How to Sub Hire Managed For Equipment | Latner Software Documentation

Managed For equipment lets you put a supplier's machine on a rental contract as a Sub Hire line while still tracking it as a real piece of equipment in your fleet, so the customer's hire and the supplier's charge sit on the same contract line.

Overview

Some supplier machines never leave your yard. You hold them, service them, deliver them and hire them out under your own name - you just don't own them. In Latner these are Managed For machines: ordinary equipment records with a supplier recorded in the Managed For field. Sub hiring one out is a small variation on a normal Sub Hire Equipment line, and it is the Internal option on that line.

External sub hire is for a machine you don't hold - you name an equipment class and type in the supplier's own equipment number. Internal sub hire is for a Managed For machine you already have on your books, so you choose a real Equipment Number instead.
Choosing the Equipment Number fills the Supplier in for you, from that equipment's Managed For field, and then locks it. You can't sub hire a Managed For machine from anyone but the supplier it belongs to.
An Internal line still carries two sets of rates: the Customer Rental Rates you charge, and the Sub Hire Rental Rates the supplier charges you.
Saving the line creates a Sub Hire Order for that supplier, or adds the line to the contract's existing one, exactly as an External sub hire does.
Because the machine is a real equipment record, the line behaves like one of your own: the equipment is reserved, and transport, meter readings, work orders and off hire all work normally. External sub hire lines get none of that, because there is no equipment record behind them.

Before You Begin

You'll need the following in place before the Internal option appears.

Requirement	Where to Find It
Managed For Sub Hire Equipment setting turned on	Security › Settings › Rental
Equipment with a supplier in its Managed For field	Equipment › Equipment, then the equipment record
Add Rental Contract Details permission	Security › Configuration › Permission Groups › Rental › Option
Sub Hire Orders permission, to open the order the line creates	Security › Configuration › Permission Groups › Rental › Screen
An active supplier with an active site and a site contact	Suppliers › Suppliers
Sub hire rates for that supplier and equipment class (optional, but they save typing)	Rental › Configuration › Sub Hire Rental Rates

Managed For Sub Hire Equipment in the Rental settings. With it off, the Equipment Type choice never appears and every sub hire line is External

A Managed For machine is an ordinary equipment record - its Usage Type is still Rental. The only thing that marks it is the supplier in the Managed For field, so you can set that on a machine you already have, or clear it when the machine becomes yours. The Managed For quick filter on the Equipment screen lists every machine that carries one.

The equipment record for a Managed For machine. The supplier sits in Managed For, and the machine is otherwise an ordinary serialized rental unit

Sub Hiring the Equipment

Step 1 - Open the contract and choose Add Details

Open the contract from Rental › Rental Contracts, then choose Options › Add Details. The same form opens by itself the first time you land on a brand new contract.

Add Details sits near the top of the Options menu and is greyed out once the contract is closed

Step 2 - Set the Line Type to Sub Hire Equipment

Change Line Type from Equipment to Sub Hire Equipment. An Equipment Type choice appears beside it, set to External, and the form asks you for an Equipment Class and a free text Sub Hire Equipment Number - that's the External path, for a machine you don't hold.

Equipment Type defaults to External, which asks you to type the supplier's own equipment number rather than pick one

Step 3 - Switch Equipment Type to Internal

Choose Internal. The free text Sub Hire Equipment Number disappears and three lookups take its place:

Equipment Class - required, and normally filled for you once you pick the machine.
Equipment Model - optional, and useful for narrowing the Equipment Number list.
Equipment Number - the Managed For machine itself.

With Internal chosen, the line asks for a real Equipment Number instead of a typed one

Step 4 - Pick the Equipment Number

Open the Equipment Number lookup. It lists only equipment that has a supplier in Managed For, in the line's branch, and that is free to hire - your own fleet is deliberately not in this list.

The Equipment Number lookup on an Internal sub hire line shows Managed For machines only, with the branch and available quantity for each

Step 5 - Check the supplier Latner filled in

Picking the machine fills in Equipment Class, Equipment Model and Description, and pulls the customer's rates for that class into the Customer Rental Rates tab. Open the Sub Hire Rental Rates tab and you'll find:

Supplier - taken from the equipment's Managed For field and greyed out. This is the difference that matters: on an External line you choose the supplier yourself, on an Internal line the machine decides it.
Supplier Site - defaulted to that supplier's first site and still editable, so pick the branch or depot the order should go to.

The Sub Hire Rental Rates tab. Supplier is greyed out because the equipment sets it; Supplier Site stays yours to choose

Step 6 - Enter the supplier's rates and check the markup

Set the supplier's Pricing Method and rates on the same tab. If you have Sub Hire Rental Rates configured for that supplier and equipment class, Latner loads them as soon as the supplier is known; otherwise enter them by hand.

Choose Calculate Markup to see the margin between the two rate sets before you commit. Markup (Sub Hires) is the percentage the customer subtotal sits above the supplier subtotal for the same period.

Calculate Markup compares the two rate sets without saving anything. Additional items from the equipment class are listed underneath and are added as their own lines

If a minimum markup applies, Latner checks the line against it on save and refuses one that doesn't clear it: This Sub Hire line does not meet the minimum markup of .... The equipment class's own minimum markup wins where it is set, otherwise the Global Sub Hire Minimum Markup setting applies. Users with the Allow Rates below Sub Hire Minimum Markup permission are not checked.

Step 7 - Save

Choose Save to add the line and keep the form open for the next one, or Save and Finish to close it. The line lands on the contract as Sub Hire Equipment, showing the customer rates, with any required additional items for the class added underneath it.

The saved line on the contract's Details tab, with the buckets and transport lines the equipment class brought with it

After Adding the Line

A Sub Hire Order is created for that supplier, site and branch, or the line joins the contract's existing active one. Find it under Rental › Sub Hire Orders, or from the Rental Contract link on the order itself.
The order's start and expected off hire dates stretch to cover every line on it, so adding a longer line pushes the order's end date out.
The equipment moves to Reserved and the contract appears in its Rental History, the same as for a machine you own.
The line's Sub Hire Equipment Number is set to the equipment's own number rather than a typed one, and the line is eligible for a run up inspection on the same terms as your own equipment - subject to the Create Run Up Inspection for Rental Contract Reservations setting and whether the model or class asks for one. An External sub hire line, having no equipment record, is not.
Transport, meter readings, work orders, stand downs, off hire and return all behave as they do for your own equipment - the sub hire part only changes what happens on the supplier's side.
Once the line is returned and its final supplier invoicing is done, the Sub Hire Order line completes, and the order completes when its last line does.

The Sub Hire Order created by the line, linked back to the rental contract and carrying the supplier's site and contact

The same machine after saving: Rental Status is now Reserved and the contract shows in its Rental History

Once the line has been put on hire you can no longer change its Equipment Type or its Supplier - Latner tells you Cannot change Supplier of Equipment that has been put On Rent. Decide between External and Internal before the machine goes out. If the line is still Reserved you can switch it freely, and Latner moves it between Sub Hire Orders for you.

FAQs

There's no Equipment Type choice on my sub hire line. Where is it?

The Managed For Sub Hire Equipment setting is off. Turn it on under Security › Settings › Rental and the External / Internal choice appears on every Sub Hire Equipment line. With the setting off, sub hire lines are always External.

The machine I want isn't in the Equipment Number list. Why not?

The list only holds equipment that has a supplier in its Managed For field, sits in the line's branch, and is currently free to hire. If the machine is yours, it belongs on an ordinary Equipment line, not a sub hire one. If it should be a Managed For machine, set the supplier on its equipment record first.

Why can't I change the Supplier on an Internal line?

Because the equipment already answers that question. The supplier comes from the machine's Managed For field, and the field greys out as soon as an Equipment Number is chosen. To sub hire the machine from someone else, change Managed For on the equipment record - or clear the Equipment Number and make the line External.

Can I switch an existing line between External and Internal?

Yes, while the contract is open and the line has not yet been put on hire. Edit the line and change Equipment Type. Switching to External clears the Equipment Number and asks you to type the supplier's number instead; switching to Internal asks you to pick a Managed For machine, which resets the supplier. Once the line is on hire the choice is fixed.

I put two Managed For machines from the same supplier on one contract. Why is there only one Sub Hire Order?

That's expected. Latner keeps one active Sub Hire Order per combination of rental contract, supplier, supplier site and branch, and adds each line to it. Choose a different supplier site on the second line and you'll get a second order.

Do I still need to service and inspect the machine?

Yes. A Managed For machine is a full equipment record, so service schedules, inspections, meter readings, work orders and documents all apply to it exactly as they do to equipment you own. The sub hire line only records the commercial arrangement.

How do I get the supplier's invoice against this?

From the Sub Hire Order. With Auto Create Sub Hire Order Invoices turned on, a supplier invoice is generated for the same period whenever you invoice the customer for the contract. With it off, raise the supplier invoice from the Sub Hire Order yourself.

The machine has stopped being sub hired - it's ours now. What do I do?

Clear the supplier from the equipment record's Managed For field. The machine drops out of the Internal sub hire lookup and behaves as ordinary rental equipment from then on. Lines already on contracts are not rewritten, so finish or return those first.

Watch the Demo

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