Working with Parking – Section Two

Permit Management using ParkAdmin, Continued

In this lesson we will continue to discuss Working with Parking. Previously, you learned about Developing a Parking Plan, Creating your Lots, and Using Pricing and Lot Admin. We will continue to build on that knowledge now by talking about Permit Allocation, Sales Window Management and Working with Permits.

Permit Allocation

This lesson describes the process of adding permits to lots. Permits can be added individually or in bulk. You will want to ensure that you do some pre-planning for lot and permit setup to ensure that you have room for future growth.  LOT PLANNING WORKSHEET???

To access the Permit Allocation section you will again go to Parking Management then use the Lot Administration dropdown and then click on Allocate. Once you have located the lot you wish to manage, click on the Add Permits to Lot button to the right of the lot. The Add Permits to Lot utility will appear asking you to specify the permits that you wish to add to the lot or to enter a permit range. When you are done, click Add Permits. A confirmation screen will appear, you will then need to click Add Permits again to verify. You will receive a pop up message confirming the changes have been made.

Sales Window Management

The Sales Window feature allows the admin to configure when permits go on sale and what time frames the permits are valid. There are three important parameters that need to be set in this process: when the permits will be available to purchase, what date the permit becomes valid, and what date the permit expires.

Adding a New Sales Window

Let’s begin to guide you through the process of setting these dates and making the Sales Window active. To create a new sales window, choose Permits and then navigate to Sales Windows. This will open the Manage Permit Sales Windows screen. From here you will click Add Sale Window which will open another window where you will complete information about the name, type, sale start date, active start date and sale/active end date, as well as the colour you would like displayed in relation to this sales window. When complete, click Save Changes. The new sales window will now appear in the list of possible sales windows.

Activating the Sales Window

Once the sales window has been configured it needs to be made active. To do so, find the new sales window you just created in the list of possible sales windows from above. On the same line as the new sales window will be the title of Active. Click the dropdown arrow to switch the sales window to active (or inactive, as needed).

When to Activate a Sales Window

A sales window can be activated well in advance of it’s set start date. For example, once the initial sales for a yearly sales period dies down, an admin can set up and activate the following year’s sales window. It will only come into effect once the Sale Start Date is reached. Additionally, permits bought in the sales window will only become valid as of the Active Start Date.

Working with Permits

Permit Search

Permit Search allows you to search different lots to view information about the permits that have been registered to people. Under Parking Management, click on Permit Search and enter your search criteria. You have the option to include archived permit data or to include only active permits by selecting the correct checkbox. Once you have chosen your criteria and checked the boxes, if required, click the Search button to be presented with the requested information. From this new view you are able to send emails to permit users, generate a mailing list or generate a status report. The information on the screen can also be copied, exported to .csv, Excel or .pdf, or it can be printed.

Permit Search Links

You are able to access and edit more information on the search results screen through the use of the following selections. The Clock icon, when clicked, displays the Permit History screen which shows the entire permit history and links to the permit details and transaction history for that specific permit. If the permit has been rented by more than one user, you will see more than one user listed here. The Availability column indicates whether or not that specific permit is visible on the user side. The Renewability column allows the particular permit to be renewed or not, depending on if the checkbox has been chosen or not. The Usage State displays if a user has requested, reserved, or rented the permit with a link to view/edit their profile and a link to email the specific user. (Requested is when a user has selected an item but has not yet selected how it will be paid for, reserved is when there is an associated unprocessed payment (promise to pay; eg. cheque), and rented is when the payment is processed and linked to a processed payment). From the Usage State you can also release a permit to disassociate it from a user and allow it to be resold or you can do a Permit Switch which allows administrators to change the permit number associated with a user. We will discuss the Permit Switch functionality in more detail below.

Permit Search Counts

When viewing your permits either in Permit Search or the listing in Permit Allocate there is a legend across the top that indicates a count for various states of permits in the lot. Total Permits indicates the total found by the search. Requested indicates that the state is good, the payment is null and there is a user associated with the permit. Rented/Reserved shows that the state is good and that there is a payment associated (although the payment doesn’t have to be processed). Visible to User indicates that the state is good, the lot and permit is visible and no user is associated. Visible to Admins shows the state is good, the lot or permit is hidden and no user is associated. (There’s an option that is available that may show another number under Visible to Admins and that is that the state is good, the lot or permit is hidden, and that a user is associated. Lastly, Unavailable indicates that the status is not good or valid or usable.

Training

Please see below for quick video presentations on topics discussed in this lesson. Alternatively, you can follow along with OperationsCommander’s public training wiki here: https://wiki.ops-com.com/x/KQA8Gw.