[Koha] Overdues notices and fines: what scripts are supposed to work?

[Joshua M. Ferraro]

----- "Kevin O'Rourke" <lists at caboose.org.uk> wrote:
> > Joshua M. Ferraro wrote:
> > The fines module in Koha is a fine example of a feature that hasn't
> > been fully exposed to the system administration section of the admin
> > interface. For now, the assumption is that if you need to enable
> > fines and you're managing Koha yourself (as opposed to getting
> > commercial support from one of the available providers), you'll be
> > spending some time customizing the fines script and module to suit
> > your needs. That said, have a look at the fines2.pl in misc/ that
> > relies on C4/Circulation/Fines.pm, it's a good example of how to
> > start out with fines management in Koha. 
> Thanks for the information. So it looks like the documentation is
> wrong and fines2.pl does work, but needs customisation. I've had a
> look at it and it's not pretty, there are far too many magic numbers
> in there. For example, there's a maximum fine variable buried in the
> code, set to 5. However, here in Nigeria that's far too low (there
> are about 130 Naira to the US Dollar). If I had the time I'd rewrite
> it to read things out of system preferences.
I'm not sure which documentation you're referring to, but yes, the
fines stuff in Koha could definitely use a re-write.

> Would I be right in saying that for each "fine cycle" (7 days or
> whatever) this will add an additional line item to the borrower's
> record?
> 
> Getting support from one of the available providers would be great,
> but Nigerian educational organisations just don't have the money.
I understand completely. Lack of money is a challenge that us providers
face as well :-). Since you've been given the opportunity to work on
Koha, perhaps you'd be able to share your solutions with the community.
It's exciting to hear that the educational organizations in Nigeria have
decided to invest in the project, we're always looking for new
programmers to join the effort. Welcome :-).

Cheers,

-- 
Joshua Ferraro                       SUPPORT FOR OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE
President, Technology       migration, training, maintenance, support
LibLime                                Featuring Koha Open-Source ILS
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