Vendor and Vendor Account Records

Vendor Records and Order Delivery Method

For more information on Alma Vendor records, consult Vendors: Searching & Navigation

There are two options for the delivery method of orders to the vendor: EDI or Email. 

In Alma, the delivery method is set at the vendor record level, not at the library vendor account record level. For this reason, ALL orders for a vendor must be sent using the same method, library-wide.

For example, a orders for the vendor Casalini must be sent via EDI (or ordered on the Casalini vendor site, once set up for your unit). There is no option to send orders to Casalini via email directly from Alma. 

• The vendor records that are configured for EDI orders have the suffix -EDI as part of the vendor code: example: CASALI-EDI
• The vendor records without the -EDI suffix indicate that the orders will be sent from Alma via email: example: EBSCOUS

Consult Alma dataload services: orders, invoices, and update inventory for more details.

Vendor Account Records

A vendor cannot be activated until it has at least one vendor account with at least one payment option selected. For this reason, each Vendor record in Alma has a corresponding Default Vendor Account record. Units can also decide to create their own Vendor Account records that would be present in addition to the Default Vendor account record. 

For information about setting up new or editing existing Vendor accounts in Alma, see Vendors: Searching & Navigation

Vendor Account Record List

Individual Vendor account records are listed on the Summary tab of the Vendor record details screen in the Accounts section. These are listed at the bottom of the vendor record details screen

This list displays the following:

Active: a check mark indicates that the record is active

Account code: this is the Vendor record account code, not to be confused with the Vendor record code

• • For the Default Vendor accounts this code will be the same as the Vendor record code, e.g. COUTTS
    
  • For newly-created or updated unit based vendor accounts, the following naming convention was used: the code will include as much of the following as necessary to make it unique: the library code; type of order; account number
    • e.g. LAW-OT-34223 would be the code for Law Library: One time orders- the account number for monograph orders with the vendor
  • For migrated individual unit based vendor accounts: the Aleph order unit became the Account code. e.g. LAW01
    • Note: There may be a project to update these post migration.  
       

Order type abbreviations:

• • OT = One time
  • SO = Standing orders
  • CO = Continuous
    
    

Account description:

• • For the Default Vendor accounts this will be: Default Account - <Vendor code>
    • e.g., Default Account - WEINBERG
  • For newly created or undated unit based vendor accounts, the following naming convention was used: as much of the following as necessary to make it unique: the library name; type of order; account number
    • Ex. Law School Library Monographs Acct. #34223
  • For migrated individual unit based vendor accounts:
    
    • If the Aleph local vendor records did not include account numbers: Default Account - EBSCOUS - CAB01
    • If the Aleph vendor record included account numbers: Account (S) - 81536, 81538

Discount percentage: this value is defined on the Vendor account record

Libraries: the libraries or Acquisitions ordering units who can use this Vendor account record

Vendor Record Details

Clicking on the Account code in the Vendor account list will open up the Vendor record details screen 

Summary tab

Account general details section: contains information specific to this record. Account code and Account description are required

Payment method: a check mark next to a payment method indicates the default payment method that will display on the invoice

Delivery and Claim information: the area where unit specific vendor account records can define claiming, renewal and receipt/activation terms that differ from the values on the default vendor account records

• • Expected receipt after ordering (days): When creating a PO line for a physical resource, this value appears by default in the same field on the PO Line Summary page. It is added to the current date to determine the expected receipt date
    • Default vendor account record value: 180 days
      
    • Migrated Aleph local vendor records value: delivery delay 1 value from Aleph local vendor record. This is where units defined claiming periods in Aleph: there is a field called "Delivery delay 1" in the Aleph vendor record: some units overrode the default value of 90 by putting other values in this field such as 120; 365 etc.
      
      
  • Expected invoice interval (days): NOT IN USE
    
    
  • Renewal evaluation interval (days): The number of days after the evaluation period of an electronic order that a renewal can be performed. 
    • Note: the ExL documentation isn't clear whether this is limited to E orders, it may be, since they are the only orders that are "evaluated"
      
      
  • Claiming grace period (days): When creating a PO line, this value appears by default in the same field on the PO Line Summary page. It is added to the expected receipt date to determine when a PO line is sent to the Claims task list
    
    
  • Expected activation after ordering (days): When creating a PO line for electronic material, this value appears by default in the same field on the PO Line Summary page. It is added to the current date to determine the expected activation date of the resource.
    
    
  • Subscription grace period (days): When creating a PO line, this value appears by default in the Claiming grace period field on the PO Line Summary page.
    It is added to the expected activation date to determine when a PO line for electronic material is sent to the Claims task list

Contact Information tab

• Includes the address, phone number, email address, and web address information for the vendor
  
  
  Select Preferred address to set a default address for the account. 
• • If there is no address specified for this type of correspondence (such as Claims, Orders, Payment, or any other address type value selected in the Add Address dialog box), the preferred email address is used. 
  • If multiple addresses are configured and no address is assigned as the preferred address, the first address listed on the Vendor Account Details page acts as the preferred address.
• Several entries may be provided for each method of contact, with an indication of the type or purpose for each method (such as shipping or billing). The information is stored at the vendor level and linked from the vendor account.

Contact People tab

• The names and other contact information for people who may be contacted directly, if necessary. 
• The information is stored at the vendor level and linked from the vendor account. 
• Adding a contact creates a contact user

Requesting a New Vendor and/or Vendor Account Record

To request either a new Vendor or Vendor account record, please fill out this form: Alma Vendor Request Form and submit it to HL Finance: hl_finance@harvard.edu 

Selecting a Vendor During the Invoice Creation Process

See Creating and Editing an Invoice for full details on Invoice creation

• Vendor field = Vendor record
• Vendor account = Vendor account (if applicable).
  
  • Note: Alma vendor accounts may not exist for approval accounts with vendors. If you do not find the matching Alma vendor account for invoice payment, use the Default account.