Use this program to produce a report of vehicles that were unaccounted for in a physical inventory.

The Physical Inventory logic in CARS+ creates a file that records at the time that a physical inventory is taken the following data:

A record will be created in this file for each vehicle "'manually" inventoried through one of the physical inventory programs (record type = 1), as well as for every vehicle currently on rent on an RA and every vehicle on an open Non Revenue Movement (record type = 2). This report will list any active vehicle (see note 1) which does not have a record in the physical inventory file for the date or date range (see note 2) requested.

NOTES:

  1. Active Vehicle: Any vehicle whose In Service Date is less than the date the inventory was taken and whose Sale Date is greater than the date the inventory was taken.
  2. Date Range: This report is based on a specific date. A physical inventory must have been performed for the date requested (refer to the description for field 1 below). However, it is also possible to request, via field 4, to further limit the report to those vehicles not inventoried on the requested date and for the appropriate number of days prior to that date. This, in essence, sets a date range. albeit one that limits the scope of the report rather than expanding it.


UNDERSTANDING THE PROCESS

As mentioned above, the physical inventory programs write a record to the physical inventory file for each vehicle inventoried either "manually" or by virtue of being on rent or on a Non Revenue Movement. As noted, one of the attributes of the physical inventory file is the date and time the inventory was taken. As such, the physical inventory process is a "point in time" process. This allows the inventory to be entered into CARS+ in "batch mode", that is at some point after it was actually taken, and by knowing the date and time it was taken, updates to the vehicle record will or will not take place based on what else may have happened to the vehicle more recently than the inventory. However, this may also produce some unexpected results when reporting "lost" vehicles. An example of this might be the following situation:

A vehicle is on rent as follows:

RA #1: 11-01-10 at 09:00 through 11-10-10 at 08:45

RA #2: 11-10-10 at 10:00 and still on rent.

Physical Inventories were performed as follows:

11-05-10 at 07:00 - Vehicle is inventoried by virtue of being on rent.

11-06-10 through 11-09-10 - No inventory is performed.

11-10-10 at 09:15 - Vehicle is not on rent (it is between rentals) and is not manually inventoried.

If the Lost Vehicle Report is run for the date of 11-10-10, this vehicle will report as being "lost" for 5 days. This is because it was neither on rent nor manually inventoried on the date requested and the last time it was inventoried was on 11-05-10. Since there is no record in the physical inventory file for the date requested and for the 4 days prior, the vehicle is considered "lost" for 5 days, even though it was on rent through 11-10-10.

Another way to look at this is that the physical inventory file doesn't know that a vehicle is on rent unless an inventory is performed. Therefore, in order for this process to have the maximum accuracy, it is important that a physical inventory be performed on a daily basis.



To access the Lost Vehicle Report, type LOSTVEH (RET) at any menu "OPTION:" field or the appropriate line number on the Physical Inventory Menu. The screen will then display:


OPTION: __ LOST VEHICLE REPORT

1 Date 11-22-10
2 Fleet Type ALL (maximum 5, separate by comma)
3 Print/Display P
4 Min days w/o veh
5 Last Known Locn ALL






1BEGIN 2 3ERASE 4 5BACKUP 6 7HELP 8

Enter data as follows:

1. DATE

Using the selected date format, enter the date of a recent physical inventory run.

EXAMPLE: Type 110110 (RET)

If an inventory was not taken on the date entered, the following message will display:

NO INVENTORY WAS TAKEN FOR THAT DATE. THE PRIOR WAS TAKEN xxxxxx.

(where xxxxxx is the date of the previous inventory)

If a inventory was taken on the date entered, the following processes are performed.

The vehicle file is examined. For vehicles with an in-service date before the inventory date and a sale date later than the inventory date (or no sales date), the physical inventory file is examined. If a record is found (i.e., the vehicle was part of that inventory), nothing is reported. If a record is not found, the physical inventory file is read again to find the most recent record for the vehicle with a date prior to the date entered.

2. FLEET TYPE

To limit the report to vehicles of a certain Fleet Type(s), enter up to 5 Fleet Type codes, separated by a comma.

EXAMPLE: Type L,R (RET)

3. PRINT/ DISPLAY

Enter:

P = Print a hard copy of this report on your terminal's assigned printer or send it as an e-mail. See the Edit Terminal Records Chapter for instructions on how to assign printers and send reports as e-mails.

D = Display this report on this screen. See the General Data Entry Instructions Chapter on how to control the screen display.

EXAMPLE: Type P (RET)
4. MIN DAYS W/O VEH
 Minimum days without a physical inventory: Entering a number in this field restricts the report to only those vehicles that have no physical inventory record within the number of days entered.

Example: Type 5 (RET)

By entering "5" as illustrated above, this will restrict the report to only those vehicles which were not inventoried on the date requested in field 1 and the 4 days prior to that date. These vehicles have been "lost" for five or more days.
5. LAST KNOWN LOCATION
 This field is used to report only those lost whose last known location matches the selected location(s). Only those vehicles whose current location (as seen in Vehicle Inventory file) matches the location(s) specified here will be reported. Enter:
  1. Up to 6 alphanumeric characters which represent a single location.
  2. Up to 6 alphanumeric characters which represents a Location Group. Remember that Group Codes must begin with a "+" (plus) sign.
  3. Press return to accept the default of ALL locations.
EXAMPLE: Press (RET)

User Tip: This report lists vehicles that have not been inventoried for the date or date range requested. As such, they do not have a record in the physical inventory file and consequently the location field in the physical inventory record cannot be used. As mentioned above, this selection uses the current location field from vehicle file itself. However, since by definition of being on this report, a vehicle is "lost' (i.e. it is unaccounted for), it is possible, if not probable, that this location is not accurate. Additionally, if anything has occurred to this vehicle since the inventory was done, the vehicle's current location may have been updated by that transaction. It should be understood that the location selected on here is the "last known" location to the database.


The screen will then display:


OPTION: __ LOST VEHICLE REPORT

1 Date 11-01-10
2 Fleet Type L,R (maximum 5, separate by comma)
3 Print/Display P Printer: /dev/tty
4 Min days w/o veh
5 Last Known Loc ALL




1BEGIN 2 3ERASE 4 5BACKUP 6 7HELP 8


PRESS "F1" AT "OPTION"TO BEGIN.


One row of data is provided for each vehicle listed, sorted by location: