How do I create a booking item type?

Summary

The following article explains how to create or amend a booking item type in the Booking and Hire module.

More Information

Units: Unit is a general term used to cover all types of vehicle and machinery, including items such as motorcycles, scooters, cars, trucks, vans, caravans, motorhomes, boats, tractors, ATVs, agricultural equipment, wholegoods and construction equipment.

"Booking items" are the individual items that are provided to the customer that make up the customer booking. "Booking item types" are created for two purposes:

To define the rules by which booking items are processed on the customer booking.
To group similar items together.

Item Rules

Booking items can be processed in three different ways:

Hireable Items
Additional Extras
Saleable Extras

Hireable Items

Hireable items are the fundamental elements of your Booking and Hire system. Each hire item with a "hireable item" booking item type is given a unique identity.

They can only be hired out to one customer at a time.
They appear on the "Hire item availability".
They can be made unavailable for a period.

Additional Extras

Additional extras also link to hire items, but they do not have a unique identity and can be hired out many times concurrently and can have a quantity on an individual booking. Additional extras should be used for hire items that are too trivial to have their own identity or for adding surcharges or additional services onto customer bookings, for example:

Extra Occupant

.

Saleable Extras

You must have the Stock Control module in order to include saleable extras on your bookings.

Saleable extras are items that are sold to the customer alongside the booking. These items are not to be returned at the end of the hire period. When a "saleable extra" booking item type is entered on a customer booking, a stock code will be accepted on the "Booking items" list rather than a hire item.

Grouping Similar Items

It can be useful to group similar items together; for example, you might have a "hireable item" booking item type for:

Luxury Caravans

Grouping similar items by type allows you to search for these items easily and see which are available when handling a booking enquiry. Hire items that have the same booking item type also default in the same way including:

Having the same booking agreement document layout.
Having the same default deposit amounts.
Having the same style lines on invoices.
Having the same default pricing.

Creating a Booking Item Type

Go to " Booking and Hire Maintenance Options Add or Edit Booking Item Types".

Press the [Add] button.

Details

At "Description:", enter the description of the booking item type.
At "Colours:", you can select "Text:" and "Background:" colours in which the booking item type will appear.

Settings

Move to the [Settings] tab.
At "Item rules:", choose the rules by which items of this type will be processed on the customer booking.
At "System link:", select the system module to which the items of this type are linked.

For Luxury Caravans, the linked system module would be Unit Sales. Each hire item with the Luxury Caravan booking item type would be linked to a unit stock number.

At "Agreement type:", choose whether the booking agreement document for booking items with this type is:
- A 'Single Item Agreement'. A separate booking agreement document is produced for every booking item of this type on a single customer booking. This is the default for Unit Sales linked booking item types.
- A 'Multiple Item Agreement'. Multiple booking items appear on the same document. This is the default for Stock Control linked and non-linked booking item types.

If you have created your own format and wish to apply it to this specific booking item type, enter the "Agreement file" name including the extension '.EPL'. Leave this field blank to apply the system default format.

For 'Hireable items' or 'Additional extras', at "Price plan:", enter the name of the price plan to be used when hire items with this type are booked or enquired about.

Booking Settings

Move to the [Booking Settings] tab.
At "Deposit type:", choose how you would like the default booking deposit amount to be calculated for booking items with this booking item type:
- Choose 'No default' to have no default amount and pre-set the deposit amount at '£0.00'.
- Choose 'Percentage' to work out an amount based on the gross price of the booking item on the customer booking.
  - At "Percentage:", enter the percentage of the gross price the deposit should be.
- Choose 'Fixed Amount' to set the deposit at a fixed amount.
  - At "Amount:", enter the fixed amount the deposit should be.
At "Booking item text:", enter the standard text that appears when a booking item of this type appears on a hire invoice.

Security Settings

Move to the [Security Settings] tab.
- The options for the [Security Settings] are the same as for the [Booking Settings] above, so just set these appropriately for the Security items.

Saving the New Booking Item Type

Press the [Done] button and [Accept] the changes to create the booking item type.