Working with Parking – Section Three

In this lesson we will continue to discuss Working with Parking. Previously, you learned about Permit Allocation, Sales Window Management and Permit Searches and Permit Switches. We will continue to build on that knowledge now by talking about Releasing Permits, Proration, and Selling Permits and Access Cards.

Releasing a Permit

It is a fairly easy and straightforward process to release a permit back into the system so that it can be purchased. If an Admin knows the permit number they can quickly perform a permit search or they can go to the user profile of the person for whom you wish to release the permit and complete the process from there. In order to complete the release from the user profile, you should search the user’s name in the Quick Search field and click on the correct user. From the user dashboard, find the permit number you wish to release in the Active Permits section of the screen and click on the permit number and then click on the permit number again at the top of the next screen to go to the Permit Search screen. This is where you would arrive at if you had performed a permit search and where the correct permit number will be shown at the bottom of the page with the yellow Release button to the right. Click Release. It is advisable to leave a comment in order to track the reason the permit was released. Once you click Release this Permit, a pop up window will appear. Click OK to confirm the release. A confirmation will then be shown.

Permit Proration

Proration is a permission that can be given to an Admin user. It allows them to sell a permit to a user that is valid for a shorter portion of the active sales window and have the system adjust the cost of the permit accordingly.

Hover over the System Config menu and click on Manage Roles. Apply the Prorate Permit Purchases permission to whichever Admin User you wish to have this ability and click Save Permissions. To prorate a permit, search for a user and bring up their profile. On the user dashboard choose the Parking tab and then choose the permit for the lot the user wants to park in. From the Confirm Parking Permit Registration page, choose the permit number you wish to associate with this user and the permit start date. The cost will be adjusted accordingly and you will see a label of *prorated beside the permit total. Click on Purchase this Permit to continue.

The Payments Due window will display showing the prorated amount here as well. You can then click Proceed to Payment to complete the transaction.

Selling Permits

The Parking tab allows administrators to sell parking permits and associate access cards to users. When you click on the Parking tab from the user dashboard, the Manage Lots screen will open. From here you will be able to see the lot locations and types of permits available to sell in those lots. For a standard permit, click on the choice of permit for the appropriate lot and choose the permit number to issue to the user, view the total owing, and complete the purchase of the permit. Once you have clicked on Purchase this Permit you will be taken to the Payments Due page where you will see all outstanding amounts owed for permits, deposits, violations, etc. and can select which ones will be paid at this time and continue to Proceed to Payment. Once your user has paid for their permit, click on the History tab from the User Dashboard, choosing Parking and then Standard Permit Records, find the correct permit and click the printer icon.

For temporary permits, click on the permit for the appropriate lot, confirm the type of permit (all day or hourly), select start and end dates, and in the case of hourly, the appropriate hours the permit will be valid. You will then choose the vehicle that the permit will apply to, confirm the permit number and, if required, check the DNTT (Do Not Ticket or Tow) box and then Confirm this Permit. You will be taken to a confirmation page and once you have confirmed all of the details are correct you will click Purchase this Permit. The Payments Due page will appear and you can view and pay any or all outstanding amounts, as discussed above.

If there are no remaining permits in the chosen lot, you can click the Waiting List button to add the user to the waiting list for that lot. You will receive a pop up message to confirm that the user has been added to the waiting list and their ranking on the list. You may also receive notices to warn you of conflicts or issues with adding this user to the waiting list, such as: if the user already has a permit in the lot, if their name is already on the waiting list for that lot, that by moving to this particular waiting list they will be removed from the waiting list they are currently on, etc.

Temporary Permit and Hang Tag Printing

Temporary Permit Printing

To print temporary permits for your users, in Parking Management, hover over the Temporary Permits icon and click on Temp Permit Printing. On the screen that appears, click the Retrieve drop down button and select the permits that you want. Under Permit Lot, select the lot that you want. Enter the Start date as well as the Up To and Including date and then click on Retrieve. Select the checkbox for the permit you wish to print from the results and choose Print Selected Hang Tags.

Individual temp permits can also be printed in the user’s history by choosing Parking and then Temp Parking Permit Records, the correct permit number and selecting the printer icon.

Hang Tag Printing

Hang Tag Printing allows administrators to either print individual hang tags or print batches of hang tags.

In Parking Management, click on Hang Tag Printing to bring up the Vehicle Hang Tag Printing Screen. From here the Admin will choose the parameters around which to print such as Semester, Permit Lot, Distribution Method, Permit Number, and can choose to only include permits where the payment has been processed. Once Retrieve has been selected the results will show below the search criteria. From the results you can click on the user name to see an overview of the user or select to be taken to the user profile, or click on permit number to see parking permit information. You may notice some of your records have been highlighted. A yellow highlight indicates that the permit is paid by payroll deduction and the red highlight indicates missing information.

By selecting the checkboxes beside each user you can choose who you want to send hang tags to and the method, email or printing. You can choose to Select All for all users, Deselect All to clear all selections, Mark Items as Printed, or Do Not Print Date if you don’t want to include an expiry date on the permits being printed. Otherwise, select the users and then choose the expiry date to be printed on the hang tag and click Print Selected Hang Tags (or Email Selected in the case of emailing). If you have chosen to email a new screen will appear where you can see the user(s) being emailed, fill in the subject, type a body of text, add an attachment and send the email.

Making Permits Visible and Available

The setting to Show Only Visible Lots checkbox can be found under System Configuration – System Settings and then the Permits tab. With the checkbox left unchecked (or in the off position) all lots that are set to Visible on the Lot Administration page will show, as well as lots that are not set to be visible but have an active waiting list. With the box checked (or in the on position) only lots that are set as Visible on the Lot Administration page will show and non-visible lots will not show even if they have an active waiting list.

There are six factors that come into play when creating a lot for permit sales, that will determine if the lot is visible and available to the user when selecting lots to purchase permits for. The six factors are: 1) Lot creation as a visible lot; 2)Lot must not be a Temporary Only lot; 3) You must Allocate Permits to the lot; 4) You must create a Permit Allocation for the lots you want to be visible; 5) You must activate the Permit Allocation; and 6) the User Type must match the lot user type.

Training

Please follow along with OperationsCommander’s public training wiki here: https://wiki.ops-com.com/x/KQA8Gw for more detailed information.