1. Alma/Primo Online payment integration
Chris Jones
Systems Manager, University of Sheffield
IGeLU Conference, Oxford, September 2014

2. University of Sheffield Library, UK
Over students
Nearly staff
Approx. 1.3 million print vols
Very high use of self-service, especially in 24/7/365 Information Commons (including requests)
11/11/2018
© The University of Sheffield

3. Joined the Alma European Early Adopter Programme in July 2011
Building more Information Commons space in a new building (the Diamond) for Sept 2015
Joined the Alma European Early Adopter Programme in July 2011
1st RLUK & Russell Group member to go live with Alma, June 2013
11/11/2018
© The University of Sheffield

4. This presentation… Looks at our needs (before and after Alma)
Outlines the integration workflow
Integration project experience
Brief demonstration
11/11/2018
© The University of Sheffield

5. Online fines payment (B.A.)
Not reinventing the wheel
Used with previous LMS since 2010
NOT via self-service machines
Over 60% of fines paid online in 2013
Made real staff savings in cash counting and disputes
11/11/2018
© The University of Sheffield

6. Online fines payment (B.A.)
via Primo
Use payment gateway (WPM) to handle card payment process
Separate Payment Service Provider (WorldPay)
WPM updates LMS, and also Finance System (SAP) via batch file
11/11/2018
© The University of Sheffield

7. Elementary, dear patron
LMS
Holds user fines and charges
Display fines
via Resource Discovery Layer
Post to pay
send details to Payment gateway
LMS
updates user account
Sends user receipt
PP posts back
to user - confirm payment
to library and finance systems
User pays
via card/paypal at payment provider
11/11/2018
© The University of Sheffield

8. Integration Project - Alma
Ex Libris – Project and Dev support (Primo & Alma)
WPM – Implementation Manager (Payment pathway)
UoS – Project Manager, Systems, Finance
11/11/2018
© The University of Sheffield

9. Project Diary Ex Libris project call.
ExL developing functionality based on API description received from WPM.
Plan to have WPM (e-payment) integration work ready for August release.
11/11/2018
© The University of Sheffield

10. Project Diary WPM Project initiation meeting Implementation document
Card Payment Gateway/Library pathway
Local details:
Fund codes/local payment details
to payer on failure
to staff on failure
Refund
2 phase payment test: demo then live
11/11/2018
© The University of Sheffield

11. Project Diary Meanwhile… June 2013 – Go Live
July 2013 Systems Certification Training – config access!
11/11/2018
© The University of Sheffield

12. Project Diary September WPM payment page ready for testing
Test interface
Test form validation
Test cards
11/11/2018
© The University of Sheffield

13. Project Diary Missed August release October Release Notes
Integration profile and methodology
11/11/2018
© The University of Sheffield

14. Project Diary Unexpected bumps Primo Staging
Support for using PDS from staging Primo added with the November 2013 Release
11/11/2018
© The University of Sheffield

15. Project Diary Unexpected bumps
Redirect-URL field to the POST request that we send to WPM
11/11/2018
© The University of Sheffield

16. Project Diary Lessons learnt
Vendor–Vendor communications challenges for third party integrations
Vendors building separate parts – customer as bridge?
11/11/2018
© The University of Sheffield

17. Integration Project - Alma
Integration profile established
Payment gateway live
Primo set up
Payments tested
11/11/2018
© The University of Sheffield

18. Alma Integration Profile
Link from Primo sent to Alma: integration profile is used to pass appropriate parameters to payment provider
NB end user never sees Alma – data is called from Alma via Primo and posted to payment provider
Data required agreed between payment provider and Ex Libris
11/11/2018
© The University of Sheffield

19. WPM Payment gateway
Establish payment pathway for library (secure, hosted website with institutional DNS)
Check user interface
Check user payment form validation
Check real time update link to LMS
Check payment
11/11/2018
© The University of Sheffield

20. Primo
Back Office tables – add a link from fines+charges in Primo to the Alma integration profile (Ex Libris provide link details)
Ensure patron redirected to Primo at the end of the process
11/11/2018
© The University of Sheffield

21. In practice…
11/11/2018
© The University of Sheffield

22. Link to Alma
11/11/2018
© The University of Sheffield

23. Staging Primo
11/11/2018
© The University of Sheffield

24. Walk through Primo link - looks up the Alma integration profile
Checks user details (and fines)
Sends post to the payment pathway link specified in the integration profile in Alma.
11/11/2018
© The University of Sheffield

25. Walk through Post to include:- (a) a user identifier (b) the amount
(Only one payment element with the total amount the user owes. User can choose to pay less than the total debt.)
(c) Finance recording codes
(d) Shared secrets/security features
11/11/2018
© The University of Sheffield

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© The University of Sheffield

27. Walk through
WPM payment pathway handles the payment as required by the end user.
[Separate PSP]
Upon completion, WPM posts back to Alma to say that a transaction has completed successfully.
Failure responses also defined.
Alma sends completion response to WPM, and a receipt to the end user.
11/11/2018
© The University of Sheffield

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© The University of Sheffield

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© The University of Sheffield

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© The University of Sheffield

31. Not all integrations are alike
Notes
Not all integrations are alike
Same profile, different data – hence September 2014 fixes.
Users with no
Redirect URL with ‘&’
Develop itemised payment
API developments
11/11/2018
© The University of Sheffield

32. Any questions?