Contents
Introduction
Introduction to Pool Booking
Pool Booking Manual - Administrator#Getting Started
System Settings
Manage Categories
Manage Locations
Manage Plant Types (vehicles)
Manage Plant Types (small plant)
Add or Update Plant
Bookings
The Booking Chart
Making a booking - User Vehicle Choice
Making a booking - System Vehicle Choice
Reports in Pool Booking
Pool Booking Manual - Administrator#Usage and Cost Reports
Booking Exceptions Report
Introduction
Introduction to Pool Booking
The Pool Booking system enables companies to assign a group of vehicles to a pool in order to make them available to be booked by users. The system can be customised to either allow users to choose their own vehicles, or have the system allocate one for them. Reports are available to represent usage costs by a range of parameters and booking exceptions.
Note: For the purposes of this document, 'Plant' is used as a generic term for both vehicles and small plant (such as chainsaws etc.)
Accessing Pool Booking
If you have been granted access to the Pool Booking system, an option will be presented on the main menu when you log in, as shown in the image below. Clicking on this link will take you to the Pool Booking section of the Smartrak mapping site.
Click the Bookings button to access the Pool Booking system.
Getting Started
Business Requirements (Booking Administrators only)
The first thing you need to do is make some decisions about how you want the booking system to work for your organisation. There are some options that you need to consider. These are:
- Do you want each booking to be approved before a vehicle can be checked out?
- Do you want to categorise your vehicles and plant? For example you might create a category called "City Runabouts" and one called "Inter City Vehicles". This will enable users to filter the list of available vehicles according to their needs.
- Do you need to keep track of vehicle costs by Cost Centre?
- Do you need to account for costs by Job Number?
- Do you want to allow users to choose their own vehicle or have the system choose a vehicle for them?
System Settings
All of these options can be configured on the System Settings screen on the Admin menu.
Manage Categories
Categories enable you to separate your vehicles and plant into groups which provide a useful distinction for users when making a booking. For example you might create a category called "City Runabouts" and one called "Inter City Vehicles". This will enable users to filter the list of available vehicles according to their needs.
Manage Locations
Locations are used for the following purposes:
- Each vehicle must have a base location and each location that's used as a vehicle base location must have a Geofence assigned to it. When a vehicle leaves its base geofence, the booking system "checks out" the vehicle. In doing so, it notes the vehicle's odometer reading and date/time against the booking. Conversely, when a vehicle re-enters its base geofence, the booking system "checks in" the booking, i.e. it notes the odometer reading and date/time against the booking. From this data the system can calculate usage costs reports by Vehicle, Driver, Cost Centre or Job number (depending on which of these you have enabled in your system).
- If you have disabled "User vehicle choice" then users will have to enter a Journey-to location when they make a booking. If the location they enter has been setup with a Geofence then the approximate trip distance will be calculated automatically, otherwise the user will have to enter the approximate distance for their trip.
Manage Plant Types (Vehicles)
Plant types enable you to categorise your plant and vehicles by type. For example you might create plant types for Utes, Vans, Hatchbacks, Station Wagons and Sedans.
Manage Plant Types (Small plant)
Plant types also allow you to categorise your small plant.
It's important to categorise your small plant down to the most granular level required to enable users to select them by plant type only.
For example, if you have a range of Chainsaws it is necessary to create a plant type for each type of chainsaw e.g. if you have both 20" and 24" chainsaws you will need to create a plant type for each (Chainsaw 24", Chainsaw 20"). Now the user will be able to select the size chainsaw they need.
Add or Update Plant
Select "Add Plant" from the admin menu. You will be taken to the following screen which will be described in the sections shown below:
Manage Plant
Charge Out and License Details
The charge out rate used in the vehicle usage cost calculation is as follows:
- 0-24hrs – the Hourly rate is used
- 1-6 days – the daily rate is used
- 7 days+ - the weekly rate is used.
Availability
The following options are available for availability type:
- Always: the plant is always available for bookings – the availability date and grid will not be displayed.
- None: The plant is never available for bookings – the availability date and grid will not be displayed.
- Schedule: The plant is available according to the days of the week and times of the day selected in the availability grid shown above. The availability date will not be displayed.
- Always until: The plant is available anytime of any day of the week until the date in the Availability Date field, from that date onwards the plant is not available at all. The availability grid will not be displayed.
- By Schedule until: The plant is available according to the days of the week and times of the day selected in the availability grid shown above until the date in the Availability Date field, from that date onwards the plant is not available at all.
- None until… then always: The plant is not available for bookings at all until the date in the Availability Date field; from that date on the plant is available anytime of any day of the week. The availability grid will not be displayed.
- None until… then by schedule: The plant is not available for bookings at all until the date in the Availability Date field; from that date on the plant is available according to the days of the week and times of the day selected in the availability grid shown above.
Associated Plant
Associating small plant items with a vehicle means that whenever the vehicle is booked, then all plant associated with that vehicle is also booked and included in any costing reports for the Driver, Plant, Cost Centre or Job Number associated with the vehicle.
Manage Plant
The Manage Plant screen displays a list of plant set up in the booking system by plant type. From here you can update plant details.
Bookings
The Booking Chart
The booking chart is used in 2 situations:
- If you have your system set up to allow users to choose their own vehicle then this is the screen on which users will make their bookings.
- If you system is setup to automatically allocate bookings then the booking chart can be used to view bookings
Making a Booking – User Vehicle Choice
If your system is set up to allow users to choose which vehicle they want to book then you can make a booking by dragging on the booking chart from the start time of your booking to the end time on the row that corresponds to the vehicle you want.
Once you release the mouse the following popup will be displayed.
Making a Booking – System Vehicle Choice
If your system is set up to allow the system to choose which vehicle to book then when you select “Make a booking” from the menu
You will be taken to the following screen:
After you click "Search" in the previous screen, you will see either this:
Click "Confirm booking" to create your booking, you will receive an Outlook event by email which will show the booking in your Outlook calendar.
Or, if no available vehicle and/or plant was found, you will see the following:
This enables you to see when vehicles are available and if possible adjust your search criteria and click "Search" again.
Your bookings will appear on the "My Bookings" menu. Click on a booking to see its details and to edit or delete the booking (you can only delete bookings that haven't been checked in). 
Reports in Pool Booking
Usage and Cost Reports
If the booking administrator has assigned hourly, daily, or weekly costs to the vehicle then the relevant cost will be multiplied by the Duration. Calculated as follows:
- 0-24hrs – the Hourly rate is used
- 1-6 days – the daily rate is used
- 7 days+ - the weekly rate is used.
The total distance travelled during bookings by the vehicle. Number of days private use. This includes days on which bookings were ticked as for private use, and times when the vehicle was outside the base geofence overnight. Each day is never counted twice for the same vehicle. The per kilometre cost of the vehicle (if set up by the booking administrator) is multiplied by the booked distance travelled by the vehicle. The total duration of all bookings for the vehicle.
Booking Exceptions Report
Select the format in which you want to receive the report. Enter the start and end dates of the period you want to report on & select the plant you wish to report on. Click "Run Report" to run the report.
Name of Driver and Vehicle, Details of Booking, Exception type example
If you are unable to find an answer to your question in here please log a support request via the Smartrak Support Desk. Service Desk