Renting out has been a mode of business which was practiced from long generations back, people could see the advantage of this method is both beneficial for the customers and the companies. The rental functionality helps the companies to own expensive machinery to be rented out to the people in need of it at the time but are not willing to purchase the item since it's costly. If it's a one time use the people have the tendency to borrow the item rather than to purchase it, this became the backbone of the development of the rental business.
The rental business is a quite good profitable mode of business if managed and monitored effectively. Considering the construction industry rentals are an unavoidable part of the machinery. Large cranes and drilling equipment are never owned by the contractors but in most cases are rented out with the operator and the technicians. This is due to the cost factor considering the product which is expensive in the case of cranes and drilling units and the maintenance on them is unbearable by the contractors. This is where the rental business on the machinery got its boost of operation, due to the tight schedule of finishing the projects most contractors rely on machinery to do the process.
Since the increase in the need for retail services, the industry keeps on growing and has become unmanageable to various companies. It's then the new advanced software planning solutions such as Enterprise and resource planning (ERP) software to automate the administrative as well as the planning process of the rental services of a company that can be automated.
Odoo is one of the best ERPs in the execution of the business from one platform made it easier for the planning, management, monitoring, and execution of rental activities in the company operations. The platform allows the users to manage and plan their rental business and monitor the circling of their products with various customers. The platform additionally allows the users to charge late fees from the customers if they are overdue of their return of the product than the specified number of days.
This blog will discuss how Odoo allows its users to run the rental business of their company in a most effective and efficient manner which can be managed and monitored from all aspects of the business operations such as:
Planning Rentals
Overdue fines for Rentals
Reporting generation of rental activities
Planning Rentals
The companies who have installed the Odoo platform to manage their rental business should specify the product which can be expensed or rented out while registering them to the platform. On registering the product to be rented they can be expensed onto the customers. The user should also know that the Odoo platform allows the user to name each product based on the unique serial numbers to identify them. In the Odoo rental Management module of the Odoo platform, the user can view all the products which are being rented out based on the day week or the month as per the user specification. The user can filter out and group by based on products, serial numbers, customers, dates, etc, and also can add custom made filters which can be saved as favorites for further references. The sorting of all the rental activities can be one based on weeks months and the respective day. The user can select upon each of the rental activities to view a pop-up window describing the details of the rental quotation.
The Odoo platform also provides color coordination for visualization purposes. The overdue orders are indicated with red and the due ones for pick up are indicated with a red icon on top of each order. The serial number filtering helps the users to keep track of all the products in the platform and allows the user to view that the employees are circulating the products and are not sending out the regular ones.
The below image depicts the rental quotation information of the product upon selecting from the scheduling window of the rental module. The user can view the quantity, date, and time of pick up and delivery. On selecting the order number the user will be redirected to the quotation window which can be exited and modified upon in need of extra days to be rented for the same product by the same customer or he/ she wants to return the product before the due date.
Overdue Fines for Rentals.
All the customers may not be the same in terms of perspective that they may be not returning the rental products at a time. So the Odoo platform allows the users to solve the issue by allocating fins on the late return of the product. This methodology helps the users to make the customers return the products within the time limit and duration of being rented out. The user can simply select the product on return and will be directed to the quotation window where the user can view the overdue details. On selecting the return option available in the quotation menu the user will be directed to the validating menu.
The validating menu will describe the products available in the quotation. If they are overdue the red clock on the right of the returned number of products will be indicated as shown in the below image. On verifying the details select the validate option available.
On validating the return if there is an overdue fine being established earlier the amount of fine will be added to the rental quotation being generated and furthermore on the invoice too. In case of a real rental situation, the user can always review the condition and the operation of the product. If there is any wear and tears created by the customer the user can always find them with the additional cost by adding the fine to the product menu.
Reporting in Rental.
Keeping a track of the rental activities and generating reports on the data available can always help the company while considering the generation of annual reports and planning for the next financial year. The Odoo platform allows the user to create reports of the rentals activities which are being conducted by the company. The reports will help the user to keep track of the movement of the products and the rentals being done on them. The reporting menu of the rental module can be filtered and grouped by the various default options available and there is always a way for the customization of the sorting functionality which can be saved as favorites for further references. The reports can be generated in form of charts , graphs and pie charts which are color coordinated for the visualization purposes in the report.
The rental business can be a great source of income for any company holding specific machinery which can be rented out to customers on demand. The rental business in Odoo can be managed with utmost ease and with full-fledged functionally operating methodologies.
Refer our blog to know more about the Rental Management in Odoo 13