How to manage allocated parking


How to manage allocated 'off street' / 'secure' parking  in Odyssey


NOTE: This same process can also be used for GARMINS or other devices, just replace the word "Car Parks" below for "Garmin"


This is the best solution within Odyssey where no development work is needed, eg: this will give the answers using ‘out-of-the-box functions we already have.


We simply make out that a Car Park is another vehicle, so that we can check a calendar for availability, and assign this "vehicle" aka Car park to a Departure.


Before you begin,


1. Ensure that the visibility of the ‘Vehicles’ Resource tab - for all of the Masters that will use these car parks, is turned on. Go to Masters | Views | Resources | Views and ensure the eyeball is showing for Vehicles


  1. Ensure that each Trail / L1 has a Vehicle Movement for Vehicle Storage
Main Menu | Resources | Movements | Vehicle | Movements and Rates

Setup


Add each individual Car Park as a Vehicle Resource


  • From the Main Menu | Resources | Vehicle menu, add each car park as a ‘Vehicle'
  • Assign different colours to each park so that they are easily identified when you come to view the vehicle calendar
Add Car Parks to Resources | Vehicles, as if they were vehicles

Check availability: to see what car park space is available


  • Prior to allocating a car park, we recommend that you view the Calendar records for the Vehicles/Carparks to see what space is available
    • From the Main Menu | Depot | Calendars | , select Vehicles, which trips are assigned
      • (or from the specific Tour | Resources | vehicle tab, click show Calendar
    • If necessary, navigate to the correct month
    • Click Show all, so that all vehicles and car parks are shown
    • Alternatively, filter the calendar by individual Car Park
    • Any of the 8 different colours will display for the parks already allocated
    • Add whatever colour / number you can see is NOT SHOWING, to the Departure/Tour, see below:

Check the Vehicle Calendar for Availability

Allocate a car park (aka vehicle) to a Departure/Tour


This step is so that the Car Park allocation appears in the calendar

  • Assign the car park to the Departure/Tour
    • From the Tour | Resources | Vehicles tab, click + Vehicle, and add the Vehicle, aka Car Park



  • The park will automatically be booked for the duration of the tour, but the start dates and end dates can be adjusted.  
  • Add details such as the client's Registration number, and any other relevant comments you wish to store in the Office Notes field.
  • The user comments, and registration number fields, are being pulled from vehicle record, and cannot be adjusted here.

Assigning the car parking Movement record to the Tour


This step is so that clients can then be assigned the vehicle storage record


  • From the Tour | Movement | Vehicle menu
  • Click the  + Single Day button
  • Select Vehicle Storage from the Vehicle Master drop down list
  • Tick the tick boxes for Charge for this item, or Agent commission calculation, as required



  • If Multiple Car parking /Storage days are required, create the first daily record, as described above, then open it again and click the "Create Additional Days" button

Assigning the park to the client


  • At this stage the park has been assigned to the tour, but not to a specific client
  • From the Tour | Movements | Vehicle | Open the storage record again
  • and click Add to all to create a vehicle storage record for all clients on the Tour, or click the + sign beside the name of each client who has requested a car park
  • Add identifying information such as the Vehicle Registration, Make / Model and Colour
  • Tick the charge boxes for Charge for this item, agent commission calculation, self pay etc
  • Enter the price if required




The completed car parking records created for two clients on a tour

Yes, it does mean the data is in effect, entered twice. 

Once on the Vehicle MOVEMENT tab - so the client can be charged

And once on the RESOURCES tab for the calendar to work.


Reporting

Create and Save a Search


A search can be created and saved, to be run as required. This report will not be as easily to visualise by Reservations staff, as compared to the Calendar view, but can be very useful from a reporting and analysis perspective.


From the Main Menu | Bookings | Search | Search Vehicle Movement Data

or

Main Menu | Depot | Options | Vehicle Search


  • Enter the search criteria:
    • From the drop down list, select 1=Relocation, 2=Storage, and choose "is equal to" 2
    • Select a date range for the search
    • Enter any other search criteria which is important to you

Selecting the search criteria
  • The search criteria could look something like this:
The search criteria

  • Then click the Save button if this is a report you wish to run again in the future
    • Simply come to here and click Open next time you wish to run this search

  • Give the search a name, and click Save

Giving your saved search a Name
  • Then Click Find

  • At this point the found records are almost ready to be displayed, you simply need to tell it how to present the data - e.g. how do you wish to sort it
  • Click Storage, to Sort the storage records
Select Storage
  • And then choose a sort method you prefer, e.g. by Date, or by Trail
Select your preferred sort method
  • The resulting search will look like this
The search result

  • Use the Print button to print your report
  • or use the Export button to export this report into .tsv format, and import it into Excel for further manipulation/querying