The short answer to both questions is, yes. Obliterating a patron wipes associated records. So for example circ records require a link back to a patron account, you can't not have it. So, to delete a patron account you have to delete those circ records and that will affect reports later.
On Tue, Aug 4, 2015 at 3:26 PM, Scott Thomas <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Rogan, > > Thank you for replying. One thing you mentioned has piqued my > interest. It might be easier if I gave a scenario instead of trying to > describe what I mean. Say, on January 2, 2016, I run a report on > circulation for 2015 and then, a month later, delete many patrons some of > whom had checked out materials in 2015. If I ran the same 2015 report again > after the deletions, would the numbers be different because the patrons > were purged? In other words, when a patron is deleted, do their countable > circ transactions go with them? > > Scott > > > > > > *From:* Open-ils-general [mailto: > [email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Rogan > Hamby > *Sent:* Tuesday, August 04, 2015 1:33 PM > *To:* Evergreen Discussion Group < > [email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Deleting Patron Accounts > > > > There are a few different kinds of deleting in Evergreen. One is to turn > on the deleted flag on the account. That doesn't do much other than hide > the account from the staff client pulling it up and is relatively harmless. > > > > The other kind of deleting is obliterating the account. This is the > delete option that is on the "other" menu in the staff client and comes up > with this warning: "Completely OBLITERATE this patron account, including > bills, payments, bookbags, etc? This is IRREVERSIBLE." And it has a > checkbox. > > > > The good? It deletes it and it's gone forever. > > > > The bad? As the message warns, gone forever is also anything tied to it. > My accountants would throw a fit at bills and payments and other records > disappearing from the system and we're audited every other year. So, > whether or not it's bad will depend on your circumstances, your accounting > environment, etc... > > > > As a result it can also throw off counts of circulations, holds, etc... if > you want to go back and run numbers on old data sets. > > > > If we want to truly remove a patron I run an anonymization script that > strips out their address except for zip code, names, phone numbers, email, > etc.... and leaves a generic patron in place but leaves all of their > associated records. > > > > On Tue, Aug 4, 2015 at 1:21 PM, Scott Thomas <[email protected]> wrote: > > Our old ILS would not allow you to remove a patron until all outstanding > bills, holds, and checkouts were cleared. We were thrilled that Evergreen > would simply allow you to remove the patron. However, I have heard from > various sources that, while EG will allow you to remove a patron with > impunity, it is not good practice to remove a patron with outstanding > transactions and bills. Can anyone clarify this? > > Thank you, > Scott > > > > > > Scott Thomas, MLS > > Head of Information Technologies and Technical Services > > Scranton Public Library > > Lackawanna County Library System > > 2006 N. Main Ave. > > Scranton, PA 18508 > > Ph: 570-207-2379 > > Fx: 570-348-3020 > > Email: [email protected] > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > Rogan Hamby, MLS, CCNP, MIA > > Managers Headquarters Library and Reference Services, > > York County Library System > > > > “You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit > me.” > ― C.S. Lewis <http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1069006.C_S_Lewis> > -- Rogan Hamby, MLS, CCNP, MIA Managers Headquarters Library and Reference Services, York County Library System “You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.” ― C.S. Lewis <http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1069006.C_S_Lewis>
