Start Date

Defaults to the current date. The date can be changed to any day in the future by entering the date (with dashes) and then clicking on the WebPLAN "refresh" button (to the left of the "Auto Allocate" button).

Today

If the Start Date is other than current date, clicking on "today" will change the date back to current date and display the next 28 days.

Location

This initially shows the user's default location. By clicking the down arrow, a drop down list of locations and Location Groups is displayed. After selecting another, it is necessary to click the "Refresh" button to update the screen.

Notes: You must use the "Refresh" button that is located on the WebPLAN screen. The browser's "refresh" button will not work for refreshing the WebPLAN screen. Also, while on the WebPLAN screen, if you edit a location record in CARS+ and change the Location to Valid Rental Loc = N, you will need to close your browser window and log back in to see the change.

User Tip: If the user is limited to a single Location Group in the Restricted Location field of the User Access File, this selection can only be made for that one Location Group.

Class

This defaults to "ALL" classes at the selected location. When the Location is changed, the classes will change automatically to reflect the class list for the new location.

By clicking on the down arrow, a drop down list will display showing all classes and Class Groups at the selected location. After selecting a class (and clicking the Refresh button), the display and the Utilization figures will be limited to just that class.

Utilization

The top line shows Utilization for the current day.
Second line shows Utilization at the current moment.

Changing the data, such as dragging pickup times for Reservations and return times for RAs and Reservations, will change the Utilization. Utilization also changes any time the data is refreshed.

To see the Utilization for a day other than the current day, right click on the desired date in the calendar header. A drop down menu will appear as shown. Select the last item to obtain utilization for the day selected.

User tip: Utilization is based on the total fleet count including "N" (Not available Status types). The only exception to this rule is "S" (Sold status Types)
See Edit Vehicle Status Codes for more information about these codes.

There are 3 buttons to the right of the Utilization percentages in colors red, amber, and green. One of the buttons is "lit" as follows:

Red = utilization is at or over 100%

Amber = utilization is between 90 and 99%

Green = utilization is less than 90%

Note: These percentages are not tied to the CARS+ Planning Calendar warning levels.

Click on the WebPLAN "Refresh" icon to refresh the data on the screen.

This should be clicked after:

• Changing the Start Date
• Changing the Location
• Selecting one Class
• Any time you wish to refresh the data

Note: The web browser's refresh button should be used only if an error occurs

Auto Allocate

Click to perform an automatic allocation of reservations to vehicles.

Please refer to the section on Auto Allocation later on in this chapter.

Save Icon

All changes must be saved, including Auto Allocate. Upon choosing Save, a window displays each of the unsaved changes. Individual transactions can be deselected if desired by removing the check marks next to them. To complete saving, click on "Save Changes" in the lower right corner of the box.

When transactions are successfully saved, the data is automatically refreshed.

If a conflict is encountered, a message will display regarding it.

An error message displays when transactions have been changed in CARS+ since being loaded in Utilization. In this case, use the Refresh button.

Vehicles

The vehicles listed on the left side of the screen are listed according to their current location. They are sorted first by Class, then by mileage/km with the highest odometer reading listed first and lowest reading listed last.

Columns show the Class, License Plate, Make, Model, and current Status Code.

A scroll bar located between the vehicle section and the calendar section of the screen allows scrolling up and down through the vehicle list.

Right click on a vehicle to bring up the vehicle's details as well as a list overdue RAs for that vehicle.

In the details of the vehicle shown above, there is one overdue RA, # S371117 for Lampert. Clicking on this RA will bring up the details for this RA.

Colors in the vehicle display:

Red: A Vehicle is shown in red for any of the following conditions:

• Vehicle’s RA is overdue or is questionable
• Vehicle's In-Service Date is in the future
• Vehicle has reached its Grounding Date or Eligible Date
• Vehicle is on a one-way RA due to check in to this location and the RA is still open.

Gray: A Vehicle is shown in gray when:

• Vehicle is Available.
• Vehicle is not in any condition to make it show in red (see above); yet could be in ANY status other than O (on rent) or S (sold). For example, vehicles on Non-Revs or in maintenance are shown in gray.

Note that when a vehicle is on a one-way RA, it will be listed under the opening location until the RA is closed at the check-in location.

Reservations are shown as green bars in the "calendar" section of the screen.

Unassigned reservations (reservations not yet assigned to a vehicle) are displayed in rows at the bottom of the vehicle list and are assigned only to the class reserved (click on image for greater detail).

The reservations shown above are assigned to a class; not to a specific vehicle. Note the blank line at the end. This is available so that any reservation can be dragged to it to unallocate it from a vehicle. Refer to the section Dragging a Transaction later on in this chapter.

Calendar

The calendar headings default to the next 28 days (including the current day).

Zoom in: To zoom in and see more detail. click one of the dates. The date you click on will be in the center of the new "zoomed in" date range.

• One click will zoom in to 14 days (also know as a fortnight). The new view will be 7 days preceding and the 7 days following the date you clicked.
• Another click will zoom in to 7 days (one week). Again, the date you clicked will be in the center of the view.
• Another click will zoom in to that day only.

For example, clicking on December 24 of the 28-day calendar will zoom in to 14 days (a fortnight) as shown below (click for greater detail):

An example of one more click to zoom in to 7 days (one week). Click for greater detail:

Zoom out: When a single day is displayed, you can zoom out:

• One click with zoom out to 7 days (week).
• Another click will zoom out to 14 days (fortnight).
• Another click will zoom out to 28 days.

To change the direction of the zoom: One right click brings up a drop down menu and that can be used to change the direction of the zoom.

For example, assume you had zoomed in from 28 to 14 days and now wanted to zoom back to 28 days. Right click on the date. Selecting "Zoom Out" from the drop down menu will bring you back to the 28 day calendar.

Jump to zoom levels: Right click on a date for a drop down menu which allows you to jump to any zoom level directly.

Jump to another month: At the far right of the calendar, the double arrows signify a "month jump" button. One click will advance the calendar one month. Another click advances it another month, and so on.

To jump back, click the "month jump" button (double arrows) on the left side of the calendar.

The Start Date field can also be used to look at another date range.

To go back to a calendar with today as the first date, click the "today" button next to the Start Date box.

Colors on the calendar:

Vertical Columns:

Light Gray - Unassigned Weekdays

Blue/Gray - Unassigned Weekends

Horizontal Colored bars:

RAs are shown as blue bars.

Reservations are shown as green bars.

• The bars have arrows at either end indicating the pickup and return dates/times.

• If the bar has enough room, the renter's last name is shown in the middle of the bar.

• Hovering over the transactions (just point the mouse; don't click) will show the Reservation or RA # and the customer's last name.

• Hovering over one of the arrows will show the time of pickup or return.

• Right-clicking on a bar will open a window displaying the details of the RA or Reservation.

Additional colors are used to indicate special types of transactions:

• Green - Reservations
• Dark Green - Reservations with insurance voucher(s)

• Medium Blue - RAs
• Medium Blue with a red border - void preprinted RAs
• Medium Blue with a cyan (greenish/blue) border - wait RAs
• Purple - RAs with wholesale voucher(s)
• Royal blue - RAs with insurance voucher(s)

Other colors also indicate the following:

• Navy blue – heading for a new vehicle Class
• Red - A red bar marks a transaction conflict ( two transactions conflict with each other. ) This situation can be resolved by dragging either transaction out of the conflict or assigning one of them to another vehicle. Auto allocation (see below) will resolve these types of conflicts.

Bars with flashing arrows:

• White flashing arrows - When the Reservation or RA is one-way to another location, a flashing arrow displays at the end of the transaction which is not the location requested on the display. For example, if you requested Location A on the display and a reservation or RA was a pickup at Location A and return at Location B, the arrow at the end of the bar for that reservation or RA will be flashing. When the Reservation or RA is one-way from another location, a flashing arrow displays at the start of the transaction. For example, if you requested Location B on the display and a reservation or RA was a pickup at Location A and return at Location B, the arrow at the start of the bar for that transaction will be flashing.

• Red flashing arrows - When both arrows flash red, it denotes a Questionable RA (the customer's name also flashes).

Dragging a transaction:

Left click a reservation to drag it to another vehicle. The reservation will appear transparent as it is being moved. Underneath it a dark gray bar will display for the vehicle rows to which it can be dropped. Reservations cannot be dragged and dropped to create conflicts. Reservations can be moved only vertically when being dragged.

To scroll while dragging, move the mouse above or below the calendar's main display - either to the calendar header or below the bottom. The screen will scroll only while the mouse is moving, so to scroll upwards, move the mouse up and down slightly above the header line.

Reservations that are dragged and dropped MUST BE SAVED for the changes to take effect!!

Reservations can be dragged:

• From the class-only line to a specific vehicle
• From a vehicle to the class-only line.
• From a vehicle to the blank line at the bottom of the display (if there is no class-only line). This will create a line for the class.

The last two actions will unallocate the reservation.

RA Details : Right click on a RA to bring up the details of the RA. An example is shown below.

Reservation Details : Right click on a Reservation to bring up the details. An example is shown below.

The status can be changed to "cancel" or "noshow". This change must be saved to take effect. After saving, the reservation will drop off the WebPLAN.

Changing Reservation pick up and return dates:

To change the pickup and/or return date of a reservation, left click on the reservation's beginning or ending arrow. Then drag to the desired date/time. The time displays next to the arrow as it is dragged. When the calendar is at the 28 or 14 day level, the time will snap to the same time it was originally. At 7 day zoom level, the time will snap to every six hours around the original time. At one day zoom level, the time will snap to every 15 minutes.

Extending the RA return date

The arrow indicating the return date of a RA can be dragged. However, it cannot be dragged beyond the time of the next reservation for that vehicle. The pickup date/time of a RA cannot be dragged.

Automatic allocation is a feature of WebPLAN that assigns reservations to vehicles in a manner to optimize utilization of the fleet. When the auto allocation button is clicked, WebPLAN finds the vehicles in the reservation's class and examines their availability. To optimize utilization, the vehicle selected is the one with the dates/time available for the reservation AND with the least possible excess time surrounding the reservation.

If the time available is found to be the same on more than one vehicle, the vehicle with the lowest odometer reading is selected.

Hard allocations - A reservation's allocation to a vehicle can be "hard" or "soft".

When marked as hard, the reservation will not be affected by future auto allocation processes in any way. And if the vehicle assigned to the reservation is of a different class, the reserved class on the reservation will be changed to that of the vehicle allocated to it. As a result, the client's original requested class is lost.

When marked as soft, the reservation may be assigned to another vehicle whenever auto allocation is run. But if the vehicle assigned to the reservation is of a different class, the reserved class on the reservation will NOT be changed to that of the vehicle allocated to it. So in case of a later allocation, if more of the reserved class have become available, a vehicle of the client's desired class will be allocated to the reservation.

To mark a reservation as hard or soft for allocation, right-click on the reservation to bring up the details. One of the choices is "Hard Allocation". Clicking on the "Make Hard' or "Make Soft" toggles the reservation. Be sure to save this change by clicking on the "save" icon.

Unallocating Reservations: Unallocating a vehicle to a reservation can be done in any of the following manners:

• Drag and drop the reservation from a vehicle row to a class or the blank row at the bottom on the screen.
• Right click on the reservation to bring up the Details. Click on "Unallocate".

Translation

To have the terms on the screen translated into another language, please contact Thermeon's Customer Support Department.