You have now created your job, created your equipment list, and the customer has arrived to pick up their equipment. Or perhaps the customer is standing in front of you ready to take their equipment. The equipment on the equipment list is automatically reserved for a job with a status higher than quotation. In the case of rental equipment, this is for the period of the rental. In the case of sales equipment, it is removed directly from stock when it is placed on the equipment list.
When you send out equipment you must dispatch the equipment and create a Dispatch Note. This is sometimes called a "Packing List" A single equipment list can have multiple dispatch notes if the equipment is taken at different times.
There are several ways of dealing with the dispatching and returning of equipment. Equipment can be dispatched manually or it can be dispatched using a barcode/serial number or typecode.
RentalDesk can operate in one of two methods as your needs dictate. You simply need to check out your equipment so RentalDesk can keep track of where your equipment is going. Retail mode: In a retail or sales environment it is possible to create an equipment and simply scan out the needed equipment to the equipment list and dispatch all in one step. This is especially useful when the customer is waiting to take the equipment away with them. This mode of operation is similar to that of a cash register or till.
Warehouse mode: In warehouse mode equipment is typically added beforehand to the list using the popstock stock selector. Once the date comes when the equipment is scheduled to leave, you would then begin checking out the equipment using barcodes or the checking out the appropriate equipment quantities. This is more typical in a larger rental company where the equipment is reserved and dispatched at a later date.
Serial numbers and barcodes are two sides of the SAME coin. First you define an item by giving it a barcode. This DOESN'T have to literally be a barcode label, but simply a UNIQUE identifier, e.g. 001234, 001235, etc. Then you supply all the other info that is uniquely associated with the item, e.g. serial number, date purchased etc. Then in order to track these unique ITEMS in the rental process you need to send them out and this is when you MUST enter the barcode number into the Dispatch form.
You can do this by actually scanning the item, or typing in the barcode number, but either way, if, and only if, you want to track individual items then the barcode must be entered during the dispatch process.
Only THEN will the system record the individual items that went out on a job, so only THEN can any of the paperwork show either the barcode or the serial number or both.
