Address Issues with Proposed Fees/Fines Refund Improvements

Presented to RA SIG Refund Sub-Group on July 18, 2022

(and updated with slides 2-9 for August 8, 2022 meeting)

By Holly Mistlebauer

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This slide deck is obsolete–the latest slide deck is available at…

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1qPbP6DZTIx4Yrt4BFtudt7C3vJxkbIj3/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=109009310759711366749&rtpof=true&sd=true

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Agenda for today (August 8)…

1. Current plans for this feature (see slides 3-5)
2. Resolve known outstanding issues (slides 6-7)
3. Next steps (slides 8-9)

Agenda item #1

Current plans for this feature

Current plans for this feature…

• UNAM devs will implement change to Refund fee/fine modal as defined in previous meeting–this is planned for the Orchid Release

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Current plans for this feature (continued)…

• Create mockups of the following pages for RA SIG review
• Manual charges (add setting “Allow payment using credit?” per slide 34)
• Refund reasons (rename setting to “Issue credit reasons” per slide 35)
• Payment methods (remove setting “Refund method allowed” per slide 36)
• Refund methods (new page that will contain setting “Refund method allowed” per slide 36)
• Issue fee/fine credit (new modal per slides 40-41)
• Refund fee/fine (update modal to remove “Refund Reason”)
• User details (add “Credit remaining” total in Fees/Fines sub-section per slide 44)
• Fee/Fine Details (Add “Issue credit” and “Apply credit” options, plus add new columns and totals per slides 39, 44, 46 & 47) Columns are yet to be determined (see slides 18-21)
• Fees/Fines History (Add “issue credit” and apply credit” options plus add new columns and totals per slide 43 & 48) Columns are yet to be determined (see slides 18-21)

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Agenda item #2

Resolve known outstanding issues

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Issues include…

1. Should the approach using the Refund Fee/Fine modal to pay other fees/fine be replaced with a general approach, where all credit balances are added up and then that amount is available to pay other fees/fines? Answer: Yes, allow for the use of a combined credit balance rather than using the Refund Fee/Fine modal (see slides 6-11 for more info)

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• Should we change how returned lost items are processed automatically? Answer: Follow the new model where we issue a credit for paid fees/fines–credits for transferred fees/fines will be passed back to the bursar to be addressed (see slides 12-13 for more info)

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• What columns do we really need on the Fees/Fines History page, and what should the columns contain? Answer: We will wait until refund feature is ready to be worked on to resolve this issue (see slides 15-17)

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• How will we handle the transition for live sites? Answer: Still needs to be addressed

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Agenda item #3

Next steps

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Next steps

• Implement Refund fee/fine modal change – planned for Orchid (R1 2023) Release

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• Create sample mockups for several credit examples to show how this will work (in particular, how Fee/Fine Details and Fees/Fines History will display the actions) – needs to wait until after German Reminder Fee feature has been defined

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• This sub-group will cease meeting for now – will likely resume in October/November 2022

Issue 1

Should the approach using the Refund Fee/Fine modal to pay other fees/fine be replaced with a general approach, where all credit balances are added up and then that amount is available to pay other fees/fines?

Recap of previous credit/refund example #1

1. Patron paid 30.00 to rent a library carrel
2. Patron decides to rent one at a different library and asks for a refund
3. Patron is credited for the 30.00, then uses the option to go straight to entering a refund
4. Staff member uses part of the 30.00 credit to pay overdue fines (3 for a total of 17.00)
5. Patron is refunded remaining 13.00

New Issue fee/fine credit modal…

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Select “Issue credit” option from Fees/Fines History or Fee/Fine Details.

Later select to do a Refund...

Part of the refund will be used pay 3 outstanding overdue fines (for a total of 17.00)--only fees/fines with Settings>Users>Manual charges “ “Allow payment using credit?” set to YES will be listed, sorted by lowest remaining amount first

“Refund reason” has been replaced by “Issue credit reason”--we won’t need a reason for the refund

Possible new credit/refund example #1

• Patron paid 30.00 to rent a library carrel
• Patron also paid 10.00 to rent a library locker
• Patron decides to rent both at a different library and asks for a refund
• Patron is credited for both the 30.00 and 10.00, leaving him/her with a credit balance of -40.00
• Staff member discovers patron owes for other fees/fines and selects the fee/fines in Fee/Fine History then presses the new Apply credit button
• After paying all of the patrons fees/fines, there is still -7.23 credit balance remaining
• This patron insists on a refund, so the remaining credit balance will be refunded (could instead opt to hold on to the credit balance for future fee/fine payment)

Assumptions related to this approach…

• Apply credit will be a third payment option (along with Pay and Transfer)
• Fees/fines will be closed after they have been credited because balance becomes 0.00–still need a way to link credit with how it was used (one fee/fine to another fee/fine)
• There will need to be a way to refund the combined credit balance rather than the credit balance for a specific fee/fine
• You can still follow the previous approach, issue a credit then a refund, but refund will not allow you to pay other fees/fines (they must be paid via Fees/Fines History before issuing the refund)
• If something was transferred to the bursar initially, the credit must be transferred as well–it cannot be used to pay other fees/fines --then bursar will then issue a refund if appropriate
• Need a page to show where all credits came from and where they were used

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Issue 2

Should we change how returned lost items are processed automatically?

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When a lost item is returned, this process kicks in…

1. If a partial payment or transfer was made against the lost item fee(s), a refund is issued (unless it is too late per the Lost Item Fee Policy setting)
2. The lost item fee(s) is cancelled as an error (i.e. “Cancelled item returned”) and closed

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QUESTIONS:

• Should we only issue a credit when the item is returned? This will allow the library to determine if they want to do a refund. Answer: Follow the new model where we issue a credit.
• Should transfers be handled differently? Should we continue to automatically issue a refund/credit to the bursar? Answer: ?
• Should we have a setting in the Lost Item Fee Policy that allows the library to determine if the refund should be issued automatically? Answer: Confirm on Slack that we don’t need this.

Issue 3

What columns do we really need on the Fees/Fines History page, and what should the columns contain?

Current Fees/Fines History example…

Fees/Fines History “Option A”

Insert the following columns between Billed and Remaining columns…

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• Debit amount
• Debit balance
• Credit amount
• Credit balance

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Fees/Fines History “Option B”

Insert the following columns between Billed and Remaining columns…

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• Paid
• Waived
• Transferred
• Credited
• Refunded?

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Proposed Fees/Fines Refund Improvements (PREVIOUS PRESENTATION)

Presented to RA SIG Refund Sub-Group on June 27, 2022

By Holly Mistlebauer

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Steps to getting where we want to be…

1. Update what is currently implemented for refunds to be more understandable [UXPROD-3645: Provide option to cancel a fee/fine at the time a manual refund is entered; MODFEE-255: Allow fee/fine to be cancelled if remaining balance equals billed amount]
2. Add feature to allow issuance of credit to be used to pay other fees/fines and/or to be refunded [UXPROD-1876: Use fee/fine refund to pay other fees/fines]

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Other refund-related features:

• UXPROD-1879: Notify Bursar (and other transfer accounts) of refunded fees/fines
• UXPROD-3137: Allow "No fees/fines shall be refunded if a lost item is returned more than" to be determined by a fixed date

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Step 1

Update what is currently implemented for refunds to be more understandable

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Refund example #1

• Patron paid 30.00 to rent a library carrel
• Patron decides to rent one at a different library and asks for a refund
• Patron is refunded remaining 30.00

Refund Fee/Fine modal possible changes…

Default is to waive the fee/fine after the refund has taken place–user may choose to uncheck this or to cancel as error instead

If Waive fee/fine checked, open this modal after REFUND button pressed…

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Same modal as used when WAIVE button/option selected

After waiving fee/fine, Fee/Fine Details will look like this…

Intent to refund

Refund issued

Fee waived

These actions occur at the same time right now, because we do not have a way to update the fee/fine when the refund is actually issued. Issuing the refund occurs using the “Refunds to process manually” report.

If Cancel fee/fine as error checked, open this modal after REFUND button pressed…

Same modal as used when ERROR button/option selected

After cancelling fee/fine, Fee/Fine Details will look like this…

Intent to refund

Refund issued

Fee cancelled

These actions occur at the same time right now, because we do not have a way to update the fee/fine when the refund is actually issued. Issuing the refund occurs using the “Refunds to process manually” report.

Refund example #2 (added after meeting)

• Patron billed for lost item (either aged to lost or declared lost)
• When patron pays 100.00 Lost item fee, the following will happen…
1. Lost item fee is closed as “Paid fully”
2. Item status is changed to “Lost and paid”
• Lost item is returned to the library the next week
• When item is checked in, the following will happen automatically…
• Lost item fee is refunded (if it was paid, which it was in this case)
• Lost item fee is closed as “Cancelled item returned”
• Item status is changed to “Available”/”In transit”

Step 2

Add feature to allow issuance of credit to be used to pay other fees/fines and/or to be refunded

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Refund example #1

• Patron paid 30.00 to rent a library carrel
• Patron decides to rent one at a different library and asks for a refund
• Patron is credited for the 30.00, then uses the option to go straight to entering a refund
• Staff member uses part of the 30.00 credit to pay overdue fines (3 for a total of 17.00)
• Patron is refunded remaining 13.00

Settings for Manual charges…

Insert column for setting “Allow payment using credit?” Will need to include hidden automated fee/fine types such as overdue fines and lost item fees, but only for editing this one setting.

Settings for Refund reasons…

Rename to “Issue credit reasons”

Settings for Payment methods…

Indicates if payment method allowed to be used for refunds.

QUESTION:

• Doesn’t really make sense for this option to be here–when we implement automatic refunds, should we add a setting named “Refund methods”? (Answer: Yes, remove “Refund method allowed” from the payment method settings and create a new setting for this.)

Open User Details for patron…

Fees/Fines History CLOSED tab opens…

This page will be updated to…

• Add “Issue credit” button and ellipsis option
• Add new columns and totals (shown later)

QUESTION:

• Change “Refund” option to “Issue refund”? (Answer: Either is fine)

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Fee/Fine Details opens...

Press new ISSUE CREDIT button (not shown here).

This page will be updated to…

• Add “Issue credit” button and ellipsis option (which are active only if fee/fine was paid or transferred)
• Activate “Refund” button only if fee/fine has a credit balance
• Add new columns and totals (shown later)

QUESTION:

• Change “Refund” button to “Issue refund”? (Answer: Either is fine)

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New Issue fee/fine credit modal…

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QUESTION:

• Do we need to allow for partial credit being issues? (If so, message will be “Partially crediting 1 fee/fine for a total amount of ##.##) (Answer: Yes)

Issue fee/fine credit confirmation…

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After pressing CONFIRM button, Success Toast will appear:

“1 fee/fine for 30.00 has been successfully fully credited for Overdue, Ollie”

Fee/Fine Details after credit issued…

QUESTION:

• Should the credit amount always appear as -30.00? (Answer: Yes)

Fees/Fines History after credit issued…

QUESTIONS:

• Do we still need “Billed” column? (Answer: ?)
• Do we still need “Remaining” column? (Answer: ?)
• Should the credit amount always appear as -30.00? (Answer: Yes)
• Should we use “0.00” or “-” when amount is zero? (Fee/Fine Details uses “-”) (Answer: ?)

User Details after credit issued…

QUESTIONS:

• Do we still need “refunded fees/fines”? (Answer: Leave it for now)
• Should the credit amount always appear as -30.00? (Answer: ?)

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Later select to do a Refund...

Part of the refund will be used pay 3 outstanding overdue fines (for a total of 17.00)--only fees/fines with Settings>Users>Manual charges “ “Allow payment using credit?” set to YES will be listed, sorted by lowest remaining amount first

“Refund reason” has been replaced by “Issue credit reason”--we won’t need a reason for the refund

Fee/Fine Details after refund of carrel rental fee…

QUESTION:

• Do we need to indicate in the totals that 17.00 was used to pay other fees/fines? (Answer: ?)

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Link to fee/fine paid via credit

Fee/Fine Details after payment of overdue fine with refund credit…

Link to fee/fine credit used to pay this fee/fine

Fees/Fines History CLOSED tab after refund…

Current Fees/Fines Refunding Process (NOW OBSOLETE)

Presented to Resource Access SIG on May 16, 2022

By Holly Mistlebauer

Overview

• Two types of refunds…
• Manual refunds (via “Refund fee/fine” modal)
• Automated refunds due to lost items being returned

Manual Refunds

(via “Refund fee/fine” modal)

Patron paid 30.00 cash to rent a carrel…

…then needed a refund because she wanted to rent a carrel in a different library instead…

The fee/fine record now looks like this…

Staff member would then need to waive the fee/fine…

Would be better to allow the fee/fine to be cancelled as an error—FOLIO doesn’t allow for this right now.

(After the RA SIG meeting, Holly created MODFEE-255 to allow the refunded fee/fine to be cancelled rather than waived–this is a workaround until UXPROD-3645 (see next page) is implemented.)

This is how the “Refund fee/fine” modal would look like with the new checkbox…

(Holly added this slide on May 19, 2022, after the RA SIG meeting.)

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We have these outstanding related features and stories…

• UXPROD-3645: Provide option to cancel a fee/fine at the time a manual refund is entered
• UXPROD-1876: Use fee/fine refund to pay other fees/fines
• UXPROD-1879: Notify Bursar (and other transfer accounts) of refunded fees/fines
• UXPROD-3137: Allow "No fees/fines shall be refunded if a lost item is returned more than" to be determined by a fixed date
• MODFEE-255: Allow fee/fine to be cancelled if remaining balance equals billed amount (added on May 19, 2022–will be in Morning Glory (R2 2022) release)

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Automated Refunds

(due to lost item being returned or item claimed returned)

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Library transferred 100.00 “aged to lost” lost item fee to the bursar…

100.00 Lost item fee was transferred to the bursar

Fee is then closed

Patron then found the lost item and returned it…

Intent to refund

Refund issued

Fee cancelled

Fee remains closed

These actions occur at the same time right now, because we do not have a way to update the fee/fine when the refund is actually issued. Issuing the refund occurs using the “Refunds to process manually” report (see slide 14).

Refunds to process manually report

This is the agreed upon temporary manual solution for refunds--the permanent automated solution still needs to be designed and developed

Select “Refunds to process manually report (CSV)” from User app ACTIONS menu…

Select the report

Enter criteria for report…

Enter desired criteria (none required)

Report includes these columns…

• Patron name
• Patron barcode
• Patron ID
• Patron Group
• Fee/fine type
• Fee/fine owner
• Date billed
• Billed amount
• Paid amount
• Payment method
• Payment
• Transaction information
• Transferred amount

• Transfer account
• Fee/fine ID
• Date refund requested
• Refunded amount
• Refund action
• Refund reason
• Additional information for staff from refund 'action’
• Additional information for patron from refund 'action‘
• Item barcode
• Instance

…and also includes these columns to be used by staff members processing the refunds…

• Date action completed
• Staff member name
• Action taken

See sample report at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16iTYkyT09acYov9VOoB2EJIUWJUwNtnGESh8c1NgiXE/edit?usp=sharing

Previous Refund Presentation

Presented to Resource Access SIG on April 24, 2020 by Holly Mistlebauer

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Refund Fee/Fine Overview

Created for Resource Access SIG

April 24, 2020

Part I

How did we get where we are?

Original plan for Refund Fee/Fine

The original plan for refunding fees/fines looked like this.

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The staff member would select a Refund reason and Refund method and the refund would be handled in an “automated” manner.

Original plan for Refund Fee/Fine (continued)

If the patron owed other fees/fines, the staff member would have the option of using the refund to pay those other fees/fines.

Original plan for Refund Fee/Fine (continued)

These are the original requirements from Balsamiq

Original plan for Refund Fee/Fine (continued)

More of the original requirements from Balsamiq

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Original plan for Refund Fee/Fine (continued)

End of the original requirements from Balsamiq

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Then along came the MVP… (continued)

For the MVP, we were asked to thin-thread features.

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Refund fee/fine was thin threaded in two ways.

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1. By making the process manual.

Then along came the MVP… (continued)

2. By removing the process to automatically use the refund to pay off other fees/fines.

Then along came the MVP… (continued)

After the refund was entered in the Refund fee/fine portal, it would appear on a report. The library would cut checks from the report.

Then along came the MVP… (continued)

MVP

NOT MVP

Requirements were split.

Then along came the MVP… (continued)

NOT MVP

Part 2

Where do we go from here?

Look at what implementing sites need

• Round II (plus Lehigh + some MVP): scheduled for summer 2020; refunds not high on list, but we need to have some way to do them
• Round III – MVP: not sure when the one library listed is implementing
• Round IV - POST MVP: scheduled for summer 2021; need more robust refund process

What would a basic refund process for Round II look like? The key word here is basic…

Step #1

The example being used is for a carrel rental fee.

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This is how the Fee/Fine Details page looks after the patron has paid the carrel rental fee in full.

Step #2

From the Fee/Fine Details page, the staff member would press the Refund button to open the Refund fee/fine modal to initiate the refund.

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After entering the Refund reason and the Refund button, a confirmation box will appear. After confirming the refund, the action is complete.

Step #3

In order to balance the account, the refund process creates two “Action” records:

• One for a credit of 35.00 which makes the balance a negative 35.00
• One for a debit of 35.00 representing the check being cut which brings the balance to 0.00

Credit

Debit

Step #4

A spreadsheet will be produced to actually cut the checks (and process the refunds with the bursar)

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Staff member can enter a single date (e.g. today) or range of dates (e.g. last week)

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Important Note: Fee/fine owner will need to keep track of which dates have already been pulled

Step #5

Left side of spreadsheet enlarged

Right side of spreadsheet enlarged

This is a draft version of what the spreadsheet will look like

Step #6

After the check is cut (or refund made via the Bursar), the New staff info button on the Fee/Fine Details page can be used to indicate that the process is complete.

Important note: The assumption is that once the refund “Action” has been created the refund will take place. There isn’t a way to undo this.

What would a more robust refund process for Round IV look like?

For a start…

• Refund process would create credit “Action”, but refund “Action” would not be created until AFTER check is cut—this will require a UI.
• Refunds to bursar (or other accounts) would be automated
• Need to add back feature to use refund to pay other outstanding fees/fines?

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Rather than taking up the time of the entire RA SIG, let’s set up a working group…need to include accounting folks…

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