Equipment Booking/Reservation System

This has been asked before but I haven't seen a solid solution yet... I manage outdoor equipment inventory that can be reserved by employee's (things like tents, boots, etc) on a seasonal basis. I've already created a sheet that contains all available inventory there is to reserve, as well as a separate, basic reservation form (based off a reservation sheet) for employee's to fill out, but I'm looking to streamline the reservation process further:

1.) I'd like the reservation form to reflect available equipment accurately. Right now, equipment can be double-booked and I don't want that to happen.

2.) I do not know how to connect the equipment inventory sheet to the reservation sheet, which I imagine would help resolving issue 1 above.

3.) I'd like to limit employee's on the length they are able to reserve equipment for - 7 days out maximum from their initial reservation date.

4.) I'd like to have a smartsheet flow generate a simple "check in" email to inventory management staff when a reservation is up and the equipment has been returned - like a checkbox or something the management staff could click simply saying YES/NO if an item was returned - which would then tie back into the equipment availability sheet/form.

I haven't seen anywhere that such a system, solution, exists for smartsheet but am hoping against all odds I've overlooked something!

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Darren Mullen

@A_Number Some people accomplish this by having a list of available equipment on a dashboard that is updated with each reservation, but that can still be prone to error as it requires the requestor to check the dashboard for a list of available equipment.

What you are looking to do can be accomplished, but will require some add-ons or third party services to make it work as intended.

The best option that pops into my head immediately is using Appsheet to create a reservation form that would be able to do what you want. This would give you a near real-time update to the requestors for the available equipment and be able to calculate the reservation date limitation.

Another option is to use a dropdown list manager to update the available equipment on the form, but will have a little bit of a delay (up to 10 minutes).

Otherwise you could develop a custom interface and leverage the Smartsheet API. Being that what you are looking to accomplish isn't that complex this option may not be that unreasonable. Does you company happen to use Google workspace? I ask because Google App script can be used to do this pretty easily.

These are all a bit complex to get into with a community post, but if you wanted to learn more, drop me a line at:

https://www.smartsheetguru.com/contact/

A_Number

@Darren_Mullen Thank you for your recommendations. Unfortunately our business does not utilize Google workspace and I also unfortunately lack more advanced permissions in smartsheet to integrate the use of 3rd party apps to accomplish what I need. Who knew that setting up a reservation system would be so complicated, ha.

Andrée Starå

Hi @A_Number

I hope you're well and safe!

Have you explored the templates available in the Solution Center? You could use one as a starting point.

Would any of the templates work?

I hope that helps!

Be safe, and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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Darren Mullen

@A_Number Appsheet wouldn't require additional permissions, as long as you have Admin access to the sheets.

Same with most add-ons as long as your company approves the $

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