Processing Decision Support Requests in the Client

Each institution's request processing procedures for Decision Support Pipeline (DSP) may vary depending on the business rules set in the Customization Manager and any additional routing rules or addons they may have installed. The feature can be used as a tool for information gathering to help make more informed decisions (and compare how much you save using one option over another). If you choose to utilize the business rules, the feature can be used to automate request processing based on business logic.  In some cases, the DSP feature could fully automate your request processing. For examples of DSP business rules, see Business Rules Workflow and Examples. For a more in-depth explanation of the DSP feature and how everything works together, see Decision Support Pipeline Overview.

Behind the Scenes

Before you even see the request in ILLiad, it will be routed into a DSP pipeline based on the Processing Type (e.g., Borrowing) and RequestType (e.g., Article). See Configuring the Decision Support Pipeline for routing rules. If you don't have the DSP routing rules set in the Customization Manager, you can manually route the request to one of the pipeline input queues to kick off the DSP feature. Once the request is in the pipeline, it will begin running through the three stages. Any addons registered to the pipeline will check the external systems and populate the Request Form fields and the FufillmentData Table on the Request Form to assist in decision making. 

Copyright Clearance

This section applies to Article requests only. To help make an informed decision, the request will be sent to the Awaiting Copyright Clearance - Pipeline Queue. The Save CCC Information option will only save the information from the CCC to the ILLiad request, it will not send information to the CCC at this point. If you receive this item, the saved copyright information will be included in the report that you then send to the CCC in a separate process. The CCC costs will be compared with any other addons you have registered to the pipeline to help provide the best option based on your business rules. For more information on processing through the CCC, see the Copyright section.

1. In the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) form, click the AutoSelect No Problem button to move all requests older than 5 years to the next queue.
2.  If one or more of the results in the list don’t appear on the right, they fall under the fair use guidelines, click the No Problem button.
3.  For those requests where the title does show up in the right-hand column, click the Save CCC Information button.

Sending the Borrowing Request

Awaiting Pipeline Sending Queue

If you have configured business rules in the Customization Manager and the request meets the criteria, your request(s) will be sent to this queue. The purpose of this queue is to keep a historical record of the request being sent automatic in case your institution is tracking statistics for requests sent automatic versus requests sent manually by a staff member.

Pipeline Request Review Tab

Any requests that didn't receive a recommendation or have a business rule RuleType of Recommended instead of Automatic will be sent to the Awaiting Pipeline Request Review queue for staff review. 

1. From the Main screen in the Client, select the Pipeline Request Review tab.
2. Click a transaction to highlight the request.
3. Review the Recommended Fulfillment Option and Other Fulfillment options in the lower right pane.
   • The lower left pane will display relevant fields (e.g., TN Number, User Status, etc.) and notes from the selected request. 
   • The lower right pane will display fulfillment data generated by stage 2 of the pipeline and the recommendation generate by stage 3 of the pipeline. 
4. Send/process the request.
   • To send via the recommended fulfillment option: Click the Send Recommended Action button on the ribbon. The request will be routed to the Awaiting Pipeline Sending queue, where the DSP will perform the recommended actions. 
   • To send via an alternative fulfillment option: Highlight the fulfillment data record in the Other Fulfillment Options grid, then click the Select Alternative Action button on the ribbon. The request will be routed to the Awaiting Pipeline Sending queue, where the DSP will perform the selected action. 
   • To route to another queue: Click the lower half of the Route button, then select a queue name. 
   • To cancel a request: Click the lower half of the Cancel button, then select the reason for cancellation. For example, the royalties were too high for all fulfillment options.
5. Once the DSP has performed the selected action, the request will move from the Awaiting Pipeline Sending queue to the Request Sent queue to complete the DSP process. The remainder of the borrowing process will be completed as usual. See the Borrowing User Guide for the next steps in the workflow. 

If there is not a recommended fulfillment option or any alternative fulfillment options available for a request, these buttons will be disabled. In this case, the Route/Cancel buttons can be used or the Request Form can be opened to process as usual by double-clicking the request in the grid.

Processing Requests in the Request Form

In circumstances where staff may require additional information before processing a request, the individual request form can be opened by double-clicking the highlighted transaction in the Pipeline Request Review form to see the entire request and any additional information imported from the DSP addons. From this point, the request can be processed through the use of the normal Borrowing Processing procedures.

If you open the request form, any information (e.g., DOI, ISSN, etc.) the addons imported during the Information Gathering stage will be added to the appropriate field on the Request Form. Any information imported during the Fulfillment Data Generation stage will be added to the Fulfillment Data table. 

Processing Requests in Error Queues

If an error occurred while running one or more of the addons, then your request will be sent to one of the error queues. Each pipeline has it's own error queue so you can recognize what pipeline prompted the error. Often times the request may just need to be manually routed back into the input queue for that pipeline and ran again.

Pipeline: Borrowing Article Pre-Copyright 
Error Queue: Pre-Copyright Pipeline Errors
Input Queue: Awaiting Pre-Copyright Pipeline

Pipeline: Borrowing Article
Error Queue: Awaiting Pipeline Error Review
Input Queue: Awaiting Request Pipeline

Pipeline: Borrowing Loan
Error Queue: Awaiting Pipeline Error Review
Input Queue: Awaiting Request Pipeline