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Release: pickup & return with counter readings, QR quick entry, and a logbook
Dispoly TeamReleases
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Until now Dispoly knew who booked a resource and when. The odometer reading when the van left the yard, whether it came back with a full tank, and who ended up driving it lived in a notebook in the glove box, in an Excel sheet, or nowhere. This release brings that information into the booking. The new feature is called Pickup & return, and it comes with counter readings that carry over from one booking to the next.
Admins set the feature up on a resource's detail page, in the "Pickup & return" section. The setup applies to that one resource, because a van needs different details than an emergency generator. Two templates get you started:
If you run several identical vehicles, set up one and bring the settings over to the others with "Copy from resource".
You can change everything afterwards. There are four field types: text, number, select, and counter. For each field you decide whether it is asked at pickup, at return, or at both, and whether it is required. A resource can have up to 20 fields, up to 8 of them counters. Which details prove useful in practice is covered in our handover checklist.
A counter differs from a number field in one way: Dispoly knows the last reading. Presets exist for odometer (km), operating hours (h), electricity meter (kWh), and water meter (m³). You can add your own counters with your own unit. Every counter works in whole numbers or with one decimal place, your choice. The current reading can be entered right when you set the counter up.
A trip then looks like this:
Dispoly calculates the differences per trip and per month on its own. When the reading at a pickup is higher than the last known reading, the logbook shows the gap as kilometers "without booking". That is how you notice a vehicle was moved without anyone booking it.
Corrections are possible: by the person who recorded the entry, by the person who booked, or by an admin. The original value stays visible.
Members find the buttons "Pickup" and "Return" on the booking: on the dashboard, in the reservations table, and on the resource page. Any member of the organization can record, because the driver is often not the person who booked. The recorder's name is stored.
Pickup can be recorded from 24 hours before the booking starts, return from the start of the booking. The app sets no deadline for the return. If a booking is cancelled after the vehicle was already picked up, the return can still be recorded.
Guests who booked through a public booking page still need no account and no app. They get a link in the confirmation email, in the approval email, and in the reminder 24 hours before the start. The link opens a page in the browser where they record the pickup first and the return later. It works until 90 days after the booking ends.
For every resource you can print a sign as an A4 PDF with a QR code. Scanning it needs no login. When a booking is due for pickup or return, the page offers exactly that: the fields for that moment and your name. The entry then counts just like one made through the buttons or the guest link. The page shows only the booking's time window, not who booked, and it never overwrites a pickup or return that is already recorded.
Next to that there is "Without booking" with the whole form. The reason is one of Callout, Workshop, Correction, or Other. Fields you set up as required are required here too and marked in the form. Your own name is required as well. These entries land in the logbook marked "Without booking".
This is built for everyone standing at the vehicle who does not want to dig out the app or the email first, and for the cases where nobody books beforehand: a callout at the fire department, a trip to the workshop, a corrected reading. How a department keeps its logbook this way is described in a fire department vehicle logbook without paper.
Admins can reset or disable the code at any time, and printed signs with the old code then stop working. The page is rate limited.
Inside the app the same thing exists as "Entry without booking", with date and time. The entry can lie in the past, for instance for an initial reading or a workshop trip from last week.
How strictly entries are expected is a setting per resource:
No level blocks bookings. Someone who forgot a return can keep booking. "Enforce" means flags, a reminder, and an escalation, and nothing beyond that.
Reservations has a new Handovers tab. It sorts into five groups: Pickup due, Out, Overdue, Return missing, Pickup missing. From there you can record on someone's behalf. Admins can also copy the guest link or trigger a reminder with "Remind now". On the dashboard, a "Handovers" card shows all members what is coming up.
Every resource with pickup & return now has a Logbook with a month selector. Per counter it shows the reading at month end, the difference within the month, and the number of trips. Below that you find the individual entries with markers: corrected, late entry, cancelled, via link, via QR code, without booking.
Admins can export the logbook as CSV or Excel, for one resource or for all, one month at a time. Each booking is one row, and entries without a booking get rows of their own. Per counter there are columns for pickup, return, difference, and difference without booking, plus a "Driver" column. Numbers stay real numbers, so Excel can calculate with them, including German Excel.
The existing exports grow too. The reservations export gains the columns "Picked up at", "Returned at", and "Logbook" (complete or missing), and the resource export gains the current reading per counter.
Two new pages show what this looks like day to day: the vehicle logbook for pool cars and the handover checklist for shared resources.
For everyone still working with a notebook or a spreadsheet, there are two tools that need no sign-up:
Pickup & return is included in all plans, Starter too, at no extra cost. That covers counters, QR quick entry, the logbook, and the export.
Two changes have been on the pricing page since August but never made it into a release post:
You will find all the details on our pricing page.
Trying it costs nothing: no contract, no setup fee, 30 days free.
Questions or feedback? Write to us at hello@dispoly.net.