Overview

The Brightroad website lets customers find a car, book it and manage the booking online. Behind it, the staff area runs the rental business: the counter at each branch, the bookings, every car in the fleet, maintenance and repairs, incidents, transfers between branches, car sales, payments from customers and insurers, and reports.

Customers book a class (Economy, SUV, Minivan and so on), not a single car. The system holds a real car of that class at the chosen branch for the whole rental, with cleaning time between rentals, and staff hand over that car at the desk.

How the pieces fit together

Customers book on the website; each booking holds a car from the fleet; payments, insurer balances and costs feed the money pages and reports.

What is in this manual

Each person sees only the menu items their rights allow, and only the bookings, cars and transfers of their own branches. If a page in this manual is missing from your menu, ask a manager.

1. Getting Started

The staff area opens at /AdminLogin. Every public page also has a Staff sign in link at the bottom.

1.1 Signing in

1. Type your User name and Password and click Sign in.
2. The Dashboard opens. You stay signed in for 8 hours of use; Sign out at the top right ends it at once.

• A new person gets a temporary password from a manager. At the first sign-in the page asks for a New password twice (at least 8 characters), then signs in.
• After 6 wrong passwords for the same user name, sign-in pauses for a few minutes.
• Forgot your password? A manager can reset it on Staff.

1.2 Finding your way around

• Menu on the left, grouped as Rentals, Fleet, Money, Website and Admin, with My account at the end. Clicking an item changes only the right side of the screen; the menu stays where it is. The browser's Back and Forward buttons work as usual.
• Top bar: your name and job title, View site (opens the website in a new tab) and Sign out.
• Most pages open records in a window over the page. Close it with Cancel, Close, the cross, or the Esc key.
• A small message at the bottom of the screen confirms each save, for example Saved or Deleted.

1.3 Searching and paging lists

Lists show a page of records at a time with Previous and Next below, and the number of records found. The search box filters as you type; the drop-downs beside it narrow the list further, for example by status, branch or date. Changing a filter goes back to page 1.

• Searches ignore capital letters.
• On the Desk, a phone number matches by its digits, so 5551703 finds (541) 555-1703.

1.4 Confirmations and unsaved changes

Anything that deletes, cancels or cannot easily be undone asks first.

• The red button does the action; the other button steps back without changing anything.
• If you close a window or leave a page after typing in it, Leave without saving? appears. Keep editing takes you back to your changes.
• When the server refuses something, the reason is shown in plain words, for example Only a cancelled or no-show booking can be deleted. Refusals are also written to the Activity log.

1.5 On a phone

The staff area works on a phone or tablet. The menu folds behind the button at the top left, and lists turn into cards with the details stacked.

1.6 Who sees what

Nobody has a fixed role. A manager gives each person View, Add, Edit and Delete rights per menu item, and the branches they work at. Without View, the item is not in the menu; without Edit, forms open read-only and the buttons that change things are hidden. Rentals, fleet and payment pages show only the person's branches. See 21. Staff and Permissions.

2. Dashboard

The Dashboard is the first page after signing in. It shows today at a glance for your branches.

2.1 The tiles

Each tile is a number with a short note under it. Click a tile to open the list behind it. A tile turns red when its number needs attention.

Each tile shows only for people who can view the page it opens: customers owe needs Payments, insurers owe needs Insurers.

2.2 Today's lists and the fleet

• Pick-ups today and Returns today list the time, booking code, status, customer, class, car and branch. Open the desk goes to the Desk.
• Fleet by branch counts the cars of each branch by status.
• Recent activity shows the latest changes; Activity log opens the full log.

2.3 Quick actions

The buttons at the bottom start common jobs: New booking, Plan a transfer, Calendar, Edit the website, Reports and Change rates. Each shows only if you have the right for it.

3. Desk

The Desk is the counter of one branch on one day: hand cars over, take them back, answer extension requests and mark no-shows.

3.1 The four lists

Choose the branch and the day at the top (Today jumps back to today). The tabs show how many bookings each list holds:

The search box finds a booking by code, name, email or phone. Ten bookings show per page. Overdue cars and late pick-ups are marked in red. New walk-in booking opens a new booking on Bookings.

3.2 Checking a car out

The window shows the customer, licence, age at pick-up, branch, class, dates, extras, coverage and who pays, with the price and balance on the right.

1. Car handed over: the car held for the booking is chosen. You can pick another free car of the same class instead.
2. Inspection before the rental: the Mileage (it cannot be lower than the car's last reading), the Fuel in eighths of a tank, and the condition of the eight panels: front, rear, left side, right side, roof, windscreen, wheels and interior. Add Notes and up to 8 Photos from the media library or your device.
3. Payment: what the customer pays now and how (card, cash, bank transfer, check or other). The amount starts at the customer's share still owed.
4. Tick I checked the driver's licence and it matches.
5. Click Hand over the car. The booking becomes Picked up, the car On rent, and the payment is recorded on Payments.

3.3 Checking a car in

The window shows the check-out record beside the return, so changes are easy to spot.

1. Inspection at return: Returned at (now, or earlier if the car came back earlier), Mileage, Fuel, the eight panels, notes and photos.
2. Charges: tick Needs extra cleaning if needed. Enter a Damage charge and What was damaged. Tick Send the car to repair instead of cleaning to open a repair record for it; with a damage charge the car always goes to repair.
3. Click Work out the charges. The return charges are added to the price and the payment amount updates.
4. Enter the Payment from the customer now and the method, then click Take the car back.

After check-in the booking is Returned and the car goes to Cleaning for the cleaning time, then back to Available, or straight to Repair. Return charges are always the customer's share, even when an insurer pays the rental.

3.4 Extensions and requests

Extend (or Review request when the customer asked online) opens the booking with a New return time and a Note for the record.

1. Click Check the new time. The answer says whether the same car is free, whether the next booking on the car can move to another car of the class, or that the extension is not possible. It shows the new price before anything changes.
2. Click Confirm the extension. The booking becomes Extended and the customer is emailed the new return time and estimated total.
3. For a customer request you cannot grant, click Decline the request. The customer is emailed to return the car at the original time.

3.5 No-shows

Once the pick-up time has passed, No-show asks for confirmation and marks the booking No-show. The car is released for other bookings.

4. Bookings

Every booking at your branches, from the website and from the desk.

4.1 The list

Each row shows the booking code and customer, the class and car, pick-up, return, status and total. Search by code, name, email, phone or plate. The filters narrow the list:

Beside the status filter, choose a branch and a pick-up date range.

A booking starts Reserved, becomes Picked up at check-out, Extended if the return moves later, and Returned at check-in. It can be cancelled before pick-up, or marked a no-show after the pick-up time.

4.2 Opening a booking

Click a row to open the booking.

• Left: the customer, contact, licence, age at pick-up, branch, class, car, pick-up and return, extras, coverage, how it was booked, and who pays.
• Right: the price, with the rental, extras, return charges and tax. When an insurer pays, it shows the insurer's share, the customer's share, what each has paid and each balance.
• Inspections: the check-out and check-in side by side: time, mileage, fuel, each panel, notes and photos.
• Extensions and Payments made on the booking, each payment with a link to it on Payments.

4.3 Making a booking

1. Click New booking (or New walk-in booking on the Desk).
2. Choose the Branch, Class, Pick-up and Return. The price on the right updates and says whether a car of the class is free for those times.
3. Enter the Driver: first and last name, email, phone, driver's licence number, where it was issued and date of birth.
4. Choose Extras and coverage: how many of each extra, and basic or full coverage.
5. Choose Who pays (below).
6. Leave Email the confirmation to the customer ticked to send the booking code by email. Add a staff note if needed.
7. Click Book. The booking gets its code and holds a car.

4.4 Who pays

• The customer pays everything: the usual case.
• An insurer pays the rental: for replacement cars after an accident. Choose the Insurer, enter the Claim number, and tick The insurer also pays the extras if agreed.

The insurer pays the rental up to its daily limit for each day, plus the extras when agreed, with tax. The customer pays the rest and every return charge. The quote shows both shares before you save. Insurers are set up on Insurers; see 15.3 How a bill splits.

5. Calendar

The Calendar shows one month at a time, so you can see where the cars are busy before you promise one.

5.1 By branch and class

Choose the month and the branch. Each row is a class and each column a day; the number is how many cars of the class are free that day. Low numbers are marked in amber and red, and today is highlighted.

Choose a class in the second drop-down to see every car of the class across the month, with each booking drawn as a bar with its code. The last row counts the free cars.

Point at a mark to see the booking or the reason.

5.2 One car

One car shows a single car's month: its rentals, services, repairs, holds and transfers, day by day.

6. Fleet

Every car with its status and flags.

6.1 Statuses and flags

Statuses change through actions on other pages: bookings, check-out, check-in, maintenance, repairs, incidents, transfers and sales. By hand you can only put a car on hold or mark it ready, always with a reason.

A car is Available, Reserved for a booking, On rent, then Cleaning before it is Available again. Maintenance, Repair, In transfer and Hold take it off the road for a while; Stolen and Sold take it out of the fleet.

The tiles above the list count the cars by status; click one to filter. Filter also by branch, class, status and flag, or search by plate, VIN, make or model.

6.2 A car's details and history

Click a car to open it.

• The top line shows the status, since when, the branch and the fuel level.
• Change status by hand: enter a Reason (required) and, if you like, Hold until, then Put on hold. A held car is not offered for new bookings. Mark ready puts it back to Available, again with a reason.
• The details: plate, VIN (17 characters), colour, make, model, year, class, home branch, mileage, fuel now, next service at (miles), registration due, purchase date, purchase cost and a staff note. To move the car to another branch, plan a transfer.
• Below the form, Bookings on this car and Service, repairs and incidents list the car's history.
• Buttons at the bottom: Save, Plan a service, Open a repair, Report an incident, Sell this car and Delete.

6.3 Adding and deleting cars

Add a car opens an empty form. Choose the class and home branch, fill in the details and save. The car is Available at once.

A car with bookings or transfers in its records cannot be deleted: ... has bookings or transfers in its records, so it cannot be deleted. Put it on hold instead. To take a car out of the fleet for good, sell it.

7. Maintenance

Plan services ahead. A planned service takes the car out of the booking calendar for its time window, and bookings on the car move to another car of the class first.

7.1 Planning a service

1. Click Plan a service (or Plan a service in a car's window).
2. Choose the Car and the Service: scheduled service, oil and filter, tires, brakes, registration and inspection, detailing or other.
3. Enter the Shop or technician, when it Starts and when the Car back by, and any notes.
4. Click Plan. If a booking on the car cannot move to another car, the service is refused with the booking named; choose another time.

7.2 Starting and finishing

• Start now puts the car in Maintenance.
• Mark done asks for the Mileage at the end and the Cost. The car goes back to Available, unless it also has an open repair. After a scheduled service or an oil change, the car's next service is set to the mileage plus the interval in Settings.
• Cancel service frees the time window.

Filter the list by Planned and in progress, Done, Cancelled or All services. Cars due soon lists the cars near their next service mileage or registration date, so you can plan them.

8. Repairs

A car with an open repair is off the road. With a Ready by time, it can be booked again from then on.

8.1 Opening a repair

A repair is opened in one of three ways: Open a repair here, the same button in a car's window, or automatically at a check-in with damage (see 3.3 Checking a car in). A repair opened at check-in shows the booking and the damage charged.

Fill in the Car, What needs fixing, the Shop, an Estimate and, if known, Ready by.

8.2 Stages

Repair costs appear per car in Reports.

9. Incidents

Thefts, accidents, vandalism, breakdowns, traffic tickets and lost keys, with the police report.

9.1 Reporting an incident

1. Click Report an incident.
2. Choose the Car and the kind: stolen, accident, vandalism, breakdown, traffic ticket, lost key or other.
3. Enter When (not in the future), Where and What happened, the Police report number and Police department, and add photos.
4. Save. If the car was on rent at that time, the booking is linked to the incident.

9.2 Stolen cars and recovery

• A stolen car leaves the fleet at once: its status becomes Stolen, a rental on it ends, and its future bookings move to other cars of the class.
• When the car is found, enter Recovered at and Brought to (the branch) and click Mark recovered. The car goes to Repairs for a check before it is rented again.
• A damaged car from an accident or vandalism goes to Repairs.
• Close incident when it is settled; Reopen if needed.

10. Transfers

Move cars between branches. A planned car stays bookable at its branch until it leaves, and counts at the new branch from its arrival time.

10.1 Planning a transfer

1. Click Plan a transfer.
2. Choose the Car, the To branch, when it Leaves at and Arrives at, and a Note (driver, reason).
3. Click Plan transfer. Bookings on the car from the time it leaves move to other cars of the same class first; if one cannot move, the transfer is refused.

10.2 On the day

• Left now marks the car In transit; it is in neither branch.
• Arrived now moves the car to its new home branch and makes it Available there.
• Cancel stops a planned transfer.

Filter by Planned and in transit, Planned, In transit, Arrived or Cancelled, and by branch.

11. Car Sales

Sell a car out of the fleet. Bookings on it from the sale date move to other cars first; if one cannot move, the sale waits. A sold car keeps its history.

11.1 Selling a car

1. Click Sell a car (or Sell this car in a car's window).
2. Enter the Sale date (not before the purchase date), Price, Mileage at sale, Buyer and the buyer's phone or email.
3. Save. The car becomes Sold and leaves the booking calendar; its planned services and transfers are cancelled.

Cars on rent or in transfer cannot be sold until they are back. The tiles show the cars sold this year, the total of the sales, and the gain or loss against the purchase costs.

11.2 Undoing a sale

Open the sale and click Undo the sale. The sale record is removed and the car returns to the fleet on hold, with the note Sale undone, check the car. Mark it ready on Fleet when it can be rented.

12. Branches

Where customers pick up and return cars. Each car has a home branch, and each booking starts and ends at one branch.

12.1 Adding or changing a branch

• Branch name, Phone, Street address, City, State, ZIP code and Email.
• Opening hours, one line per row, for example Mon to Fri: 7 am to 7 pm.
• Directions or note for customers: where to find the counter. It shows on the Branches page.
• Picture from the media library.

The list shows each branch's phone, cars, active bookings and whether it is open.

12.2 Closing a branch

Close this branch hides it from the website and from new bookings. Its records stay. Open it again the same way.

A branch with cars, bookings or transfers in its records cannot be deleted; close it instead.

13. Classes and Rates

Customers book a class, not a single car. Each class has its rates, deposit and description. The order here is the order on the website.

13.1 Adding or changing a class

• Class name and Example models, shown as Sorrel Ridgeback or similar.
• Summary (one or two sentences), Features (one per line, up to 8) and a Picture.
• Seats, Doors, Large bags, Transmission and Fuel.
• Show on the website and take bookings: untick to hide a class without deleting it.

13.2 How a rental is priced

Rental days are counted in 24 hours from the pick-up time. Extras are added per day, then sales tax. The mileage allowance, extra-mile price and other return charges come from Settings.

A new rate applies to new bookings and to bookings that are changed; the price of an existing booking does not change by itself.

13.3 Order and deleting

Use the arrows in the list to move a class up or down; the website follows. A class with cars or bookings in its records cannot be deleted; hide it instead.

14. Extras

Child seats, GPS units, additional drivers and coverage options that customers add to a booking.

14.1 Adding or changing an extra

• Name and Short description for customers.
• Kind: Item with stock (counted per branch, for example child seats), Service (for example an additional driver) or Coverage option (for example full coverage).
• Price per day and Most per booking.
• For an item with stock, the Stock at each branch. Bookings can only take as many as are free at their branch for their dates.
• Offer on the website: untick to stop offering it.

An extra used by an active booking cannot be deleted; stop offering it instead.

15. Payments

Every payment and refund, from customers and insurers. Desk payments at check-out and check-in appear here on their own; record anything else here, such as an insurer's bank transfer or a refund.

15.1 The list

The list starts with this month. Change the dates, choose Customers or Insurers, a method and a branch, or search by booking code, name or reference. The tiles add up what was received, refunded, the net and the number of payments for the filters chosen. Refunds show in red with a minus sign.

Delete removes a payment entered by mistake, after a confirmation. The booking's balance goes back up.

15.2 Recording a payment or refund

1. Click Record a payment, type the Booking code and click Find the booking. The booking's price, both shares, what has been paid and the balances appear.
2. Choose who Paid by: Customer or Insurer. If only the insurer still owes, Insurer is chosen for you. The amount starts at what that payer still owes.
3. Choose the Method: card, cash, bank transfer, check or other.
4. For money paid back, tick This is a refund (money paid back). A refund cannot be more than was paid.
5. Set the Date and time, a Reference (receipt, transfer or check number) and a note, and click Record.

Opening Record a payment or refund from a booking fills in its code for you.

15.3 How a bill splits

The customer pays the whole bill unless an insurer pays. Then the insurer pays the rental up to its daily limit for each day, and the extras when agreed, with tax; the customer pays the rest.

Every booking shows the total, each share, what each payer has paid and what each still owes. The Dashboard adds up what customers and insurers owe.

16. Insurers

Insurance companies that pay for replacement rentals. Choose one on a booking under Who pays.

16.1 Adding or changing an insurer

• Company name, Contact person, Phone, Email for statements and Address.
• Pays within (days): the payment terms. A rental is due this many days after its return.
• Daily limit for the rental: the most the insurer pays per rental day; 0 means no limit.
• Usually pays the extras too: ticks the extras box on new bookings for this insurer.
• Active: can be chosen on new bookings. Untick for an insurer you no longer work with; its records stay.

The list shows each insurer's terms and limit, how many rentals it has and what it owes now. An insurer with bookings or payments cannot be deleted; mark it inactive instead.

16.2 The statement

Below the form, the Statement lists the insurer's rentals: booking and customer, claim number, rental dates, status, the insurer's share, what it paid and what it still owes, with the due date from its terms. Overdue amounts are marked. Print the statement opens a clean copy to print or save as PDF and send to the insurer.

16.3 Recording what an insurer paid

1. In Record a payment from ..., enter the Amount, the Method (usually bank transfer) and the Reference.
2. Click Record payment. The amount pays the oldest open rentals first, one payment on each booking, until it is used up.

This needs the right to add payments. Each part shows on Payments and on its booking.

17. Reports

Revenue, use of the fleet, costs and balances for any period and branch. Revenue counts rentals returned in the period, before tax unless a column says otherwise.

17.1 Choosing the period

Set the dates, or click This month, Last month or This year, and choose a branch. The report opens on the first day of last month up to today.

17.2 The figures

17.3 The tables and downloads

• Revenue by branch: rentals, days, rental, extras, charges, before tax, tax, total and time on rent.
• Revenue by class: rentals, days, revenue, per rental day and time on rent.
• Revenue by car: each car's rentals, days, time on rent, revenue, service and repair costs, and net. A negative net is shown in red.
• Return charges by kind, and Payments received by payer and method.
• Open balances today: each booking with money owed, by customer and insurer.
• Rentals returned: every rental of the period with who paid.

Download beside a table saves it as a CSV file that opens in any spreadsheet.

18. Pages

The Pages editor changes the public pages in place. Each page is a stack of blocks, in the order they appear on the website. Changes go live when you save.

18.1 Choosing a page

The buttons above the blocks pick the page: Home, Fleet, Branches, Rental policies and Contact. The vehicle class pages, search results, booking and manage pages are built from your data and are not edited here.

When you have changed something, a note beside the buttons says so. Switching to another page then asks Leave without saving?; stay and save first.

18.2 Changing text

1. Click the text you want to change, for example a title or a paragraph, and type.
2. In paragraphs, the small toolbar has Bold, Italic, Link, List and Clear. For a link, select the words first; the box asks for a page name such as Contact or a full address starting with https://.
3. Buttons have two boxes: the button text and where it goes, for example Fleet.
4. Click Save page. The page is live on the website at once.

18.3 Pictures and the Home slideshow

Click a picture in a block, or an empty picture box, to open the media library picker. Click a picture to use it; search at the top, or Upload new to add a file from your computer. The picker shows 12 pictures at a time with Previous and Next.

Under a chosen picture, Change opens the picker again and Remove empties the box. The file itself stays in the media library.

The top of the Home page is a slideshow. The picture in the Page top block is the first slide; the Slides list below it holds the others. Click + Add a slide, choose a photo and type a caption; use the arrows under a slide to change the order. The pictures change every few seconds, and visitors can step through them with the arrows and dots.

18.4 Moving, hiding and adding blocks

Below the last block, Add a block lists the kinds: Page top, Text, Picture and text, Cards, Steps, Numbers, People, Questions, Picture or video, and Call to action. Click one and it appears at the end of the page; move it into place and fill it in.

18.5 Blocks that come from your data

Some blocks show records kept on other staff pages. They can be moved, retitled or hidden, but not removed.

18.6 Saving, viewing and earlier versions

• Save page makes the page live right away.
• View page opens the page on the website. Save first to see your changes there.
• Versions lists the last five saved versions of the page, with who saved each and when. Restore brings one back and makes it live at once; the version you replaced stays in the list.

19. Media Library

Every picture and video on the website comes from the media library. Pages, branches, vehicle classes, inspections and incidents all pick from it rather than uploading their own copies.

19.1 Uploading photos and videos

1. Click Upload photos or videos and choose one or more files, up to 20 at a time.
2. Wait for the line that says how many files were added. New files appear first, on page 1.

The library checks what each file really contains, not just its name. A file that is the wrong kind or too big is left out with a short reason; the others are still added.

19.2 Finding a file

The newest files come first, 12 to a page, with numbered page buttons and Previous and Next under the grid. All, Photos and Videos narrow the list, and the search box looks in the name, the description and the caption. Each tile shows the kind, the size and how often the file is used.

19.3 Describing, replacing and deleting

Click a picture or Edit to open it.

• Name: the file's name in the library.
• Description for screen readers (alt text): what the picture shows, in a few words. It is read aloud to visitors who cannot see the picture.
• Caption (optional): shown in the corner when this picture is the first slide of the Home slideshow.
• Used in lists every place that shows the file.
• Replace the file: choose a new photo (or video) and it takes the place of the old one everywhere: File replaced everywhere it is used.

A file that is still used cannot be deleted; the message says where it is used. Choose another picture in those places, or replace the file instead. An unused file is deleted after a confirmation, for good.

20. Messages

Questions sent from the Contact page. Mark each one so everyone at the desk knows where it stands.

20.1 Statuses

The buttons above the list filter by status and show how many messages each holds. Search by name, email or message.

20.2 Opening and answering

1. Click a message. The window shows who sent it, email, phone, branch, when it arrived, the booking code if they gave one, and the message.
2. Click Reply by email to write back from your email program.
3. Click the status button Replied once you have answered, and Archived when it needs no more attention. Delete removes a message after a confirmation.

If an address is set in Settings and email is set up, each new message is also emailed there.

21. Staff and Permissions

Nobody has a fixed role. Each person gets View, Add, Edit and Delete rights per area and the branches they work at. Common combinations are saved as permission sets.

21.1 How rights work

A manager can do everything at every branch. Anyone else has rights per area, ticked by View, Add, Edit and Delete, and a list of branches. The menu, the buttons and the records follow those rights.

• Ticking Add, Edit or Delete ticks View too. Unticking View clears the row.
• Some areas have fewer actions. For example, Desk has View and Edit (edit means check-out, check-in, extensions and no-shows); Calendar, Reports and the Activity log are View only; Messages has View, Edit and Delete.
• Areas marked Limited to the person's branches show only the bookings, cars, transfers and payments of their branches.
• Every refused request is written to the Activity log, so a missing right is easy to find.

21.2 Adding a person

1. Click Add a staff member.
2. Enter the Full name, a User name (3 to 30 small letters, numbers, dots, dashes or underscores; it cannot be changed later) and the Job title. Email and phone are optional.
3. Leave Can sign in ticked. Tick Manager only for people who should have full access to every area and branch; only a manager can give it.
4. Under Rights by area, choose a permission set in Start from a permission set, then adjust the boxes. Changing a box makes the rights Custom.
5. Under Branches, choose All branches, including new ones, or Only these branches and tick them.
6. Click Add and make a temporary password. The password is shown once: give it to the person with the user name. At their first sign-in they choose their own.

21.3 Permission sets

The Permission sets tab holds named combinations of rights, for example Rental agent, Branch lead, Fleet technician, Accountant and Website editor. The list shows how many areas each covers and how many people use it.

When a set is changed, everyone using it gets the new rights at once. People whose boxes were changed by hand are Custom and keep their own rights. Deleting a set leaves the people who used it with the same rights, marked Custom.

21.4 Passwords, pausing and removing people

• Reset password makes a new temporary password, shows it once and signs the person out everywhere. They choose a new password at the next sign-in.
• Untick Can sign in to stop someone signing in without deleting them; they are signed out at once. Their name stays on the records they made.
• Delete removes a person after a confirmation. You cannot delete your own account, and only a manager can delete or change a manager.
• At least one active manager must remain: the last manager cannot be removed, made a non-manager or stopped from signing in.
• On your own account, unticking Can sign in or Manager asks first. Turning off your own sign-in signs you out; removing your own manager access reloads the page with your new rights.

22. Settings

Company facts shown on the website and in emails, and the rules every booking and return follows.

22.1 The company

Short name (used in the header and in titles), Full name (used in the footer and in emails), Tagline, Main phone and Main email. The short name is what {name} shows in page text.

22.2 Booking rules

22.3 Return charges

22.4 Maintenance

Miles between scheduled services sets the next service mileage when a scheduled service or an oil change is marked done.

22.5 Messages and email

Send a copy of each new booking and message to: an email address for the office. The Email panel shows whether mail is set up. Customers get booking, cancellation and extension emails only when it is; see 26.3 Email.

Click Save settings. Changes apply to new bookings and returns at once.

23. Activity Log

Every change made in the staff area, and every request that was refused. The newest 5,000 entries are kept.

Each row shows when, who, the action (for example check out, extend booking, edit staff), the record and the result: Done, or Refused with the reason. Search by person, action or record, and choose Done and refused, Done or Refused.

24. My Account

Your own staff account, at the end of the menu for everyone.

• Profile: change your Full name, Job title, Email and Phone, then Save profile. Your name and title at the top of the page update at once.
• Your access: your user name, branches and the rights you have in each area. A manager changes these on Staff.
• Change password: your current password, then the new one twice (at least 8 characters). Changing it signs you out of other browsers.

25. The Public Website

What customers see, and where each part is edited.

25.1 The pages

25.2 A customer's booking

1. The customer chooses a branch, pick-up and return and clicks Find a car.
2. Search results show each class with the price for the whole rental before tax, extras and coverage. A class with no free car shows Not available for these dates.
3. On Book, they add extras and coverage, enter the driver and licence, and agree to the rental policies. The price on the right updates as they go.
4. Confirm the booking gives a booking code on screen and by email. Nothing is charged online; they pay at pick-up.

The booking appears at once on Bookings and on the Desk for its day, holding a car of the class.

25.3 Managing a booking online

• On Manage booking, the customer enters the booking code and the email they booked with, and clicks Open booking.
• Cancel this booking works until the free-cancellation time in Settings; after that they call the branch.
• Need the car longer? asks for a later return time with a note (rentals can be up to 60 days). The request appears under Extension requests on the Desk, and the customer is emailed the answer.
• When an insurer pays, the page shows the customer's own share.

25.4 The Contact page

Visitors send Your name, Email, Phone (optional), Branch, Booking code (if you have one) and How can we help?. Each message arrives in Messages as New.

26. Installing and Going Live

For the person who installs and runs the site.

26.1 Starting the site

1. The site needs the .NET 10 runtime. Publish it to your server or run it with dotnet run.
2. In appConfig/application.cfg, set app.app.runmode | 1 (Production).
3. Make sure the site can write to data/, images/uploads/, temp/ and logs/.
4. Open /AdminLogin. On the first start in Production, the site clears the records that came with it (bookings, inspections, extensions, transfers, cars, services, repairs, incidents, sales, payments, insurers, messages, the activity log and staff), keeps branches, classes, extras, pages, settings, permission sets and media, writes data/initialized.txt and creates the manager account. This happens once.

26.2 The first sign-in

1. On the computer the site runs on, open /AdminLogin. The page shows the user name admin and a password made for this site. It is shown only on that computer, and is also in appConfig/initial-admin.txt.
2. Sign in with them. The page asks you to choose your own password (at least 8 characters, twice) and click Save and sign in.
3. The one-time password and the file are gone. Change the name and title on My account.

26.3 Email

Fill in app.mail.server, app.mail.port, app.mail.addr, app.mail.id and app.mail.password in appConfig/application.cfg. Until then, nothing is emailed, but every booking and message is still saved. The Email panel on Settings shows whether mail is ready.

26.4 Going-live checklist

1. Settings: company names, phone, email, tax, booking rules and return charges.
2. Branches: your branches with addresses, hours and pictures.
3. Classes and rates: your classes, rates, deposits and pictures, in website order.
4. Extras: prices and the stock at each branch.
5. Fleet: every car with its plate, mileage, next service and registration date.
6. Insurers: the companies you work with, their terms and daily limits.
7. Staff: your people, their rights and branches; give each their temporary password.
8. Pages and Media library: your own words and photos.
9. Email: the mail settings, then a test booking from the website.

26.5 Data and backups

Every record is kept in JSON files in data/, one per kind (branches, classes, cars, bookings, payments and so on), and uploaded files in images/uploads/. Back up both folders regularly; copying them back restores the site.