bikes that need preparing... proposed feature
this article begins to outline the features that would allow a tighter integration between reservations and bike preparation.
Some businesses, notably downhill bike parks, need to ensure that all bikes are properly prepared and safety checked before they are unleashed on the trails! This is beyond the scope of the battery symbol that is incorporated into BRM.
if this sounds like your business - then join the discussion and help us make BRM even better!
let us know your thoughts / requirements.
There are three main requirements;
- What next? the mechanic needs to know what bikes to prepare for the next day based on reservations.
- 'maintenance debt'. you need to know how much 'servicing work' (maintenance debt) you are building up as you take reservations. e.g. imagine each time one of your bikes goes down your mountain it takes 30 mins to do a pre-ride check before it goes out again. Then if you book 40 bikes on Friday, that's 20 hours of work to be done before they can be rented again so you'd better make sure you have enough bikes on Saturday. (this is not standard availability due to bookings - but non-availability due to usage)
- transparency - which bikes are prepped, and which reservations are therefore ready?
1. What next? We would propose adding a 'tomorrow' button in mechanic section to allow mechanics to see what needs prepping for tomorrow:
2. maintenance debt. We would propose tracking this and allowing you to 'block' more bookings for a while until you have caught up on the debt.
3. transparency.
reservations: Perhaps there is a new reservation stage, 'prepped' after confirmed, before checked out?
bikes: perhaps each bike can be marked as 'prepped' for a specific reservation.