INTRODUCTION

Nobody wants two different rental agents to be able to rent the same car at the same time. Once rental agent "A" selects the red Mustang for his client, all other rental agents should be blocked from trying to rent that same vehicle. This blocking is done by "record locking" in CARS+. The following are situations within CARS+ that involve record locking:

• The vehicle is locked when opening a new RA (once a vehicle is added to a RA, all others are blocked from using the vehicle)
• An existing reservation is locked when it is being edited.
• A reservation is locked when it is being used to open a new RA (two RAs cannot be opened from a single reservation)
• A RA is locked when it is being edited.
• A RA is locked when it is being closed.

There is a hierarchy within the CARS+ record locking logic. Certain users and processes have the ability to override record locks. The following material describes the CARS+ record locking logic in more detail.

I. REQUIRED SET-UP STEPS

A. EDIT USER ACCESS FILE

To set up an individual user as having record locking override privileges, the user must be defined as a "Manager" in their user access file record.

OPTION: __ EDIT USER ACCESS FILE Employee SCOTT (Page 3 of 4) 1 Empl Payroll# 21 Override Drop Block 2 SitEF Administrator 22 3 Column Estimates? 3 Override Tab Exp 23 Block Rt Class Edit 4 Override Ins Exp 24 Override Max Amt 5 Override Maint Exp 25 Extend past max 6 Override Tourist Exp 26 Edit vend Data in Res 7 Block Fuel Edit 27 Edit Res Empl 8 Billing GVT 28 Edit Bulletin 9 Monthly Goal 29 Manager? 10 Override Credit Block 30 Max CSADJ Amt 11 BarCode Number 31 Void Invoice Days 12 Job Title 13 Access Claim 32 Print which NF's? 14 Rate Edit Limit 33 CC Dep Block Override 15 Override Stopsell 34 Full FPO when fuel purch? 16 Feature Edits Profile 35 Notes Edit Code 17 CDPID View Only Mode 36 Block RA Customer no edit 18 Edit Source 37 Block RA FOP no edit 19 Block Res in Past 38 Block RA Res Rates edit 20 Restrict Refunds 39 Save Res Quotes 1SAVE 2NEXT 3ERASE 4DELETE 5BACKUP 6 7HELP 8NXT PAGE

FIELD 29. MANAGER?

This field controls whether the user is to be granted manager privileges. Enter: Y = Yes, this user is to have manager privileges. N (or blank) = No, this user is NOT to be granted manager privileges. EXAMPLE: Type (RET) Manager Privileges: The following is the list of the features that are turned on by Manager Privilege: Mangers can override the lock that another user may have on a record (see the chapter Overview: Record Locking). For Hertz users, managers can override the block on selected Tour Operators if the renter cannot produce the same credit card that was used to originally pay for the voucher. Additionally, the manager can override the block on SVVs when the credit card used to prepay the rental is not the same credit card presented at the time of Open.

II. BASIC PRINCIPLES OF RECORD LOCKING

A. Locks are placed on a record within CARS+ automatically when appropriate. There is nothing the user needs to do to lock a record.

B. When a record is locked by another user and a second user tries to access that same record, the second user will receive following message:

RECORD IS BEING EDITED BY SAM1 AT LAX, TERMINAL SMJ2

This message gives the Employee Code (SAM1) and Terminal Record (SMJ2) of the user(s) who is(are) currently using this record and the rental location under which they are logged in (LAX). From this information, the offending user can either be shadowed or contacted and asked to clear their screen and thus release the record lock. In most cases, the "edited by" and the "terminal" mention in the message above will be the same. In some cases it will not be the same. Using the example above, this occurs when:

• User SMJ2 logs in to the Switchboard and connects to her session.
• User SAM1 walks up to the terminal where SMJ2 logged in, types LOGIN and enters his credentials at the EMPLOYEE and PASSWORD prompts. Note that it is not necessary for SAM1 to have ever logged in to CARS+. Furthermore, it's possible that at this point, user SMJ2 is now off-shift and has gone home.

In the scenario above, it is user SMJ2 that needs to be shadowed so the screen can be cleared and the record lock released. If attempting to contact the user to clear the screen, both users should be contacted in case one or the other is not on duty.

The message above may be followed by one of the following two messages:

DO YOU WANT READ ONLY ACCESS? Y/N

OVERRIDE EDIT LOCK?

C. Read only access: If a record is locked by another user, you can request a "read only" access to the same record. Under read only access, you can pull the record up on your screen and examine any field you would normally have access to. But you will not be able to make any edits or re-save the record. Under read only mode, the F1/Save function key is disabled. For an example, someone in the back office can look at an open RA that is in the process of being closed at the rental counter. Although they will be able to see the RA they will not be allowed to edit it if the counter agent who is closing the rental had accessed it first.

D. Manager Override: If the second user attempting to access a locked record is defined as a "manager", rather than being asked for read only access, they will be asked if they wish to OVERRIDE EDIT LOCK? If they answer "Y" (YES), the manager will then be able to edit and re-save the record. If the manager edits and saves the record, when the original user presses F1 to save their changes they will receive the following message and their screen will be cleared:

RECORD HAS BEEN MODIFIED BY ANOTHER USER, YOUR EDITS WILL BE LOST

If the manager exits his screen without doing any edits or re-saving the record, the original user will be able to save their changes.

Actually, if a manager overrides a lock but the original user saves their changes before the manager saves his, the manager will receive the "RECORD HAS BEEN MODIFIED" message and lose the edits.

E. Counter Priority: As a general rule, counter programs such as RA Open and RA Close take priority over locks placed by back office programs. For an example, if a fleet manager has a vehicle up on the Vehicle Inventory Control screen and a rental agent needs to rent that vehicle, as long as the vehicle is rentable (it is in a rentable status, it has no hard Hold Codes, etc.) it can be used. When the counter takes over a vehicle record, the original user will receive the "RECORD HAS BEEN MODIFIED" message and they will lose any changes that they were trying to do.

F. Reports: Reports are not affected by record locks. For an example, if a report is run of all RAs that opened yesterday, RAs that are currently displayed on the RA Open or RA Close screens (and thus "locked") will still be reported.

G. Processes Overrides: Certain key processes in CARS+ are NOT blocked by record locking. These processes include:

• DBR Posting - a closed RA that is sitting on the Edit Closed RA screen, although locked, will still post.
• RA Invoicing - a closed RA that is sitting on the Edit Closed RA screen, although locked, will still be invoiced.
• Tax Invoicing - a closed RA that is sitting on the Edit Closed RA screen, although locked, will still be invoiced.

Like any other override, if the original user tries to re-save the now posted or invoiced RA, they will receive the "RECORD HAS BEEN MODIFIED" message and they will lose any changes that they were trying to do.

H. Exceptions: The following programs interact with locks in a manner different from what is outlined above:

• Vehicle Inventory Control - No record locking is done. More than one user can attempt to edit the same vehicle at the same time. Whoever saves their changes first will re-write the record, all others will receive the "RECORD HAS BEEN MODIFIED" message and will lose their edits.
• Customer File Update - No record locking is done. More than one user can attempt to edit the same customer at the same time. Whoever saves their changes first will re-write the record, all others will receive the "RECORD HAS BEEN MODIFIED" message and will lose their edits.
• Vehicle Depreciation - This program will update a vehicle even if it is currently locked by the RA Open program. If a locked vehicle is depreciated, the user at the counter will NOT get the "MODIFIED" message and they can continue renting the vehicle.
• Lease Loan Payments - This program will update a vehicle even if it is currently locked by the RA Open program. If a locked vehicle is updated, the user at the counter will NOT get the "MODIFIED" message and they can continue renting the vehicle.