Book it before someone else takes it.
Reservations sit on the same register as stock and custody, so a booking is checked against what's on hand, who already has it and who has booked it. When the day comes, the booking becomes the real hand-over in one tap.
The jobPromise a camera, a kit or 40 chairs for a date, and keep the promise.
| Item | Location | Qty | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Folding chair, black IT-000160 | Hall store | 100 pcs | 40 held · Sat |
| Sony A7 IV camera kit IT-000031 | Studio / Cabinet 2 | 1 | Reserved · Maria, Tue |
| Projector, Epson EB-W51 IT-000118 | Meeting room 2 | 1 | Available |
How it works
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Reserve from the item or the kit
Pick a window and a person. A kit reserves all its members in one go, and if any one of them is already promised, the answer names who has it and nothing is half-booked.
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Hold amounts, not just things
Ask for 40 chairs on Saturday. Overlapping holds are summed against what's on hand, and a refusal says how many are actually free.
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Staff book for themselves
Owners, admins and borrowers pick the dates on the item and book in their own name. The form says whether the item is free for the whole period before they press Book, and the server checks again under a lock, so two people booking the same banner at once can't both win.
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Hand over on the day
Hand over now turns today's reservation into the real check-out. The ledger line posts and the booking retires together, so the Schedule never shows ghost promises.
The details
- One availability rule everywhere
- The items list ("100 · 60 free"), the Schedule and your connected assistant all answer "what's free next Tuesday?" with the same rule the reserve button uses.
- Requests from outside the team
- A share link can say "request this". The requester sees whether the dates are free before sending, and a request for taken dates is refused rather than filed. A request that goes through lands on Today, and one tap turns it into a hold or declines it.
- The Schedule
- Fourteen days of reservations and due-backs on one page, overdue on top. It's on the phone too.
- Due dates respect the next booking
- When someone takes an item that's booked on Thursday, the suggested due date stops before Thursday, and Extend is refused if it would run into the booking.
- Approval folders
- In a folder with approval on, a borrower's self-service take or booking of a single item becomes a request that an editor approves on Today. Editors book straight away.
- Watch an item
- Tap the bell on something that's out, and you get one note the moment it's back.
How bookings usually work, and break
Without a system, bookings live in three places at once: a paper diary by the cage, somebody’s Outlook, and the group chat. The camera gets promised twice for the same weekend. Or it’s booked, but the last borrower still has it, because nobody’s diary knew about the loan.
The fix is to check bookings against the same record that knows who has what right now. In ItemTally a reservation, a loan and the stock on the shelf are all read from one ledger, so “is it free on Saturday?” has one answer.
How a booking goes
- Someone opens the item, or filters the Items page with Free between for their dates, and chooses Book dates.
- The form answers first: free for the whole period, or why not. If the answer is no, the Book button stays off.
- In a normal folder the booking is made on the spot. In a folder with approval on, a borrower’s booking of a single item goes to Today for an editor.
- The item page lists its bookings with dates and who, and people can cancel their own.
- On the day an editor taps Hand over now.
Counted stock works the same way: the answer says how many are free for those days.
Where it fits, and where it doesn’t
Reservations fit shared equipment: cameras and kits, radios, chairs and tables by the armful, the good projector, the van-mounted generator. They don’t replace a room booking system, a rental order system with quotes and payments, or a resource scheduler for staff shifts.
Who uses it
Film and media departments book camera kits for shoot weekends, churches hold chairs and the urn for funerals and fêtes, in-house AV teams book kit for events, and scout groups book tents for camp.
Questions people ask
What happens when two people want the same thing?
The second reservation is refused, and the refusal names who already holds it and for which window, so you can talk to them.
Can staff book equipment themselves?
Yes. Owners, admins and borrowers can book an item for chosen dates in their own name. Viewers can't book. In a folder with approval on, a borrower's booking of a single item waits for an editor.
Can I see if something is free for my dates before booking?
Yes. The booking form says whether the item is free for the whole period and turns the Book button off when it isn't. On the Items page, the Free between filter lists what is free for your dates and ends with a Book button for those dates in the item pane.
Can people cancel their own bookings?
Borrowers can cancel their own bookings and nobody else's. Editors can cancel any booking.
Can people outside the team book things?
Yes, through a share link with requests turned on. The form says whether the dates are free without showing who has the item, and a request for taken dates is refused. Every other request waits for a team member to confirm it.
Is there a free equipment reservation system?
Reservations are on every ItemTally plan, including the free Shelf plan (one editor, ten borrowers, unlimited items).
Can I book rooms with it?
You can reserve anything you put in the register, but it isn't a room or desk booking system. There's no floor plan, no recurring room timetable and no calendar sync. For rooms, your calendar or a booking tool does it better.
Does it sync with Google or Outlook calendars?
No. The Schedule shows the next fourteen days of bookings and due-backs inside ItemTally, and reservations are included in the full CSV takeout.
Can I reserve part of a stock item?
Yes. Quantity items take holds by amount: 40 of 100 chairs, 12 of 30 radios. Overlapping holds add up, and nothing is promised twice.
Promise only what you can hand over.
Free for one editor and ten borrowers, with unlimited items. No card needed.