Rental Workshop Module¶

The rental workshop is designed for supervised do-it-yourself workshops that rent out vehicle lifts by the hour and lend tools alongside. DiKAS shows at a glance which bay is free, reserved, in use, paused, in return check or blocked – with vehicle, customer, running amount and next appointment. From the appointment through arrival and the start of the rental to the return check and payment, everything runs on one bill: time, material, disposal and mechanic help appear on the same invoice.

There is no second clock and no second price calculation: a bay is a table of the till, time runs through the existing time billing (time article with time tiers, maximum price and rounding), and payment is taken at the normal till.

How to get the module: The rental workshop has no module of its own. It is part of the Reservations & Appointments module (see Resources & Booking Calendar) and is available to every business that has booked this module. If you already use DiKAS, add the module to your existing plan.

Activation: Admin → Settings → Operations → switch on Reservations. After that the following appear - at the till, the Rental workshop tile (overview “Rental workshop – bays”), and - in the back office, the Rental workshop menu item (page “Rental workshop – administration”).

Without a licence, or with reservations switched off, both are missing.

Not in the Android till app

The rental workshop runs in the browser-based till (cloud or server operation). The standalone Android till app does not offer it.

Function overview¶

Function	Description
Bay overview	One tile per bay with state, vehicle and licence plate, customer, running clock, amount and next appointment
Bay profile	Type, maximum weight and equipment per bay; bookings check whether the vehicle fits
Block	Defect or maintenance: the bay is taken out of the offers, a running rental is left untouched
Appointment, arrival, start	The start of the rental is a separate, explicit step; only then does the clock run
Time billing with tariff calculator	Time tiers, maximum price, pauses; the tariff is recorded at the start
Material, disposal, mechanic help	Article lines on the same bill
Return check and closing	The bay is only free again after the check; open tools or a deposit prevent closing
Tool lending	Issue and return per rental, scan with confirmation, supply missing parts
Deposit	Reserves customer balance that was topped up beforehand; withholding as an article line
Rental agreement	One version with a version number that must be confirmed before the start
Waiting list	Note waiting customers and offer them a freed slot for a limited time
Overrun notice	Shows where the next customer has to wait, with a draft message to copy
Placement suggestion	Up to three suitable bays with reasons
Job pass	Protected customer link with QR code: amount, tools, requests
Utilisation report	Rental revenue per bay, tool losses, rentals not yet paid

Setup¶

Setting up bays¶

Create the bays as tables (Admin → Tables), e.g. “Bay 1”, “Bay 2”.
Open Admin → Rental workshop. Under Add a table as a bay choose the table in Table (“Choose a table …”) and click Set up as bay. A table only becomes a bay through its bay profile – without a profile it does not appear in the overview.
Maintain the profile for each bay and save it with Save profile:

Field	Example	Meaning
Bay type	Two-post lift	Description; also the basis for waiting list wishes
Maximum weight (kg)	3500	Heavier vehicles cannot be booked
Equipment	Wheel lift, pit	Separate with commas; bookings with required equipment are checked against it

Suitability: when booking, DiKAS reports “This bay carries at most … kg, the vehicle weighs … kg.” or “This bay lacks the equipment: …” and asks you to choose another bay. When the rental starts, suitability is checked once more – even if the appointment was created another way.

Setting the tariff: the time article¶

Bay time is billed through a time article. How to create and set it up (hourly price, time tiers, maximum price, rounding) is described under Time articles. If you offer several tariffs (e.g. standard and weekend), create one time article per tariff; the tariff is chosen at the start. If there is no active time article, DiKAS reports: “There is no active time article. Please create one in the articles.”

Further setup¶

Create tools: Admin → Rental workshop → Tool master data section, see Tools.
Store the rental agreement: Admin → Rental workshop → Agreements / instructions section, see Rental agreement.
Check the permissions for deposit and report, see Permissions.
For the customer links of the Job pass, the public address of the business must be set up (online name); otherwise DiKAS uses the address under which the till is currently open.

The bay overview¶

Till → Rental workshop shows a tile for each bay. The state is shown as text, symbol and colour:

State	Meaning
Free	The bay is usable
Reserved	An appointment starts within the next 60 minutes, or the customer has already arrived
In use	The rental is running
Paused	The clock is stopped – the bay is still occupied
Return check	Clock stopped, bay is being inspected and stays occupied until closing
Blocked	Defect or maintenance

The tile also shows vehicle and licence plate, customer, the running clock, the current amount, the next appointment (“in … min”, “… min ago”) and any conflicts. Tapping a tile opens the bay with exactly the buttons that are possible in its current state.

The overview reloads silently every ten seconds. If that fails, the last state stays on screen and “As of … – refreshing failed. Showing the last known state.” appears. Reload refreshes by hand.
The amount is only visible to those who may see the table at the till. If it is missing, “—” is shown instead of “0.00”.
If no bay has been set up yet, “No bays have been set up yet.” appears with the link “Set up bays in the back office”.

Above the overview are the buttons Book appointment, Waiting list, Placement suggestion and Tariff calculator; in case of overruns a notice panel appears as well (see Overrun and placement suggestion).

A rental from start to finish¶

1. Book an appointment (or start without one)¶

Book appointment asks for Bay, Start, Duration (minutes), Customer name, Phone, Email, and also for licence plate, vehicle, Vehicle weight (kg) and Required equipment. While you type, DiKAS checks the suitability of the bay. Availability, blocked times and overlaps are handled as with any other reservation.

Walk-in customers (without an appointment) are started directly at a free bay with Start.

2. Arrival¶

When the customer arrives for the appointment, choose Arrival on the reserved bay. The rental changes to Arrived; customer and licence plate are carried over, a delay is noted (“… min late”). The clock does not run yet. If a deposit payment was made for the appointment, it is credited once on the bill now.

If the customer does not show up, No-show (“The appointment is marked as a no-show and the bay is released.”) – at the earliest 30 minutes after the appointment start. A delay alone never changes the appointment. Before the start, a rental can be ended with Cancel.

3. Start: time billing begins¶

Start opens “Start rental – bay”. It contains:

Tariff (time article) – the tariff the time runs on (“Choose a tariff …”),
Licence plate, Vehicle, Notes,
Customer via Find customer (once chosen: “Linked to customer record”),
the rental agreement, if one is in force.

With Start the clock begins. DiKAS records price, time tiers, maximum price and rounding in the rental. This is the basis for the tariff calculator and for recalculating a closed rental: a later tariff change no longer alters it.

Do not change the tariff while a rental is running

The recorded tariff only protects the closed rental. If the time article is changed while a rental is running, that rental continues with the new article; the bay then shows “Tariff changed since start”. Price rules by time of day or weekday on the article apply instead of the time tiers; the tariff calculator then only calculates with the tiers and points this out.

The same bay is never given to two customers at once: DiKAS re-checks block, suitability and occupancy immediately before the start. A double click on Start does not start a second rental.

4. During the rental¶

Button	Effect
Pause / Resume	Stops the clock or continues it. Pause time is not charged; the bay stays occupied
Add material / help	Opens “Material, disposal, help”: Kind of line (Material, Disposal, Mechanic help), Search article, Quantity, Book. The price comes from the article – there is no free price field
Check extension	Asks for Additional minutes and shows “Possible until ….” or “The extension collides with an appointment or a block.” including Replacement bays (suggestion). Nothing is rebooked: “You decide whether the customer moves.”
Block bay	See Block

The tariff calculator (button above the overview) answers “What does it cost at … minutes?”: enter the total duration, add pauses if needed, Calculate amount. The answer shows the breakdown by section, tariff changes (“From minute … an hourly rate of … € applies.”) and the maximum price. Example: 95 minutes at €12/hour and €9/hour from the 60th minute give €17.25; with a 15-minute pause it is €15.00. If it is opened for a running rental, it calculates with the tariff recorded at the start.

5. Start and check the return¶

Start return asks for confirmation (“The clock stops and the time is booked on the bill. The bay stays in use until it is closed.”). The state is then Return check; final amount and active time are recorded and are not recalculated. Now the bay is inspected, tools are taken back, a deposit is settled and, if needed, further material or disposal is booked.

6. Closing and paying¶

Pay opens the normal payment screen of the till for exactly the open lines of this rental. The rental shows not yet paid or paid.
Close makes the bay free again.

Paid and bay free are two separate states: a rental can be closed but still unpaid – or paid but not yet returned. There is one bill, one payment route and one signature of the fiscal security module (TSE); no amount is booked twice.

If the rental cannot be closed yet, DiKAS lists every reason under Closing is not possible yet: – tools not returned, missing parts, deposit still held. The buttons Go to return and Settle deposit jump straight to the solution.

Pay first, then close

If a rental is closed before it is paid, it appears in the overview as a separate row Closed, not yet paid. This row is only remembered in the browser of the respective device and is gone once the browser is closed. So in the return check, first Pay and then Close. Anything not collected is also shown in the utilisation report.

Vehicle and licence plate¶

Licence plate and vehicle are entered when booking or starting, and appear on the tile, in the rental and, for waiting customers, in the overrun notice. When booking, Vehicle weight (kg) and Required equipment serve the suitability check.

Block (defect or maintenance)¶

Block bay opens “Block bay – bay”: Kind of block (Defect or Maintenance) and Reason (required). The Affected reservations are shown beforehand. They are not changed – the customers have to be informed yourself. A running rental is not ended by the block; return, closing and payment continue as usual. Any employee can set a block.

Lifting it only works explicitly: Admin → Rental workshop → Unblock (confirmation “Unblock bay?”), for management only. Normal payment never lifts a block.

Tools¶

Lending tools (cordless drills, torque wrenches, special sets) are issued and taken back per rental.

Tool master data¶

Admin → Rental workshop → Tool master data → New tool:

Field	Meaning
Code / barcode	Identifier of the tool; never changes
Name	Name
Accessories (one per line)	Parts supplied with it
Condition	Condition in stock
Blocked (cannot be issued)	with Reason for blocking
Pricing	None (free), Flat price or By time – with the matching Article
Note	Free text

Save with Save tool; Edit changes an existing tool. The status is In stock, Issued or Blocked.

Issue and return¶

In the Tools area of the rental, the field Scan or enter tool code takes the code (scanner or keyboard, with Look up). DiKAS never issues blindly: it first shows what is to be done with the tool on this rental, and the action must be confirmed:

Display	Meaning	Button
Free – can be issued	Tool is in stock	Issue
Is out on this rental – take back	Being brought back	Take back
Back, but parts are missing – supply or write off	Parts open	Resolve missing parts
Not possible	Blocked, or with another rental (“Currently with: … (since …)”)	Dismiss

Issue only works while the rental is running. The dialog “Issue tool” records Condition when issued and Accessories handed out. With nothing ticked, the tool’s whole accessory list is recorded. A double scan does not issue twice.
With a flat price, an article line appears on the bill at once. With by time, the duration from issue to return is calculated and only booked on return (as the job pass also states). The article price at the time of return applies.
Take back asks for Condition when returned and Missing on return (tick). If everything is there: “Everything is back.”
If a part is missing, the tool shows Returned – parts missing. It stays issued and cannot be lent out again. Resolve missing parts offers Supplied or Write off (lost) per part; a write-off needs a Reason (required for a write-off) and only management may write off. Every event is recorded with time and person.

What blocks closing

A tool not returned and a set with a missing part prevent closing until everything is back, supplied or written off. Paying does not replace the return.

Deposit¶

The deposit does not move money; it reserves the customer’s balance. The cash goes through the till:

The customer pays the deposit in at the till as customer balance (top up balance).
On the rental: Reserve deposit → Amount (€) → Reserve. Reserved balance cannot be spent or paid out.
At the end:
- Refund releases the reservation in full or in part. The till then pays out any cash (balance payout).
- Withhold (e.g. for damage): choose Amount, Reason (required) and Withholding article. The amount becomes revenue – as a line of this article on the rental’s bill, paid at the normal till.

The Deposit area shows Reserved, Refunded, Withheld, Still held and the History.

No customer, no deposit

The customer must be picked from the search when starting (“To take a deposit, pick the customer from the search – it cannot be linked afterwards.”). Without a linked customer the screen says: “No customer is linked to this rental – a deposit is not possible.” If the free balance is not enough: “The customer’s free balance is not enough. Please top it up at the till first.”

As long as a deposit is held, the rental can be neither closed nor cancelled. Refunding and withholding need a permission of their own, see Permissions.

Rental agreement¶

The business can store an agreement / instruction (workshop rules, liability waiver, safety briefing) that the customer must confirm before the start.

Creating: Admin → Rental workshop → Agreements / instructions: Version (e.g. 2026-1), Title, Text and optionally Valid from (empty = now), then Create new version.

Every version is immutable. A changed text needs a new version name; the same version with a different text is rejected (“This version already exists with a different text – please choose a new version number.”).
The latest version that is not retired and whose start has been reached is in force (“In force”; later versions show “Valid from …”). Retire takes a version out of use.
Switching off means retiring all versions (“Agreements are off: starting needs no confirmation.”).

Confirming: When a version is in force, “Start rental” shows title and text and requires the tick “The customer has read the agreement and explicitly agrees.” as well as Confirmed by (name). Without confirmation the rental does not start. The rental then shows “Version … confirmed by … on ….” If a new version was released after the customer confirmed, DiKAS asks for a new confirmation (“A new version (…) is now in force. Please have it confirmed again.”); the earlier one stays on the rental as Previously confirmed. It can also be done afterwards with Confirm now.

Waiting list¶

If no suitable bay is free, the customer is noted: button Waiting list → Add to waiting list.

Field	Note
Name, phone or email	One way of contact is required (“…so the customer can be informed”)
Vehicle	optional
Desired bay type (empty = any)	e.g. two-post lift
Desired duration (min)	15 to 1440 minutes
Earliest from, Finished by	Time window in the future, long enough for the duration

With Add the customer appears in the list with the state Waiting. Other states: Offer running, Offer expired, Booked, Cancelled (can be shown with Show closed entries).

When a bay becomes free:

Find candidates (“Slot free – who qualifies?”) names the waiting customers whose bay, duration and time window fit – in the order of entry.
Offer a slot → Offer valid for (min) (5 to 1440, default 30) → Make offer. The offer holds the slot for a limited time: the remaining time is shown in the list (“… min left (until …)”). When the deadline passes, the slot is free again by itself – no reservation is left behind.
If the customer agrees: Customer accepted – book appointment. Only then is the appointment created. Otherwise Withdraw offer or Remove from list (with confirmation).

DiKAS does not inform the waiting customers

Nothing is sent: neither offer nor refusal. The screen says so explicitly: “Inform the customer yourself now” – with the phone number or email from the entry.

An offered slot is blocked for Book appointment and for other offers. Other routes (such as the general reservation list or online booking) do not know about offers: the slot could be taken there before it is accepted; the acceptance then fails with a message instead of booking twice.

Overrun and placement suggestion¶

Overrun notice¶

If a customer keeps the bay longer than the next appointment allows, the overview shows the panel Overruns (“… bay(s) overrunning or at risk”). For each rental it contains:

Overrun – the next customer has waited … min or At risk – the next customer starts soon,
the planned end per appointment, if the rental has an appointment,
who is waiting (appointment or “Waiting on site”),
“Still out: … – this holds up closing.” for tools not returned,
the estimated extra amount for the assumed extra time (Assumed extra time) – or “cannot be estimated”,
Free suitable bays for the waiting customer,
Uncertain: notes on what makes the estimate uncertain,
a draft message to the waiting customer, with Copy text to the clipboard. It is not sent (“Text copied. Please send it yourself.”).

This is detection only: nothing is rebooked, sent or changed on the rental. Open bay jumps to the bay concerned. The panel refreshes every minute.

Placement suggestion¶

Placement suggestion helps on the phone or at the counter: Estimated duration (min), Work / required equipment, Required tool codes (comma-separated), Earliest start (empty = now) → Suggest. DiKAS names up to three cards (Suggestion 1 to 3) with bay, start, duration and reasons (weight below limit, equipment fits, tools free, no following appointment in the way).

Only bays are suggested that fit, are not blocked and are unoccupied right now; the period crosses no appointment and no limited waiting-list offer, within the next 48 hours.
If a requested tool is not available, there is no suggestion; the screen names “Unavailable tools – so there is no suggestion”. Tools only count if they are free right now.
Use opens Book appointment with the values filled in. Booking only happens there. The suggestion reserves nothing, not even a tool.

Job pass¶

The job pass gives the customer a protected link with a QR code for their rental – they see the interim state, tools and extra work without asking at the counter.

For staff¶

In the Job pass (customer link) area of the rental:

Set Valid (hours) (1 to 168, default 48) and Create pass.
The dialog Link for the customer shows the Address and the QR code: Copy link or let the customer scan the QR code, then Done.
The state is shown in the area: Link valid until …, Link revoked, Link expired.

The link is only visible once

“This link is shown only now and cannot be retrieved later. If it is lost, create a new link – the old one then becomes invalid.” Create new link asks for confirmation first; Revoke makes the link unusable immediately (“The customer will no longer see anything at this link.”). Only one link is valid per rental at a time.

There is no pass for cancelled rentals.

For the customer¶

The link leads to the page Your job (no login; German, English, Spanish, French, Italian). It shows only this one rental:

the status (Arrived, In progress, Return check, Completed) and the rental time,
the Current amount with the note “Interim figure – the receipt at the till is what counts.”,
Extra work and material and Borrowed tools (also “Missing: …”); tools charged by usage time are only calculated on return.

While the rental is running, the customer can ask under Request to the workshop for an Extension (5 to 480 minutes) or Help from a mechanic, optionally with a Message (Send request). At most five requests are open at the same time. Refresh reloads the page – this does not happen by itself. An unknown, revoked or expired link always shows the same text: “This link is not (or no longer) valid.”

Requests have no effect until the staff decide: on the rental they appear with Accept and Decline. The decision is final, and even Accept changes nothing automatically – extension or help are booked with the normal buttons (“Accepting changes nothing automatically: please book the extension or help yourself using the normal actions.”). That way a customer request never moves time or money.

Utilisation report¶

Admin → Rental workshop → Utilisation and revenue (management only). Choose From and To (or Today, Last 7 days, This month), then Run report – 62 days at most. The report only calculates when you press the button. It shows:

Total revenue, Time revenue, Paid time, Blocked time, Time revenue per paid hour and Total revenue per occupied hour;
a table per bay (rentals, revenue, list price) with a total row, plus Material, Disposal, Mechanic help, Tool fees and Deposit retained; refunded deposit is shown for information only and reduces nothing;
“Actual: … · List: … · Difference …”: the amount actually charged (tiers, cap, rounding) against hourly price times active time;
Tool losses (written off, with reason), Rentals not yet paid (return started, bill still open) and Tools still out or with a missing part;
every single rental, expandable.

Blocked time means pauses and return check – not the downtime of a blocked bay. Tool losses have no monetary value because the tool master data has no purchase price. Older rentals without a recorded list price show “—” instead of “0.00”.

Renting out tools only (tool counter)¶

A business that only lends tools needs no lift – but every rental belongs to a “bay”. So a tool counter is set up like a bay:

Create a table and name it e.g. Tool counter (Admin → Tables).
Admin → Rental workshop → Add a table as a bay → choose Tool counter → Set up as bay. The bay profile stays empty (no restriction by weight or equipment).
Start one rental per customer at the tool counter (Start), issue and take back tools, close and pay as described above.

Two customers served at the counter at the same time need two such tables, because a bay carries only one rental at a time (for example “Tool counter 1” and “Tool counter 2”).

Permissions¶

Action	Who
Block a bay	any employee with access to the rental workshop
Unblock, bay profile, tool master data, agreements, utilisation report, writing off parts	management only
Reserve deposit	employees with access to the rental workshop
Refund or withhold deposit	Permission Rental workshop: refund or withhold a deposit; management roles (administrator, manager) have it by default
See the amount on the tile	whoever may also see the table at the till

The permission for the deposit is set under Admin → Staff in the employee’s Permissions tab. If a permission is missing, DiKAS reports: “The right to do this is missing. Please ask a manager.”

Practical example: oil change in the do-it-yourself workshop¶

Situation: Mr Krämer books a bay for Thursday 14:00 for an oil change on his Golf (1,400 kg). The business has two bays (“Bay 1” and “Bay 2”, 3,500 kg each), a time article “Lift” (€12/hour, €9/hour from the 60th minute) and a current rental agreement.

Book: Book appointment, Bay 1, 14:00, 120 minutes, name and phone, licence plate UL-AB 123. Suitability is fine (1,400 kg is below the maximum weight).
Thursday, 13:55: Mr Krämer arrives. Arrival – Bay 1 shows Reserved, the clock does not run. He pays €50 deposit into his customer balance at the till.
Start: tariff “Lift”, customer chosen from the search, agreement read and confirmed with his name. The clock starts, the bay is In use. Reserve deposit: €50. The staff also create a job pass and show Mr Krämer the QR code.
Tool: He needs the torque wrench (flat price €3.00). Scan, display “Free – can be issued”, Issue.
Pause: while buying parts, Pause (15 minutes), then Resume. He asks for a little help via his job pass; the staff accept the request with Accept and book a mechanic help via Add material / help (€10.00).
Material: 5 l engine oil (€29.90) and waste oil disposal (€4.00), also via Add material / help.
Return: after 95 minutes (15 of them pause, so a time amount of €15.00) Start return; state Return check. The torque wrench is scanned and Take back is confirmed.
Deposit: Refund: €50. The till pays the balance out in cash.
Pay: Pay – the bill shows time €15.00, mechanic help €10.00, oil €29.90, disposal €4.00 and tool €3.00, together €61.90. Payment is taken at the normal till.
Close: Close – Bay 1 is Free again. Had a tool still been missing, DiKAS would have refused to close with “Closing is not possible yet:”.

Tips and pitfalls¶

Choose the customer when starting if a deposit is planned – it cannot be done afterwards.
Top up the balance before reserving. The rental workshop never takes cash itself and never pays any out.
Pay first, then close – otherwise the unpaid rental is only visible as a row on this device.
Do not change the time article while a rental is running. Tools charged by usage time also use the price at the time of return.
A pause does not replace a return: a paused clock does not free the bay.
A block does not stop a running rental and does not change appointments. Call the affected customers yourself.
New version of the agreement = new confirmation. Anyone who confirmed before and only starts afterwards has to confirm again.
Check the scan: “Not possible” names the reason and holder – the tool is then with another rental or blocked.
Answer requests in the job pass: otherwise they stay open and the customer waits.
The bay overview refreshes every ten seconds. With several devices a change may take a moment; Reload helps.

Limits¶

No overnight rental and no multi-day occupancy. The duration of an appointment, a waiting-list wish and a placement suggestion is limited to 24 hours at most.
No hour packages or time quotas (e.g. “buy 10 hours in advance”).
No mixed operation: the same bay cannot be rented out and used for a job order of the Workshop at the same time.
DiKAS sends nothing automatically. Neither the offer or refusal of the waiting list nor the text of the overrun notice is sent; calling, emailing or messaging is up to the business. Nothing is rebooked on its own either.
No photo on the tool and no self-service pickup by customers – the staff always carry out the issue.
The duration of a block is not recorded; the report therefore knows no downtime.
The standalone Android till app does not offer the rental workshop.

Next step¶

→ Setting up time articles – the tariff the bay time runs on