Handling equipment is a huge part of your job. Equipment is rented or sold for different projects and someone needs to keep an overview of all of this. This is crucial, to say the least. This guide will help you to create a solid workflow to get things done.

You will discover the processes around inventory and warehouse management. You will find links in this guide that lead you to more information about the described topics.

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.

Modules required

• category Equipment
  
  
• build Maintenance

But first things first, make sure you are logged into Rentman. 

Inventory

In your company, you are the person in charge of the stock of equipment. You know when deliveries come in, when equipment is available or not, the current stock, etc. Therefore, everything you need for this role is located in the category Equipment module and the build Maintenance module. Let’s discover how they work and what the best workflows are.

As you will be the one managing the stocks of the company, you may also be responsible for implementing the database. If so, there is a guide that will assist you in the process, showing you how to add items into your database. Take a look at this article.

Optimize the use of your items

Add labels to your items

Your database looks ready to use and well-organized now. But you want to be more specific. You would like to add some specifications to certain items. For example, you would like to specify if they can be used outside only or inside only, maybe. If they are windproof or rainproof. Or anything you like and that would make your life easier.

How-to: Organize with tags

1 - Create a tag for certain items by selecting them, clicking on the more options icon, and adding the tag(s) you want to add. Use one of the examples mentioned above or create your own tag.

2 - Go back to the equipment overview and select the tag you just created. See how the list is filtered?

Group your items

How-to: Create equipment sets: physical combinations, virtual combinations, and accessories

There are a few items that you rent together, either always or most of the time. It 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 into physical and virtual combinations.

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

4 - Go to the Content tab of that element you have just created. Now, add all items that will be part of that combination. 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. To make the process easier, you can also import the content.

5 - 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 combination.

Dealing with sales items

How-to: Working with sale items

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.

6 - 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.

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

Create QR codes for the items of the stock

Your goal is to keep track of everything that goes in and out of the stock. With rental items, the back and forth is daily and constant. The most efficient way to keep track of all that movement is to add QR codes to your items and have them scanned when they leave the warehouse and come back. This way, the timeline of all equipment will be up to date at all times.

If you are responsible for implementing this process, we created a guide just for you: Set up QR Codes and Barcodes.

Managing your stock once implemented

Your entire inventory is now in Rentman and fully optimized for daily work. This is quite exciting! However, even though your database is all ready, that does not mean your job ends here. You have to keep a constant eye on the stock, and you may need to edit the information of the items, report a defect or change the quantity if new ones are bought or old ones are lost.

Keeping track of the availability of the equipment

How-to: Equipment availability

8 - A project manager has a client on the phone. They are talking about an event that will happen between the 8th of January until the 10th of January. Your colleague needs to give an answer right now, can he start the project? To have an answer, they are asking you if the 2 DJ kits, 6 MA Lighting Digital Dimmer and the 9 Martin Rush MH3 Movingheads they need will be available. A DJ kit contains 2 Pioneer CDJ2000 NXS2 Tabletop CD Player 2, 1 Pioneer DJM900 NXS2 DJ Mixer and 1 Shure SM58 Microphone.

In order to give an answer to your colleague, you check the timeline of these elements. Here is what you see:

Fast and efficient editing

If you want to change some information of several items, you may think it will take an eternity to deal with the changes one by one. Do not worry, Rentman is here to make you save time

9 - Select a few items you know you will need soon. Then, click on Edit. This allows you to bulk edit your items. Select “Display in planner”. If items are not displayed in the planner, they won’t be accessible from the project so the person in charge won’t be able to schedule them. Now they can!

Stock counts

How-to: Count your inventory

As the stock changes all year long, you probably need to make a stock count from time to time. Just to make sure that you keep track of everything. Guess what? Rentman has a feature for this, and we will show you how to use it.

10 - Select all your items. All of them. Then, click on the more options icon and on “count inventory”. Read attentively the instructions. You may not need to do your inventory count right now, so we won’t make you. However, you now know where to find the feature and how to proceed.

The Maintenance module

In the life of an item, it can happen that it is broken, defective or lost for some reason. It is your role to pay attention to this. The maintenance module will help you to report any broken items and to schedule regular inspections.

How-to: Handling defective equipment and Handling lost equipment

The best way to make sure that the items in stock work when your colleagues need them is to inspect them from time to time.

11 - Go to the settings Configuration > Settings > Periodic inspections and create a yearly cleaning. Attention: if you do not have access to the Configuration module, ask a Power User to complete this task.

12 - Go to the category Equipment module and select an item that requires a yearly cleaning. Any item as long as it has serial numbers. Click on Edit. Then, go to the Periodic inspections tab and click on “new inspection for this equipment”. Set the first date to next week.

13 - Go to the build Maintenance module > Inspections and add an inspection. Repeat what you have done in point 12 but with another item.

14 - Go to the build Maintenance module > Equipment to inspect. Change the dates to be sure you see the inspections that will be required next week. The items you selected previously should appear in the list with a date of inspection. You now know the two different ways of creating a recurring inspection. However, you just realized that an item is broken and cannot be used anymore. It needs to be repaired.

15 - Go to the build Maintenance module > Repairs. Add a repair and select that the item cannot be used anymore.

Congratulations! You can now smoothly manage the stocks of your company and master all the features that Rentman has to offer to make your life easier.

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If you are also the one managing the Warehouse, here are the workflows you need to know:

Warehouse

You are the person who packs all items before they go to the location of a project or you manage the team that does it. You need to have an overview of what is packed, what is ready to go, what comes back, etc.

This article will show you exactly what you need to know: How to Work in the Warehouse Module.

Modules required

• group_work Warehouse
• And eventually the right to create documents

To go further, follow this webinar about Warehouse Management.

The stock now has no secrets for you and we know that you have all the knowledge to keep it well-managed and organized thanks to Rentman. Good luck with your future tasks!