Managing vehicle/driver reservation with eGroupware
Background
This article was written on 21-Dec-23.
I am tired of hearing staffs shouting asking for vehicle or sending Whatsapp messages in group outside office hour.
So I thought I should try to find an existing vehicle reservation app somewhere out there.
I found one using Joomla, but then it is the only function there. I thought I might need other functionality.
odoo also have resource management, but that would be too much.
So, there comes egroupware, it has resources management and other function which might be useful sometime in the future.
Precautions
There is no precaution at the time of this writing.
Prerequisites
eGroupware up and running.
Admin user credential.
Test user account.
Process
Set up (another) admin group for resource and calendar management.
From your admin console, right click on user group and select add group.
Most importantly allow access to admin console (and other application that we need).
Add resource categories
Try to login using one of the admin user and try to open resources “global categories”.
Add a new resource category.
I suggest to create resource categories based on limiting constraint. For example; if staffs are allowed to drive the vehicles themselves then you should create resource category for “vehicles”. But if company vehicles must be driven by assigned drivers, then create resource group for “drivers”.
The strange thing is you need to assign category owner to your default user group. Otherwise it will not be shown/accessible to users.
Provide access to the new resource categories by opening ACL console.
Double click on your new resource to set up access control list.
In general, give read permission to your staff group, write permission to your admin group and most importantly “direct booking permission” to your admin group.
Create your resource(s)
Give resource name and most importantly place it in your created category (as it affects permission).
Book your resource
Login using a test user and open the resource list.
Right click on the desired resource and either you want to see the calendar or directly book the resource.
On book resource page, you can still find the resource free time.
I am not explaining the logic, but I checked with my simulation and the logic is correct.
Booking conflict management
If you insist to book resource while it is already being booked, it will show message of conflict.
You can then re-edit your booking or search for resource freetime.
Resource Category calendar
Although it is possible to view resources category calendar, I could not imagine how it looks like if you have 10–20 resources.
It is just not useful.
That is why I think we have no choice but to look one by one at the resources.
But if you still want to see all resources in your calendar, add your resource group into the filter.
If you want to see each individual resources, you can also add them into your calendar filter.
Resource management
Let’s say your resource is not available for booking, what you can do are:
- Edit the resource and deactivate the “bookable” field
- or you can book your resources for certain days
Specify option “whole day” and select to “use end date”.
Alright, I think that should do for now. If you have other queries/concerns, feel free to comment.
Happy booking your vehicles!
