Glossary
Plain-language definitions of the rental, stock and finance terms used throughout the Signals interface.
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Rentals
A rental has a state (what kind of document it is) and a status (where it is within that state). See Rentals.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Enquiry | The first state of a rental: a customer request you are still building up. Its only status is Unconfirmed. |
| Quote | The state in which you send prices to the customer. Statuses are Provisional, Reserved, Lost, Dead and Postponed. |
| Order | The state in which the equipment is committed to the customer. Statuses are Active, Dispatched, On Hire, Returned, Checked, Complete and Cancelled. |
| Unconfirmed | The status of an enquiry. It does not reduce availability. |
| Provisional | A quote that is not yet holding stock. It does not reduce availability. |
| Reserved | A quote that holds its stock. It reduces availability the same way a confirmed booking does. |
| Postponed | A quote on hold. It keeps claiming its stock until it is changed. |
| Lost, Dead | Quote statuses that end a quote without an order. Neither holds stock. |
| Active | A confirmed order that has not yet gone out. Its stock is committed. |
| Dispatched, On Hire, Returned, Checked | Order statuses that follow the equipment out and back. They come from dispatch, return and check evidence, so you cannot pick them by hand. |
| Complete | An order that is finished. |
| Cancelled | An order that was cancelled. It holds no stock. |
| Rental project | A group of related rentals, such as a multi-venue tour, with shared planning and costs. See Rental Projects. |
| Shortage | The gap between what a rental needs and what is free at its warehouse over its dates. Shortages are calculated each time you look, not stored. See Shortages. |
| Sub-hire | Renting equipment in from a supplier when your own stock cannot cover a shortage. It runs through purchase orders and virtual stock intakes. See Sub-Hire & Procurement. |
Stock
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Catalogue item | Anything that can be rented, sold or offered as a service. See Catalogue Items. |
| Asset | A physical record of stock you hold. See Assets. |
| Loose | A catalogue item tracked by quantity. One asset records the total held. |
| Barcoded | A catalogue item tracked unit by unit. Each unit has its own asset with its own asset number and serial number. |
| Availability | The quantity free to book at a warehouse at a point in time: total stock minus what is demanded. See Equipment Availability. |
| Flightcase | A container that groups barcoded assets into one dispatchable unit. It can be packed, sealed, dispatched, returned and repacked. See Flightcases & Kits. |
| Kit | A catalogue item built from other catalogue items. See Kit components. |
| Accessory | A catalogue item linked to a parent item because they usually go out together. See Accessories. |
| Repair | A hold that takes stock out of service until it is returned or written off. Held stock is not offered on new quotes. See Repairs. |
| Warehouse transfer | A movement of stock from one warehouse to another, tracked through dispatch, in transit and receipt. See Warehouse Transfers. |
| Stock check | A stocktake: counting a scoped set of stock and resolving the differences. See Stock Checks. |
| Equipment test | A recurring safety or maintenance check on an asset, such as a PAT test. See Equipment tests & Maintenance. |
Finance
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Invoice | The bill for a rental or project. It is created as a Draft and becomes Issued when you issue it. See Invoicing & Payments. |
| Standard, Deposit, Proforma | The three invoice types. Deposit and pro-forma documents do not create financial postings. |
| Draft | An invoice or credit note that has not taken effect yet. It has no financial posting. |
| Void | A cancelled document. |
| Posting | An immutable, balanced financial record created by an issued invoice, a payment or an allocation. A correction is a new document, never an edit. |
| Billing run | The period-end sweep that drafts invoices for many rentals at once, lets you resolve exceptions, and issues the ready ones. See Billing runs. |
| Credit note | A document that reduces what a customer owes on one invoice. It is not a refund. See Credit notes. |
| Payment | Money recorded against an issued invoice. Methods are Bank transfer, Card, Cash, Cheque and Other. See Payments. |
| Refund | A record that money from an earlier payment was returned. It does not send anything to the payment provider. |
| Settlement | A verified receipt from a payment provider, held before it is applied to an invoice. |
| Allocation | The part of a settlement applied to one invoice. |
| Write-off | A non-cash adjustment that removes part of an unpaid balance. It is kept separate from cash collected, and it can be reversed. |
| Outstanding | The balance still owed on an invoice. |
Operations
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Dispatch board | The day board of orders going out today. See Dispatch & Returns boards. |
| Returns board | The day board of orders due back today. |
| Scan console | The screen that turns a scanned barcode into an action, such as checking an item out or in. See Scan Console. |
| Approval | A decision requested by an approval chain, worked from the Approvals Inbox. See Approvals Inbox. |