Program Registration Parameters

Many functions in Program Registration are controlled by the values in one or more system parameter tables. These parameter tables are accessible via one of submenus in the Admin | Parameters menu.

The following table provides of list of these parameter tables along with the permission you must be assigned in order to view or edit the table.

Table	Permission
Patron Blocks	098 (Override patron blocks)
Language Preference (view only)	373 (View Circulation Parameters)
Days Closed	374 (Edit Days Closed)
Hours Open	375 (Edit Hours Open)
Branch Addresses	668 (Edit Branch Addresses)
Patron Type	673 (Edit Patron Type)
Pcode 3	674 (Edit Pcode 3)
Pcode 4	675 (Edit Pcode 4)
Statistical Group Maintenance	689 (Statistical Group Maintenance)
Predefined Broadcast Email Text	774 (Edit Predefined Email Alert Text)
Patron Eligibility	775 (Edit Eligibility Table)
Program Type	776 (Edit Program Type Table)

For general information on modifying parameter tables, see Maintaining System Parameter Tables. See Permissions Used by Sierra for more information on the permissions needed to maintain the parameter tables.

Protected Parameters Tables

Certain tables used by Program Registration are shared with Circulation. If your library has enabled the Edit Protection of Circulation Parameters feature, the following shared tables can be protected from edits by library staff at other Locations Served:

Days Closed
Hours Open

The Edit Protection of Circulation Parameters feature enables the Circulation Parameters Administrator (assigned permission 311) to either enable all authorized library staff at all locations to edit settings in the above tables or, alternatively, to protect settings in any or all of the above tables for each location so that the protected tables can only be edited by library staff at that location.

Wildcards

The system accepts special "wildcards" for some fields in the Program Registration Parameters tables. Wildcards are codes that enable you to specify more than one value. The following table lists the wildcard values you can enter in the Program Registration Parameters tables:

Wildcard	Description
999	For numeric fields, "999" represents all possible values.
*	For non-numeric fields, '*' represents all possible values.
<Characters> with *	Represents all values that begin with the characters before the asterisk; that is, the asterisk represents all possible remaining characters. Note that asterisks can appear only at the end of the code. For example, "*sci" is not allowed.
????? or ???	For non-numeric fields, all possible values. Must be exactly five question marks, with the exception of the day of the week field in the Hours Open table (three question marks).

The following table lists which wildcards are available in each Program Registration Parameters table:

Table Name	Available Wildcards
Branch Addresses	N/A
Days Closed	?????, <characters>*
Hours Open	????? (for LOCATION), ??? (for DAY), <characters>*
Language Preference	N/A
Patron Blocks	999
Patron Eligibility	?????, <characters>*
Patron Type	N/A
Pcode 3	N/A
Predefined Broadcast Email Text	N/A
Program Type	N/A
Statistical Group Maintenance	N/A

These values are not available in every field in a Program Registration Parameters table. For information on which field(s) within a table can accept these wildcards, see the table description.

Reading Program Registration Parameters Tables

The system reads through a Program Registration Parameters table until it finds an entry that is applicable to the current situation. Consequently, the order in which you place entries in a Program Registration Parameters table is important. You should configure your tables so that the system begins with the most specific data and ends with the most general. In particular, it can be useful to configure the table so that the last entry applies to any situation that is not addressed earlier in the table.

However, because the system does not read through all Program Registration Parameters tables in the same order, the first entry in the table might be processed last. The following table lists the order in which the system reads each Program Registration Parameters table:

Table Name	Order Read
Branch Addresses	N/A (finds entry for relevant branch)
Days Closed	Bottom to Top
Hours Open	Bottom to Top
Language Preference	N/A (view only)
Patron Blocks	Top to Bottom
Patron Eligibility	Top to Bottom
Patron Type	N/A (finds entry for relevant patron type)
Pcode 3	N/A (finds entry for relevant PCODE3)
Predefined Broadcast Email Text	N/A (finds entry for relevant broadcast email)
Program Type	N/A (finds entry for relevant program type)
Statistical Group Maintenance	N/A (finds entry for relevant statistics group)

For more information about how to organize your entries in a Program Registration Parameters table, see the table description.