Configuring Fuel Capacity

This article will help you configure the fuel capacity of items in your inventory. This will be especially helpful when calculating fuel amounts on rentals. Point of Rental can keep track of the fuel capacity of every piece of equipment in your inventory and compute how much fuel remains in a rental return.

Topics included in this article

• How to Get There

• Creating a Fuel-Type Item

• Configuring Fuel Capacity for Inventory Items

• Using Fuel Capacities

How to Get There

Expert: Program Menu > File Maintenance > Item File
Elite: Gear icon > File Maintenance > Item File

Creating a Fuel-Type Item

This is the first step in configuring your inventory items to use fuel capacities. Before configuring fuel capacities, you will need to create a fuel item. This topic will walk you through that process. If you have already created a fuel item, skip to the next section.

1. Go to File Maintenance > Item File.
    
2. In the left corner of the inventory selection screen, select Add Item. 
   
   
   
3. Select the item type Sales-Normal or Sales-Header. If you have multiple stores and want to have a fuel item for each location, use the Sales-Header option. If you have only one location, use the Sales-Normal option.
   
   
   
   
4. Enter the Key of the item. Please note that this field is only 10 characters long, so your fuel item keys must be no longer than seven characters to account for special codes outlined in the next section, Configuring Fuel Capacity for Inventory Items.
    
5. Add a sell price in the Details tab. The sale price is per unit. If you're in the U.S., this is the per-gallon price you'll charge. If you're outside the U.S., you can use other units, like liters, as long as you enter the per-unit price.
   
   
   
6. Go to the Options tab, and check the box for bulk item.
   
   
   
7. If you selected the item type Sales - Header for multiple locations, skip to step 9. 
   If not and you selected the item type Sales - Normal, add an item quantity of 99999 and enter 001 for the items home and current location.
   
   
   
8. Press OK to save your record. This is the last step if you are using item type Sales-Normal. If you're using item type Sales-Header, continue to step 8.
   
   
   
9. If you created a fuel header record, you must create a serialized item for each store location.
     
   
   1. To create the items, find and reopen the header record you just created and select Functions > Create Serialized. 
      
      
      
   2. Notice that after creating a new serialized item, the program will automatically add a dash and number to the end of the item key. Now, add a quantity of 99999 to the new item and update the home and current location fields to reflect the number added to the end of the item key. The number generated should reflect the store where the fuel item will be used.
      
      
      For example, the first serialized item you create will keep the header key and add a  "-1" to the end of the key. This item should be your fuel item for store 1. In the home and current location, you would enter 001. Your second item will keep the header key and add a "-2". This item should be your fuel item for store 2. In the home and current location, you would enter 002.
      
      
      
   3. Select OK.
      
      
      
   4. Repeat steps 9a to 9c until you've created fuel items for every store you need.

Configuring Fuel Capacity for Inventory Items

This section explains configuring your inventory items using the fuel capacity feature. To continue, you must have a fuel item in your inventory. If you do not, see the previous topic, "Creating a fuel type item."
  

1. Add the fuel item key (that you created in the previous section) with the listed prefixes and suffixes below into the fuel field of a rental item or rental header.
    
   ℹ️ If you're configuring a header record, the information entered into the fuel field is NOT copied to its serialized items in File Maintenance. However, it IS copied to the serialized items when they are added to a rental contract, provided the serialized records are selected from the header record on the contract (i.e. when sending out a reservation, or if cloning a previous contract - which first uses the header record in a reservation status). Writing a new Open Contract from scratch and immediately selecting a serialized item WILL NOT copy the Fuel field data from the header record. Any previous info in the serialized item Fuel field will be overwritten.
   
   
    
   Select one of the options below and follow the instructions for adding a prefix and suffix to your fuel item key. All the below examples, a fuel item with the key "GAS1" is being used.
    

1. 1. To display a list of fractions of a tank that you can add at the close of a contract, add a lowercase “c” as a prefix to the item key and add the suffix “#T”. Example: " cGAS1#T. ". You will be prompted with the following window when closing the contract. 
      
      
      
   2. To add fuel at the close of a contract, add the prefix capital “C” to the item key followed by the suffix “#T.” Example: " CGAS1#T. "
      Just like option "a" (above), you will be prompted with the following when closing the contract.
       
      
      
      
   3. To enter your own number of gallons for fuel at the close of the contract, add the prefix lowercase “c” to the item key, followed by the suffix with the number of gallons. For example, use “1” to add one gallon of fuel to the contract. Example: " cGAS11 " 
      
      
      
   4. To enter your own number of gallons of fuel at the close of a contract, add a capital “C” as a prefix to the item key and add a “1” as a suffix after the item key. Example: " CGas11 "
      
      
      
   5. To display the tank capacity usage in fractions which you can then select when opening a contract, add a lowercase “o” as a prefix to your item key and add a “#T” as a suffix where T stands for the tank. Example: " oGAS1#T ". This prompts you to enter a quantity of the fuel item to add at the opening of a contract:
      
       
   6. To enter your own number for gallons of fuel upon the opening of the contract, add a lowercase “o” to the beginning of your fuel item key. Example: oGAS1. This works as advertised with the following prompt: 
      

2. Under the Options tab of the item record, enter the fuel capacity of the item you are configuring. For example, enter 20 if you're rental item has a fuel capacity of 20 gallons or liters. The fuel capacity must be added to each serialized item record, NOT the header. If a fuel capacity is added to a header, it will not copy into serialized items under the header. This is by design because each serialized unit may have different fuel tank sizes.
   

Using Fuel Capacities

This section contains examples of the options to enter fuel quantity at the close of a contract based on what was entered in the item's fuel field.

ℹ️ If you're configuring a header record, the information entered into the fuel field is NOT copied to its serialized items in File Maintenance. However, it IS copied to the serialized items when they are added to a rental contract, provided the serialized records are selected from the header record on the contract (i.e. when sending out a reservation, or if cloning a previous contract - which first uses the header record in a reservation status). Writing a new Open Contract from scratch and immediately selecting a serialized item WILL NOT copy the Fuel field data from the header record. Any previous info in the serialized item Fuel field will be overwritten.

cDIE#T when closing the contract

When closing a contract, if cDIE#T was entered in the fuel key in the item record, you will be prompted to enter the fuel tank's usage value. Whichever bubble you select will add the appropriate amount of fuel to the contract.

cDIE when closing a contract

When closing a contract, if cDIE was entered in the fuel key in the item record, you will be prompted to manually enter the usage value of fuel gallons to the contract.

CDIE#T when closing the contract 

When closing a contract, if CDIE#T was entered in the fuel key in the item record, you will be prompted to select a fuel type (if you have both diesel and gas listed). Once selected, the fuel type will be added to the contract.

CDIE when closing the contract

When closing a contract, if CDIE was entered in the fuel key in the item record, you will receive a prompt asking if you want to add diesel fuel to the contract.