The Request Form

The Aeon request form is designed to house and display a request's transaction workflow process and photoduplication workflow process, if applicable, in one convenient location.

Request Processing Workflows

Each request in Aeon is assigned both a transaction status and a photoduplication status. When users submit requests for copies, staff can use this dual state to update and track both the status of the material being copied and the copy itself using the same transaction number. 

Users can submit copy requests using the default Photoduplication form or by submitting one of the default item request forms and then using the Initiate Photoduplication feature that has replaced the Clone to Copy feature. Staff can submit photoduplication requests for users by creating a new request from within the User form and using the Initialize Photoduplication feature on the Request form. While both item requests and copy requests have a transaction and photoduplication status, the photoduplication status is blank (NULL) on those requests where photoduplication has not been initiated.

Request Form Overview

Home Ribbon | Email Ribbon | Bundle Ribbon | Process Ribbon | Detail Tab | History Tab | Billing Tab | Accessing the Form | Customizing the Form

The Aeon Request form is accessed in the Aeon Desktop Client and is comprised of three default ribbons, Home, Email, and Bundle. If photoduplication has been initiated for a request, there will also be a Process ribbon. The two default tabs are the Detail and History tabs. When the request is for a copy, there will also be a Billing tab. The current transaction and photoduplication statuses are displayed on the left-hand side of the Request form's status bar.

The Home Ribbon

The Home Ribbon of the Request form houses the following groups and associated actions pertaining to the transaction status of a request:

• Next Step: Perform next step actions determined by the current transaction status including cancelling the request or adding and removing flags. Using the following next step options on the Home ribbon closes the request form: Print Callslip, Check Out Item, Reshelve Item, Item Reshelved, Place on Hold, Cancel. All other actions refresh the request form.
• Routing: Route a request to another transaction status in the workflow. You can create Menu Groups that organize existing valid queues into custom groups for easier viewing.
• Printing: Print the request slip or call slip.
• Cloning: Clone the request to the current user or another user.
• Search: Perform a Z39.50 Search.
• Attachments: Add and View a PDF scan of a signed permissions agreement.
• User: View the User Information form, sign in or sign out a user, or mark a user as away from a reading room.
• Photoduplication: Initiate the photoduplication workflow process for a request.

The Email Ribbon

Create, send or cancel a request-related email to a user from the Email ribbon. If Email Routing is enabled, you can toggle your Transaction and Photoduplication Status routing rules on and off next to the Send Email button.

The Bundle Ribbon

Assign the request to a bundle or remove it from a bundle from the Bundle ribbon. From the Assign option, you can add the request to an existing bundle or create a new bundle for that request.

The Process Ribbon

The Process ribbon of the Request form houses the following groups and associated actions pertaining to the photoduplication status of a request:

• Next Step: Perform next step actions determined by the current photoduplication status including cancelling the request. You can toggle the Send Email and Edit Email options on and off next to the Cancel button to optionally choose to send the user an Order Cancellation email when the order is cancelled. 
• Routing: Route a request to another photoduplication status in the workflow
• Printing: Print a digitization slip for the request
• Invoice: Update, Delete, or Print an invoice or Send an Awaiting Order Approval email to the researcher.
• Charges and Payments: Delete selected charges and payments from an invoice, or apply a service package. 
• Photoduplication: Cancel the photoduplication workflow process for a request or upload an item for electronic delivery to the patron.

The Detail Tab 

The Detail tab of the Request form houses Request Information, User Information, and a Notes grid. You can add several database fields, user-defined ItemInfo and UserInfo text fields, and other user-defined custom fields that are not displayed by default to the form if you want to record and store additional information.

Request Information

The following fields are currently included in the Request Information section of the Request form by default:

• Transaction Number
• Username
• Scheduled Date
• Document Type
• Request For
• ISxN
• Appointment
  • This field will appear if a reading room is configured for appointments in the Customization Manager.
• Special Request
• Title
• Additional Title
• Author
• Place
• Publisher
• Date
• Issue
• Edition
• Volume
• Item Number
• Ref Num
• Pages
• Page Count
• Call Number
• EAD Number
• Citation
• Location
• Additional Location
• Format
• For Publication (checkbox)
• Service Level
• Shipping Option

User Information

Default user information currently includes the following fields:

• Name
• Organization
• Address
• Phone
• Email
• Status
• Department
• Notification
• Delivery
• Clearance Status**
• Research Topics
• Research Topics Sharing (toggle box)
• Notes

**The Cleared status displays in green, Not Cleared and Disavowed in black, and Blocked in Red. If the cleared status is anything other than Cleared, it is also displayed in the appropriate color, in bold, on the status bar at the bottom of the Request form.

Notes

Notes submitted by users on the Request form are displayed here. Staff can create new notes for the request here as well. User password changes and disavowal notices for merged users also display here.

The History Tab

The History tab of the Request form houses Tracking and History entries, links to cloned and merged transactions, and an Email grid. This tab enables staff to follow the transaction and photoduplication workflows of a request through fulfillment, track changes and updates to the request and actions on the request, monitor cloning and merge history, and view email history. Any work with transactions by staff while logged into the user's web account will be recorded in the Tracking and History grids of the Request form as being performed by the user.

Tracking

The Tracking grid records changes to the transaction and photoduplication statuses, the date and time of the change, and the staff or user making the change. Changes made to a request as a result of a routing rule display the username "System" instead of a staff username. Any work with transactions by staff while logged into the user's web account will be recorded in the Tracking and History grids of the Request form as being performed by the user.

History

All changes to transaction records and actions on a transaction status are tracked here. This includes moving the transaction through the workflow, whether the item was cloned to or from another item, generating an invoice, and printing a request slip or call slip. The History grid shows the date and time of the action, the action performed, and the staff or user performing the action.

Links

The Links grid informs staff that the current request was cloned to or from another transaction or merged with another request. The grid columns show the action performed, the date of the action, the staff user performing the action, the transaction number associated with the request via merging or cloning, the transaction status, and the original transaction date. Fields can be removed from this grid and the grid layout can be customized to suit your needs.

Request Links Icon

If there are other requests associated with the request via cloning, a Request Links icon appears on the label of the History tab as well as on the lower right corner of the status bar.

Creating a Separate Request Links Grid on the Details Tab

Staff users with layout customization permissions can add a second, separate Links grid to the Detail tab of the Request form by selecting the Request Links field from the customization menu. The grid columns show the action performed, the date of the action, the staff user performing the action, the transaction number associated with the request via merging or cloning, the transaction status, and the original transaction date. This grid is separate from the request links grid on the History tab. Fields can be removed from this grid and the grid layout can be customized to suit your needs. Note that if you place a Links grid on the Detail tab of a request it will also appear on the Detail tab of all linked requests.

Email

Emails sent to the researcher from within the Request form are tracked here.

The Billing Tab

Billing charges associated with photoduplication requests can be processed from within the Aeon Desktop Client. The Billing form uses the request's Process ribbon and is comprised of Billing Information, Billing Estimate/Details, and Payments/Credits sections.

Accessing the Form

You can access the Request form one of several ways:

1. Double-click on a request from a request list in the Requests Group.
2. Double-click on a request in the request list on the User Information form.
3. Double-click on a request in the request list on the Activity form.
4. Double-click on a request in the request list on the Appointment form.
5. Double-click on a request in request search results.

Customizing the Form

You can customize the Request form and the grids in the form to better suit your workflow and needs. This includes adding fields to the form that are not there by default, such as the Transaction Status, Photoduplication Status, Site, and Max Cost fields as well as the user-defined fields, ItemInfo and UserInfo, and, as of Aeon v5.1, any other user-defined custom fields. See Editing Form Layout for more information.