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Rental objects

A capacity and a rental object are two different things:

  • A capacity is a bookable type with a quantity — for example, "Citybike" with a maximum availability of 20. A booking always reserves a capacity and a quantity, never a specific bike.
  • A rental object is a single physical unit of this capacity — that is, a specific bike that can be distinguished from the other 19. A rental object is assigned to a booking only at pickup.

In short, the capacity determines the quantity available for rental. The rental object answers the question of which specific item the customer actually took.

Tip

For those who only need to know how many units are occupied, capacities suffice. Rental objects are worthwhile as soon as individual items need to be distinguishable — for example, to record maintenance, to locate a specific item, or to work with NFC tags.

Managing rental objects​

Rental objects are managed in the "Rental objects" tab. The following information can be stored for each rental object:

  • "Name" — the designation of the item, for example a frame number
  • "Short code" — a short identifier for quick access
  • "Status" — "Active", "Inactive" or "Maintenance". The status cannot be changed while the rental object is assigned to a booking.
  • "External IDs" — additional identifiers, each with a "Type" and a "Value". The IDs of NFC tags are also listed here.

The list can be searched via "Search by name" and filtered by "Categories", "Status" and "Assigned".

If fewer rental objects are created for a capacity than its maximum availability allows, the remaining ones can be generated in a single step via "Create missing rental objects".

Assignment at pickup​

At pickup, the step "Assignment" brings together the reserved quantity and the specific items: for each booked unit, there is a slot that is occupied by a rental object — either by selection from the list or by scanning an NFC tag.

  • If a rental object is already assigned to a booking, the app reports this under "Rental already assigned" and offers to return or replace it.
  • If not all slots are occupied, the app indicates this before completion under "Assignments incomplete". The pickup can still be completed.
  • If no suitable rental objects are available, "Dummies" can be used. Placeholders and NFC scanning are mutually exclusive: if a tag is scanned, the placeholders are discarded.

Upon return, the assigned rental objects become available again. If a rental object remains incorrectly occupied, it can be released in the editor via "Force unassign rental object". This should remain the exception — the preferred method is to remove the rental object from the booking.

NFC tags​

A rental object can also have an NFC tag. This allows an item to be scanned at pickup and return instead of searching for it in the list. NFC is optional; rental objects also function without tags.

A tag is linked to a rental object as follows:

  • Mark the desired rental objects in selection mode and start the "NFC sync"
  • Hold the device close to the tag and tap "Write tag". Progress is displayed for each object as "Pending", "Writing", "Synced" or "Failed"
  • With the option "Auto-advance after successful write", the app automatically advances to the next rental object after each successful write operation
  • If the tag already contains another identifier, the app asks under "Overwrite tag?" whether it should be replaced
  • An interrupted synchronization can be resumed later

To scan, open "NFC Scanner" via "Open NFC Scanner" and hold the device close to the tag. The following applies:

  • Only one tag may be in the field at a time; otherwise, the app terminates the operation
  • An empty or unknown tag is reported as "Empty NFC tag detected"; the rental objects can be opened from the dialog to assign the tag
  • If NFC is disabled or not supported by the device, "NFC unavailable" appears with a link to the NFC settings