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.

To keep up to date with the latest Soprano developments please register for the webinar on Thursday 24th September 2015 at 2.00 pm. This free webinar is open to all customers.

In this webinar we’ll discuss the latest Soprano developments and give you an opportunity to raise any specific questions that you may have.

Please click here to register for the webinar.

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

In the meantime keep up with the latest Soprano news and information on the Soprano blog and on the Soprano Forum, and propose and discuss ideas in Soprano Ideas.

If you were unable to attend the Soprano Development Update webinar on Thursday 30th July or would like to review what we covered then you can catch up on latest developments by watching the recording of the webinar below or by downloading the video.

Highlights include:

• Change site of operator
• Exception alerts & streamlining in Return Items & Issue Items
• Transit returned items
• Add & edit borrower messages
• Local Data Services: audit information & security improvements
• Acquisitions development starting

There are a couple of points in particular where we’d like feedback. Please email Terry Willan or contact us through your Account Manager.

Environment Variable TAL_REISSUE_FINE=. If you don’t have this set, or if it is set to NO, then we’d like to hear from you. It means that when an item is found to be already on loan during issue to another borrower and the system sets the previous loan to returned then any fines on it are not applied to the previous borrower’s account. In Soprano we propose to make it behave as though this is always set to YES, and allow the operator to make adjustments such as waiving, if enabled.

Acquisitions development. We’d like to hear from appropriate staff in your library if you’re interested in advising us and being an early adopter of acquisitions features in Soprano. What are the main ways in which you’d like Soprano to do better than Alto?

//blogs.librarymanagementcloud.co.uk/soprano/files/2016/02/Soprano-webinar-2015-07-30.mp4

To keep up to date with the latest Soprano developments please register for the webinar on Thursday 30th July 2015 at 2.00 pm. This free webinar is open to all customers.

In this webinar we’ll discuss the latest Soprano developments and review the roadmap, as well as giving you an opportunity to raise any specific questions that you may have.

Please click here to register for the webinar.

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

In the meantime keep up with the latest Soprano news and information here on the Soprano blog and on the Soprano Forum, and propose and discuss ideas in Soprano Ideas.

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.

If you were unable to attend the Soprano Development Update webinar on Thursday 11th June or would like to review what we covered then you can catch up on latest developments by watching the recording of the webinar below or by downloading the video.

Highlights include:

• New features in the latest release
• Reservation Pick list
• Forthcoming developments
  • Time-out
  • Return Items
  • Operator location
  • Item Query
  • Add borrower messages

//blogs.librarymanagementcloud.co.uk/soprano/files/2016/02/Soprano-webinar-2015-06-11.mp4

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.

To keep up to date with the latest Soprano developments please register for the webinar on Thursday 11th June 2015 at 2.00 pm. This free webinar is open to all customers.

In this webinar we’ll discuss the latest Soprano developments and review the roadmap, as well as giving you an opportunity to raise any specific questions that you may have.

Please click here to register for the webinar.

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

In the meantime keep up with the latest Soprano news and information here on the Soprano blog and on the Soprano Forum, and propose and discuss ideas in Soprano Ideas.

If you were unable to attend the Soprano Development Update webinar on Wednesday 15th April or would like to review what we covered then you can catch up on latest developments by watching the recording of the webinar below or by downloading the video.

Highlights include:

• Soprano roadmap run-through
• Demonstration and discussion of recent developments in:
  • Borrowers
  • Items
  • Circulation
  • Stock Management

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.