Product documentation
Please note that some of the information below can also be found in the parameter section of the online help. This chapter describes the setup as needed from the viewpoint of the project module.
To allow Rental Management to work, there are several parts of the project module that must be setup / configured, such as project groups, project categories, line properties, and project journals.
Project group is a mandatory field in the Rental parameters. By creating a seperate project group for rental, the rental processes can be run as a separate process to any regular project processes. Navigate to Project Management & Accounting > Setup >Posting > Project groups and create a new Project group specifically for Rental.
Once created, go to Rental management - HSO >Setup > Rental parameters > Project integration tab > Site group
The Site group can be selected here, create a new one or choose an existing one. Note that no line property should be selected in this Project Group.
For the line properties you can use existing setup. If not yet available, please setup both a chargeable and a non-chargeable line property code. This is done by setting the chargeable boolean to yes/no under invoicing. Setup for the line properties can be found under Project Management & Accounting > Setup > Line properties > Line properties.
The Rental Management solution uses a time & material project with a dummy customer that the system creates rental addresses against as subprojects. Navigate to Project Management & Accounting > Projects > All projects to create the rental address parent project. Because this project will act as a parent to all Rental address projects, you also need to specify the subproject-Id format.
Note that we highly recommend to use a very short name for the parent project, as with all the sub-projects that get created below it, it can otherwise quickly exceed (the maximum allowed) 20 characters. Use RA (short for Rental Adresses) for example, which would be a good clear and short name.
To be able to use a customer account on a rental order, the ‘Rental site’ option needs to be activated on (at least one of) the customer related address(es). This option can be found on the addresses under the 'purposes'. Every address that needs to be available for a rental order has to have the 'Rental site' option activated. Doing this triggers the creation of the rental site project required for the rental process.
The parent project in the rental parameters acts as an umbrella for all rental address projects created on customer account level. Note that the project group on every rental address created will be taken from the rental parameter ‘Site group’, not from the parent project.
Under Rental management - HSO > Setup > Rental parameters > Rental order tab > Project there is a 'Create sub-project' option available. When active it sets the parameter 'Create sub project' on every rental order creation form default to 'Yes'. This will create a sub-project underneath the rental address project that is connected to the customer account selected on the rental order. This makes (easier) financial analysis per rental order/sub-project possible. The setting can be manually adjusted on the rental order creation form.
Rental category groups and Project categories need to be created, to let the system know how to charge and which GL ledger accounts to post the rental income into.
Navigate to Project Management & Accounting > Setup > Categories > Category Groups to create new Category groups. We recommend creating a new rental specific category group for every transaction type (hour, item, fee, expense). Having separate categories for rental allows to split the financial side of the rental process from the regular (project) processes.
Navigate to Project Management & Accounting > Setup > Categories > Project Categories to create new Project categories. Here as well we recommend to create a new rental specific project category for every for rental created category group (and thus for every transaction type), to allow for splitting of the financial sides.
The created project categories can be used in:
Note that in a typical rental setup the fee, expense and hour types are usually set up as billable and the item type as non-billable (see here for more information).
The rental functionality is designed to charge via fees, not via items the way sales orders do. This is because fees can have a repetitive pattern and items do not. For this to work as intended, it is important that a specific item type project category is created that has a non-billable default line property. Select this project category in the Rental parameters, on the to use it as the default (via Rental management - HSO > Setup >Rental parameters > project integration > Projectcategories).
This non-chargeable line property and project category are used on the rental order and can be found on the line details project section. The (chargeable) fee categories are used in the rental charges.
Note that there can be exceptions where you want to charge for the items too, for which a chargeable project category can be created in addition to the non-chargeable one.
Rental Management needs at least one Rental project integration setup (via Rental management - HSO > Setup > Project integration > Rental project integrations). We suggest using the rental fee category and the chargeable line property here in the setup for the rental project integration as a generic integration. Additional records can be setup of course with different setups.
Next, use the Rental project integration record(s) in the setup of the project integration profiles (via Rental management - HSO > Setup > Item price profile > Project integration profiles). We highly recommend adding one line with item code, account code and project code all set to 'all' and linking this record to the (generic) Rental project integration that was created. This will result in every Rental order being chargeable.
To have certain items/item groups, customers/customer price groups, or specific projects/project groups/project contracts be processed differently, additional project integration profiles can be setup with any combination of the table/group/all options available and linked to their own Rental project integration setup.
Rental revenue is posted via the project module. This is (mostly) done by using fee categories.
The fee category on the rental project integration can be used to determine what ledger account the rental revenue will be posted to. Do this by selecting a main account on the invoiced revenue field in the revenue accounts section on the project category.
If the revenue should be split into different accounts, use the rental project integration matrix using different codes with different project categories. We do recommend to select a main account on the invoiced revenue field in the revenue accounts section on the project group as backup (the one used on the parent project and customer address projects), but when filled, the project category on the project integration will overrule the project group account.
To post cross rental- or intercompany rental revenue to a separate ledger/main account, the same principle applies. Add lines in the project integration profile for the (intercompany) customer account and/or (intercompany) price group by using the account code selections. Obviously a separate rental project integration with a separate project category is needed too.
Rental Management uses several journals for which the journal names need to be created.
First is a fee journal. This needs to be setup in the project module (via Project Management & Accounting > Setup > Journals > Journal names). This fee journal is used every time a rental order is invoiced and posts to the (sub)project linked to the rental order.
When using the Rental usage functionality, an hour journal needs to be set up here as well. This journal is used when invoicing hour usage lines from the rental order.
For posting expenses from a rental order to a linked project, a project expenses journal is needed (via General ledger > Journal setup > Journal names).
All journals should be set in the rental parameters to be used as the defaults (via Rental management - HSO > Setup > Rental parameters > Project integration > Realize journal names).
A Rental tab has been added to the ribbon on the Project listpage and details page. The tab holds both links to usefull (rental) information and options to start rental quotes, orders and invoices. These options can be helpful for installation projects for example. Instead of creating rental orders or quotes from the rental module, the process can also be started from directly from a (sub-)project. The option to select a specific project ID is also available on the rental order creation screen of course, but using the project as the starting point can be easier or more user-friendly in certain scenario's.
The table below describes all sections on the rental tab of the project ribbon and what they do.
| Option | Description |
| NEW |
| Rental quotation | Creates a rental quotation against the project ID the function is initiated from. |
| Rental order |
Creates a rental order against the project ID the function is initiated from. The function opens the rental order creation form and automatically fills the customer account and project ID with the value of the project. Depending on the rental parameter, a sub-project will be created below the project where the function is initiated from (if the ‘create sub-project’ is set to yes). |
| Generate rental invoice proposals | Starts the generate rental invoice proposal function from the project instead of the rental order. |
| RELATED INFORMATION | |
| Rental quotation | Opens the rental quotation that is linked to the project ID where the function was initiated from. |
| Rental order | Opens the rental order that is linked to the project ID where the function was initiated from. |
| MAPS | |
| Map | Opens a map pinned on the address of the project. |
| CHARGES | |
| Rental charges | Shows the rental charges filtered to the active project ID. |
| Usage charges | Shows the rental usage charges filtered to the active project ID. |
| All charges | Opens the rental charges overview where it shows all charges filtered to the active project ID. |
| PROFILES | |
| Rate | Opens the rate price profiles overview filtered on project ID. |
| Discount | Opens the discount price profiles overview filtered on project ID. |
| Cost of rental | Opens the cost of rental price profiles overview filtered on project ID. |
| Project integration | Opens the project integration profiles overview filtered on project ID. |
| RETURNS AND COLLECTIONS |
| Create collection order(s) | Allows for the collection order to be created from the project. |
| Check-in note | Allows for the check-in note to be created from the project. |
| Termination note | Allows for the termination note to be created from the project. |
A Project section is available in the ribbon of the Rental order listpage and details. All of the options are shortcuts to jump to a specific part in the project related to the selected rental order. The table below describes the functions that can be accessed from here.
| Option | Description |
| JOURNALS |
| Hour | Jumps to the hour journals. |
| Fee | Jumps to the fee journals. |
| RELATED INFORMATION | |
| Project details | Shortcut to the project details. |
| Posted project transactions | Shortcut that jumps to the posted project transactions of the project. |
| Project statements |
Shortcut to the project statement functionality. Note that just like any other project the 'calculate' button needs to be clicked to see the financials. |