Vehicles¶
Info
You need the permission to view vehicles; to edit them, the one to manage them.
The organization's vehicles: what you have, who can book them, and which checks come with them.
If you use Odoo
The Odoo connector aligns the vehicles with the management system's fleet in both directions: records and bookings stay here, costs, maintenance and deadlines are over there.
With the Vehicle management module
If the organization uses the Vehicle management module, the Vehicles tab also shows the status, deadlines and faults of each vehicle, and the vehicle's card gains deadlines, maintenance, documents and costs: see Vehicle management.
Vehicle types¶
In the Vehicle types tab you define the categories: ambulance, medical car, minibus. They serve to organize the list and to filter. A vehicle type has a single field: the Name.
Adding a vehicle¶
In the Vehicles tab you add the vehicle and fill in the card.
| Field | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Vehicle ID | text, required | the name the vehicle is known by at the premises (Alfa 1, Ambulance 3): it is what appears in the shifts |
| License plate | text | the actual plate |
| EMMA vehicle code (118) | text | only with the AREU integration enabled: the code the dispatch centre uses for the vehicle (e.g. ARNBER_004.C), see 118 missions |
| Type | choice | the category, among the vehicle types |
| Description | long text | notes on the vehicle |
| Image | file | the photo that appears in the list |
| Checklist types | multiple choice | the checklists linked to the vehicle, see Checklists |
| Bookable | yes/no | volunteers can request the vehicle outside the shifts too. If no vehicle is bookable, the Vehicle bookings entry appears to nobody |
| Booking requires approval | yes/no | requests go through the staff who manage the vehicles; off, they are confirmed straight away |
| Restrict booking to groups | multiple choice | only members of the groups listed can book it. Empty = everyone |
Vehicle ID and License plate
Vehicle ID is required and is the only one of the two volunteers usually see: use the operational call sign, not the plate number.
Managing the bookings¶
In the To approve tab of Vehicle bookings you find the pending requests, with Vehicle, Requested by, When, Reason and Status.
For each you can Approve or Reject. If you reject, the app warns that whoever sent it will have to start over: if the problem is only the time, it is better to talk about it first.
Below the requests there is Upcoming bookings: the approved bookings that are not over yet, of everyone. Each one has the Edit and Cancel booking buttons.
In the Vehicle calendar you see the occupancy over time, telling apart Confirmed booking, Awaiting approval, Assigned to a shift and Out of service. Service shifts take priority over bookings: a vehicle committed to a shift cannot be booked in that slot. Tap a booking: the box that opens has the same Edit and Cancel booking buttons.
The Print button at the top downloads the PDF of the week you are looking at: one row per vehicle, with shifts and approved bookings. It is the sheet to leave in the garage.
Editing a booking¶
You need the permission to manage vehicles. You can edit any booking that is still in effect, yours or someone else's: pending or approved, as long as it is not over. On your own bookings you also find Edit in My bookings.
- Tap Edit on the booking, from Upcoming bookings or from the Vehicle calendar. Edit booking opens: the requester's name is under the title, and the fields are already filled in.
- Change Day, From and To, if needed.
- Tap Next.
- Choose the vehicle among the Vehicles free in this time slot. The current vehicle has a green check mark. Only the vehicles the requester is allowed to book appear.
- Adjust the Reason, if needed.
- Tap Save changes.
The booking keeps its status: if it was Approved it stays approved, with no new approval.
If the booking is someone else's, the app warns that the person who made the booking will be notified of the new details: they receive a notification with the new vehicle, day and times.
The same rules as for a new request apply: if the vehicle is already taken in that slot, the change does not go through and the app tells you why. If the booking has already started, you cannot move its start; you can still change the end, to extend or shorten it.
Cancelling a booking¶
You need the same permission, and it applies to the same bookings: pending or approved, not over yet, of anyone.
- Tap Cancel booking on the booking, from Upcoming bookings or from the Vehicle calendar. On your own bookings the button is called Withdraw booking.
- If the booking is someone else's, the app asks Do you want to cancel this booking? The person who made it will be notified.
- If you want to explain why, write it in Note for the requester (optional).
- Confirm.
The vehicle becomes free again. The requester receives the notification Your vehicle booking has been cancelled, with your note if you wrote one.
Volunteers cannot edit their own bookings: they can only withdraw them with Withdraw booking in My bookings. To change day, time or vehicle, they withdraw the booking and make a new one.
How the requests behave¶
AppToMe does the bulk of the work: what is left to you is the decision, not checking the fit.
- Volunteers are only offered free vehicles. The list excludes vehicles already booked, those assigned to a shift in the same slot and those out of service — the same sources that draw the Vehicle calendar. The calendar and the request form cannot tell different stories.
- Availability is checked again when you approve. If in the meantime the vehicle has ended up on a shift or another booking, the approval does not go through and it tells you. You do not risk confirming two commitments on the same vehicle, not even if two of you approve at the same moment.
- Assigning a vehicle to a shift cancels the pending requests on that slot, and the requesters receive the notification. Bookings already approved are not touched: it is a commitment you confirmed. If you really have to take the vehicle back, cancel the booking from Upcoming bookings or from the Vehicle calendar: the person is notified automatically, with your note if you write one.
- Requests left unanswered expire once the requested slot has passed, and the requester is warned. The queue does not clog up, but an expired request is still a service someone could not do: if you see many, the problem is the response time, not the tool.
Who sees what: a volunteer sees only their own bookings; whoever has the permission to manage vehicles sees everyone's and is among the recipients of the requests to approve.
When to remove the approval¶
Booking requires approval turned off means the request is confirmed instantly. It makes sense on common service vehicles — the minibus, the car for errands — where the first to ask takes it and there is nothing to assess. Keep it on where the choice of who drives what is a real decision.
Out of service¶
A vehicle that has broken down, is at the garage or is off the road after an accident must not end up on a shift or in a booking. Putting it out of service takes it out of everything that gets assigned from that moment on, for the period you set. What was already assigned stays where it is, and AppToMe warns whoever has to fix it.
You need the permission to manage vehicles. It also works on vehicles that come from Odoo, and it stays in AppToMe: it is not passed on to the management system.
With the Vehicle management module the out of service can also start on its own: from a maintenance entry with Out of service on, from a fault report or from an expired deadline with the automatic block. Everything below still applies; the only difference is that it is usually the maintenance or the renewal that ends it. See Automatic out of service.
Putting a vehicle out of service¶
- In the Vehicles tab tap the vehicle: Edit vehicle opens.
- Tap the gear and choose Put out of service.
- Choose the Reason.
- Check From date and From time: they are already filled in with the current moment. Change them if the stop is planned, for instance for next week's garage appointment.
- If you know when the vehicle comes back, fill in Until date and Until time. If you don't, leave them empty.
- Add a Note, if needed.
- Tap Save changes.
| Field | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Reason | choice, required | Breakdown (the default), Maintenance, Accident, Expired deadline, Failed checklist or Other. It appears next to the vehicle's status and in the Vehicle calendar |
| From date / From time | date and time, required | the start of the stop |
| Until date / Until time | date and time | the expected return. Leave empty if the return date is not known yet: the vehicle stays out of service until further notice, until you put it back in service yourself. With the day only, the return is at the start of that day (at 00:00) |
| Note | long text | the details for your colleagues: what is wrong, where the vehicle is |
On the return date the vehicle goes back in service on its own: you have nothing to do.
Editing or closing the out of service¶
As long as the stop is under way or planned, the vehicle's gear offers:
- Edit out of service — to change reason, dates or note. If you change the dates, the warnings go out again for the new period; if you only correct the reason or the note, they don't.
- Back in service — the vehicle is available again straight away, with no further questions. If the stop had not started yet, it is deleted. Putting a vehicle back in service sends no notifications.
A vehicle has only one open out of service at a time: while one is under way or planned, the gear does not offer Put out of service.
What changes¶
In the Vehicles tab the Status column tells you how each vehicle is doing, with the reason next to it:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| In service | no stop under way or planned |
| Out of service | stop under way, until further notice |
| Out of service until … | stop under way, with the day and time of return |
| Out of service from … | planned stop, not started yet: the label is yellow instead of pink |
Hovering the mouse over the label shows the note. On the phone the column is not there: the status appears under the vehicle's name.
With the Vehicle management module the Status column also takes deadlines and faults into account: see Vehicle status.
For the whole period of the stop:
- The vehicle is no longer among the free ones. In booking requests it does not appear among the Vehicles free in this time slot, nor in Edit booking.
- Pending requests on that vehicle cannot be approved. The check at approval time stops them.
- It cannot be added to a shift. Saving the shift stops, see Managing shifts. When you duplicate a shift or create a recurring series, the vehicle is left out of the copies.
- The Vehicle calendar shows it. The stop is a pink band, Out of service in the legend: tap it to read reason and note. A stop with no end runs to the edge of the week you are looking at.
What does not change¶
Shifts and bookings that already had the vehicle in the period of the stop stay as they are. AppToMe does not take the vehicle away from anyone: a crew must not find out at the last minute that it has been left without. Instead it warns:
- the vehicle managers, except whoever set the stop: they receive A vehicle is out of service, by email too, with reason, period, note, the shifts the vehicle is still assigned to (the first five) and how many bookings are affected. Tapping the notification opens the Vehicles tab;
- each requester with a Pending or Approved booking in the period: they receive The vehicle you booked is out of service, saying that the booking has not been cancelled.
Only shifts and bookings from now on count: the past generates no warnings.
Sorting it out is up to you:
- in the shifts, remove the stopped vehicle and assign another one. The shift can be edited as usual: the vehicle that was already there does not block saving;
- in the bookings, use Edit to move them to another vehicle or outside the period of the stop, or cancel them with Cancel booking and a note for the requester. As long as the booking stays on the stopped vehicle, no change goes through: not even correcting just the Reason.
If something goes wrong¶
The vehicle is out of service in this time slot — a booking, a change to it or its approval was refused because the vehicle is stopped in that period. Choose another vehicle or another slot, or cancel the booking. If the vehicle is in fact already available again, use Back in service.
The vehicle … is out of service (…) from … to … — you added to a shift a vehicle that is stopped in those hours; if the stop has no end, the message ends at from …. Choose another vehicle.
A vehicle does not appear among the free ones — look at the Status column: a planned stop too (Out of service from …) takes the vehicle out of the slots it touches, even before it starts.