc at nils dot lib dot il dot us>]

Actually, Pharos has the ability to query Innovative through the API,
therefore, no additional software is needed on the "Pharos side" of
things.  

The problem, as I understand it, is that Innovative will not allow
Pharos to debit a patron's Innovative account- Pharos can only pull an
account balance down, and cannot change the balance in any way.  Thus,
Pharos could not use Innovative to subtract money used for printing.
Perhaps the E-Commerce module allows for this- if so, Pharos could
easily be tweaked to debit money on a patron's account via a script.

Anyone using the E-commerce module for this purpose?

Peter W. Caton
Network Administrator
North Suburban Library
6340 North Second Street
Loves Park, Illinois 61111
(815) 633-4247 ext. 22
peterc at nils dot lib dot il dot us

-----Original Message-----
From: Eric Rhee [mailto:erhee at chulavista dot lib dot ca dot us] 
Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2004 3:10 PM
To: 'innopac at innopacusers dot org'
Subject: RE: Pharos Storing Patron Money

I too recall hearing what Peter described about the iii e-commerce
module at
the IUG. Pharos does offer an extra-cost feature that allows you to
store a
credit balance. We are not using it, and I have no documentation, so I
can't
give you any help. You might contact a Pharos representative for
details.
FYI: The reason we are not using it has to do with policy [we are a
public
library funded by a City]. We are not permitted to take cash and be
indebted
to the public, so check to see if your organization has any such
prohibition
before you commit. I never dreamed it would be an issue...

-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Hudson
To: 'IUG INNOPAC List'
Sent: 10/28/04 12:13 PM
Subject: RE: Pharos Storing Patron Money

Hi Peter,
It is my understanding that until recently, Millennium could not keep
track
of patron credits or debits that were generated by a third party
application
such as Pharos. I believe the new E-Commerce module (not sure if it is
available yet) is supposed to allow you to do that.

To allow you to inject information into the patron record, you need an
API
which allows third party software to put information directly in the
table
that stores the patron info. The Patron API which allows you to pull
data
but not push it is the only thing available at the moment (as far as I
know.) Hopefully III's migration away from their current database to
MySQL
will allow us more control in this area.

Possibly someone else on the list has more info on the e-commerce
module.
That is just what I remember from IUG.
Bill

***********************************************************************

Bill Hudson, Manager
Information Technology Services
Library System of Lancaster County
1866 Colonial Village Lane, Suite 107
Lancaster, PA 17601    USA
717.207.0500 x1269 FAX 717.207.0504

Email: bhudson at lancasterlibraries dot org

> -----Original Message-----
> From: innopac-bounces at innopacusers dot org [mailto:innopac-
> bounces at innopacusers dot org] On Behalf Of Peter Caton
> Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2004 12:56 PM
> To: IUG INNOPAC List
> Subject: Pharos Storing Patron Money
> 
> A few weeks ago I posted a message inquiring whether Innovative could
> store money on a patron's account.
> 
> 
> 
> My post only received one response- and the response basically echoed
my
> question as to how Innovative could accomplish this.
> 
> 
> 
> I am wondering if anyone can explain why Innovative cannot store money
> at this time?  And if Innovative can, how to set this up-
> 
> 
> 
> Any thoughts would be appreciated.
> 
> 
> 
> Peter W. Caton
> 

---
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