Resolving Barcode Conflicts in the Update Patrons Job Summary

When patron records cannot be added to, transferred to, or associated with a site because of a conflict with an existing duplicate barcode number, Destiny designates them as Invalid in the Update Patrons Job Summary. The messages that may appear are "Patron's new barcode '<number>' is already assigned to another patron" and "Barcode '<number>' already exists at target site."

Patron barcode numbers must be unique at each site. Any add or update event that would create records with duplicate barcode numbers within a site is blocked. Two scenarios can cause this situation:

  • The incoming XML data is being matched to the Destiny data using the District ID.
  • The XML is built with the student's unique ID value populating both the District ID and Barcode fields.

Scenario One: Single record in the district - failed add

In this scenario, Destiny is not able to find a matching District ID. Therefore, Destiny is trying to add the XML information as a new record. However, it is not allowed to add the record because the barcode number already exists at the site.

This typically results when a patron record is added manually with information in the District ID field that does not match the XML data being loaded. The value for District ID in the manually-added record may be different or missing, as shown:

Missing District ID Data Different District ID Data
Existing Destiny record Incoming XML data Existing Destiny record Incoming XML data
Barcode = 12345 Barcode = 12345 Barcode = 12345 Barcode = 12345
District ID = District ID = 12345 District ID = 12345 District ID = 12345

 

You can prevent users from creating patron records that do not have District IDs by requiring the District ID in patron records.

  1. Log in as a Destiny Administor.
  2. Select Setup > Sites, and then edit the district.
  3. In the Patron Management section, select the Require District ID for patron records checkbox.
  4. Click Save.

How to Recognize a Failed Add

When an add fails, the data displayed in the Job Summary is as follows.

Notice there is no Site Short Name value displayed in brackets (refer to the second scenario below). This indicates that Destiny could not find a record in the database at any site matching the incoming data. The absence of the Site Short Name in brackets means one record in Destiny needs to be manually updated first, to successfully update the information via XML.

Resolving the Failed Add Situation

The best practice to fix this error is to edit the record existing at the site, update the District ID value to have the correct value (the value from the District ID: XXXXX displayed in the Job Summary), and then reload the XML file.

Note: Deleting the existing/blocking record is not recommended, as the record may have outstanding transactions (checkouts).

Tip: Use your browser's File > Save As to save the Update Patrons job summary to your computer. Open the file in a separate instance of your browser. Toggle between the Update Patron Job Summary report and Admin > Manage Patrons. Copy and paste between windows to speed data entry.

To update the District ID in the record being skipped:

  1. Log in to the district as a user with the Manage Patrons for the District permission.
  2. Select Admin > Manage Patrons.
  3. In the Find field, type the District ID listed in the Update Patron Job Summary.
  4. Click Search. One record should be returned.
  5. Click Edit.
  6. In the District ID field, enter the value from the Job Summary.
  7. Click Save.
  8. Repeat the steps for all records skipped in the Job Summary.

  9. After the District IDs for all the skipped records have been updated, load the XML data file again to update these records with the current data from the student management system.

Scenario Two: Duplicate record in the district - failed transfer/association

In this scenario, Destiny is able to find a matching District ID value and is attempting to transfer the patron to a new site or associate the patron with an additional site. However, the transfer is blocked because the barcode number in the matched record already exists in the target site.

This typically happens when a patron record is added manually with information in the District ID field that does not match the XML data being loaded. The value for District ID in the manually-added record may be different or missing.

You can prevent users from creating patron records that do not have District IDs by requiring the District ID in patron records.

  1. Log in as a Destiny Administrator.
  2. Select Setup > Sites, and then edit the district.
  3. In the Patron Management section, select the Require District ID for patron records checkbox.
  4. Click Save.

For example, in the table above, the incoming data columns represent the record being transferred from site A. The existing record columns represent that data in site B, the target site, which is blocking the transfer.

How to Recognize This Situation

In this situation, the data displayed in the Job Summary appears as follows.

Notice the Site Short Name value is displayed in brackets. This indicates that Destiny found a matching record in the database at the site defined in the brackets. However, Destiny was unable to transfer or associate the record from that site. This means that there are two records in Destiny that must first be merged before Destiny can successfully update the information via XML.

Resolving the Failed Transfer/Association Situation

The best practice to fix this error is to merge the existing record already in the target site back into the matching record at the current site, which is the site whose Site Short Name value was displayed in brackets in the Job Summary.

Note: Deleting the existing/blocking record is not recommended, as the record may have outstanding transactions (checkouts).

For details on merging patron records, see Merge Duplicate Patrons.

Tip: Use your browser's File > Save As to save the Update Patrons Job Summary to your computer. Open the file in a separate instance of your browser. Toggle between the Update Patron Job Summary and Admin > Manage Patrons. Copy and paste between windows to speed data entry.

After merging duplicate patron records for all the records that were skipped, load the XML data file again to update these records with the current data from the student management system.