By default, the system will allow you to overbook stock – this is so that it doesn’t prevent you from getting an order out of the door if you’ve forgotten to check in stock on a previous order or can easily sub-rent from another supplier.
In this guide, we’ll run through the ways that the system lets you know about shortages and the tools provided to help you resolve shortages.
Spot shortages
Current RMS flags shortages in several ways throughout your system by
Upcoming orders and reservations with shortages
The dashboard shows a count of any upcoming opportunities, orders or reserved quotations that have shortages on them.
Click this tile to view a list of opportunities that you need to review.
Daily summary email
You can get a count of your upcoming orders and reservations with shortages in your inbox every day by turning on the daily summary email.
Shortage highlighting
On orders and reserved quotations, product and service shortages are highlighted in red in the opportunity order view, making it obvious where your shortages are.
Opportunities with shortages
When Opportunities are listed in the system, you’ll see a red ⚠️ symbol next to the name of orders or reserved quotations with shortages.
Prevent and deal with shortages
Asset Visibility Issues
If an asset is not appearing in the allocation dropdown, ensure you have selected the correct store in the system. For instance, switching to a specific store like "America's store" often resolves this issue. This is likely due to misconfigured location settings.
Allocation Clashes Due to Overlapping Jobs
An asset might not be allocatable due to simultaneous reservations in other jobs, even if no active booking seems present. Check all job schedules and availability before manually assigning assets to avoid future stock conflicts.
Sub-rent stock
The primary way that most companies resolve shortages is by sub-renting stock, i.e. renting gear from a third-party to then rent to your customer. Use the simple sub-rent process to mark opportunity items as sub-rented. See: Sub-rent stock
Mark a quotation as reserved
Got a quotation that you know is confirmed? Mark it as reserved to reserve stock on it. Shortages are highlighted as they are on orders, so you can start reviewing them straight away. See: Mark a quotation as reserved or provisional
Enforce stock availability
To book a product on multiple opportunities without returning it to stock, go to System Preferences > Product Settings and toggle "Enforce Stock Availability" on or off. Disabling this setting allows simultaneous bookings, but be cautious to avoid stock conflicts.
To prevent overbooking stock for orders or reserved quotations, enable Enforce Stock Availability.
Overdue returns tile
On your dashboard, you can see a count of any opportunities where the end date has elapsed and items haven’t yet been checked in.
Auto convert overdue bookings to open-ended rentals
Where an opportunity is overdue for return, the system can automatically convert the opportunity to an open-ended rental. When open-ended, stock is considered unavailable indefinitely until checked in and finalised. See: Automatically change availability for products that haven’t been checked-in
Resolving Effective Date Mismatches
Occasionally, an asset may be impossible to allocate because its Effective Date precedes the desired booking date. To correct this, go to the Stock Level section of the asset settings and update the Effective Date to align with your booking schedule. This ensures that historical inconsistencies do not impede allocation.
Best Practices for Stock Control
Regularly audit stock levels and settings to identify and resolve inconsistencies.
Clearly label assets to avoid confusion about location and availability.
Record any changes to system-wide settings and document their intended use to maintain clarity among team members.