Managing balances

Status of a balance

A balance can be handled differently depending on its status. The following table shows an overview of the different statuses a balance can have.

Status	Description
Created	The balance has been created and is not fully paid (partial payments may have been made).
Sent for collection	The balance has been sent for collection. Note: This state is only used for balances that are created manually in the debtor system outside of Cicero. When using the integration from Cicero to the debtor system, this status is not used.
Collection closed	The balance has been closed after having been sent for collection. Note: This state is only used for balances that are created manually in the debtor system outside of Cicero. When using the integration from Cicero to the debtor system, this status is not used.
Paid	The balance has been fully paid.
Refunded	A paid compensation has been refunded to the patron, typically because the patron has returned the material after paying.
Cancelled	The balance has been cancelled.
Written off	The balance has been written off, typically because it no longer makes sense to collect the amount from the patron. A write-off can be done manually or automatically after a given period.
Fully reduced	The balance's price has been reduced to 0. This happens, for example, in connection with deleting patrons who have open balances.

Managing balances

It is possible to perform a range of different actions on individual balances:

• Payment of a balance
• Cancellation of a balance
• Write-off of a balance
• Cancel latest payment
• Refund compensation
• Mark as "Sent for collection"
• Close collection
• View transactions on a balance
• Balances for minors
• Deletion of outdated balances

These actions can either be performed manually, or Cicero can be set up to perform them automatically. The actions can be performed manually in the following places:

• Patron's detail page > Balance > Click the "View actions" icon on a balance
• Patron's detail page > Balance (click on a balance in the table) > Detail page for fee/compensation > Click the "View actions" button at the bottom of the page

Payment of a balance

A balance can either be paid via the debtor system or by payment at the counter.

Read more under Payment of balance.

Cancellation of a balance

A balance can be cancelled if it turns out not to be relevant after all. For example, compensation for materials will automatically be cancelled if the material is returned.

Cicero makes the lost material loanable again when it is returned.

Manual cancellation of a fee and compensation

Both fees and compensation can be cancelled manually. When cancelling, it is possible to specify a reason for the cancellation. The Status column for the balance is then updated to ”Cancelled”.

When a fee/compensation has been cancelled, it will not be counted in the patron's total amount owed.

Write-off of a balance

When a balance is outdated, it can be written off either manually or automatically.

Write-offs can be configured to occur automatically under Admin > General settings > Balance > Automatically write off outdated balances.

NOTE! Balances sent to the debtor system or with the status ”Sent for collection” will not be written off automatically.

Cancellation or write-off of multiple fees at the same time

It is possible to handle the cancellation or write-off of multiple fees at the same time. (See Search balance) for further information.

Cancel latest payment

In the event of an incorrectly registered payment, the staff member can cancel the latest payment. This may be the case, for example, if the staff member has registered a payment of a balance, but the patron is unable to pay after all.

When the payment is registered, the system creates a transaction on an account. If the payment is cancelled, the system creates another transaction to offset the amount on the same account.

NOTE! The "Cancel latest payment" function should not be confused with the ”Refund compensation” function, which is used for refunds to a patron if, for example, they return a book after having paid compensation for it.

Refund compensation

When a material with an associated compensation is returned, and a payment has already been registered on the compensation, the patron can be refunded the amount paid. When the compensation was paid, the system created a transaction for the amount paid. When refunding compensation, the system creates another transaction on the same account to offset it.

NOTE! If the library has integration with the debtor system, the actual payout takes place through the debtor system, but you still have to click ”Refund compensation” in Cicero.

Mark as "Sent for collection"

When a balance is created manually in the debtor system, it can be manually marked as "Sent for collection" in Cicero.

NOTE! When using integration from Cicero to the debtor system, this state is not used, and the action is not relevant.

Close collection

When a balance has been created manually in the debtor system, and the collection has been completed, the balance can be manually marked as closed in Cicero.

NOTE! When using integration from Cicero to the debtor system, this action is not relevant.

View transactions on a balance

It is possible to view the transactions made on a balance (creation, payments, cancellation, etc.), including transactions made in the debtor system, if there is integration with it.

The transactions for a balance can be viewed by selecting ”Show transaction details”.

The dialog box with transaction details shows all transactions that involve a change in amount, i.e. payments, reductions, cancellations, etc., including transactions made in the debtor system. Other changes, e.g. switching the status to ”Sent for collection”, are not included, as they do not change the amount.

Deletion of outdated balances

Cicero automatically deletes closed balances (i.e. all those that do not have the status ”Created” or ”Sent for collection”) that are over a certain age.

In Admin>General settings>Balance>"Automatic deletion of completed balances after x months" you can specify how old a balance must be in order to be deleted. The age can be set to between 6 months and 10 years. The default value is 10 years. Note that it is not possible to disable the deletion of outdated balances.

If a balance has been sent to the debtor system via integration from Cicero, deletion of the balance depends on the value ”Delete balance via the Message Distributor” in the debtor configuration. See more in the guide Integration with ØiR 3.

Balances that have not been sent to the debtor system are deleted after the specified deadline, regardless of the Message Distributor.