Understanding the Rental Item Availability Chart
You can use the Rental Item Availability program (P54R01X) to view a chart showing rental items that are rented, committed to a reservation, and available for rental. You can view the rental information by item and branch, and for the time frame that you specify.
To use the rental item availability chart, select an item from the Select an Item list. The system includes in the list all items for which the item/branch combination is set up as an active rental item in the Rental Item Details program (P54R41). When you select an item, the program displays the branches that have an association with the item in the Branch Plant section of the left panel. The program automatically selects the check box for these branches so that the item availability for these is shown in the chart.
The program also lists the branches that have an association with the item in the Detailed Availability program (P41202). These branches do not appear under the Branch Plant heading, and the check box for them is not selected by default. You can select the check box for these branches if you want to view the availability in them.
The chart displays all contracts, reservations, and availability for the item for the branches that have the check box selected. You can change what is displayed in the chart by selecting and clearing check boxes.
As well as displaying a bar representing available items, the chart displays bars for all contracts and reservations that meet the following criteria in the Rental Contract Detail table (F54R11):
The value in the Contract Line Status field is other than 800 (cancelled) or 900 (closed).
The Inventory Commitment field is not blank.
The Actual End Date field is not populated.
The chart uses colors as well as labels to distinguish between the bars on the chart. Contracted items appear in yellow bars and reserved items appear in blue bars. Available items appear in green bars unless there is a negative number associated with the availability. If the number is negative, the bar appears in red. The number of items contracted, reserved, and available are indicated by numbers on the bars. You can right-click a bar, and then select Properties, to view information such as the start and end dates of a contract or reservation.
When a rental contract expires or a reservation is cancelled, the item becomes available again and the program shows the change in the chart. For example, if an item is out on contract for the month of July, on August 1 the item number count for available items will increase and the number of items out on contract will decrease. Additionally, if you transfer items between branches using the Transfer Item link in the left panel, the availability numbers for the transferring and receiving branches are updated in the chart.
The default value for the time frame displayed in the chart is by week (major axis) and days of the week (minor axis). Select the Show Entire Project option from the Zoom To list to have the system adjust the time frame used based on the best fit on the screen. You can also specify a different time frame to use, or use the scroll bar to move to a different time frame in the chart.