We’re pleased to announce that the next release of Soprano is now available for preview.

This release primarily delivers further development of the Acquisitions module, which we are currently testing and refining in collaboration with a few libraries prior to making it generally available.

This release includes:

• Invoices
• Open Orders
• Fund detail
• Filter buttons work without submitting search
• List Orders from an Official Order Number on an Order
• Stock Purchase Suggestions Order Number bug fix
• Issue Item Manual due date bug fix
• Return Items Manual due date bug fix
• Issuing items from the reservation shelf, bug fix
• Borrower Charge waivers display, bug fix
• Serial Work header ISSN
• Various other fixes to functionality and styling

Invoices
We’ve added an Invoices option to the sub-menu under Purchasing. This gives you a list of your invoices in date order latest first.
The list columns are Invoice Number, Date, Payment Due date, Amount Payable, Supplier and Status.
You can filter by Supplier and Status, and search by invoice number.

You can select a row to view an invoice in detail. Within the invoice you can select an order line to go to the order.

Open Orders
We’ve added a Subscriptions option to the sub-menu under Purchasing. This gives you a list of your Open Orders sorted by Order Number descending. The list shows Order Number, Effective Date, Work Information, Price Per Annum, Subscriptions (quantity), Supplier and State.
You can filter by State and Supplier, and search by Order Number, Supplier Ref or Official Order Number.

You can select a row to view an Open Order in detail. Within the open Order you can select the Work to view its page and follow the e-resource link when there is one. The Subscriptions are listed and you can link to a Fund from a Subscription line.

Fund detail
You can now select a Fund from a list to view it in detail. In addition to summary information about amounts, you can view a list of Orders against a base Fund and view a history of transfers including links to the Funds to or from which amounts were transferred. With an aggregate Fund you can list and link to the member Funds.

Filter buttons work without submitting search
Filter buttons now work as soon as you click/tap them, without having to click/tap the search submit button. This includes the Orders filter by Type (Active Orders / Supplier quotes), the Funds filter by type (All/Base/Aggregate) and the Suppliers filter by active (On/Off) and by type (All/Parent/ Base).

List Orders from an Official Order Number on an Order
On the Order Detail page you can now click/tap on the Official Order Number to retrieve all orders with that number.

Stock Purchase Suggestions Order Number bug fix
In the Acquisitions Task Review stock purchase suggestions the Order request number is now displayed in the list rather than the Order ID.

Issue Item Manual due date bug fix
If you set a manual due date and issue an item and then switch off the manual due date and issue a second item to the same borrower, the calculated due date is now applied to the second loan rather than the manual due date.

Return Items Manual due date bug fix  
An operator who is not enabled to set a manual return date can now return items from loan.

Issuing items from the reservation shelf, bug fix
When an item that is reserved and awaiting collection is issued to the reserver and it is the only one for that borrower, the alert on the borrower information in the Issue form is now cleared, so it doesn’t look as though they have another item waiting to be collected.

Borrower Charge waivers display, bug fix
In Borrower > Current Charges and All Charges, if you waive parts of a charge with different reasons and then view the payment details (click/tap the amount under Paid/Waived), the reasons are displayed correctly rather than repeating  the first waiver for all the other waivers.

Serial Work header ISSN
The header for a serial now displays the ISSN, when there is one.

To preview this release
You can preview this release by inserting ‘-demo’ into your tenancy URL after the word ‘soprano’: https://soprano-demo.librarymanagementcloud.co.uk/{your tenancy name}. Please remember that it accesses you live data.

Release to the live service
This version of Soprano will be released to the live service on Tuesday 23rd February 2016.

Comments and contact
If you have any comments, questions or suggestions please get in touch. You can comment here on the blog, in the Soprano Forum, or contact your Account Manager. To suggest and discuss additional features there is the Soprano Ideas Forum.

We’re pleased to announce that the version of Soprano that has been in preview recently has now been released to the live service. Details of the inclusions are described in the preview release notice.

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions please get in touch. You can comment on the Soprano blog, on the Soprano forum and Soprano Ideas or contact your Account Manager or the Soprano team directly.

We’re pleased to announce that the next release of Soprano is now available for preview.

This release primarily delivers further development of the Acquisitions module. We are currently testing and refining the Acquisitions module in collaboration with a few libraries prior to making it generally available.

This release also includes:

• Performance improvements
• A fix to an issue when using IE11 where the borrower page becomes unresponsive after adding and removing many messages
• Ensuring Manual Return Date is only available when the LDS version is one that supports it, i.e. LDS 2.0 or higher
• Some styling adjustments to the Borrower and Item headers
• A correction to the borrower icon on the reservation page

To preview this release
You can preview this release by inserting ‘-demo’ into your tenancy URL after the word ‘soprano’: https://soprano-demo.librarymanagementcloud.co.uk/{your tenancy name}. Please remember that it accesses you live data.

Release to the live service
This version of Soprano will be released to the live service on Monday 25th January 2016.

Comments and contact
If you have any comments, questions or suggestions please get in touch. You can comment here on the blog, in the Soprano Forum, or contact your Account Manager. To suggest and discuss additional features there is the Soprano Ideas Forum.

We’re pleased to announce that the version of Soprano that has been in preview since 11th December has now been released to the live service. Details of the inclusions are described in the preview release notice.

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions please get in touch. You can comment on the Soprano blog, on the Soprano forum and Soprano Ideas or contact your Account Manager or the Soprano team directly.

We’re pleased to announce that the next release of Soprano is now available for preview.
This release includes:

* Transit information in the Item header
* Display links to online resources
* Serial holdings display
* Process Reservations transit fix

Plus features requiring a Local Data Services upgrade to LDS 2.0:

* Add and edit borrower messages
* Manual Due Date
* Manual Return Date
* Operator can change password

This release also includes:
* Other fixes and improvements
* Substantial work on acquisitions, which will become available with a further release of LDS to be announced in due course.

To request your upgrade to LDS 2.0, please open a Support case.

 
Transit information in the Item header
When you view the Item page for an Item that is in transit, details about the transit will be displayed (From, To and Reason), and an appropriate action button will be given. The action offered by the button will depend on whether the destination site is the site where you are, and on the reason for transit. If it is in transit to your site for a reservation then you will be offered the option to ‘Satisfy Reservation’ this will do what it says and remove the transit, giving you a confirmation on the Reservations Processing page. If it is in transit to some other site than yours, you will have the option to Cancel the transit.

Display links to online resources
Links to online resources are displayed with the bibliographic information in the Work header. Links are displayed following the same rules as in Prism. A link is displayed for each different URL associated with the record. Both hotlinks (as stored in your LMS) and links held in MARC field 856 are included, so links in records uploaded to Prism via Resource Management are included.

Serial holdings display
Serial issues are displayed under the work > Holdings tab when they exist. This allows staff to see all received issues in order to advise borrowers. A click/tap on the number of copies opens a list detailing the individual items.

Process Reservations transit fix
This fixes a problem where a Work has multiple reservations and a library branch has two or more copies available, needing to be transited for the reservations. Now when you transit the second and subsequent copies it succeeds rather than getting an error.

Add and edit borrower messages
Requires LDS 2.0. Under the Borrower > Notes tab in the Messages column there is a new button ‘Add New Message’. You can select a standard message from the list of your borrower messages or type a non-standard message into the text box. When a non-standard message is attached to a borrower you can edit it via the pencil control. Each message shows the create and edit date and operator.
The ability to remove a message from a borrower has been made dependent on the Deletion Level in the operator’s Enablement Profile (as configured in SetConfig). With LDS 1.n the ability to remove a message has been suppressed because it was too permissive.

Manual Due Date
Requires LDS 2.0. The Issue Items page has a ‘Manual Due Date’ on/off toggle above the Borrower and Item fields. It is off by default. It remains in its state (off or on) until you change it (just click/tap the toggle) or refresh the page. When switched on it displays editable date and time fields, defaulting to one month ahead of the current date. When you issue an item with it switched on, the due date on the loan is the date set in the Manual Due Date fields.

 
Manual Return Date
Requires LDS 2.0. The Return Items page has a ‘Manual Return Date’ on/off toggle above the Borrower and Item fields. It is off by default. It remains in its state (off or on) until you change it (just click/tap the toggle) or refresh the page. When switched on it displays editable date and time fields, defaulting to the current date and time. When you return an item with it switched on, the date returned on the loan is the date set in the Manual Return Date fields.

Operator can change password
Requires LDS 2.0. A new Operator Profile page allows the operator to change their password, if they are allowed by the rule in SetConfig > Parameter Management > Rules > Operators > Operators. The Operator Profile page is accessed by a click/tap on the operator’s name in the ID bar – a new cog icon after the name indicates that it links to settings for the operator.

Other fixes and improvements
This release also includes other bug fixes and improvements throughout Soprano.

To preview this release
You can preview this release by inserting ‘-demo’ into your tenancy URL after the word ‘soprano’: https://soprano-demo.librarymanagementcloud.co.uk/{your tenancy name}. Please remember that it accesses you live data.

Release to the live service
This version of Soprano will be released to the live service on Monday 21st December 2015.

Comments and contact
If you have any comments, questions or suggestions please get in touch. You can comment here on the blog, in the Soprano Forum, or contact your Account Manager. To suggest and discuss additional features there is the Soprano Ideas Forum.

We’re pleased to announce that the version of Soprano that has been in preview recently has now been released to the live service. Details of the inclusions are described in the preview release notice.

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions please get in touch. You can comment on the Soprano blog, on the Soprano forum and Soprano Ideas or contact your Account Manager or the Soprano team directly.

We’re pleased to announce that the next release of Soprano is now available for preview.
This release includes:

• Borrower summary and alerts in Return Items
• Change site of operator whilst signed in
• Item General Note displayed on return from loan
• PIN entry changes in the Create Borrower form
• Non-latin script titles displayed
• Item barcode validation in Update Item tasks
• Other fixes and improvements

Borrower summary and alerts in Return Items
The Return Items page now displays the borrower (picture, name and barcode number) with alerts to some exception conditions including charges, overdue loans, reservations ready to collect and account expiry. Amounts or counts are shown as appropriate, with a symbol indicating the exception condition. Each alert is a link to the relevant tab in the borrower page.

Change site of operator whilst signed in
You can now switch site quickly without having to manually sign out and in, re-entering your password and selecting a new site in the sign in form. In the ID bar (the black bar at the top of each page) you can now click/tap on your current site name to open a list of sites and select one to switch to. Soprano signs you out and in again with the new site. The sites that you use most often are given at the top of the list in a ‘Popular Sites’ section.

You can switch site from anywhere in Soprano. It will place you on the normal first page determined by the enablements for the combination of your operator and your new site. Tasks that you can save to complete later, such as the Reservations Pick List, are site-specific, so any you saved at the previous site will not be visible at the new site, but you will see them when you switch back.

Item General Note displayed on return from loan
When you return an item that has a note, the note is now displayed in the Messages column of the transaction row. Previously there was a button in the Actions column linking to the Borrower > Note page.

 
PIN entry changes in the Create Borrower form
To improve the privacy of borrower data, in the Create Borrower form we’ve added an option to let the borrower set the PIN themselves, as you can do already when editing an existing borrower record to change the PIN. The input field on the main form is retained, but input data is now masked by being displayed as bullet symbols.

Non-latin script titles displayed
We’ve ensured that title and other data in non-latin scripts, including right-to-left scripts, are displayed correctly. These can also be used in searches.

 
Item barcode validation in Update Item tasks
We’ve fixed a discrepancy where the barcode validation was different in the Update Item tasks from the validation at the Resources search box. Item barcodes are now recognised equally in all of those places.

Other fixes and improvements
This release also includes some other bug fixes and performance improvements in some edit forms and the Reservations Pick List.

To preview this release
You can preview this release by inserting ‘-demo’ into your tenancy URL after the word ‘soprano’: https://soprano-demo.librarymanagementcloud.co.uk/{your tenancy name}. Please remember that it accesses you live data.

Release to the live service
This version of Soprano will be released to the live service on Wednesday 30th September 2015.

Comments and contact
If you have any comments, questions or suggestions please get in touch. You can comment here on the blog, in the Soprano Forum, or contact your Account Manager. To suggest and discuss additional features there is the Soprano Ideas Forum.

We’re pleased to announce that the version of Soprano that has been in preview recently has now been released to the live service. Details of the inclusions are described in the preview release notice.

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions please get in touch. You can comment on the Soprano blog, on the Soprano forum and Soprano Ideas or contact your Account Manager or the Soprano team directly.

We’re pleased to announce that the next release of Soprano is now available for preview.
This release includes:

• Printing the Reservations Pick List
• Borrower Guarantees
• Postcode look up for existing borrowers’ addresses
• Charge Reasons in All Charges
• Identifier validation in Create Work
• Improved handling of errors
• Recently viewed works duplication fixed

Printing the Reservations Pick List
The print stylesheet for Reservations Pick Lists has been improved. Elements that relate only to online use have been removed, each available copy is listed and a blank ‘Picked’ column is provided to allow you to record activity on paper. You can access it from your browser’s Print option.

Borrower Guarantees
Complementing the ability to record a Guarantor in the Membership area under the Borrower > Information tab, Soprano now also displays the names of any borrowers who are guaranteed by the borrower being viewed – the Guarantees. You do not enter Guarantees directly – they are displayed when the borrower being viewed has been entered as the Guarantor of other borrowers. Multiple Guarantees are displayed where relevant.

Postcode look up for existing borrowers’ addresses
The postcode look-up address finder is already available on the form to create a new borrower. Now it also appears when adding or editing addresses for existing borrowers.

Please note that the postcode look-up address finder requires integration with a relevant service: LLPG, QAS or Address-point. If you already have postcode lookup integrated in Alto, you can raise a Support case to request it to be enabled in Soprano. If you do not already have a postcode lookup service, please contact Sales or your Account Manager.

Charge reasons in All Charges
The reason for a fine or a hire charge is now given under the All Charges tab, as it already is under the Current Charges tab. This includes the number of days overdue for a fine, and the type of transaction where the charge was realised, such as ‘Public renew’.

Identifier validation in Create Work
In Create Work you can enter an identifier, such as an ISBN, in the Identifier box, click Get Work, and Soprano will import a matching record from Base. Now, it recognises various types of identifier and if the input does not conform to any of these the field label changes to ‘Other or unknown identifier’. This can be useful to help you ensure correct input or to explain why you get no results.

Improved handling of errors
Soprano now responds with some explanation to various data problems and other error conditions, where previously it would appear to go offline.

Recently viewed works duplication fixed
This fixes a bug where duplicate entries appeared sometimes in the works listed under Recent Activity on the Resources tab.
To preview this release
You can preview this release by inserting ‘-demo’ into your tenancy URL after the word ‘soprano’: https://soprano-demo.librarymanagementcloud.co.uk/{your tenancy name}. Please remember that it accesses you live data.

Release to the live service
This version of Soprano will be released to the live service on Wednesday 17th June 2015.

Comments and contact
If you have any comments, questions or suggestions please get in touch. You can comment here on the blog, in the Soprano Forum, or contact your Account Manager. To suggest and discuss additional features there is the Soprano Ideas Forum.

We’re pleased to announce that the version of Soprano that has been in preview recently has now been released to the live service. Details of the inclusions are described in the preview release notice.

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions please get in touch. You can comment on the Soprano blog, on the Soprano forum and Soprano Ideas or contact your Account Manager or the Soprano team directly.