In this article, we will see how serial numbers work in Rentman and how to use them.

Rentman uses items and serial numbers. An item is a specific type of equipment, which can consist of a number of unique serial numbers.

Example: One of your items is a Martin Atomix 3000 DMX strobe light. When you have five of these strobe lights, you have five unique serial numbers.

Serialized vs. Bulk
Using serial numbers is optional. You can also have items without serial numbers (bulk items), such as less expensive equipment like cables. For these items, it's less important to track the location or status.

Why use serial numbers instead of bulk items?
With serial numbers, you can track the location and status of a specific (and unique) piece of equipment. You may also set up QR codes and barcodes to do this by scanning your equipment. You cannot track individual bulk items or assign a unique QR code to an individual bulk item.

In this article, we explain how to add your serial numbers in Rentman. You can add a single serial number or multiple serial numbers at once. Serial numbers can be added to physical items and physical combinations. 

Add your serial numbers

You can add serial numbers to a physical item or a physical combination.

Note: You cannot add serial numbers to a virtual combination because the content of a virtual combination is flexible and therefore doesn't allow for locking and tracking a unique serial number.

Other options

• Internal reference
  • Code or phrase to refer to your serial number internally. This reference will also be shown in Rentman when a serial number is marked for repair in the build Maintenance module, for example.
• Date of purchase
• Purchase price
• Depreciation per month
• Remark
• Calculate book value automatically
  • If you select this, you can fill in the Depreciation per month. This information is necessary to let Rentman automatically calculate the current book value. The book value is calculated as follows:
    Book value = Purchase price - (Depreciation per month * Months since date of purchase)
• Active
  • If you select "No", the serial number will become inactive. It will be unavailable and cannot be planned on projects. This will also happen if you mark a serial number as lost in the Maintenance module.

View history of serial numbers

When booking equipment with serial numbers, Rentman keeps an overview of all projects that your serial numbers were planned on. This is useful to pinpoint when an item got lost or when it became defective.

Assigning Serial numbers for physical combinations in a Project

After doing the steps already mentioned to create serial numbers, you can now assign a specific serial number to a project. This can be useful when you want ensure a specific serial number combination or equipment is attached to this project. This means if your warehouse crew member doesn't choose the assigned combination or equipment, they will not be able to proceed. That warehouse crew member must choose the combination/equipment assigned in the project . 

Here's how you can do that! 

1. Go to the table_chart Projects and choose the project of your choice. 
2. Go to the equipment tab of the project.
3. Select a physical combination by click the More options more_vert button or right clicking and select "Assign serial numbers".
4. Select for each item the correct serial numbers
   
   
5. Confirm

Frequently asked questions