Subworkflow - Look Up Active Loans

Looks up the current status of a loan in the item's owning Alma Institution Zone and returns the updated loan_status field to the calling workflow.

At a glance

• Status: Active
• Environment / Tags: Network Zone, Live, CLS Long Lost Items
• Applies consortium-wide?: Yes
• Runs on: WRLC Alma Network Zone, dynamically connecting to the owning Institution Zone (IZ) based on the item's owning institution.
• Trigger: Executed by another Library Open Workflow as a reusable subworkflow.
• Primary outcome: Retrieves the current loan status for a specific Alma loan and replaces the existing loan_status field in the workflow data with the latest value from Alma.
• Who receives results: No direct recipients. The updated data is returned to the calling workflow.

Why this exists

Many workflows need to determine whether a loan is still active before taking additional action. Rather than duplicating the same Alma API call across multiple workflows, this subworkflow provides a single reusable component that retrieves the most current loan status directly from the owning institution's Alma environment.

This simplifies workflow maintenance while ensuring all dependent workflows use the same logic to verify loan status.

What it does

• Accepts three required input fields from the calling workflow:
  • owner_of_item_code – the institution code for the library that owns the item.
  • item_loan_id – the Alma loan ID.
  • user_primary_identifier – the patron's primary identifier.
• Uses the owner_of_item_code to connect to the correct Alma Institution Zone.
• Looks up the specified loan using the patron identifier and loan ID.
• Retrieves the loan's current status directly from Alma.
• Continues processing even if the loan cannot be found or the API returns an error.
• Replaces the incoming loan_status field with the value returned by Alma.
• Returns all other input fields unchanged to the calling workflow.
  

Where it runs

• Alma IZ(s): Any WRLC member Institution Zone. The destination IZ is selected dynamically using the owner_of_item_code provided by the calling workflow.
• Systems touched:
  • Alma APIs (Users → Loans)
  • Alma Network routing
• Reports / queries used: None

How it works

Logic overview

1. The subworkflow is called by another workflow.
2. The Alma Network node routes the API request to the Institution Zone that owns the item.
3. The workflow retrieves the loan using the patron identifier and loan ID.
4. The API node is configured to Always Output Data and Continue on Error, allowing the workflow to continue even if the loan cannot be found.
5. The returned loan_status value replaces the existing field in the input data.
6. All remaining input fields pass through unchanged to the calling workflow.

If results exist

• The subworkflow receives the required input fields from a parent workflow.
• The Alma Network node connects to the Institution Zone that owns the item.
• The workflow retrieves the specified loan using the patron identifier and loan ID.
• The current loan_status is extracted from the API response.
• The workflow returns all original fields, with the loan_status field replaced by the current value from Alma.
  

If no results

• The Alma API node is configured to Always Output Data and Continue on Error, allowing the workflow to complete even if the loan cannot be found.
• The calling workflow receives the original data structure and can determine how to handle the missing loan information.
  

Artifacts produced: None. This workflow returns updated data to the calling workflow and does not generate reports, files, or emails.