How to automatically charge a patron for a lost item and refund their account if the item is returned

Step 1 - Finding the lost statuses

The first step is determining which lost value the item status will change to. There are several lost statuses on your system, set under Koha Administration > Basic parameters > Authorised values.

This will bring up a table of the different authorised values available on your site.

Use the Search box at the top of the table to find the Lost authorised values entry.

Click the LOST value under the Category column to view the specific lost values on your site.

The lost value to use for this procedure is the Long Overdue (Lost) which appears by default on your system and is represented by the authorised value, 2. 

Step 2 - Setting the system preferences

Once the Lost status has been identified, navigate to Koha administration > Global System Preferences and search for DefaultLongOverdueChargeValue.

This will bring up several system preferences that include the searched term. The system preferences that need to be set for this functionality are DefaultLongOverdueChargeValue, DefaultLongOverdueLostValue and DefaultLongOverdueDays.

i. DefaultLongOverdueChargeValue -

Charge a lost item to the borrower's account when the LOST value of the item changes to: 
Leave this field empty if you don't want to charge the user for lost items. 
(used when the longoverdue.pl script is called without the --charge parameter)

In this system preference you put a numerical authorized value of 2, as explained above, to represent long overdue lost in the box. This tells the system that if the status of an item changes to 2, the patron account the item is associated with will be charged for its replacement.

ii. DefaultLongOverdueLostValue, DefaultLongOverdueDays -

By default, set the LOST value of an item to when the item has been overdue for more than days. 
WARNING — These preferences will activate the automatic item loss process. Leave these fields empty if you don't want to activate this feature. 
Example: [1] [30] Sets an item to the LOST value 1 when it has been overdue for more than 30 days. 
(Used when the longoverdue.pl script is called without the --lost parameter)

This system preference asks for two values, one for how many days an item needs to be overdue before its status is changed to lost, and another for the lost status the item will change to.

 The value of lost item needs to match the value set in DefaultLongOverdueChargeValue, i.e, 2. This value will trigger a charge to a patron account, as explained above. 

The value of the days needs to be more than the latest overdue notice that goes out on your system. 

An example of the system preferences filled out:

Step 3 - Refunding returned items

Under Koha Administration > Patrons and Circulation > Circulation and Fines Rules > Default lost item fee refund on return policy, the switch can be set to refund patrons if the item they lost and were charged for is returned, or to not refund the patrons if the item is returned. 

Version History
Version	Date	Detail	Author
1.0	13/04/18	Create doc.	Holly Cooper
2.0	15/05/20	Migrate to Zoho	Holly Cooper
2.1	01/03/21	Adding TOC and tidying up format	Holly Cooper
2.1	22/03/22	Updating screenshots	Holly Cooper
Retention Policy
Permanent		x

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