Quoting Rogan Hamby <rogan.ha...@yclibrary.net>:
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.
Technically they are not wiped. The transactions are moved to another user.
In the case of deletion, they move to the user with id of 1, the default
admin user.
So any reports that depend on user-related data will still lose information.
You can't actually delete this stuff because of referential integrity in the
database.
On Tue, Aug 4, 2015 at 3:26 PM, Scott Thomas <sc...@albright.org> 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:
open-ils-general-boun...@list.georgialibraries.org] *On Behalf Of *Rogan
Hamby
*Sent:* Tuesday, August 04, 2015 1:33 PM
*To:* Evergreen Discussion Group <
open-ils-general@list.georgialibraries.org>
*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 <sc...@albright.org> 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: sc...@albright.org
--
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>
--
Jason Stephenson
Assistant Director for Technology Services
Merrimack Valley Library Consortium
4 High ST, Suite 175
North Andover, MA 01845
Phone: 978-557-5891
Email: jstephen...@mvlc.org
