Fees/Fines (UXPROD-792)

[UXPROD-1858] Future Fees/Fines: Collections agency interactions - when patron pays agency Created: 10/Jul/19  Updated: 06/Dec/22

Status: Draft
Project: UX Product
Components: Fees/Fines
Affects versions: None
Fix versions: None
Parent: Fees/Fines

Type: New Feature Priority: TBD
Reporter: Holly Mistlebauer Assignee: Unassigned
Resolution: Unresolved Votes: 0
Labels: Unassigned-from-Holly, appreport, feesfines, resourceaccess
Remaining Estimate: Not Specified
Time Spent: Not Specified
Original estimate: Not Specified

Attachments: JPEG File Collection Agencies.jpg    
Issue links:
Gantt End to Start
has to be done after FOLIO-1953 SPIKE: propose an approach for schedu... Closed
Relates
relates to UXPROD-1117 Manual transfer of fees/fines to burs... Closed
relates to UXPROD-105 Future Fees/Fines: Update current aut... Closed
relates to UXPROD-499 Future Fees/Fines: Collections agency... Draft
relates to REP-24 Patrons sent to Cornell Collections (... Closed
Potential Workaround: Holly: I split UXPROD-499, Collections Agency Interactions into two features. UXPROD-499 now covers only those cases where the collection agency communicates with the patron, but the library still collects the money. New JIRA issue UXPROD-1858 covers cases where the collection agency collects the money and then passes it to the library. The workaround for this feature (UXPROD-1858) is that the library would need to be able to run a query to identify the fees/fines to be sent to collections (based on their unique criteria) and to update the database with a new fee/fine action indicating the action taken with a date/time stamp. I'm not sure how easy that will be to do, so it may make more sense to do this in Q1 2020. When the collections agency pays the library, the library could do a manual payment transaction for the patron or enter a waive with a Waive Reason of "Paid to Collection Agency" (depending on how their accounting is set up). This feature doesn't need the kind of testing others do--usually one person at the library does this--making this available at the last minute won't be such a big issue.
Epic Link: Fees/Fines
Front End Estimate: Medium < 5 days
Front End Estimator: Holly Mistlebauer
Front-End Confidence factor: Low
Back End Estimate: Medium < 5 days
Back End Estimator: Holly Mistlebauer
Estimation Notes and Assumptions: Hasn't been discussed at all yet.
Development Team: Vega
Report ID (pre-May 2019): ID441
Report Contact(s):
Joanne Leary
Report Functional Area(s):
Resource Access
PO Rank: 0
Rank: Chalmers (Impl Aut 2019): R5
Rank: Chicago (MVP Sum 2020): R5
Rank: Cornell (Full Sum 2021): R2
Rank: Duke (Full Sum 2021): R2
Rank: 5Colleges (Full Jul 2021): R5
Rank: FLO (MVP Sum 2020): R5
Rank: GBV (MVP Sum 2020): R4
Rank: Grand Valley (Full Sum 2021): R5
Rank: hbz (TBD): R4
Rank: Lehigh (MVP Summer 2020): R5
Rank: TAMU (MVP Jan 2021): R5
Rank: U of AL (MVP Oct 2020): R5

 Description   

Institutions work with collections agencies in a variety of ways, so this feature has been split into three parts:
1. Some institutions "sell" the debt to the collection agency, which is like a transfer and will be handled by UXPROD-105 Closed
2. Some institutions "pay" the collection agency to collect the debt, but the patron still has to pay the library UXPROD-499 Draft (Chicago is an example)
3. Some institutions have the collections agency collect the debt, along with the agency fee, and then the debt payment is passed to the library from the collections agency UXPROD-1858 Draft (Cornell is an example)

Survey of institutions available at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tBzbWo3albd1133eue0xwe8x8D_Wa5uHuBhyHowLXoY/edit#gid=0

Attached image contain in-progress requirements for this feature.



 Comments   
Comment by Holly Mistlebauer [ 18/Jul/19 ]

From: Joanne Elisa Leary
Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2018 4:12 PM
To: Sharon Marcus Beltaine; Holly L. Mistlebauer
Subject: RE: CUC Collections

Sharon,
I am somewhat familiar with the process, although it’s been about 9 years since I’ve had any involvement with it, so I can’t guarantee my memory is accurate. The cycle (run monthly) involves selecting bills that are unpaid and that meet certain criteria for age and patron total owed. Each timeframe gets a different set of actions. The newest bills (less than a month old?) are reviewed to cancel out those that fall under a certain cumulative dollar total for the patron (<$25). The patrons whose bills make a total of >= $25 are sent a reminder notice about the unpaid amounts. The next batch of bills are those that were already sent one reminder letter and are between 30 – 60 days old. Those bills are reviewed and the patrons sent a second reminder, warning them about the impending action of being sent to Collections. I think the next batch are those that are 60-90 days old; I’m not sure if those patrons get a third letter, or if they are then sent to Collections. When the bills are finally sent to Collections, they are closed (marked Paid - sent to CUC).

To do this in Folio, we would need to replicate the selection process (based on bill age and patron total). We would need to update the bill records accordingly, annotating them about the action taken, and closing the bills as appropriate. Is this enough info to make a user story?

Joanne

From: Sharon Marcus Beltaine
Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2018 3:47 PM
To: Holly L. Mistlebauer <hlm7@cornell.edu>; Joanne Elisa Leary <jl41@cornell.edu>
Subject: CUC Collections

Holly, Joanne,
I just walked through a process Michelle Hubbell runs to send outstanding charges for staff and faculty to CU Collections. Are you familiar with this process? Is someone working on the user stories for us to be able to accomplish this in Folio?
All the best,
Sharon

Comment by Holly Mistlebauer [ 18/Jul/19 ]

From: Chris Manly
Sent: Friday, August 17, 2018 8:25 AM
To: Holly L. Mistlebauer <hlm7@cornell.edu>
Subject: Re: FOLIO User Information Question

This, and one other issue coming from RA-SIG (the need for a ‘department’ field) have come in recently. I’ll bring them to the SIG in e-mail.


Christopher Manly
Director of Library Systems
CU Library Information Technologies
607-255-3344

From: Holly Mistlebauer <hlm7@cornell.edu>
Date: Wednesday, August 15, 2018 at 2:13 PM
To: Chris Manly <cam2@cornell.edu>
Subject: FOLIO User Information Question

Hi Chris. I have another User Information question. For fees/fines we need a flag that indicates if the user is deceased. If a user is marked as inactive and owes fees/fines, many libraries will send them to a collection agency. If we know the person is deceased, we would like to mark them as such so that they are not sent to a collection agency (libraries just take the loss). Also, the collection agency will often contact the library and tell them the user is deceased. We would like to be able to update User Information to reflect that when it becomes known. This wouldn’t be a flag that is automatically updated, but one that is manually updated by library staff when information is known.
Thanks,
Holly

Comment by Holly Mistlebauer [ 18/Jul/19 ]

From: Holly L. Mistlebauer
Sent: Thursday, July 18, 2019 5:04 AM
To: Joanne Elisa Leary <jl41@cornell.edu>; Sharon Marcus Beltaine <slm5@cornell.edu>
Subject: RE: CUC Collections

Joanne, I have a follow-up question about this very old email about sending fees/fines to collections…

So CUL doesn’t care if the patron every pays CUC? By that I mean that CUL marks the bill as “Paid - sent to CUC” and never knows if the patron actually paid CUC or not. Is that true?

I need to know because getting data back from CUC adds a layer of complexity.

Thanks,
Holly

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