[Koha] Bug 9775 - Unitprice should be hidden when creating an order

[John Sterbenz]

Under our scenario and as developed under 16.05 (when we started working
with Acquisitions because it was the first version that supported standing
orders), UI "Actual Cost" (SQL aqorders.unitprice) is only filled in at the
time of item receipt (invoice payment) for both firm and standing orders.

I don't see how its removal during the Create Order process causes undue
burden.

I have always found the presence of Actual Cost extremely confusing when
creating an order and have always been of the opinion that it should not
display as part of the "Create order" process but should display at any
other time.  During the order creation process, a user should only be
allowed to encumber funds, not expend them.  Similarly, during receipt, a
user should not be able to edit the estimated price entered at order
creation and should only be able to enter the actual amount (with
unencumbering happening automatically based on number of copies received
times estimated price).

Come to think of it, I'm not even sure how encumbering/unencumbering would
work if both an estimated and actual price were entered at the same time
(THEORY:  no change to encumbered ("Ordered") amount and "Spent" increases
by Actual Price).  It might get messy, though, if someone were to alter the
encumbered amount at a later point in time--I've never bothered to alter an
estimated amount after an actual amount has been entered to see what might
happen on the funds side).

In my KohaCon 2018 presentation I have in my notes to remind users that
"Actual cost will be set when the item is received and invoice processed".
Whether I actually made that point or not I don't recall--there was a LOT
to cover in 30 short minutes!

We don't use subscriptions here so I cannot comment on that aspect (even
though nearly 100% of our budget is spent via standing orders).

Now if only I could get "Actual Price" to display as part of the broader
basket display of orders, instead of having to go into an order to actually
view it....

John


On Thu, Oct 25, 2018 at 4:02 AM Renvoize, Martin <
martin.renvoize at ptfs-europe.com> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> There's a bit of contention going on over at bug 9775 and I wanted to ask
> the wider audience of librarians for their thoughts on acquisitions
> workflows in relation to this bug.
>
> Currently, the 'New order' page, whether it be via a suggestion, via an
> existing record or via another means, displays 'Actual cost' as an editable
> field.
>
> On further investigation, it appears that this field was intended to
> contain the final amount paid and not an estimation and as such the
> intention was for it to only be defined at the point of invoice/payments
> once it is fixed.
>
> Bug 9775 does exactly this, hides the field from display on the new order
> page.  It also goes slightly further and prevents a prior paid price (for
> serial subscriptions) from carrying across when you are placing your next
> new order via a subscriptions search.
>
> My question to you is, is anyone using this field in a different way to my
> expectations/understanding?  Would it cause anyone any issues to remove
> this field from the order screen so it is more clearly defined as to it's
> intended use only on the receipting pages?  Are there any alternative
> improvements you would like to see instead of this change?
>
> Many thanks,
>
> *Martin Renvoize*
>
> <https://www.ptfs-europe.com>
>
> Development Team Manager
>
>
>
>
>
> *Phone:* +44 (0) 1483 378728
>
> *Mobile:* +44 (0) 7725 985 636
>
> *Email:* martin.renvoize at ptfs-europe.com
>
> *Fax:* +44 (0) 800 756 6384
>
>
> www.ptfs-europe.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Registered in the United Kingdom No. 06416372   VAT Reg No. 925 7211 30
>
> The information contained in this email message may be privileged,
> confidential and protected from disclosure. If you are not the intended
> recipient, any dissemination, distribution or copying is strictly
> prohibited. If you think that you have received this email message in
> error, please email the sender at info at ptfs-europe.com
> _______________________________________________
> Koha mailing list  http://koha-community.org
> Koha at lists.katipo.co.nz
> https://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
>


-- 
-=<*>=- -=<*>=- -=<*>=- -=<*>=- -=<*>=- -=<*>=- -=<*>=- -=<*>=- -=<*>=-
John E. Sterbenz, Jr.
Senior Associate Librarian
Manager, Technical Services, Collections, and Library Automation
700 East University Avenue
Kresge Hall, 4th Floor East
Suite K4511
Kresge Library Services
The University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA 48109-1234

TEL: (734) 764-5746