Deleting Acquisitions Data

When deleting any set of acquisitions data, one must start with the end-most parts first.Invoices, then purchase orders and PO lines, then funds/vendors.

Roles

To delete PO lines, you will need the Purchasing Operator and Purchasing Operator Extended roles, and these should be scoped to the institution and to the library where acquisitions activities are performed.
To delete invoices, you will need the Invoice Operator and Invoice Operator Extended roles, and these should be scoped to the institution and to the library where acquisitions activities are performed.
Deleting vendors requires the Vendor Manager role.
Deleting funds requires the Fund Manager role.

Invoices

  1. Search for the invoice to delete, e.g., Invoices by PO Line.
  2. Locate the invoice to delete, click the actions [...] menu, then select Set Back to Review.
  3. Click Confirm to move the invoice to review.
  4. Go to Acquisitions > Receiving and Invoicing > Review (Invoice). Click to the Unassigned tab.
  5. Locate the invoice to delete, click the actions [...] menu, then select Delete. Click Confirm when prompted.

Deleting an invoice will also delete the expenditure transaction(s) to the fund(s) on the invoice line(s). However, the deletion does not also re-encumber money or re-open the associated PO line(s).

There is not a batch job to delete invoices from Alma.

Deleting Purchase Orders

  1. Go to Acquisitions > Purchase Order (PO) > Delete PO.
  2. Enter the PO number to delete, or click the Select from a List button to search for purchase orders.
  3. Click Delete PO, then click Confirm.

Deleting PO Lines

  1. Search for the PO line you want to delete, e.g., Order Lines by PO Line or Title.
  2. Locate the PO line you want to delete, click the actions [...] menu, then select Reopen.
  3. Go to Acquisitions > Purchase Order Lines > Review (PO Lines). Click to the Unassigned tab.
  4. Locate the PO line you want to delete, click the actions [...] menu, then select Delete. Click Confirm when prompted.

What happens to inventory (holdings + items/collections + portfolios) when I delete PO lines?
•    Deleting a PO Line will delete all attached inventory from Alma. You must locate the bib using an All Titles search after inventory are removed. 

Vendors

Alma does not block the deletion of vendors, except when there are active PO lines (i.e., status is not Closed) or when the vendor has one or more interfaces assigned. This means that it is possible to delete a vendor that is still in use for closed PO lines and invoices. While data on deleted vendors may still be found in Analytics, staff may find it more difficult to work with PO lines and invoices in Alma. 

CARLI recommends that if a vendor is still associated with other acquisitions activity, make the vendor inactive instead of deleting the record.

  1. Go to Acquisitions > Acquisitions Infrastructure > Vendors.
  2. Locate the vendor you want to delete, click the actions [...] menu, then select Edit.
  3. Review the PO Lines and Invoices tabs to verify whether there are any active records on the vendor. The lists on these screens may be exported to Excel.
  4. Go to the Summary tab, select Status to be Inactive. Click Save.
  5. On the search vendors screen, change the filter on Vendor Status to Inactive.
  6. Locate the vendor you want to delete, click the actions [...] menu, then select Delete. Click Confirm when prompted. Alma will alert you if there are any objects preventing the record from being deleted.

Funds

Funds may be deleted if they are no longer actively in use in a ledger. For example, deleting a fund that was used in previous years’ ledgers but is no longer used. Funds that have associated transactions (encumbrance, expenditure, allocation) cannot be deleted by library staff.

  1. Go to Acquisitions > Acquisitions Infrastructure > Funds and Ledgers.
  2. Alma will present a list of active funds and ledgers for the current fiscal year. Locate the fund that you want to modify, then click Edit.
  3. Click the Transactions tab to review whether any encumbrances or expenditures are attached.
  4. Click Deactivate at the top of the screen.
  5. Modify the facets for the funds list: click the X next to Active to show all funds, then select the Inactive facet.
  6. Locate the fund in the list. IF the fund has no encumbrance or expenditure transactions, you make click the actions [...] menu, then select Delete.