What happens if I start a task to update loans/reservations and then start a task to generate the notices before the task for updating is finished?

Some of the notices might not be generated in this run. They’d be generated the next time you run the notice generation.

I've heard there's a CLEANUP scheduled task. What gets cleaned up?

The CLEANUP task deletes old SavedList tasks where the date created is earlier then yesterday, i.e. the SavedList tasks from yesterday and today won’t be deleted. The CLEANUP task doesn’t delete other tasks, and doesn’t delete pdf notices, xml files or txt files.

What happens when you generate an overdue notice, but the overdue item is returned before you transmit the notice? Is the overdue notice transmitted?

No. When the overdue item is returned, Spydus checks for any notices linked to the loan that haven’t yet been transmitted and deletes them. This applies to any notices linked to a loan, for example overdue notices, lost notices, reported lost notices, and claims returned notices.

At the moment we don’t do anything similar for reservation notices. For example, if you generate a reservation available notice and the reservation is cancelled before you transmit the notice, the notice will still be transmitted — we don't delete the notice when we cancel the reservation.

If I retransmit notices, will Spydus still check if anything has been returned since the notices were generated or will it simply produce a copy of the notices previously transmitted?

Spydus will retransmit all the notices for the selected filter, so an overdue notice will be retransmitted even if the item has been returned.

How do I set up the e-mail address for my telecommunications provider to send notices via SMS?

Originally we only supported SMS notices with Telstra Australia, and by default we use “@onlinesms.telstra.com” as the address of the SMS provider. However, you can change this by specifying the e-mail address of your telecommunications provider in the Email & SMS parameters.

How do we transmit notices by telephone?

Transmitting the notices creates a csv file. The Talkingtech side of things then uses this csv file to call the borrowers. When the call is actually made — i.e. when the notice is transmitted — depends on how the Talkingtech side is set up.

If we want to send notices by telephone do we have to use Talkingtech?

Yes. The company is called Talkingtech, and the product we use is called i-tiva message. You need to buy the software from Talkingtech and install it. You can find out more about i-tiva message and about the company themselves at http://www.talkingtech.com/.

Does the library need to register with Talkingtech, and then Talkingtech supplies them with a username and password?

No. The library would buy the software from Talkingtech and install it.

What types of notice can be sent by telephone?

Reservations available, recalled items, and overdue items.

Does notice separation apply when the notice is transmitted by e-mail and SMS, or only when it’s printed?

Yes, notice separation also applies when notices are transmitted by e‑mail and SMS.