Alice Borrower Import
Troubleshooting
Note: The shutdown task list should pause perceptibly at the step ‘Load Borrower Data’ and the progress bar at the bottom will move across for every 50 students loaded. If it doesn’t pause but flicks straight through, check for issues a and c.
2.
Borrower details are in the wrong fields
a.
The import file does not have the correct number of fields
or the fields are not in the correct order. This can occur if one or more
fields were unselected when exporting the data from SAS or MAZE. The number of
fields, the data that each contains and their order in the import file must be
EXACTLY what Alice expects or the data will be stored in the wrong place. The
file format must look like this:
"02026",,"Hood","Martin","M","6","6D","",,,19960426,"9","Simpson
Place","Simpson","NSW","","2999","99999999","02026","Mr
& Mrs Hood",,"","",""
To correct a bad data load like this:
- Delete any newly added borrowers who have an invalid Student Code in Alice;
- Reload the data using the correct file format. Existing borrowers will have their scrambled data replaced with correct data and new borrowers will be added again with correct data.
3.
All existing borrowers have been duplicated
a. SAS or MAZE Student Codes have not been entered into Alice.
b.
Student Codes in Alice are different to those in SAS or MAZE.
Alice links the imported data to existing borrowers using the Student Code. If
a Student Code in the Import File is not found for any borrower in Alice then
they will be added as a new borrower in Alice. If no borrowers in Alice have
Student Codes, or the student codes don’t match between Alice and the import
file, all borrowers will be added again.
To correct this:
- Delete all duplicated students. If there are lots of them it is usually
easier to recover to the backup that was made (it was wasn’t it?) before
importing.
- Perform STEP 3 – Check Alice Borrowers in the main instructions. This
process cross matches by name existing borrowers in Alice with those in the
import file and enters their Student Code into Alice.
- Repeat the Borrower import.
4.
Barcodes are wrong for new borrowers
a. SAS or MAZE student code has been used as the barcode rather than Alice B12345x999 format.
b. Alice format barcode has been used instead of SAS or MAZE student code.
c.
Incorrect starting barcode entered at import. If
you scan the first barcode, ensure that the check letter in the 7th
position is removed.
d. Next Borrower barcode (in System, Parameters, Library, Barcode) is wrong and Barcode Prefix option was selected at import.
e. Barcode character incrementing position is wrong (System Parameters, Library, Barcode: Should be 5)
f.
SAS or MAZE Student codes are longer than 6 characters
and Keep 7th digit has not been ticked. (System, Parameters,
Library, Barcode)
To correct this:
- Identify and fix the underlying problem that caused the issue.
- Delete the borrowers with incorrect barcodes. If there are lots of them it
will be easiest to recover to the backup made before doing the import.
- Repeat the import
- Where the barcodes are meant to be the Student Code, OASIS Extras has a
utility program that can make this change.
- If there are only a small number of bad barcodes and the rest of the borrower
record is OK, you could use the Change Barcode button in Circulation, File,
Borrower to change the barcode.
5.
Cannot delete borrowers using Circulation, Global Change, Delete
a.
There is more than one instance of a Scholastic Year
Description in Circulation, File, Scholastic Year. Merge the Multiple
Scholastic Year codes into a single code using the Scissors icon.
Where the Scholastic Year lookup table contains duplicated descriptions only
the code associated with the first entry will be used and any borrower records
that use the second code will not be matched. Alice does not stop you from
creating duplicate descriptions but you should ensure that none exist.
6.
Cannot click the green tick to accept the import file.
a.
One or more of the mandatory selection boxes has not been
filled in.
Where Alice creates the borrower barcodes itself , you can either:
- Specify the first barcode it should allocate and leave Barcode Prefix blank;
or
- Enter the Barcode Prefix (‘B’) and leave ‘Barcode’ as <<NEXT>>.
Even if the barcodes will be the Student Code, these selection boxes still must
contain valid values.
Martin Hood
30 January 2009