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If you want Rentman to help you manage and keep track of your inventory, you are in the right place. Before we show you more about all the possibilities Rentman can offer, we need to get your equipment into your Rentman account. This will be part of your database and all of your inventory will show up in the category Equipment module.

If you are lost or stuck at any point in the process, do not hesitate to ask our Support team for help in the bottom right corner of your screen. They will be happy to assist you.

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How do I fill in my equipment in Rentman?

To start planning your equipment on projects and tracking availability, you need all your data in your Rentman account. But first, as we did for the contacts, you need to make sure everything will be well organized.

Organize your inventory

How-to : Create and edit your folder structure

1 - Create a folder Folder structure showing the different categories of items you have.

Hint

Here is an example of a structure you could create:

Create your inventory

Now that the organization is all set up, you have two options. Choose one of the following:

Manually add your equipment

How-to: Adding equipment

You want to start filling your equipment database but you are not sure how to proceed yet. And that’s normal, we are just at the beginning. This means that you will start by adding your items manually, just to have a first understanding of the process.

2 - Select the first folder you want to fill in with new equipment by clicking on the folders' dropdown. Then, click on add_circle   Add equipment

3 - Fill in all the necessary information

Create at least 10 items to continue.

Optional: You have a quantity of five moving lights for example, let’s say a Martin MAC 250 Entour for example. The issue is that they can be pretty expensive and you want to make sure that you track every movement of your five Martin MAC 250 Entour’s individually. To do so, you will use serial numbers.
3b - Go to the Serial numbers tab or any of your items and add one or several serial numbers with all relevant information.

Create at least 10 pieces of equipment to continue.

Import your equipment

How-to: Import your equipment

You have quite an extended inventory to enter in Rentman and you want to go fast. You prefer to start working straight away instead of spending too much time setting up everything. Perfect, Rentman is meant to help you save time!

2 - Go to your Excel file and prepare it as much as you can. Make sure that:

• All your items are in rows and the different pieces of information are split into different columns
• You have a column called “Folder” or “folder structure” with the folder in which the item should be.
• No item has the same database number
• You have less than 68 columns
• The document does not contain several sheets or any formula
• If you also import serial numbers you will need to duplicate the row belonging to the item for each serial number. For example, if you have 2 Martin MAC 250 Entour, each one with a different serial number. You need to duplicate the item row 2 times. The data in these rows will be identical apart from the information specific to the serial numbers.
  You have at least 10 pieces of equipment in that sheet

3 - Click on the 3 dots next to add_circle   Add equipment and either upload or drag your import .xlsx sheet. Fill everything in and import your inventory by following the instructions on the screen.

How to filter my list of items?

You now have a pretty good-looking database. However, this list may be a bit overwhelming when you just look at it. It shows plenty of information and you could get lost, right?

Label your items

How-to : Using tags

4 - Select at least one item and add a tag.
Hint: This could be, for example, some specific properties like “rainproof” or “indoors only”. It could even be the colour of the item or on which type of events it can be scheduled such as “weddings”, “concerts”, etc. One item can have multiple tags.

5 - Click on the label tag (or one of the tags) that you have just created from the tags dropdown list. It should be located on the top-right corner of your window. What happens?

How can I rent several items together?

Group your items

How-to: Create equipment sets: kits, cases, and accessories

There are a few items that you rent together, either always or most of the time. This would be a waste of time to look for each item in your list of equipment and schedule them on a project one-by-one, every time. For this reason, Rentman allows you to group items.

6 - Create either a kit or a case. It has to be a brand-new item that you create. Then, change the type into a kit or a case and fill in all relevant information.

7 - Go to the Content tab of that element you have just created. Now, add all items that will be part of that case or kit. You need to look for the items in the list at the left.

This is why you first need to create your database. Once all items are in there, you can assemble them the way you want so it is more efficient and convenient in the future.

8 - Now, go to the Accessories tab of the same item or to any other item in your database, no matter which type they have. Add the accessories the same way you have added the content to your kit/case.

What if I am selling an item ?

Some items are meant to be rented out and scheduled on projects. Other items are meant to be sold or consumed. Sales items are a bit different as the stock varies depending on the sales you make. Gaffa tapes, as consumables, are a great example.

Dealing with sales items

How-to: Working with sale items

9 - Either go to an existing item or create a new one as you already did in point 2 -. Change the type to Sales. You should already see quite a few differences.

10 - Go to the Stock tab of your sales item and add a new delivery.

How can I edit my inventory if needed?

Your entire inventory is now in Rentman and it looks great so far! If anything changes, you can always come back and edit.

Fast and efficient editing

11 - Select all equipment that you will need later on to create your first projects. Don’t know yet? It’s ok, just select all the equipment you need available for your projects in general. Then, click on edit Edit. This allows you to bulk edit your items. Select “Display in planner”.

Well done, you are pretty much all set here! Your Inventory looks great and functional. You can now start implementing another part of your software such as your Crew planner, your Warehouse or your financial information if you did not do it already.

Otherwise, you can start implementing your documents and communication before accessing Level 1!

If you have any further questions or some feedback, do not hesitate to contact our Support Team.