Firstly, to "Write off" a resource means to make it an inactive record in the system.  The data can stay in TextTracker for as long as you like but if you look up an item that has 25 copies and 4 have been "Written off" the copy count will display 21 copies.

There is only one way to Write Off a resource and that is to put a W in the Status field of the Barcode for the item and then type in (or select) a Status Date to indicate when the item was Written off.

Marking a Single Item Missing or Written Off -

To tag or mark an item as Missing or Culled you will need to call up the relevant barcodes details screen of the item.

1. On the Barcode Details screen select either M (Missing) or W (Withdrawn/Written-off) from the drop down list
2. Click on the 3 dots at the end of this field and a calender will appear.  The default date is todays date but any date can be selected.  If you need to go back to a previous year click on the current year at the top of the calender and you will be able to move between years.
3. Don't forget to save any changes that you make by clicking on the tick or using the F3

Bulk Write offs Using Barcode Buffer files -

You can create a Buffer File (Barcode file) of the resources you wish to edit in the catalogue.  Instructions for creating a Buffer File are in Utilities / Setup / Buffer File

This is handy if you need to write off resources that have nothing in common ie one or two copies from lots of different sets.  These books might be damaged or no longer relevant and will be replaced by newer versions.

To use the Buffer file for Write offs -

• Go into Utiltities / Backup-Restore / Backup - This is your insurance policy against any mishaps.
• Stay in Utilities and click on Update / Barcodes

1. There is no need to enter any selection criteria as you have already selected the records for editing (the Buffer File)
2. Click on the Buffer File button and from the Browse screen locate your buffer file, highlight it and click on Open
3. Check the number of records filtered at the bottom of the screen. 
4. In the Replacement field select Status from the drop down list and in the Replace with field put in W, now click on the Replace button
5. You will now have to repeat steps 2 to 4 this time select Status Date as the Replacement field and in the Replace with select todays date from the calender
6. Click on the Replace button, you will be asked to confirm this update.
7. Once you have completed your updates you will need to use the Utilities / Update / Reset Copies.  This will adjust the number of available copies in the Catalogue screen with the actual number of available barcoded records. This function should be performed when ever there have been bulk changes made barcode details.

Here are a few more attempts to describe this function:-

Writing Off Resources Manually

• Call up the Barcode Details for the item to be Written off and put a "W" into the Status field and set the Status Date as appropriate and save the changes
• You could use the Find box on the Catalogue tab to search for the Title of the resource then, after clicking on the title, go to the Barcodes tab to find the barcode for the item so you can double click it to get to the Barcode Details tab where you make the changes
• OR you could use the Filter function on the Catalogue tab to go straight to the barcode to make the necessary changes

Writing off using a zapped in list of barcodes (buffer file)

• If you have several items (barcodes) to Write off you might save a pile of time by using the Buffer File option in TextTracker Suite
• This function allows you to create a list of items simply by creating a list of barcodes which you can then use as selection criteria for changing data in bulk
• You could create a buffer file using NotePad or any text editor but the easiest way to do it is by going into Utilities / Setup / Buffer File.  Here you can zap (or type) in the barcodes and then Save the list (with a file name that will be recognisable at a later date!) so it can be used as selection criteria
• When you are ready to mark all the items in a Buffer File as Written off you will need to do two updates... one to put a W into the Status field of the barcodes and the second to put a Status Date on the barcodes
• Make sure you backup BEFORE doing a bulk update of data in case you want to undo the changes you make!
• So, after you have made your buffer file of barcodes and are ready to do the Update of details

1. Go into Utilities / Update / Barcodes
2. Click the buffer file button in the Selection criteria area and find the buffer file you created
3. Click Apply button to see the resources displayed in the data grid... check these are the records you want to Write off and, if you are confident, drop down the Replacement Criteria list and select the Status field
4. Type a W into the Replace With box and click Replace button
5. Once that's complete, do it a second time and select the Status Date as the Replacement field this time... set todays date as the Replace With information
6. Now go and check for yourself that the details are ok by looking up one of the barcode in the Data Entry module and check that the Status and Status Date are set correctly
7. If all is well and you have finished bulk updating for now you should go into Utilities / Update / Reset Copies to let the system go and check that the number of copies on the main data entry screen accurately reflects the number of "active" barcodes on an item

 

Writing off resources using the Update function in Utilities

• If you can describe the barcodes you want to write off using selection criteria then this is a quick way to do it!
• You do need to make sure you have sucessfully described the items excluding all others... a good example of this is wanting to mark all copies of a particular set as written off.  In this case you would look up the record in the Data Entry module, get the ID number detials from the Cat Detail tab and then...

1. Do a backup just in case you need to undo your changes
2. Go into Utilities / Update / Barcodes
3. Drop down the Selection criteria field list and select ID (cat)
4. Type the ID number details into the Low value and High value fields and click Apply
5. Check the items list in the data display grid
6. If you are happy that they are the items you want to Write off then drop down the Replacement field list, select Status and type a W into the Replacement value box
7. Click Replace and do another update using the same criteria to change the Status Date field for the records to todays date
8. Go and check a few of the actual barcodes in Data Entry and if you are happy go into Utilities / Update / Copies reset to make sure the number of copies displayed on the main data entry screen accurately reflects the number of "active" barcodes attached to it

• You could wait to do the Copies Reset until you have done all the Writing off for the day
• You can print out and delete all the items marked as Written Off at any time by using the Cull Items option in Utilities under Update

Writing off items automatically after a Stocktake

One of the functions of the Stocktake is to Write Off resources.  There are changes being made to this function so this entry will be updated with the release of version 4+.