Latner Documentation

How to Create Managed For Equipment

Managed For equipment lets you record a machine that a supplier owns but you look after, so you can hire it out on a rental contract and have the sub hire order raised back to its owner automatically.

Overview

Not every machine in your yard has to be yours. When you regularly hire in a unit from another supplier and keep it on site, you can bring it into Latner as ordinary equipment and then record who actually owns it using the Managed For field. Managed For equipment:

  • Is created exactly like your own rental equipment, then linked to its owner afterwards - there is no separate usage type for it.

  • Gets its own equipment number, service schedules, inspections and meter readings, so you can track the physical unit as if it were fleet.

  • Can be added to a rental contract as a Sub Hire Equipment line with an Equipment Type of Internal, which raises a sub hire order to the owning supplier.

  • Is reserved and given a run-up inspection when it goes on a contract, just like your own equipment.

  • Has its own Managed For quick filter and column on the Equipment screen, so you can see at a glance which gear isn't yours.

Managed For equipment is not the same as Customer Owned Equipment. Use Managed For for a machine a supplier owns that you hire out to your customers. Use Customer Owned for a machine your customer owns that you only service. See How to Create Customer Owned Equipment for that flow.

Before You Begin

Recording the owner is always available, but hiring the equipment out as sub hire needs a system setting, and both steps need equipment permissions:

Requirement

Where to Find It

Managed For Sub Hire Equipment setting is enabled

Security › Settings › Rental. Only needed to use the equipment as sub hire on a rental contract - the Managed For field itself is always there.

Create Rental Equipment permission

Security › Configuration › Permission Groups - Equipment › Option

Edit Rental Equipment permission

Security › Configuration › Permission Groups - Equipment › Option. Needed to set Managed For on the saved record.

The owning supplier exists, is Active and has at least one site

Suppliers › Suppliers

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The Managed For Sub Hire Equipment setting under Security › Settings › Rental

Turning the setting off later doesn't unlink any equipment. The Managed For value stays on the record and the quick filter keeps working - you just lose the Internal option when adding a sub hire line.

Creating the Equipment

Step 1 - Open the Equipment screen

From the main menu, go to Equipment › Equipment. Managed For equipment lives on the main Equipment tab alongside your own fleet - it doesn't get a tab of its own.

Step 2 - Select Options › Create Equipment

Click Options in the top right of the screen, then select Create Equipment.

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The Options menu on the Equipment screen

Step 3 - Fill in the equipment details

Leave Usage Type as Rental. Managed For equipment is rental equipment - it has to be hire-able to go on a contract, so don't set it to Internal Use or Customer Owned. Complete the rest of the form:

  • Equipment Number - the number you'll use for the unit. If sequential equipment numbering is enabled you'll be asked for a prefix instead, and Latner appends the next number. It's worth using a prefix or pattern that makes hired-in units obvious in a list.

  • Type - Serialized for an individual machine, or Bulk for quantity-tracked gear.

  • Branch - the branch the unit sits at. This matters later: the sub hire equipment picker on a rental contract only offers equipment from the contract's branch.

  • Equipment Class and Equipment Model - picking a model fills in the class automatically, and the description defaults from the class.

  • Description - required, and pre-filled from the class.

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The Create Equipment dialog - there is no owner field here, so the Usage Type stays on Rental

Click Save. Latner creates the equipment and takes you straight to its detail page.

Step 4 - Set Managed For on the new record

The Create Equipment dialog has no owner field, so this is where you record who the machine belongs to. On the equipment's detail page, scroll to the bottom of the General Details panel and click the Managed For box. Search for the supplier that owns the unit and select it, then click Save in the panel header.

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Managed For is the last field in General Details - Save and Cancel appear in the panel header once you change it

Only Active suppliers appear in the list. If the owner isn't there yet, create them under Suppliers › Suppliers first - they also need a site, because the sub hire order is raised against a supplier site.

Step 5 - Confirm it with the Managed For filter

Go back to Equipment › Equipment, open Quick Filters and tick Managed For, then click Save. The list narrows to equipment that has an owner recorded against it.

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Managed For is the first entry in the Quick Filters list on the Equipment screen

You can also add the Managed For column through Customize to see each unit's owner in the grid, and filter that column by supplier.

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The filtered list with the Managed For column showing the owning supplier

After Creation

  • The equipment behaves exactly like your own fleet everywhere else in Latner - service schedules, inspections, meter readings, work orders and transfers all work the same way.

  • On a rental contract, add it through Options › Add Details with a Line Type of Sub Hire Equipment, then set Equipment Type to Internal. The form swaps the free-text Sub Hire Equipment Number for the usual Equipment Class, Equipment Model and Equipment Number pickers, and the number picker only lists Managed For equipment.

  • Picking the equipment fills in the class, model and description, and sets the Supplier on the Sub Hire Rental Rates tab from the equipment's owner. That field is then locked - you can't sub hire a Managed For unit from anyone but its recorded owner.

  • Supplier Site defaults to the supplier's first site and can be changed.

  • Saving the line reserves the equipment and creates a run-up inspection, exactly as an ordinary equipment line does, and raises a Sub Hire Order to that supplier and site. Later lines for the same supplier, site and branch are added to the same open order rather than starting a new one.

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With Equipment Type set to Internal, the Equipment Number picker offers only Managed For equipment at the contract's branch
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The Sub Hire Rental Rates tab - Supplier is filled from the equipment and greyed out, and Supplier Site defaults to the supplier's first site

Changing or clearing Managed For only affects new lines. Sub hire orders already raised keep the supplier they were created with, so if a machine changes hands, update Managed For before you add it to another contract rather than expecting existing orders to follow it.

FAQs

The External / Internal choice doesn't appear on my sub hire line. Why?

The Managed For Sub Hire Equipment setting is off. Without it, every sub hire line is external and you type the supplier's equipment number by hand. Turn it on under Security › Settings › Rental.

My equipment isn't in the Internal equipment list. Why?

The picker only offers equipment that has a Managed For supplier, sits at the contract's branch, has available quantity, and is in a rentable state. A unit that is on rent, out of service or otherwise unavailable won't be listed. Check the Managed For value saved, and check the equipment's branch and rental status.

Do I have to create equipment for everything I sub hire?

No. Leave Equipment Type on External and type the supplier's equipment number into Sub Hire Equipment Number - no equipment record needed. Create a Managed For record when you want to track the physical unit properly: service schedules, inspections, meter readings and history that follow the machine rather than the contract line.

What's the difference between Managed For and Customer Owned Equipment?

Direction of ownership and what you do with the machine. Managed For equipment belongs to a supplier and you hire it out to your customers, so it stays rentable and generates sub hire orders. Customer Owned equipment belongs to a customer and you only service it, so it is never rentable and generates work orders charged back to that customer.

Can I clear Managed For once it's set?

Yes. It's an ordinary field on the equipment record - clear it and save, and the unit drops out of the Managed For quick filter and out of the internal sub hire picker. Nothing else on the equipment changes, and sub hire orders already raised are untouched.

Can Customer Owned or Internal Use equipment be Managed For?

The Managed For field appears on every equipment record, so you can set it. But only rentable equipment can go on a sub hire line, and customer owned and internal use equipment are never rentable - so setting it on those records won't let you hire them out.