By default, the time schedule of your project contains the planning period and usage period of your equipment. You can also set both periods per equipment line. An equipment line keeps the time it has now until you give it a different one, so you only change the lines that need it.
Planning period
During this period, your equipment and crew will be out of the warehouse. Typically, it starts at the very beginning of your project (however you determine that) and ends when the equipment is returned to the warehouse.
The planning period is used to calculate equipment and crew availability. Planned equipment will not be available during the planning period, because it's needed on the project. This applies per equipment line: an item with a later planning period stays available for other projects until its own planning period starts.
Example: A project runs Monday through Friday. The truss is on site from Monday, but the projectors are not needed until Wednesday. With a Wednesday planning period on the projectors, they stay available for another job until Wednesday.
Usage period
The usage period is the period that the customer actually uses your equipment or that your crew actually works for the customer. If you have the quotation and invoicing add-on: this is the period for which the customer will be charged. The usage period is needed to calculate the price factor, which largely determines the price of the project. Rentman calculates the price factor and the total price from the usage period of each equipment line, so an item that is rented for only part of the project is charged for that part. Please note that the usage period should ALWAYS be shorter than the planning period. If the usage period falls outside the planning period, you cannot save the project.
Custom Time Schedules
Besides those two default periods Rentman provides, you can also customize and create your own as well. The most common scenario is to create a "Preparation" or "Pack Up" time schedule to ensure prepping and packing up are done and planned for. Feel free to create as many custom time schedules in your project to fit your needs! You can choose any of them as the planning period or usage period of an equipment line.
A time on an equipment line always links to an entry in the time schedule. If the time you need is not in the list yet, click 'Add new time' while you set the period. Because the line follows the entry, the time stays correct when the project shifts.
Set a planning or usage period per equipment line
Set a time for one item
- Go to the Equipment tab of your project.
- Click the Planning period or Usage period cell of an equipment line.
- Select a time from the list, or click Add new time.
- Click Save.
Set a time for several items at once
- Go to the Equipment tab of your project.
- Select the equipment lines you want to change.
- Click Edit in the blue bar.
- Select the checkbox next to Planning period, Usage period, or both.
- Select a time from the list, or click Add new time.
- Click Save.
In the screenshot, (1) shows the checkbox and field for the Planning period, (2) shows the list of times you can choose from, and (3) shows the button that saves your changes.
To set a time for a whole equipment group at once, double-click the name of the group and change the times there.
Note: If a new time changes the price factor, Rentman asks you to confirm before it recalculates the factor for the planned equipment.
Note: Items inside a physical combination follow the time of the combination. Virtual combinations allow different times for their items.