[Koha] Patrons in 3.8 - overwriting records and passwords

[Elaine Bradtke]

I'm testing out various aspects of patron records before we start
actually using them in the production site. Ours is a reference
library, we don't circulate many items but we want to integrate the
loans into our Koha catalogue. Our patrons are members of the society,
and as memberships expire, or members move or change status (from
student to adult, or adult to senior, etc.) we need to periodically
update all the patron records (once a month would be ideal).

This brings up a few questions:

When you upload patron records and select overwrite, what exactly does
it overwrite?  Everything?

 Do the items loaned out to a particular patron stay attached to their
record even as it is overwritten?

The system generates user names and passwords. But how does anyone
know what the password is?

If I upload another set of patron records and overwrite the old one
does it retain the old password?


I'm imagining our situation is more akin to a school than a public
library in that our patrons are short term (one year membership for
most of them).
 I'm sure there's a way to deal with frequent batch changes in the
patron records, but I don't want to add all the patrons into the
production site until I'm sure I understand how it works.
-- 
Elaine Bradtke
Data Wrangler
VWML
English Folk Dance and Song Society | http://www.efdss.org
Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regent's Park Road, London NW1 7AY
Tel    +44 (0) 20 7485 2206 (This number is for the English Folk Dance
and Song Society in London, England. If you wish to phone me
personally, send an e-mail first. I work off site)
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"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture"
--Elvis Costello (Musician magazine No. 60 (October 1983), p. 52)