How to activate and use the Item updater by Excel cloud app
See also:
- Ex Libris Introduces Cloud Apps Open Framework
- The Ex Libris App Center
- Deploying Cloud Apps
- Announcing the Cloud Apps Open Framework for the Ex Libris Higher-Ed Platform (Video)
- Cloud Apps in Alma (Video)
The cloud apps is “an open framework which allows developers to write apps which run inside Ex Libris higher education products such as Alma, Primo VE backoffice, Esploro, Leganto and Rapido.” (Announcing Ex Libris Cloud Apps)
The Item updater by Excel cloud app enables the Alma staff user to change item information in bulk easily by uploading an Excel file.
The screenshots and flow below is effective as of the April 2022 Alma release.
ONE
On top right of the Alma landing page click the link to the Cloud App Center
TWO
In the “Available Apps” column find the Item updater by Excel cloud app and click it. You can find it by scrolling through the list or by using the search icon.
THREE
After clicking the app you can click the link to read more about it on the app center or click ‘Activate’. We will click ‘Activate’.
FOUR
The app will then appear in the activated apps tab and clicking it will open it for use
FIVE
See documentation on how to use the Item updater by Excel cloud app by clicking the three dots and then the question mark icon.
SIX
Reading the above you will see that there are two options for the “look up key” in the Excel file:
- The first column will be the barcode
- The first column will be the MMSID, the second column will be the Holding ID, and the third column will be the Item PID.
The options for other fields which will appear in the Excel to be updated in the Alma items appear in the rest_item.xsd file, for example, (in part):
SEVEN
In the example below we will update barcode AU42759 to have
- arrival_date 2018-01-19
- enumeration_a 01
- physical_material_type ISSUE
- description Vol. 01
- public_note Includes CD Rom
- copy_id 613
In a real situation there would be several lines in the Excel sheet. Here we are doing one line just as an example:
| barcode | arrival_date | enumeration_a | physical_material_type | description | public_note | copy_id |
| AU42759 | 2018-01-19 | 1 | ISSUE | Vol. 01 | Includes CD Rom | 613 |
EIGHT
Select the file
NINE
When the file has been selected click “Load Items”
Results will appear on the screen
TEN
See that the item was updated
ELEVEN
Via the information icon in the item editor we can see who the logged in user was that ran the cloud app that did the last update, and when that update was made:
4 Replies to “How to activate and use the Item updater by Excel cloud app”
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Will this app be expanded to include holding data? We would be very interested in changing temp locations using the app.
Hi Katrina,
The app should already support updating temp_location
(since this information is in practice on the item level, even if on the XSL it’s under Holdings).
Please give it a try and reply here if it doesn’t work.
Thanks,
Ori
Alma Dev.
Hi Katrina:
See “How to use the Item updater by Excel cloud app to update the item temporary location” at https://developers.exlibrisgroup.com/blog/how-to-use-the-item-updater-by-excel-cloud-app-to-update-the-item-temporary-location/
Thank you,
Yoel
Can you show an example with method 2? An example with an item without a barcode, and need to add the Receiving date (arrival_date) in bulk if proving a PO Line#. Q. Is the Physical Item Id in Analytics the same as the Item PID? Thanks!