In Rentman, the planning of crew and transportation for a project takes place in two phases:

1. Adding crew and transport functions - in this first phase, you set what activities need to be performed, by how many people, and during which time period. This information will be used in your quotation. Example: on the 10-03-2019, from 14:00 to 17:00, you need 2 people for the function "stagehand".
2. Planning crew members and vehicles on the functions - in this second phase, you choose which of your crew members will perform the functions. Example: John Smith and Michael Williams will perform the function "stagehand" on the 10-03-2019.

In this article, we explain the first phase - how to add crew and transport functions to your projects. 

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General

A function is a task that needs to be performed. A function can be connected to the times in your Time schedule, have its own time, or have a duration if you don't want to specify the exact times.

You can add a one-time function for a single project or create a default function you can use for every future project.

Functions can be planned in function groups. Function groups can as well be connected to your Time schedule, have their own time, or have a duration.

Adding functions to groups helps you save time. First, the functions will take the times of the group, so you won't have to add a time for each function. Second, if you edit your Time schedule you can automatically edit all the functions in the group connected to the Time schedule.

Add a function

To add a function to a function group, select the group. To add it outside of a group, select the default group called 'ungrouped functions'

You can choose to add a one-time function or a default function.

To add a one-time function:

1. Open Crew and transport tab in your project.
2. Click on more_vert icon on the top-right (next to the '+Function group' button).
3. Choose between crew or transport function.
4. Fill in the function details.
5. Click  Save

To add a default function:

1. Select a function group. 
2. From the column on the left, double-click on the default function you want to add.

You can now double-click on the function you have just added so you can set a time for it.

Function options

Functions have all different kinds of options. Below, you read what these options mean.

Set up your default functions

Setting default functions speeds up the planning process because you can re-use them for every project.

You can also modify the user role rights of other power users to prevent them from editing, creating or deleting default functions.

Add a default function

1. In the sidebar on the left, click on the + icon.
2. Choose between Add default function for crew and Add default function for transport.
3. Fill in the function options.
4. Click  Save

Edit a default function

To edit a default function, select it and click on edit edit on top of the column.

Hourly and fixed rate

For the same function, you might sometimes charge fixed rates and other times hourly rates.

In this case, we suggest you create two separate functions, one with an hourly rate and one with a fixed rate. You can give these two functions the same external name but different internal names - so you won't get confused, and your clients won't see the difference.

Add a function group

1. Click on the  + Function group  button on the top right.
2. Add a name and usage/planning period.
   
3. Click  Save