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Core Sources

Core Sources are the database structures that you can base reports on. In general, you can determine which Core Source to pick based on the kind of data you want to retrieve. For example, if you want to find circulation statistics, you'd pick a Core Source that has to do with circulations. If you were trying to get data about how many items you have with a certain Circulation Modifier, then you should pick a Core Source that has to do with items.

Picking the Core Source is the very first thing you do when creating a template; you reach all other data for filters or display fields from the Core Source. If you are unsure of which Core Source to use for a template, this section will be a useful reference. You can also look at the template description for any of the reports you currently use to see what was used for that report.

This section will discuss the most commonly used Core Sources and fields within these sources that may not be as obvious. It is best to stick to the sources immediately available under the “Core sources” header in the dropdown (as opposed to “Non-core sources”).

Bibliographic Record

As the name indicates, this source gives you access to bibliographic records. For example, you can use this to get a count of titles that your library owns.

Most of the fields available via the Bibliographic Record source are self-explanatory (at least to a cataloger), though it may take a bit of poking around to find what you are looking for (for example, if you want to get the title, it's under the Simple Record Extracts link). We'll go over a few of the confusing fields here.

Fingerprint: This field contains a text string that is made up of the title and author with all punctuation, whitespace, and capitalization removed. It is used for matching records (for de-duplication and other situations), but doesn't come up very often in day-to-day ILS operations.

MARC21Slim: This field contains the actual MARC record as text in XML format. This record is not usually used for reports, since it is not very easy to filter on a large blob of XML and it tends to be unwieldy as a display field.

Call Numbers: The Call Numbers link allows you to access all call numbers that are attached to a record. You can access the call number label (the text that is actually printed on the spine label), as well as the owning library of a call number. This link is useful for creating templates that filter for titles owned by a certain library. However, it is very important that you do not use the Bib Record Entry link from the Call Number table – this could create a cycle that could cause the report to run forever.

Fixed Field Entry: This field allows you to view/filter upon fixed fields. You can access these fields directly by highlighting Fixed Field Entry in the Source Name box, or you can expand Fixed Field Entry and highlight links to the individual fixed fields to get their codes and descriptions. Again, it is important that you avoid using the Bib Record Entry link available under the Fixed Field Entry, for either filters or displays.

Directly under Bibliographic Record, there are several Indexed Entries listed. These are the indices used by the OPAC for searching the catalog; they are not generally used for reporting but are available if you need to retrieve them for a bib record.

While you can link to items from the Bibliographic Record source, you should usually base item-related templates off the Classic Item List source. However, if you want a listing of items that all have some bibliographic record date in common, this is the core source to use.

Circulation

The Circulation source gives you access to circulation records exactly as they are stored in the database. You should use this source when you want to gather circulation statistics such as circulation counts, possibly broken down by various categories such as item language, patron demographic, owning library, circulation modifiers, statistical categories, etc. You can also use this source to retrieve lists of items circulated on a certain day or to a certain patron.

Most of the fields available in the main Circulation path are self-explanatory. The Circulation source also gives immediate access to billing information that pertains to circulations and the rules that apply to each circulation via the following links:

Billing Totals: This link gives you access to the billing totals for a circulation. In other words, if a circulation has associated fines or fees, the Billing Totals link lets you use the unvoided amount that has been billed (the Unvoided Billing Amount field) or voided (the Voided Billing Amount field), or the sum of the two (the Total Billing Amount field).

You should avoid using the Transaction ID link that is available under the Billing Totals link in the Source Name box; if you must access further billable transaction information that is available for a circulation, you should use the Base Transaction link that is available directly under the Circulation source.

Circ Duration Rule: This link provides access to information about the duration rule applied to a circulation. Most of the fields are self-explanatory but do require an understanding of how circulation rules are defined, which is out of the scope of this document.

Max Fine Rule: This link allows you to choose the name of the maximum fine rule and the maximum fine amount as a display field or filter.

Payment Totals: This link gives you access to the payment totals for a circulation. In other words, if a circulation has associated fines which have been paid in part or in full, the Payment Totals link lets you display or filter upon total amount that has been paid (the Unvoided Paid Amount field) or voided (the Voided (Returned) Paid Amount field), or the sum of the two (the Total Paid Amount field).

As with the Billing Totals link, you should avoid the Transaction ID link that is available via Payment Totals.

Recurring Fine Rule: This link allows you to access information about the fine rule that applies to a circulation, such as how often fines should be billed and the amount of the fine at the high, low, and normal levels.

Transaction Billings and Transaction Payments: These links let you use individual line items for your template; these line items represent individual payments, fines, and fees that are applied to the transaction.

Classic Item List

This classic source gives you access to most information pertaining to items. There is another core source called Item that allows you to explore item data directly as it is stored in the database. In most cases, however, the Classic Item List is easier to use.

You should use this source whenever you are trying to get information about items; for example, you can get counts of items that have been added or deleted, a count of items by type, information about items’ status, etc.

Classic Open Transaction Summary

This source gives you access to all open transactions. There is a bit of nuance to the phrase “open transaction” in Evergreen, and its relationship to billable transactions, billing line items, and payment line items.

Billable transactions are any ILS operations that can have a bill attached; this includes “grocery” bills initiated via the Bills Interface and any circulation (even if no charges have accrued on that circulation).

Billing line items keep track of how much money the patron owes for each transaction; payment line items keep track of how much money the patron has already paid.

When a transaction is closed, it will have a finish date associated with it; this date tells us both that the transaction has been completed (paid in full or forgiven) and when it was completed.

An open transaction is any billable transaction that has had at least one billing line item attached to it and does not have a finish date. Usually, this means that the patron owes a balance, however, there are some glitches in Evergreen that have occasionally led to transactions which have no balance but remain open. If you find such a transaction, contact your system administrator.

The Classic Open Transaction Summary source gives you easy access to information about all open transactions directly from the Classic Open Transaction Summary, as well as links to the owing patron, the billing location, the patron's home library, and the actual transaction object as it exists in the database.

Many of the fields available from the Classic Open Transaction Summary source are more or less self-explanatory, but we'll go over a few of the more confusing fields here.

Transaction Type: This field is available in the Source Path box if you highlight Classic Open Transaction Summary in the Core Source box. For any transaction, this field will be either “circulation” or “grocery,” depending upon the transaction's origin. For example, if a circulation accrues fines, the type for that transaction is “circulation.” On the other hand, if you create a transaction in the Bills Interface that isn't associated with a specific circulation, its type will be “grocery.”

Transaction ID Link: This link is available directly under Classic Open Transaction Summary in the Core Source box. If you highlight it, the field name box won't hold any fields that weren't available from Classic Open Transaction Summary. However, if you expand it in the Source Name box, you will see a number of other linked tables. Billing line items and Payment line items contain individual charges or payments that have been recorded for this transaction; for most reports, you probably won't need to use these tables unless you want to display information such as the location of payments, dates of each billing, etc.

Circulation Billing and Grocery Billing: These links give you access to more information about the transaction, depending on whether its type is “circulation” or “grocery.” A grocery transaction will have a valid Grocery Billing link but will not have a valid Circulation Billing link; likewise, a circulation transaction will not have a valid Grocery Billing Link but will have a valid Circulation Billing link.

The Circulation Billing link links to the circulation record that the transaction is based on, and from that circulation record, you can also reach item-specific information. The Grocery Billing link only offers one field that isn't available directly from the Classic Open Transaction Summary: the “Note” field.

Copy Transit

You should use the Copy Transit source whenever you want information about all transits, including transits of hold items as well as transits for other reasons (for example, when an item is returned to a different library than its circulation library, the system records a transit).

The fields and links for this source are self-explanatory; avoid using those marked “Not Used.” Also, it is best to avoid the Hold Transit link that is available from this core source; for templates pertaining specifically to transits of hold items, you should use the Hold Transit core source.

Hold Request

The Hold Request source gives you access to information pertaining to holds. You can use this source to report on both holds requiring transits and holds that do not require transits. This source is useful for reports on unfilled holds, holds without targets, titles that patrons put holds on at your library, etc.

The Selection Locus field is a link, however, this source isn't useful for reporting purposes. The software uses this field to determine how to search for an eligible item. For PINES' purposes, this field links to the Pickup Library; however, you should always use the Pickup Library field link instead of the Selection Locus link. It is more likely to remain consistent across software versions, and makes more sense.

The Target Object ID field also has a link for its data type, but you may notice that there is no link with the same name in the Core Source box. This field is only used internally, and should not be used for reports.

Hold Transit

Hold Transit is useful when you want to retrieve information about how many items your library receives via transit for holds or how many it sends to other libraries for holds. The Hold requiring Transit link gives you access to the information about the hold, such as request date, requesting user, hold type, etc.

Avoid using the Base Transit link; it may give you unexpected results.

ILS User

The ILS User source covers all users, both staff and patrons. This source is great for gathering patron statistics, such as patron counts by ZIP code or city. Most of the fields and sources available under the ILS User will be familiar, though there are a few that may be confusing.

Is Super User: This field, available directly under the ILS User source, isn't particularly useful – only system administrators should be super users (in other words, they have Evergreen permissions for all ILS operations and administration-specific operations).

Last Transaction ID: This field contains the ID of the most recent billable transaction that the user was involved in (these can be circulations or grocery bills). This field is mostly used internally, or for administrative tasks. Transaction IDs aren’t very useful for most Evergreen users, since transactions can’t be retrieved via the ID in the staff client.

Password (obfuscated): This field contains the encrypted version of the patron's password. You cannot use this field to retrieve a password; it is used internally by the system to validate logins.

Photo URL: This isn't used by PINES, though it is designed to contain exactly what its name indicates: a URL for a patron photograph that can be retrieved via the Internet.

Current Library Card: This is a link that allows you to view/filter the barcode that is on the patron's current library card.

All Library Cards: This link, on the other hand, lets you view every card the patron has ever had assigned to them, including their current card. In general, the Card ID field is only useful for getting counts; for example, if you want to report how many cards a given user has had, you could include the Card ID field from All Library Cards in the Displayed Fields with the Count Distinct transform.

Main (Profile) Permission Group: This link contains information about the user's profile, such as “Patron” or “Circ1.” The Group Name field contains the name of the user's profile.

In House Use

Use the In House Use source to retrieve records of uses that were entered in the Record In-House Use interface. In-house records are simpler than circulation records; the date, location, item, and staff member that recorded the in-house use are available for filter or display.

Item

The Item source presents item-related information exactly as it is stored in the database. In general, it's a better idea to use the Classic Item List source when you're creating templates for item reports, however, there is a situation in which Item is the only way to get particular data.

If you need access to any Circ Modifiers other than 1 or 2, then you will have to use Item to use those in your template.

There is a link under Item called Stat-Cat entry maps that links the copy with a statistical category name and statistical category values. Be careful not to use the owning_copy link that is available under Stat-Cat entry maps; it links back to the original item and can create a report that will never finish.

To filter upon or display a statistical category, follow the stat_cat link; the name field contains the name of a statistical category, such as “Legacy CAT 1” or “Adult.” If you need the value assigned to a statistical category, use the stat_cat_entry's value field.

Non-cataloged Circulation and Non-cataloged In House Use

The Non-cataloged Circulation source lets you retrieve information about non-cat checkouts; if your branch or system records in house uses of non-cataloged items, the Non-cataloged In House Use source lets you report upon those uses.

The Name link under the Non-cat Item Type link lets you display/filter on the type of circulation (such as “PINES : Computer”).

The Owning Library link under the Non-cat Item Type links to the organizational unit that owns the type; for example the non-cat type “PINES : Computer” is owned by PINES; your system or branch may have locally defined non-cat types.

Open Circulation Balance Sources

There are three Open Circulation Balance core sources available; these sources are fairly simple. They let you report on the balance owed on open circulations. Each source has different libraries linked for filtering/display.

Open Circulation Balance By Owning Library lets you display all the money owed on items owned by a particular library.

Open Circulation Balance By Circulation Library and Owning Library lets you display money owed on items circulated by a particular library and/or owned by a particular library.

Open Circulation Balance By User Home Library and Owning Library has the owning user's home library and the library that owns the item available for filter or display.

Open Circulation Billing Sources

There are three Open Circulation Billing core sources that allow you to report upon circulation-related billing totals (as opposed to the Open Circulation Balance sources, which only allow you to report upon bills that are still owed). The same display/filter options that are available for Open Circulation Balance sources are available for Open Circulation Billing sources.

The Open Circulation Billing sources allow you to break reports down by billing type and give you access to circulation-specific data that is not available in the Open Circulation Balance sources.

Overdue Circulation

This source looks similar to the Circulation source; the same fields and links are available. However, a template based on this core source only retrieves information about circulations that are overdue at the time you run the report.

Payments

There are several payment types in Evergreen. These types can be conveniently divided into two groups: monetary and non-monetary. Cash, Credit Card, and Check are monetary payment types, since for those payments, Evergreen records the amount of money that was actually paid. Work, Goods, Forgive, and (for some consortia) Credit payments are non-monetary; though they record an amount that is applied against a transaction’s balance, they do not record money that a library has taken in.

Cash Drawer: This links a payment with the location where it was accepted; from this source, you can reach the library that accepted a payment via the Owning Library link, as well as the workstation that actually recorded the payment. Only monetary payments have Cash Drawer links.

Accepting User: This links a payment with the staff member that recorded it; this link is available for all payment types.

You will also see links called Billable Transaction. Be careful using any links other than the Billable Transaction link, and be even more careful to avoid following the Payment Line Items link under a transaction link. Likewise, try not to follow any payment links; they point back from the detail to the payment and can create a report that will run forever.

There are four core sources that cover payments:

  • Payments: All
  • Payments: Brick-and-mortar
  • Payments: Desk
  • Payments: Non-drawer Staff

The next four sections will discuss each payment source individually.

Payments: All provides links to payment line items of all types; this includes monetary payments such as cash, credit card, or check, as well as non-monetary payment types, such as forgive, void, and goods.

If you are trying to get payment totals for a specific library, this source is somewhat unwieldy; it does not give you direct access to the Cash Drawer; instead, you must access Cash Drawer by following a Payment Detail link, so you'd have to create a separate template for each payment type.

However, if you need to access information about transactions and payments (such as payments made against bills owed to a certain library, regardless of where the payments were made), this is the best source. This sort of situation could come up if you are trying to get a sum of forgiven fines for your library's circulations, for example.

Payments: Brick-and-mortar refers to payments recorded at a library, and a new source will record payments taken over the Internet.

Payments: Desk gives you access to all monetary transactions. If you want to report how much money your library has actually received from payments, this is the source to use. You can access Cash Drawer directly, so you do not need to create a different template for each data type.

Payments: Non-drawer Staff gives you access to all non-monetary payments; it is a good source to use for reporting on goods, work, forgive, or void payments. If you want to report on non-monetary payments recorded by your library, you can use the Accepting Staff Member → Home Library as your filter.

reports/egreports/core_src.txt · Last modified: 2022/05/02 19:47 by smorrison