Booking settings

This screen configures bookings: what can be booked at all, what a booking costs, the kinds of booking somebody can raise, and what happens to a booking nobody collects. Open it from Administration → Bookings. The Bookings link at the top goes to the booking register.

If you don’t see this in your navigation, your administrator can switch the module on under Administration → Modules, or it may not be included in your plan.

The screen has four tabs, one question each. The tab is in the address, so a link to the rate cards opens on them.

Tab	What it holds
General	What this organisation books, the assets not offered for booking, the checklists at issue and return and the kinds of booking
Rate cards	The rate cards. Reads Rate cards · N unpriced when kinds of thing your organisation books have no card in force
Booking defaults	The booking defaults
Collection and reminders	When a booking nobody collects is written off, and who is reminded

The stat strip counts kinds of booking, rate cards in force and the resource kinds priced by nothing. When something is priced by nothing, a banner names it — for example tools, places, people have no rate card in force. Who can change this. Kinds of booking, booking defaults, collection rules, the assets not offered and what this organisation books need Add configuration entries and Edit configuration entries. Rate cards need Add booking rates and Edit booking rates.

A booking against something with no rate card in force still runs, but every charge it accrues is banked with no amount rather than an amount of nought, because a nought reconciles silently. Those charges appear on the register as Charges nobody could price until a card is added.

What this organisation books

The product reserves five kinds of thing: Assets, Tools, Parts, Places and People. Untick the ones your organisation does not book and they stop being offered — on the New booking form, on the availability calendar and in what a kind of booking may hold. Anything already booked stays booked; what this refuses is the next one. A booking that tries to hold anything unticked is refused at the counter, whichever screen it came from. Save keeps the change and Discard throws it away.

Assets not offered for booking

Shown on General while your organisation books assets. A register usually holds more than is for hire — the workshop, fixed plant, machines being sold — and every one of them would otherwise be offered on the New booking form and counted as free on the availability calendar. Assets matching any one of these rules are left off the New booking form and the availability calendar, and refused if somebody tries to book one another way. Anything already booked stays booked.

Rule	What it keeps out
Categories	Assets in these categories, with every category under them
Statuses	Assets in these statuses, in every asset lifecycle that has them
Asset types	Assets of these types
Sites	Assets at these sites
Custom fields	Assets giving one of the Answers that exclude to a pick-list or yes/no field on the asset form. Add a field adds another

Any one rule is enough to keep an asset out; there are no combined conditions and no per-asset exception. The section says how many assets are kept out, or Every asset is offered for booking. Save keeps the change and Discard throws it away.

Checklists at issue and return

Shown on General while your organisation books assets. A checklist chosen here is asked at the counter as an asset goes out and as it comes back — at a booking’s hand-over and return, and when an asset is issued or returned without a booking. See checklists at hand-over and return. Until a rule is added, the section says No checklist is asked at issue or return. Each rule is a row:

Column	What you choose
When	Going out or Coming back
Checklist	The checklist to ask. Checklists are written under inspections. One that makes a photograph or a signature required cannot be chosen, because neither is taken at the counter
Asset status	The status the asset is in, or Any
Category	The asset category, with everything under it, or Any
Site	The site, or Any

Where several rules fit one asset, the most specific is used: a site before any category, a deeper category before its parent, and a named status before any status. Add a rule adds a row, and Save keeps the rules. Which checklist would this asset get? answers for one asset you choose, going out and coming back, or says No rule fits. It answers from the saved rules, not changes you have not saved yet.

Booking defaults

How a booking line opens: how often it is billed, whether it is charged, and which rate cards are offered for it. A site’s rule beats its business unit’s, which beats its company’s, which beats the organisation’s; at one place, a rule for a narrower asset category wins. A setting a rule leaves empty comes from the wider rule, setting by setting. Every line can still be changed on the booking itself, and an asset’s own answers about whether it is chargeable and which rate cards it is offered on beat these rules. A new asset’s form fills both in from the rule that applies to it.

Column	What it shows
Where	The place the rule is for — a company, business unit or site — or The whole organisation, tagged organisation default
Machines	The asset category it covers, or every category
Billed	How often a line opens billed
Chargeable	Fully chargeable, Partly or Not chargeable
Rate cards offered	Every card of the place, or only the cards for the machine’s category
Cost centre	The cost centre a new machine’s hire is credited to

Search booking defaults finds a rule, and Filter narrows the list by any column. Add opens a new rule; click a rule to edit it.

Editing the organisation's booking default

Field	What it means	Notes
Company, Business unit, Site (under Where it applies)	The place the rule is for	The narrowest one you fill in is the place, and the wider ones are filled in from it. Each list is narrowed by the one before. Leave all three empty for the organisation’s own defaults
Asset category (under Which machines)	The machines the rule covers	Leave it empty for everything at that place. A category covers what is filed under it
Billed	How often a line opens billed	Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Half-yearly, Yearly, End of week or End of month (on the site’s calendar), Every few days or On return (the whole hire is banked once, when the thing comes back). Leave it empty to bill as the wider rule says
Every how many days	The interval for Every few days — 15, 45, whatever is agreed
Chargeable	Whether lines are charged	Fully chargeable bills whoever pays. Partly bills only what was chosen on the booking. Not chargeable bills nothing
Rate cards offered	Which cards a line’s picker offers	By place offers every card of the place, whatever it prices. By category offers only the cards for the machine’s category, at the same place
Cost centre	The cost centre a new asset’s form opens on	Optional. Fills in the asset’s Cost centre when it is created, and again if its site or category changes while the form still holds what it filled in. One picked by hand is left alone, and assets already registered keep theirs. A cost centre since switched off is passed over for the wider rule’s

Collection and reminders

When a booking nobody collects is written off as a no-show, and when whoever raised a booking and whoever it is for are reminded by email to collect it and to bring it back. Each rule is for a place: a site’s rule beats its business unit’s, which beats its company’s, which beats the organisation’s, and a setting a rule leaves empty comes from the wider rule. Where nothing says, a booking is written off an hour after it starts, no reminders are sent, and reminders that are sent go out at 08:00.

Column	What it shows
Where	The place the rule is for, or The whole organisation
Not collected	no-show once it starts, or no-show after N days
Check-out reminder	How many days before the start the collection reminder goes, or on the day
Check-in reminder	How many days before the end the return reminder goes, or on the day
Reminders at	The time of day reminders go out

A setting a rule leaves to the wider one reads as the wider rule. Add opens a new rule; click a rule to edit it.

Field	What it means	Notes
Company, Business unit, Site (under Where it applies)	The place the rule is for	The narrowest one you fill in is the place. Leave all three empty for the organisation’s own rule
Write off as a no-show after (days)	Days after a booking starts with nothing handed over	0 writes it off as soon as it starts. On a booking where something was handed over, the lines nobody collected are released without a fee
Check-out reminder (days)	Days before it starts, sent while nothing has been handed over	0 is the day it starts. Leave it empty for no reminder
Check-in reminder (days)	Days before it ends, sent while it is out	0 is the day it is due back. Leave it empty for no reminder
Send reminders at	The time of day reminders go out, in the site’s own time	08:00 where nothing says

A rule must set at least one of the four. Each reminder is sent once for a date, so a booking moved to another day is reminded again.

Rate cards

One price per card: what an hour, a day or a meter unit of something costs, and who it costs that much for. Each card belongs to a business unit. To charge the same thing by the day and by the week, add a card for each, and choose between them on the booking’s line. A card naming a category prices anything in it that has no default of its own; one naming no category is chosen rather than matched — set as a machine’s default rate card on the asset, or picked on a booking’s line.

Column	What it shows
Card	The card’s name and its code (RC-2026-00001)
Business unit	The business unit that sells at this price, with its company
Applies to	Default for N machines (the assets that name it as their default rate card), the category it matches, or Chosen, not matched, with the kind of thing it prices
For	internal only, external only, either, or a named customer
Rate	The price and what one unit is — USD 350.00 per day — with any minimum, such as at least 1
Kind of rate	Standard, Overtime, Weekend and so on
Status	Since when it has been in force, and until when if it has ended

Find by name, code or unit searches the cards, and Filter narrows them by any column.

Add opens a new card; click a card to edit it.

Field	What it means	Notes
Name	What the card is called where somebody picks it — “Excavator, day rate”, “Fleet internal, weekly”	Required. The code is issued when the card is saved
ERP number	The card’s number in your finance system, where it has one	Unique within the business unit
Company (under Whose rate it is)	The legal entity that sells at these prices	Required
Business unit	The part of the business the card belongs to	Required. A booking is offered the cards of its site’s business unit, and a machine’s default rate card is chosen from them
Site	One site’s own price	Leave it empty for a card the whole business unit sells at
Charged per (under The price)	What one unit is	Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Per use or Per meter unit. A nine-day hire on a day rate is nine days; on a week rate it is nine-sevenths of a week
Amount	What one unit costs, in the currency beside it
Minimum units (under How it is counted)	The least that can be charged — four hours on a day rate is a half-day minimum	Optional
Rounding increment units	Charged up to the next whole increment. A half-day increment bills 5 hours as 8	Optional. Set both where both apply
Resource kind (under What is priced)	Which kind of thing the card prices: Asset, Tool, Part, Worker or Location	Required. The rest of the form follows from it
Asset category (or the matching kind)	The category, tool type, part category, worker type or location type the card prices	Leave it empty for a card that is chosen rather than matched
Audience (under Who it applies to)	Any, Internal or External	Internal is the recharge rate; external is the rate quoted outside
Customer	A rate negotiated with one customer	Leave it empty for the list rate everybody else gets. A customer’s rate is not offered to anybody else. Customers come from vendor and contract settings
Rate type (under Which situation)	Standard, Overtime, Weekend, Holiday, Night, Travel or Callout	How often a line is billed is not the card’s to say: it comes from the booking defaults
Effective from (under When it applies)	When the card starts	Required
Effective to	When it ends	Leave it empty while it is the current rate. Add a new card when a price changes, so charges already banked still reconcile
Active	Whether the card is offered

Kinds of booking

What somebody picks first when they raise a booking, and what the product then does about it. The defaults are Equipment hire, Hire to customer, Person booked, Room booking and Tool booking.

Column	What it shows
Kind	The name
What it holds	Which resource kinds it may hold, with any cap — “places (max 1)“
Charged to	Who it may be charged to, and which the form opens on
What it does	charged to a customer, handed over and taken back, or held, and nothing else
Buffer	Minutes held before and after
What it is	Opens what it holds and who it is charged to

Field	What it means	Notes
Name	What this kind is called on the form — “Room”, “Equipment hire”	Required
External	The resource leaves your control	Prices off the external rate, and wants a deposit and a delivery address
Requires issue	Somebody physically hands the thing over and takes it back	On by default. Off for a meeting room
Asks who it is for	The form asks who the booking is for, opening on whoever is raising it	For a pool car or a desk, where people book for each other
Default buffer before (minutes)	Time held before the booked start	Counted when two bookings are tested for a clash
Default buffer after (minutes)	Time held after the booked end, for cleaning or inspection
Active	Whether the kind is offered

What this kind of booking is

What it is opens two lists, saved together:

What a kind of booking holds and is charged to

List	What you set
What it holds	Tick Assets, Tools, Parts, Places or People, each with an optional at most cap. Let it hold anything clears the list. Anything unticked is refused at the counter
Charged to	Tick Nobody — internal, not recharged, A cost centre, A department, A business unit, A project or A customer, and choose which one the form opens on. Let it be charged to anybody clears the list

Nothing ticked is the widest setting, not the narrowest. The registers behind cost centres, departments, business units and projects are under organisation structure, and customers under vendors and contracts. Whether a booking must be approved before it is confirmed is not set here. It is a published approval workflow, which can also say who approves it.

Setting up

Configuration

What this organisation books

Assets not offered for booking

Checklists at issue and return

Booking defaults

Collection and reminders

Rate cards

Kinds of booking

What this kind of booking is