How to work a day pack
Audience: both — technicians run the pack from
/today, and dispatchers or admins watch the same panel when they cover a route.
The day pack is the trip preparation panel at the top of Today. It answers three questions before you leave. Which stops are on this trip. What has to be in the van. Where each item comes from. Ticking a line is a plan note, and it never moves stock. Stock moves when you check a tool out or use a part, which is the next step on the same row.
Prerequisites
- Your day has at least one appointment, and the appointment is on a ticket.
- Stock exists for the items the job needs, or a pick or dispatch rule points at the right item.
- For travel-aware grouping, set today's start point under Dispatch. Without one the pack still lists everything, and the start line says no start point is set instead of naming a place.
1. Read the trips
The pack splits the day into trips. A trip ends where you can restock, at the office or at your own van.
- Van pack — the trip runs site to site. Everything on the list should already be in the van, or come out of the first stop's stock.
- Collect at the office — the trip starts at the office, or the travel record says you return there between stops. Collect the trip's list before you roll. A later trip gets its own list.
Back-to-back site days stay one trip pack. If you tick only part of a multi-stop trip's consumables, the trip header warns how many units short the rest of the trip is.
2. Tick as you collect
Each line has a tick box on the left.
- A tick writes a plan note for you and today's date. Other people's packs are unaffected.
- A second click removes the note.
- Ticking does not change stock on hand. It does not check anything out. The availability chip stays visible, so you can see what is still missing.
The header counts the pack. Stops, lines to grab, lines collected.
3. Check out tools, use consumables
Every row carries the action that keeps the ledger honest.
- Check out (tools) opens the checkout form with the item, the source location, you as holder, and tomorrow's due date filled in. Confirm it, and the tool leaves the shelf through the normal checkout transaction.
- Use… (consumables) opens the parts form on the ticket with the item and quantity filled in. Choose the location the stock actually leaves, then record it. The consumption lands on the ticket as a movement.
The chip on the right of each row is the availability truth.
- Available — enough units where the row points.
- Partial: 2 of 4 — take what is there and collect the rest later.
- None available — the row names who has it and when it is due back.
- Not stocked — no stock records for the item yet. Create one under Stock or ask the stockroom.
4. Pin something from a ticket
Two ways an item lands on a pack.
- Pin to day pack on the ticket header. Pick the item, quantity, and a note. Pins show as chips on the ticket, so anyone can unpin them. Stockroom staff use the same button when they stage a job.
- Dispatch defaults — admins map a ticket type, category, or board to items or a whole kit under Settings → Toolboxes & day pack. Every matching ticket picks the mapping up automatically.
Open checklist tasks appear under the tickets too. When a task names a stock item, the pack matches it and treats it as a suggestion. Otherwise it stays a plain reminder with a Pin item shortcut.
5. Tomorrow, tonight
When tomorrow does not start at the office, the pack adds tomorrow's list under Tomorrow, so equipment rides home in the van and goes straight out again. Ticking a tomorrow line writes tomorrow's plan note, not today's.
If tomorrow starts at the office, the preview stays off. You will collect there in the morning. If no start point is set, the panel shows the list with a note saying it assumed the van goes home.
Troubleshooting
- The panel is missing. You have no scheduled stops today and no lines to collect. Book the job first.
- A job needs something the pack does not show. Pin it from the ticket, or add a dispatch default for its category.
- An item shows "Not stocked". The item exists but has no location levels or serial units. Receive stock first, then reopen Today.
- You cancelled a checkout. Ticking stays. The availability chip goes back to its old count on the next refresh.