The Cart Module in EZOfficeInventory empowers you to stay on top of your jobs and events, simplifying equipment management. You can mark these jobs and events on your calendar, have a list of required equipment and inventory, collaborate as a team, and manage multiple items from one place.
1. Common events/jobs tracked with Carts
For construction, engineering, and service industries, it’s common to distribute their work in “jobs”. Here are some common examples from our user base:
Job 001: Drilling work at Griffith Park
Job 002: Maintenance of air conditioning at Lawrence Cape Library
Job 003: Photoshoot of new products launched in March
For technology, education, furniture, exporting, and other industries, participating in different “events”. Common examples from our user base include:
Event 001: Sep 2016 Sales Conference in Vegas
Event 002: Products showcase at TechCrunch Disrupt SF
Event 003: Bridal Shower for Melissa
Event 004: Annual Products Launch Event
Event 005: ‘Come in and try out our devices’ sales event
2. Enabling Carts
To enable Carts in EZOfficeInventory, head to the gear icon on the top navigation bar and select Company Settings & Add Ons from the dropdown menu.
From the side navigation bar find the Cart Module and enable it. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click update.
3. Planning and managing an event/job
3.1. Identify the item
Identify if you require Assets, Asset Stock, and Inventory for the upcoming job or event. If it’s a photoshoot, you’ll probably add a few cameras, reflectors, props, and lights. If it’s a conference, you’ll be adding items such as the devices you’re showcasing, some giveaways, and some branding material.
3.2. Add them to the Cart
You can add items to a cart from the Items listings page. Add multiple items to a cart via mass action.
Or you can add items from the cart.
You can also directly import Items to your cart. Click here to learn more.
3.3. Moving Cart Items
Transfer new or drafted carts seamlessly between different locations. Move items between different locations from the Cart details page as many times as you want (see image below).
An overlay will appear where you can update location data.
Note: Location of assets will be updated and specified stock quantities of the Asset Stock and Inventory will be transferred to the selected Stock Location.
This is useful in cases where equipment (as a cart) may be needed at a different location, say from the company HQ in San Jose to the CES exhibition in Vegas. These can be then shipped to San Jose, with the equipment manager transferring the entire cart to this new location. This comes into play when ‘Transfer of Asset Stock’ and “Transfer of Inventory” is enabled from Add Ons.
3.4. Check for scheduling conflicts
Check your items for any conflicting schedules to make sure that the items you need are available when you require them.
The conflicts are indicated as the yellow warning sign. Hovering over this sign shows the exact conflict.
3.5. Reserving a Cart
If you’re planning ahead for an upcoming job or event, reserve the cart. If you’re heading out right away, check out the cart.
Reserving a Cart will make the selected items unavailable during the reservation dates; ensuring that they don’t get scheduled for any other use. When the reservation time arrives, you can check out the reserved cart.
Enable conflict free reservations for assets, asset stock and inventory from Company Settings & Add-ons → Reservations.
Reserved cart items can be edited on the fly. Items can be removed or added, giving businesses more control over their equipment management. Say you reserved items for a CES exhibition but underestimated the number of VR headgear you’d need. With the latest enhancement, last minute reservations to a cart are nothing to fret over.
You can delete an asset in a cart by clicking on the delete sign and edit by clicking on the edit sign on the right side.
3.6. Accessing Cart from the notification bell
You can also view/edit a cart on the ‘Reservations’ page under the notifications bell – helping you make quick edits in the carts section. Simply click Reservations → Select Carts from the filter.
Clicking ‘edit’ will take you directly to the cart in question and clicking ‘view’ will also give you the same option, under ‘Show Details.
3.7. Cart Cloning
You can also clone a cart (reserved, checked out, completed, canceled, or moved) from its details page.
3.8. Swap Assets in Checked out Carts
Replacing an asset in a checked out cart can be complex for some users. To overcome this, the swap functionality is used to enable exchanging multiple items in a checked out cart. Useful in cases where damaged or incorrect items need to be replaced by a cart.
To use this feature, enable ‘Swap Checked Out Items’ from Company Settings & Add Ons → Swap Checked out Items. This feature enables you to swap assets only in checked out carts from the detail pages.
- Select items you want to replace or swap. Click the swap icon as shown in the image below.
- An overlay will appear. Choose items you want to replace the assets with.
Note: Items can only be swapped by members who have created the cart. For example, Member A cannot swap assets in a checked out cart created by Member B. However, Admins have greater control over Carts so they can swap items in a Cart.
Items within Packages cannot be swapped, but bundled items are swappable in a checkout Cart.
3.9. Draft a new Cart
To enable seamless workflows, you can draft a new Cart while working with an old one. Simply go to the Cart details page → More → Draft Another Cart. You can also ‘Create a New Cart’ from the Cart Transactions page.
3.10. Sort Carts by Date values
At the carts listings page, users can sort the cart by following fields:
- From
- To
- For
3.11.Mass delete Carts
Account Owners have the permission to mass delete Carts. Enable this from Company Settings → Cart deletion. A warning message will appear asking you for confirmation as this action cannot be reversed:
Once enabled, go to the Carts listing page, select all the Carts you want to delete and hit proceed:
4. Carts with Group by Name
You can add assets to the cart by enabling the ‘Group by Name’ view from the item listings page. Select the items categorized by their names and select ‘Add to Cart”.
To items to a current cart using the group by name feature, enable the toggle ‘Show Assets grouped by name’ in search.
To specify the asset, click on ‘Choose an Asset’.
To choose an asset you will be taken to the following overlay where you can select the specific asset you want to add to the cart.
This is how the chosen asset appears on the cart details page:
Note: You can replace or remove the chosen asset by clicking on the edit sign.
Click on the Edit Quantity button to edit the required quantity. Based on this you can select the asset quantity and specify.
You will not be able to checkout the Cart without specifying the items within the Asset. However, you can Reserve the Cart without specifying items. The system will show you the following error message:
5. Comments and Mentions
Users can now add comments with mentions at the end of the Cart Details Page to notify other users of a certain action. To enable the settings, Go to Company settings → Add Ons → Mentions
Once you enable the settings, you will be able to mention other users by typing @username. For example, you can notify a user when you create a new cart.
Note: Mentions is applicable to all Assets, Asset Stock and Inventory.
The user will be notified of the mention by clicking on the bell icon on the dashboard. Click on ‘Mentions’ from the dropdown and you will be directed to the mentions listing page for further details.
6. Tracking events/jobs
6.1. Upcoming Events
Your upcoming events/jobs show your chosen action on the carts.
The dashboard calendar shows the upcoming reservations. You can view the dashboard calendar ‘by cart’ as we’ve added a widget for it. Toggle between actionable metrics for carts and items and stay on top of which carts are coming in, going out or overdue on return.
You can also enable the following email alerts from Alerts tab in your account.
a) Reservations starting today
b) Reservation alert in advance (say 3 days before a reservation starts)
c) Reservation request
d) Cart reservation
e) Reservation of cart pending
d) Reservation approved
f) Reservation denied
e) Reserved cart changes
6.2. Ongoing events
Your ongoing events/jobs are the checked out carts. The dashboard calendar shows the carts that are due back. You also receive an email alert listing the items when they are due. When you return a cart, all assets and asset stock which are part of that cart are checked in. The cart is marked “Completed”.
7. Cart actions
- Add custom fields such as Event Venue or Shipment Charges from More → Custom fields → Customize → Custom Fields → Cart.
- Print the cart details as a PDF. The layout can be configured from More → Customize → Printout templates → Cart → Add a new template.
- Verify items in a reserved cart before sending it out. Use the Verify by Scanning button on the Cart Details page. Then, Scan items → Submit the scanned list → Items are verified. You will need a Barcode or QR Code scanner to scan items.
- Attach documents like user manuals, and add comments to highlight any points for concern.
- Relate one cart to another. Say, you’re shipping 5 containers for the same event. Each container can be a cart, with a separate list, and a different person responsible for it. But they can be related so that you can tell that they’re going to the same event.
- Track Cart history. This information is maintained in our logs, viewable under History → Cart History on the Cart Details page.
- Edit Active Carts if you’re an Admins. Admins have greater control over carts. Account owners and admins can delete moved Carts.
- Use Cart ID instead of Cart#. We offer you Cart# to help you keep tabs on Carts easily. However, if your workflow primarily uses Cart Identification Numbers (CIN) to keep track of carts, you can always use them instead of the Cart# in Cart listings. This can be changed from Company Settings → Advanced Settings → Cart Identifier. Learn more.
7.1 Partial return of Cart Items
Partial return of Cart Items enables users to directly return asset/asset stock from a Cart instead of going to the Details page and looking for the line item to check in. Simply go to Return Items on the Cart details page.
Select Return Cart Partially and choose the items you want to return.
You will be asked to fill in the Custom Fields and Signature for the returned items.
Once you have filled all the details, hit ‘Return’. The items will be omitted from your cart and marked through on the Cart details page.
8. Make Carts mandatory
If your workflow dictates that you use Carts all the time, make them mandatory for actions such as check-ins, checkouts, reservations, and reservation requests.
To do this, go to Company Settings & Add Ons → Cart Module → Force Cart Actions. You can then choose whether you’d like to force cart actions for Staff Users, Administrators, and Supervisors, or both:
With this setting enabled, all prompts for Check-ins, Checkouts, Reservations, and Reservation Requests will be removed for the chosen user category from the following pages, forcing users to use Carts instead:
- Item detail pages (Asset, Asset Stock, Inventory)
- Listing pages (for Mass Actions)
- Package pages (both Detail Pages and Mass Actions)
- Dashboard
- Group pages
- Vendor pages
- Location pages
Note: This setting is disabled by default. Before it can be enabled, you must first resolve all active reservations and checkouts related to Carts.
9. Carts for project management
Large teams can use Carts to manage all of their projects. Harness the power of custom fields!
9.1. Creating a custom field for Project Number
We’ll create a Project Number field to work with our Carts.
To get started, create a custom field from More → Custom Fields → Cart. Here, click on ‘Add Custom Field’. Call this ‘Project Number’ and specify the type as Single Line Text.
You can also select the Preference checkboxes to make this field mandatory or restrict its visibility to administrators only.
Once done, hit Add.
Now, to test this out, go to the Current Cart from the Cart icon at the top-right of the page. You’ll be able to see a new data field under the Custom Field section. To assign a Project Number to this Cart, double-click on the Project Number field dashes to edit it.
Similarly, assign a descriptive Project Number to each Cart and make item referencing and project management a breeze.
9.2. Analyzing progress
You can also generate a custom report on Carts to verify progress with respect to Carts checked out. For this, we’ll create a Cart report.
To get started, go to Reports → Custom Report. Here, choose ‘Carts’ as the primary module and ‘Items’ as the secondary module. We’ll add the following columns to the report:
Additionally, you can apply filters and group by line items as well.
Let’s run our report!
The final report let’s you view the Cart status and Project Number so you can easily examine pending, ongoing and completed projects.
10. Carts for Staff Users
Being responsible for multiple projects scattered across different locations can be a difficult job. Whether you’re tracking items across warehouses or job-sites, you need to have a way to oversee the movement, arrival dates, and contents of company Carts.
To this end, Administrators can view Drafted Carts created by Staff Users in different locations. Of course, only the user who has drafted a cart can take actions on it. However, Administrators can apply the ‘Active Carts (Including Drafts)’ filter to get a bird’s eye view of all the Drafted Carts in their system, including those drawn up by Staff Users wherever they are. This can make managing projects across different locations a lot easier.
Please note that the ‘Print Cart and Export Items List’ buttons are part of the View-Only functionality in EZOfficeInventory.
11. Item recommendations for Carts (BETA)
Ever feel like you’ve skipped an item or two when checking out assets? Our Item Recommendation feature highlights missing equipment for specific business activities. You can, therefore, make better-informed choices by pulling on previous company-level preferences and increasing the discoverability of business assets.
To enable this feature, go to → Add Ons → Item Recommendation for Carts → Enable.
12. Carts Tab on the Asset Details Page
Each Asset Details page has a Carts tab at the bottom. Using this, users can view all the Carts that an item is associated with. This gives you a bird’s eye view of all the Cart information for a specific asset and lets you jump to a specific Cart as needed. Along with asset history, you can check when an asset is reserved, when it is due to be returned, or which other items are being checked out with it.
To view these Carts, go to an Asset’s detail page and click on the Carts tab:
13. Carts on the mobile app
Our mobile app allows you to manage carts on the go!
You can add and remove items from a cart, take different actions such as checking out, reserving and printing the cart. Comments and documents can be recorded as well and you can view Cart transactions on the go. You can access the carts from the sign shown below:
13.1. Current Cart View
When you click on the ‘Cart’ sign you will be able to see all your carts, including the current cart.
From here you can click on any cart and you will be redirected to the Carts Detail Page.
Click on the three dots on the bottom right corner of the Cart Detail page to take actions on the cart.
13.3. Verify items via scanning
Similar to our web app, you can also verify the items of a reserved cart before sending it out on the event/job.
Item verification can be done for carts in all states (except the drafted carts or current carts). This can be done from the ‘Verify by Handheld Scanner/Verify by Camera Scanner’ button in the Cart details page.
For this to work, go to Settings → Add Ons → Cart Module → Check ‘Enable verification of items in a cart via scanning of labels’. Once you click on the three dots on the bottom right corner, you will taken to the following page where you can scan the cart.
1) Using the mobile app, open a cart. Let’s take a reserved cart as an example. Tap the dots to take actions on it i.e. verify items.
Note: For handheld scanning, you will need a Barcode or QR Code scanner to scan items. (The Handheld Scanner Integration must be enabled in Settings → Add Ons). Use a phone with a camera if you want to verify items by Camera Scanner.
Once you scan the items, you can click on ‘Select All’ to verify.
2. Scan an Item’s barcode or QR code to verify. The verification will show that the item(s) exists in your system. Only items that are associated with this cart will be verified. Item(s) that do not exist in this cart will not be verified.
A ‘Not found’ message will be shown. Hit ‘Verify’ once you are done scanning the items and submit the scanned list. The sign highlighted in the image below signifies that the item has been verified after scanning.
3. Items are now verified. On the Cart details page, you can see the status of item verification under the cart#. You can also start over the verification process if necessary.
Please note that items that are added to your reserved or checked out cart can be verified only via the process explained above. If these items do not exist in that cart or in your system, they will not be verified.
This is how you can easily use our Cart module for enhanced productivity and streamlined asset management.
