SCF - Spreadsheet of exported SCF Requests

At a glance

· Status: Active
· Environment / Tags: Live; SCF Workflow
· Applies consortium-wide?: Shared Collections Facility IZ only
· Runs on: Alma APIs
· Trigger: Staff submit an authenticated form
· Primary outcome: Creates and emails a spreadsheet of recent SCF request exports.
· Who receives results: The email address entered in the form

Why this exists

This workflow lets staff quickly receive a spreadsheet of recent requests for SCF materials without manually checking multiple SFTP folders or parsing Alma request export files. It supports visibility into requests sent to SCF and helps staff confirm what Alma processed during recent “Send Requests to Remote Storage” job runs.

What it does

This workflow lets staff request a spreadsheet of recent SCF material requests. A staff member selects a time period and enters an email address. The workflow then looks for SCF request files from that period, turns the request data into a spreadsheet, and emails it to the requester.

If no recent request files are found, the workflow tells the user that no requests were found instead of sending a blank spreadsheet.

Where it runs

· Alma IZ(s):SCF IZ
· Systems touched:
· n8n form
· WRLC SFTP server
· Alma remote storage request export files
· Gmail
· Credentials referenced:
· WRLC SFTP server
· Gmail Credentials - Generic LibOW

How it works

Logic overview

1. A staff member submits the WRLC SCF Requests form.
2. The workflow reads the selected time period.
3. It calculates a cutoff timestamp based on that time period.
4. It formats today’s date for use in the email subject.
5. It creates a list of SCF SFTP request folders to check.
6. It lists files in each folder.
7. It filters the results to keep only recent files modified after the cutoff time.
8. The workflow checks whether any matching files were found.
9. If files were found:
   • It downloads the request files from SFTP.
   • It extracts XML content from the files.
   • It transforms the XML into request text.
   • It parses that text into structured request fields.
   • It converts the parsed data into an Excel spreadsheet.
   • It emails the spreadsheet to the address submitted in the form.
   • It displays a success message.
10. If no files were found:

• It displays a “No requests found” message.
• It explains that either no requests were made or Alma’s remote storage jobs may not have run as scheduled.

Artifacts produced

· Spreadsheet attachment: SCF Requests
· Email subject pattern: Incoming SCF Requests yyyy-MM-dd
· Email recipient: The address entered in the form