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EFTS: the online billing system for interlibrary loan (ILL)

Sign up for EFTS*

*Request a user agreement for your review and signature. One request per LIBID.

EFTS Announcements

EFTS Unbilled Transactions Announcement


EFTS Custom Pricing Groups Now Launched


EFTS Successes and Growing Pains


Significant Changes to EFTS and DOCLINE after June 30, 2020


EFTS Update: February 27, 2020


Configuration

Welcome to EFTS powered by MLA.

Access to EFTS is limited to users authorized by libraries who have an EFTS library account.

Access to an EFTS Library Account

To access an EFTS library account:

  • The library must have an EFTS account with MLA.
  • The individual must be authorized by MLA to access the library account, as directed by the library.

Authorized individuals access an EFTS library account by login into the EFTS website using their MLANET single sign-on credentials.

An individual may have access to multiple EFTS library accounts using their same MLANET single sign-on credentials. If they have access to multiple EFTS library accounts, they select the one they want to administer, and can easily switch from one EFTS library account to another.

Several individuals can access to the same EFTS library account.

For your security:

  • Every individual with access to an EFTS library account will see the names of all of the individuals who have access to the same EFTS library account.
  • Access change requests to an EFTS library account (e.g. additions and deletions) are verified by the MLA EFTS administrator.
  • EFTS logs every action performed on its platform, including by user.

Login to an EFTS Library Account

To access EFTS, go to efts.mlanet.org and login if you are not already logged into MLANET.

Status

Action

My library has an “active” status

  • Your library has completed a User Agreement and paid the activation fee.
  • ILL transactions can be processed.
  • DOCLINE has marked your library as "active" in EFTS.

Proceed to login.

My library has a “registration in process” status

  • Your library has requested an EFTS User Agreement but not yet signed it.
  • ILL transactions will not be processed.
  • DOCLINE has marked your library as "inactive" in EFTS.
  • You may configure your library account so it is ready when activated.

Proceed to login

My library is “not registered”

  • Your library has not requested an EFTS User Agreement.
  • ILL transactions will not be processed.
  • DOCLINE has marked your library as "inactive" in EFTS.

Contact your ILL manager or library director to request an MLA User Agreement (note - a USD 275 activation fee is charged for all new EFTS accounts)

I don’t know the status of my library

Check the EFTS current status of all DOCLINE libraries or contact EFTS Customer Service.

I don’t know my login

Log into EFTS using your MLANET login. If you do not have an MLANET login or have trouble login in, please contact EFTS customer support.

Library Account Configuration

Any user with access to an EFTS library account may configure the account. Below is an overview of the settings.

Configuration

Purpose

Address and contact information

To verify and edit the information that will appear in the EFTS directory listing.

Billing and contact information  for Bill.com

To configure the billing information and establish the individual responsible for financial management of the Bill.com account.

Fund Management and deposits

To configure how funds are managed in your account, and to enter an optional purchase order reference that will appear on all the invoices your library will pay.

Fund Withdrawal

To configure your preferences if you need to withdraw funds from your account (usually applies to libraries who are net lenders).

ILL Pricing Tables by Library Group

To specify what your library charges for ILL loans for each library group you belong to.

ILL Loan Transaction Billing

To specify how your library will process ILL lending charges.

Settings - Library Address

Action required: to verify and edit the information that will appear in the EFTS directory listing.

Library Address

Information provided by DOCLINE. Please modify if it is incorrect (note: this will not modify the information in DOCLINE)

EFTS Contact

Primary library contact for EFTS

Privacy Setting

The library address and EFTS contact information is visible by all EFTS administrators, and by the public by default.

Uncheck the box if you do not want this information visible by the public.

Settings - Billing and Contact Information for Bill.com

Action required: to configure the billing information, establish the individual responsible for financial management of the Bill.com account, and to enter an optional purchase order reference that will appear on all the invoices your library will pay.

EFTS uses Bill.com as the secure gateway for financial transactions in and out of the EFTS platform. Bill.com is a “gold standard” for optimal user experience and high-level security and internal controls, including payment card industry (PCI) compliance.

For additional security, after you enter and confirm the initial information requested below, you will need to contact MLA to make changes to this information going forward. MLA will verify that the request is legitimate before making the change.

Billing Address

The address that appears on the invoices that your library will pay for ILL borrowings or to replenish the library EFTS funds.

Billing Contact

The name and email of the individual who will configure the Bill.com information, manage payments of EFTS invoices (deposits) by ACH e-transfer, credit card or check, and manage the reception of EFTS funds (withdrawals)

For information on how to set up Bill.com, please go to the bill.com section of this page.

If your billing department requires a purchase order (PO) to be listed on EFTS invoices.

Settings - Fund Management and Deposit

Action required: to configure how funds are managed in your account.

EFTS has two library fund management setting options

Wallet (default)

  • Your library loads funds into its EFTS wallet by ACH eTransfer, credit card or check, via the payment of an invoice sent by EFTS (Bill.com gateway).
  • ILL transaction costs from your library borrowing activities are automatically deducted from the wallet balance.
  • ILL transactions revenues from your library lending activities are automatically added to the wallet balance.
  • Your library agrees to maintain a positive wallet balance at all times.
  • EFTS will automatically send your library an invoice for a ‘replenishment amount’ when the library’s fund level dips below a ‘threshold amount’.  
  • Your library may take funds out of the wallet once a quarter, or by special request.

Invoice (by request, subject to approval by MLA) - NEW FEATURE

  • Your library pays monthly for all of its ILL borrowing activities, payable by ACH eTransfer, credit card or check, via the payment of an invoice sent by EFTS to the library billing contact (Bill.com gateway).
  • ILL transactions revenues from your library’s lending activities are automatically added to the wallet balance. Your library may take funds out of the wallet once a quarter, or by special request.

Your library is in the default wallet configuration with automatic replenishment. 

EFTS has computed the recommended values for ‘replenishment amount’ and ‘threshold amount’ based on your current EFTS charges from January 1 to April 30, 2020.

Please contact EFTS Customer Service to:

  • Request a change of funding configuration from ‘wallet’ to ‘Invoice’: only applicable to libraries who are not allowed to operate in wallet mode
  • Request to turn off the automatic replenishment for the wallet

Settings - Fund Withdrawal

No action required: to configure your preferences if you need to withdraw funds from your account (usually applies to libraries who are net lenders).

For the launch period, and until sufficient EFTS usage data is collected, all fund withdrawals are set to manual

Manual Withdrawal

You can issue a request to withdraw funds from your library EFTS account.

Automatic Quarterly Withdrawals (not available)

You will set parameters to automatically withdraw funds from your library EFTS account.

Settings - ILL Pricing Tables by Library Group

EFTS requires you to provide how you compute pricing for your library ILL lending for each library group (aka consortia) your library belongs to. The library group information is provided by DOCLINE, and automatically updated.

Complete a default ILL pricing grid and one ILL pricing grid for each of the library groups your library belongs to

Default ILL Pricing Table

Use this grid to set the price your library charges for ILL lending. ILL pricing tables are organized by DOCLINE fulfillment fields.

Library Group ILL Pricing Table(s)

For each group your library belongs to, enter the pricing information.

If you belong to a group where you have agreed to no-charge ILL lending for other libraries in the same group, please enter 0 in all the pricing table fields.

The information entered on this screen will be available to the public, and will be used when the ILL billing options are available after launch.

The fiedls of the default ILL pricing tables and of each library group are presented in a table form, and reflect the options included in DOCLINE fields.

Normal Rush Urgent Patient Care
Email (PDF) $__ $__ $__
Odyssey $__ $__ $__
Article Exchange $__ $__ $__
Web (PDF) $__ $__ $__
Mail $__ $__ $__
Fax $__ $__ $__
Pickup $__ $__ $__

For example:

  • If your library charges $10 for a "Web (PDF)" that has a service level of "Rush", enter $10 in the box in yellow.
  • If your library charges the same price regarless of format and service level, enter that price in every cell.
  • If your library doesn't charge for a specific library group, enter 0 in every cell.

Userful tip: use the copy down feature if all the prices in the column are the same.

Settings - ILL Loan Transaction Billing Settings

No action required: to specify how your library will process ILL lending charges.

EFTS currently has two modes of transaction entry

Upload of EFTS transaction file

Upload an EFTS-compatible file created by third party softwares such as OCLC and ILLiad

Manual

Enter manual lending transactions

EFTS will introduce new transaction entry options after MLA and NLM complete the EFTS/DOCLINE ILL transaction interface.

Bill.com Account Configuration

How EFTS Use Bill.com

EFTS uses Bill.com as the secure gateway for financial transactions. Bill.com is a “gold standard” for optimal user experience and high-level of security and internal controls, including payment card industry (PCI) compliance.

The bill.com gateway is used by an EFTS library to

Add money to the funds of an EFTS Library

A library will add money to their EFTS account to:

  • Replenish the library wallet, if in wallet configuration
  • To pay an EFTS invoice of ILL borrowing transactions for the library

EFTS uses the "customer" functionality of Bill.com. EFTS Bill.com transactions will appear as "Accounts Payable" for the library.

  • EFTS creates a "customer" invoice via its EFTS/Bill.com API interface
  • The library receives the invoice via email from Bill.com
  • The library pays the invoice: see Bill.com methods of payment section below
  • Once the invoice is paid, the library EFTS wallet balance reflect the added amount (wallet configuration), or the EFTS invoice will be marked as paid (invoice configuration)
Withdraw money from the funds of an EFTS Library

A library will withdraw from their EFTS account if:

  • The library EFTS balance is higher than it needs to be (e.g. as a result of ILL lending transactions)
  • The library closes its EFTS account

EFTS uses the "vendor" functionality of Bill.com. EFTS Bill.com transactions will appear as "Accounts Receivable" for the library.

  • EFTS creates a "vendor" invoice via its EFTS/Bill.com API interface
  • The library receives a notification that money is due to the library from EFTS via email from Bill.com
  • The library receives the funds: see Bill.com methods of receiving funds section below

Useful Bill.com link: Frequently Asked Questions

Bill.com Settings - Configure the library Bill.com Account

In the EFTS configuration, the EFTS manager has configured the settings for the billing and contact Information for Bill.com. The confirmation of the settings triggered the following in Bill.com:

  • EFTS created a "customer" Bill.com account for the EFTS library, and linked it to the EFTS library account
  • EFTS created a "vendor" Bill.com account for the EFTS library, and linked it to the EFTS library account

NOTE: you do not need to create a Bill.com account for EFTS to function, even if suggested to do so by a Bill.com email. You can simply ignore the Bill.com email suggesting you create a Bill.com account, or abandon that process if you started it. Having a Bill.com account (for US-based banking only) may have advantages for your. See below for details.

The billing contact options to configure a Bill.com account

The billing contact does not have a Bill.com account

Operate without a library Bill.com account:

  • Pay invoices by credit card through Bill.com
  • Pay invoices in a method external to Bill.com (e.g. send a check or an eCheck via the library systems)
  • Receive a US currency check when withdrawing funds from Bill.com

Create new Bill.com accounts: Bill.com Basic accounts are free.

  • Library will need to provide US bank account information (not shared with EFTS and MLA)
The billing contact is associated with an existing Bill.com contact for the library

Don't create a new Bill.com account:

  • The existing account will be linked to both the "customer" and "vendor" EFTS Bill.com accounts, appearing as "Accounts Payable" and "Accounts Receivable" respectively.

Bill.com - Add money to the Funds of an EFTS Library

The request to add money to the funds of an EFTS library is triggered within the EFTS platform by:

  • The replenishment of the library wallet, if in wallet configuration
  • A monthly invoice for ILL borrowing activities, if in invoice configuration

Those invoices are created by the EFTS platform via the Bill.com platform, using the EFTS/Bill.com API interface.

The library billing contact will receive a notification for payment from Bill.com on behalf of EFTS. What happens next depends on how the billing contact has configured their Bill.com account.

Payment options to add funds to an EFTS library

eCheck

The electronic payment version of a paper check that is used to send payment from one bank account to another. eChecks are actually synonymous with ACH payments and EFT transfers, which is engine that drives the bank bill pay that many users are familiar with.

  • eChecks are a low cost and secure method to process payments online.
  • The library billing contact can connect the EFTS account to the library bank, or do a one time payment.
  • Payments are not automatic: the library billing contact will need to approve the payment within the Bill.com platform.
  • Bank account information is secured on Bill.com and not shared with EFTS (MLA).
  • Payments are reflected instantly on the library EFTS fund balance.
Credit Card

EFTS accepts Visa, Mastercard and American Express

  • Bill.com will add a 3% credit card payment fee in addition to the invoice (it will not appear as a line item of the invoice). This fee is assessed to cover the credit card processing charges paid by EFTS. This fee is described in the EFTS User Agreement.
  • To avoid the 3% fee, please use an alternate payment method.
  • The billing contact can store the credit card information on Bill.com, or enter it for each payment. This information is secured on Bill.com, and not shared with EFTS (MLA).
  • Payments are reflected instantly on the library EFTS fund balance.

Non-US EFTS libraries should consider this option.

Wire transfer

EFTS accepts payment by wire transfer to the EFTS bank account

  • Payments via wire transfer are posted manually by EFTS accounting staff, increasing the overall administration cost of the platform.
  • Payments are reflected with several days of delay on the library EFTS fund balance.
Physical Check

This is the least prefered payment option for EFTS

  • Payments via physical check take time to arrive to the lockbox and are processed and posted manually by EFTS accounting staff, increasing the overall administration cost of the platform.
  • Payments are reflected with several days or weeks of delay on the library EFTS fund balance.

Bill.com - Withdraw money from the Funds of an EFTS Library

The request to withdraw money from the funds of an EFTS library is manually triggered within the EFTS platform by any one of the EFTS managers authorized to access the EFTS library account.

The request is processed by Bill.com via the internal control path defined by MLA. For security reasons, this includes approval by at least two MLA staff:

  • The MLA EFTS manager
  • A separate individual responsible for financial control

Once approved by MLA, the library billing contact will receive a notification for payment from Bill.com on behalf of EFTS. What happens next depends on how the billing contact has configured their Bill.com account.

Payment options to withdraw funds from an EFTS library

eCheck

The electronic payment version of a paper check that is used to send payment from one bank account to another. eChecks are actually synonymous with ACH payments and EFT transfers, which is engine that drives the bank bill pay that many users are familiar with.

  • eChecks are a low cost and secure method to process payments online.
  • The library billing contact can connect the EFTS account to the library bank, or do a one time payment.
  • Payments are not automatic: the library billing contact will need to approve the payment within the Bill.com platform.
  • Bank account information is secured on Bill.com and not shared with EFTS (MLA).
  • Payments are received in the library's bank account generally within 48 hours.
Physical Check

Bill.com will send a physical check to the library to the billing address indicated in the EFTS library configuration.

  • EFTS will not charge for the cost MLA incurs to send out a physical check via Bill.com. It does, however, increase the overall administration cost of the EFTS platform.
  • For security reasons, the billing contact will need to contact MLA to make changes to the address information.
International Wire transfer

EFTS can send an international wire transfer to a library not located in the USA

  • Additional fees may apply

Bill.com - Modifying the Billing Contact or Billing Address information

For security reasons, please contact EFTS Customer Service for requests to modify the EFTS Library Billing Contact or Billing Address information.

Transactions

View Transactions

Regular View

The View menu under the Transactions tab provides a way for you to view the status of any lending you have entered, uploaded, or have automated with direct connection to DOCLINE.

Each row indicates the method by which the transactions were transmitted to EFTS, the number of transactions, an indication of how many need to be reviewed, and how many have been billed (and the dollar amount). If there are any errors with the transactions, the number of errors is indicated.

For manually entered requests, EFTS groups these by day. So, if you enter 3 requests manually on 9/15, you will see a single Manual row containing 3 requests on 9/15.

Detail View

To view the details of each grouping of requests, click on the More icon. This will show each individual request and the data in the EFTS system for each.

Future features here include the ability to edit a transaction, credit, etc.

There are several possible transaction statuses which this screen may report.

  • Accepted. The transaction was accepted by EFTS for billing.
  • Duplicate - Success. The transaction was accepted by EFTS, but is a duplicate. That means that a prior transaction has not yet been billed, so we accept the more recently submitted transaction for billing.
  • Duplicate - Unsuccessful. The transaction is a duplicate, and the previously uploaded transaction has already been billed, so we cannot accept the more recently submitted duplicate transaction for billing.
  • Overridden. The transaction was initially accepted, but later superseded by a more recently uploaded transaction (which will be marked as Duplicate - Success).

Borrowing Transactions

The Borrowing menu under the Transactions tab provides a way for you to view the status of any of your borrowing activity that has been entered by lenders into EFTS, uploaded, or submitted automatically via direct connection to DOCLINE.

Each row indicates the source of each transaction were transmitted to EFTS, the lender, the amount, and whether billing has completed or is pending.

Future features here include ability to request a refund or credit.

Upload Transactions

To upload an EFTS-compatible file, you may do so in the Upload menu under the Transactions tab.

TODO - sample EFTS file and specifications

When you upload the file, you may see a "loader" indicating that the file is uploading to our system. Please wait for the file transmission and processing to complete.

There are a variety of errors which the upload process may report if we encounter problems. For instance, if the LibId in the file does not match the LibId in our database, we will report an error. If the file format does not match the expected EFTS file format, you may see a parsing error. If you encounter these problems, please contact EFTS support and provide your LibId and the error message you saw on the screen so we can investigate the problem.

After successfully uploading an EFTS file, we will process the transactions. You may see a variety of errors or warnings in this process.

  • Accepted. The transaction was accepted by EFTS for billing.
  • Duplicate - Success. The transaction was accepted by EFTS, but is a duplicate. That means that a prior transaction has not yet been billed, so we accept the more recently submitted transaction for billing.
  • Duplicate - Unsuccessful. The transaction is a duplicate, and the previously uploaded transaction has already been billed, so we cannot accept the more recently submitted duplicate transaction for billing.
  • Previously Billed - Unsuccessful. The transaction uploaded was found in the billing data we imported over from UCHC's EFTS system. If you believe this to be in error, please contact EFTS support with the request ID so that we can investigate it.
  • Invalid Borrower - Unsuccessful. The request was billed to a borrower that is not participating in MLA's EFTS and cannot be billed through this system.
  • Invalid Request Id - Unsuccessful. The request ID in the EFTS file is missing or invalid.

Enter Transactions

You may manually enter two types of transactions: DOCLINE and Other. You can access manual transaction entry using the Enter menu under the Transactions tab. Here, you may select between DOCLINE and Other using the radio buttons at the top of the screen.

DOCLINE

In addition to uploading DOCLINE EFTS transactions or using the automated DOCLINE connection, you have the option to manually enter transactions. You can access this using the Enter menu under the Transactions tab.

Required fields on this screen include:

  • Request Number - this must be a number that matches a DOCLINE request number. We will not accept a non-DOCLINE request number. If you would like to upload a non-DOCLINE request, please do so using the "Other" tab.
  • Date filled - this must be a date in the past.
  • Borrower Id - this is the borrower. The borrower must be a participant in EFTS to be listed in this dropdown menu.
  • Service Type
  • Service Level
  • Delivery Method
  • Price
  • Journal or Book Title

Note: you can use the manual enter feature to correct mistakes you may have made uploading or entering transactions. As long as the transaction hasn't been billed yet, simply enter a new transaction with an identical request number, and the new data will overwrite the old to correct the mistakes.

When entering a transaction, we highly recommend that you configure automatic ILL Pricing. You may do this in the ILL Pricing Table menu under the Settings tab. After selecting Service Type, Level, and Delivery Method, we will automatically calculate the correct price based on your settings. You have the opportunity to manually change the price after doing this. If your library is in the same group as the borrower, and you have configured a pricing table for how you wish to bill other libraries in your group, this function will automatically calculate the price for that group.

If you have not yet configured your ILL Pricing Table, you will see a message indicating that "Your ILL Pricing settings are not set up." You may manually enter a price if you see this message.

Note: to adjust group membership, you must contact DOCLINE. They provide EFTS with group membership data on a daily basis.

After entering a transaction, you will have the opportunity to review it carefully before submitting it to the EFTS system for billing.

  • Edit. Click Edit if you wish to make changes to the transaction before saving it.
  • Approve and Add Another. Use this if you are manually entering more than one transaction and wish to do so as efficiently as possible. This will save the transaction and immediately take you to the manual entry screen.
  • Approve and Bill Now. This will save and approve the transaction.

Note that the billing service will not bill the transactions immediately. It will run nightly.

When entering transactions manually, you may encounter a variety of errors or problems.

  • Request was previously billed. This message indicates that a request with the same request number was previously billed in the EFTS system.
  • Invalid reqeust number. DOCLINE request numbers are numeric, and the request number you enter must match their format.
  • Validation errors. As mentioned above, certain fields are required fields. If you forget to enter a value for a given field, a validation errors will be displayed on the screen.

Other

In addition to manually entering DOCLINE transactions, you have the option to manually enter other types of transactions as welel. You can access this using the Enter menu under the Transactions tab and selecting the Other radio button.

Account

Deposit

To deposit funds into your EFTS account, select the Deposit menu under the Account tab. This screen indicates the current configuration that your account is in, and also lets you know if there are any pending deposits into your account.

To make a manual deposit, enter the amount you wish to deposit, and click the Review Deposit button. You will have an opportunity to review and approve the deposit. Once you do so, the email address configured under the Billing Address settings in your EFTS account will receive an invoice notification from Bill.com.

Important Note: if you do not receive this invoice within an hour, or if the email address is incorrect, please contact EFTS support so we can correct the email address.

Once the invoice has been paid, EFTS will automatically move the deposited funds into your account. This task is performed by our billing service, which runs nightly, so there may be a brief delay before you see the funds available.

View Invoices

To view more information about the deposits you have made into your account, or that the EFTS system has automatically generated, you may access them in the View Invoices menu under the Account tab. Each invoice number, type, amount, and status is listed.

Please note: if you see a Partially Paid invoice, please contact EFTS support to resolve the problem. We cannot move funds into your account for invoices that have not been fully paid.