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19 results found

  1. Details on items going in-transit, enroute, and/or transferred are not kept within the Polaris Transactions database. Instead, the data is only kept within the Polaris database. This means if an item is deleted, then statistics on it going in-transit/transferred/enroute are lost. The enhancement request here would be to include that information into the Polaris Transactions database.

    This could also serve as a generic enhancement request for increased reporting abilities within Simply Reports. It seems there are a lot of things our libraries would like reports on that are not possible to create within Simply Reports. It almost always involves historical…

    11 votes

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  2. When you use SimplyReports (née Simply Reports) and create a report and select a LIBRARY, the report data is actually using the branches at the time the report was created. It is essentially a branch level report with the branches a the time of report creation.

    This means that if you save the report, then you add a branch, that branch is NOT included in the report output. This causes confusion and extra work. There should be an option to truly make a "LIBRARY" level report, or part of the process of adding a new branch should go back and…

    13 votes

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  3. Adding the patron modification date and the name of the last modifier of a patron record would allow staff to narrow down when records were modified and by whom. The ability to track these changes would be particularly useful to Outreach staff who may need the statistical information about patron records they modified while working off site. Ideally, this addition should be added to the report outputs in SimplyReports and added to Leap as well so that public service staff can easily access this information. In Leap, adding Last Modification Date and User to the list of keyword fields in…

    8 votes

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  4. It would be useful for administrators and reporting if item records were not physically deleted from the database. Maybe the introduction of an additional item record status that leaves the record in the database but excludes it from all aspects but reporting and administrator access?

    In our case we need to report periodically on item records being deleted. Once the record has been double deleted by a branch, I can no longer see it in Polaris, so I am relying upon spreadsheets captured at different points in time to capture the necessary data. Having a status of "logically deleted" could…

    7 votes

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  5. If there is an issue with a scheduled Simply Reports job, it must be rerun manually. This includes problems with the SQL Job Polaris scheduling executive. For example, if one report takes longer than 30 minutes to run, the scheduling executive won't allow another instance of that SQL job to start, causing reports to be missed. Additionally, reports can be missed if the server is offline for a variety of reasons including during upgrades. Simply Reports should check the last run date for the report and reschedule it if the elapsed time is greater than the scheduled interval.

    6 votes

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  6. Inventory Check-in via Leap is recorded as Check-ins for Item Statistic reports in SimplyReports. A way to filter inventory check-ins from statistical reports would be nice.

    11 votes

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  7. We often use the "Holds" reports of Simple Reports to watch demand on titles - especially the Hold Count report. It would be very helpful if UPC could be one of the output columns, so that we could copy it for media, which doesn't always have an ISBN in the vendor MARC.
    Right now we have to output the bib record id, copy it and search in Polaris, then copy the UPC from there.

    11 votes

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  8. I would like to be able to run reports in Simply Reports to get our item return statistics broken down into time increments (such as hourly), as well as by date.

    This would be useful for tracking busy times and identifying trends/patterns at our library.

    12 votes

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  9. In Simply Reports, some filter menus do not populate options until a library/branch is chosen (i.e. Shelf Location, Stat Code, Statistical Class). This is helpful for consortia because the menus only become populated with the options available at each selected branch(es), keeping the options to a manageable size.

    We would like to see this dynamic menu functionality applied to the Collection, Material Type, and Patron Code filters as well.

    Currently, our consortium has 55 Material Types, 57 Patron Codes, and 284 Collections to choose from in these menus, which becomes quite overwhelming for users and involves A LOT of tedious…

    16 votes

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  10. We would like to have more enhanced data fields within SimplyReports in order to help users create reports that can fit their needs a bit better. For example, we recently ran into an issue where a staff member wanted a field that can indicate status descriptions for Lost/Unpaid or Lost/Accruing. In this case, it was explained that there would need to be a combination of patron account information, item status information and library settings needing to be available in order for this to work. Can possibly looked into for the future?

    21 votes

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  11. I regularly have need to provide a list of items to partner organizations. This would be most easily accomplished by simply exporting the data from an existing record set to excel. I have also recently had need for an export option from a Patron Record set. Export is currently an option for Bib Record Sets and I am hoping it can be added for Patron and Item as well.

    16 votes

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  12. Ability to pull in a customer's reading history at GREATER than 250 items at a time (similar to the 'karate chop' feature in Polaris client.

    4 votes

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  13. In Simply Reports, add ‘Hold activation date’ as an option under ‘Hold relative date filters’ for Hold List reports.
    We want to be able to use this report to provide a list of holds 45 days or more not filled based on the Hold activation date.

    12 votes

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  14. We have a number of custom reports in the Polaris Staff Client that need to be accessible to our Circulation Staff in Leap. Ideally all Polaris canned reports should also be available to all staff in Leap. One custom report we use is for patrons who don't have an email address. Their notification option is set to mailing address. However, if they have a hold we call them instead of sending the hold notice by mail. The custom report is a quick way to find the patrons that we need to call. Staff have to have access to both Polaris…

    26 votes

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    Just to set expectations, our strategy at this time is for users to access reports through the SSRS portal. As Eleanor mentioned in her comment, we are adding customizable menu options to Leap in 7.5 with the intent that they be used to link users to the reporting interface.

  15. There are multiple reports in the "canned reports" available through the Staff Client and through SSRS that deliver incomplete and/or absolutely wrong data.

    For instance, the Patron Register report only looks at extant patrons in the Polaris database right now. That means that, if a library had a patron purge, those patrons are gone. If one runs a Patron Register report after the purge for a time before the purge, the registration numbers will absolutely be wrong. This would also be true where patron merges or general cleanups have taken place.

    Another report, Circulation by Postal Code has a logic…

    33 votes

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  16. I would like to submit the idea that Polaris offers the ability to run a report based on patron activity dates, and not their LAST activity date.
    Currently, we can only run a report using "Last Activity". This is not helpful if trying to determine how many patrons were active in a given period because if they have had activity after the specified period, they would no longer be counted in the report.
    There is a canned report under System > statistical summary, but it only looks at borrows, and would not count ILS card activity such as from a…

    13 votes

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  17. We'd like added the ability to purge report downloads from SimplyReports that are sitting in user folders. This would include deleting ad hoc report, scheduled report, and saved report extracts from their respective user folders after a specified number of days.

    Currently these settings are listed under the Admin section of SimplyReports, but we only found out recently there is no process tied to the settings. We'd like to see this functionality built. Details about their unavailability can be found in the SimplyReports help article "Set the general application defaults" (bottom).

    Idea Value
    We have several users with years of…

    20 votes

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  18. I'm repeatedly finding instances where a patron is missing their registration date. At first, I thought it was migrated data, but after updating those records, I discovered it happening over and over. Please prevent the registration date from being deleted.

    Idea Value
    We have some third-party applications that break if there isn't a registration date. Also, we use that date for statistics and to narrow down results.

    32 votes

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  19. SimplyReports offers only one format when downloading the results of a report, and that is a questionably formatted xls file that always throws a warning when opening in Microsoft Excel. Microsoft left the xls format behind almost 15 years ago when they launched the xlsx format in Excel 2007. My idea is not only to update the downloadable report format to xlsx, but add reporting formats now common in data handling and processing:Update xls and replace it with xlsxAdd export to OpenDocument Spreadsheet (.ods)Add export to CSVAdd export to JSONAdd export to PDF

    Additionally, it'd be an excellent update to…

    69 votes

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