How to Create an Ad Hoc Sanitation Docket | Latner Software Documentation

An ad hoc Sanitation Docket is a one-off service you raise by hand, for the times a site needs pumping out, cleaning or restocking outside any regular pattern.

Overview

Not every visit fits the timetable. A line set to Ad Hoc has no schedule behind it, so every visit is booked by hand - and a line on a regular schedule sometimes needs an extra visit too. Either way, that one-off booking is an ad hoc Sanitation Docket.

An ad hoc docket is raised from the Sanitation tab of the rental contract, against the Sanitation line for the equipment being serviced.
It is created with a status of Open, a due date, a charge, and either one of your own drivers or an external supplier carrying out the work.
An ad hoc docket can be raised against a Sanitation line of any frequency. On a scheduled line it is a one-off extra service: the scheduled dockets and their due dates are unchanged. Completing an ad hoc docket never raises another one.
Ad hoc dockets are not cleared away when the equipment comes off hire - somebody asked for that service, so it stays.
From there the docket behaves like any other: it is scheduled on Sanitation Allocation, completed by whoever attends, and billed once it is finished.

Before You Begin

The docket hangs off an existing Sanitation line, so get that in place first.

Requirement	Where to Find It
An open rental contract with a Sanitation line, linked to an equipment line	Rental › Rental Contracts › the contract › Sanitation
An Equipment Number on the linked equipment line	The contract's Details tab
Create Sanitation Dockets permission	Security › Permission Groups › Rental › Options
Sanitation Scheduler Default Duration (Minutes) setting, used when you later schedule the docket	Security › Settings › Rental

The contract's Sanitation tab, showing the Ad Hoc line the docket will be raised against and the equipment it is linked to

The action is only offered while the contract is still open. On a Completed, Cancelled or Lost contract it is greyed out with Rental Contract must be Open, and it stays greyed out until exactly one Sanitation line is ticked and the equipment line that line points at has an Equipment Number against it.

Creating the Ad Hoc Sanitation Docket

Step 1 - Select the Sanitation line

Open the rental contract, go to the Sanitation tab and tick the line you want an extra service on. A selection toolbar appears above the table with a sanitation icon on the right - hover it and it reads Create Ad Hoc Sanitation Docket. Click it.

Ticking one Sanitation line brings up the selection toolbar, with the Create Ad Hoc Sanitation Docket action on the right

Step 2 - Check the details and set the due date

The dialog opens with everything it can work out for itself already filled in. The first five fields are read only - they come from the line you selected, so if any of them look wrong, you have the wrong line.

Rental Contract, Customer, Branch, Equipment Class, Equipment Number - carried across from the Sanitation line and its equipment line.
Due Date - required. It defaults to right now, so set it to when the service is actually needed. This is what the docket is grouped under on the allocation screen.
Fulfillment - required, and it decides which fields you get next. Internal means one of your own pump drivers, External means a contractor.

The dialog opens on Internal, with the contract, customer, branch and equipment already carried across from the line

If the line is on a regular schedule, the dialog reminds you that this is an extra visit, for example "This Sanitation line is serviced Weekly on Mon, Wed, Fri. This is a one off extra service - the scheduled Sanitation Dockets and their Due Dates are unchanged." If the equipment is not On Rent, a warning tells you its current status - you can still raise the docket.

Create Ad Hoc Sanitation Docket on a Weekly line - the reminder confirms the scheduled dockets are left as they are

Step 3 - Say who is carrying out the service

With Fulfillment on Internal you get a single Skilled Person field, listing the people set up as pump drivers. It is optional - leave it blank if you would rather work out who is going on the allocation screen later.

The Skilled Person picker lists the people set up to carry out sanitation work, and can be left blank to allocate the docket later

Switch Fulfillment to External and Skilled Person is replaced by two fields, both required:

Supplier - the contractor doing the work.
Supplier Cost - what they are charging you for it. This is your cost, not the customer's charge.

Switching Fulfillment to External swaps Skilled Person for Supplier and Supplier Cost, and both of those are required

Step 4 - Confirm the charge and save

Price is required and starts at the charge on the Sanitation line, which is what a normal service for this unit is worth. Change it if this particular visit is charged differently - an after-hours call-out, say, or a service you have agreed to do for nothing. Then choose Save.

Two optional fields follow the price. Futile Price starts at the line's futile price and is what the visit is charged at if the driver attends but cannot do the service. Sanitation Region starts at the line's region and only appears once the Sanitation Map is switched on for your business.

The completed dialog, with the due date brought forward, a driver chosen and the charge inherited from the Sanitation line

Latner confirms with Sanitation Docket Created and the dialog closes.

Step 5 - Find the new docket on the line

Back on the Sanitation tab, click the arrow at the start of the Sanitation line to expand it. Every docket ever raised against that line is listed underneath, with the new one showing as Open against the due date you gave it.

Expanding the Sanitation line lists its dockets, with the new one Open against its due date and driver

After Creation

The docket gets its own number and page, reachable from the Id column on the line. It records the service address (editable as Service Address on the docket page while it is open), the site contact and the phone number to ring, taken from the contract's delivery details.
It appears in the Sanitation Dockets Due queue on Rental › Sanitation Allocation, grouped under its due date, ready to be dragged onto a driver or a supplier.
Giving it a scheduled window on that screen needs the resource that matches its Fulfillment: an Internal docket must be allocated to a Skilled Person, an External one to a Supplier. It also needs both ends of the window - a start without an end is rejected.
Once someone attends, the docket is finished from its own page with Options › Complete Sanitation (or Mark as Futile if the service could not be done), which is also when the Sanitation Service's admin charge, if it has one, is added to the contract.
A finished docket is picked up by the next invoice for the contract, at the price on the docket rather than the price on the line.

The Sanitation Docket page, carrying the site address and contact the driver needs along with the charge and the driver

The new docket waiting in the Sanitation Dockets Due queue, grouped under its due date and ready to be scheduled

There is no way to delete or cancel a Sanitation Docket once it exists. If you raise one you did not mean to, or the customer stands the service down, close it off from its page rather than leaving it open - it will otherwise sit in the allocation queue indefinitely. A closed docket is billed at its Price, so check the Price on the docket page before you close it.

FAQs

The sanitation icon is greyed out. Why?

Hover it and the tooltip says which condition is missing. The usual causes are the contract no longer being open, more than one line being ticked, the equipment line having no Equipment Number yet. The Sanitation line's frequency does not matter - an ad hoc docket can be raised on any line.

Why is nothing being raised for my Ad Hoc line automatically?

That is what Ad Hoc means. A line on Weekly, Fortnightly, 3 Weeks or 4 Weeks keeps one open docket for each service day it is set to, and Latner raises the next one each time a docket is completed. An Ad Hoc line has no cadence to work from, so every service is raised by hand from this dialog.

Can I raise more than one at a time?

Yes, one after another. The dialog works on a single Sanitation line, so tick one line, raise the docket, then tick the next line and repeat. Two dockets on the same line with different due dates are fine.

I do not know who is going yet. Do I have to pick a driver?

Not for an Internal docket - Skilled Person can be left empty and the docket will wait in the allocation queue until you place it. An External docket does need its Supplier and Supplier Cost up front.

The equipment came off hire. What happens to an ad hoc docket that is still open?

It stays. Latner only clears away dockets it raised itself when equipment comes off hire, on the basis that an ad hoc docket exists because a person asked for that service. Complete it if the visit still happened, or bear in mind it will keep showing in the allocation queue until it is finished.

Does the charge on the docket follow the Sanitation line if the line's charge changes?

The Price you save on the docket is what the visit is invoiced at, and that price is copied from the line at the moment the docket is raised. If you renegotiate the servicing charge, check any dockets already sitting open on that line rather than assuming they have moved with it.

Watch the Demo

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