This newsletter rests in the Rental sector and covers something that mattered enough to one of Shepherd’s customers to move it from a nice-to-have to a reality: Shepherd’s Rental Returns functionality, a feature of Shepherd EAM’s popular Rental module.
As with virtually all Shepherd features, whether you use it extensively or configure it heavily, all depends on your company’s needs.
Real life no longer bucks against process
A change in the status of rental equipment no longer needs to affect the contract as a whole. If one or more assets need work or are no longer needed, they can be returned without dictating the fate of the entire agreement. Contracts can now adapt as customer needs change, and this flexibility extends beyond the return stage.
What applies to equipment also applies to accessories that would not justify a contract on their own. Think of it as a full-lifecycle link between equipment and accessories, influencing both rent-out and return phases. To illustrate, consider a seasonal example.
In Shepherd’s hometown of Tallinn, the sailing season is beginning. Boats are returning to the water, and rental companies will be offering cranes to help, all through a rental contract. But moving high-value vessels requires more than a crane: cradles, certified straps, and other supporting gear are essential. Managing each item under separate contracts would be absurd, yet not tracking them properly is equally unwise. This functionality addresses that gap.
Tracked assets regardless of their status
The fewer resulting service orders mean less paperwork, without sacrificing the ability to track components independently. When the contract closes, all items can be confirmed as returned. Conversely, their return can trigger contract closure. The process remains simple but complete.
Back to the Baltic example: items like straps and cradles are essential but not standalone rental assets. Think drill bits in relation to a drill. Rental companies need a way to track these within existing contracts, especially as both equipment and accessories may be added, used, or returned at different times.
Another common occurrence is customers requesting additions mid-contract: accessories may be critical, yet they are often handled less formally than core equipment. Procedurally, not ideal, but it happens. They might be added manually, tracked loosely, and inconsistently processed. The result is predictable: missed billing, incomplete returns, and unnecessary administrative work.
Bringing structure and process, not red tape
Shepherd’s Rental Returns addresses this by structuring accessory management within the equipment lifecycle. Accessories are linked directly to equipment records, and system-wide updates ensure stock, status, and records reflect real conditions immediately. This reduces booking errors, delays, and billing inaccuracies, formally associating those smaller parts with specific equipment, reflecting real-world usage.
Updates to equipment immediately highllight related accessories, too, keeping everything visible. Accessories can even be configured as recommended or required, making their addition to sales orders automatic.
How it works
When equipment is selected, a predefined list appears. Required items must be included before proceeding, ensuring nothing essential is omitted and preventing operational or customer-facing issues.
The equipment update page consolidates all linked accessories into a single view, simplifying interaction without navigation back and forth across screens, tabs, and pages. This is especially valuable in field conditions, where time pressure and device limitations make efficiency critical.
Users can return and bill accessories individually. While grouped with equipment, each item retains its own record and status, ensuring nothing is overlooked.
Considered limits remain
This flexibility is controlled: equipment must be marked for return before accessories, and both share a return timeline. This avoids inventory upsets as well as reduces any account manager’s bane: billing discrepancies.
The accessory-equipment link is particularly valuable during returns. Marking equipment for return prompts associated accessories, and vice versa, ensuring nothing is left behind. Failing to collect everything from the customer in one go can be an inconvenience to them and an embarrassment to you. Not to mention the wasted journey needed to fix things.
The feature also allows conditional visibility, enabling or disabling accessory assignment based on business needs. Not all rental operations manage accessories the same way, so users can choose how best to fit the Shepherd solution around their operations, and not the other way around.
Additionally, the system disables accessory return options when none are linked. While seemingly minor, this removes ambiguity and prevents invalid actions, potentially reducing user hair-pulling and pen-throwing to record lows.
Taken together, these improvements transform accessory management from an informal process into a structured workflow. Accessories are no longer dependent on memory or workarounds but embedded within the same system governing equipment. This improves efficiency, reduces errors, and ensures all required components are delivered and returned correctly.
Why not consider an early Christmas present for your rental manager and book a demo with Shepherd today?
Featured Blogs:
The term PDF is not typically associated with tingles of excitement, but that can change pretty fast with this most recent Shepherd feature covered in a blog last month. Shepherd now allows its customers to produce customised PDFs with whatever information they wish to pull from Shepherd or NetSuite.
Add to that a means of adding branding and graphics, and suddenly what might have been staid documents can now be engaging, highly relevant, and easily produced. All with more clout for the recipient. Read this blog to find out more.
Shepherd case studies: your story deserves the spotlight
Shepherd is always on the lookout for new case study customers. Indeed, just recently, some existing users have expressed an interest in sharing what they do, what sets them apart, as well as how adopting Shepherd as their EAM has changed the way they operate, with either reduced costs, increased revenue, or both.
Those companies will then be on the Shepherd website, which means turning up in search results, as well as having the entire piece to draw soundbites and excerpts for their own socials or other content.
Fancy joining the ranks? Want to be a representative for your sector, and highlight how you put efficiency front and centre of your services? Just drop us a note at newsletter@shepherdcmms.com, and we’ll be in touch.
Shepherd Support on demand
Getting the most from your Shepherd product is the name of the game. If you want to have access to a dedicated expert to help you do that, consider signing up for a Shepherd Support contract. It takes the pressure off your administrator and ensures you get the answers you need, when you need them, rather than when time allows. Contact your Shepherd implementer for more information.
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