Bursar

As part of a library’s processes, patrons can be charged with various fines and fees. For example, if a patron returns a loaned book after its due date, the patron is charged for each day following the due date. For details, see Patron charges configuration in Alma OLH.
Many institutions handle patron-related charges in a dedicated bursar system. This can be the institution’s ERP system or a system that is in charge of patron-related finance. In this case, fine and fees will be exported from Alma to the bursar system. After fine and fees were exported to the bursar system, the payment in handled by the bursar system. Some institutions have a workflow of updating the payment status back to Alma. In this case the fine and fees will be re-imported back to Alma in order to indicate the payment.

The export and import of fine and fees is done using XML files: In the export workflow, Alma places XML files at a predefined FTP location. These files can then be fetched by the bursar system.
In the Import workflow, the bursar system places the XML files in a pre-defined FTP, and Alma fetches and processes them. The XML files in both workflows have the same structure.

The workflow is illustrated in the following diagram: