Rental Parameters Partnership 1

In go to PrismCore>Inventory Control tab>Item Maintenance folder>Rental Number Maintenance (Ctrl+J 1012) the hammer option Rental Configuration.  Here you will establish rental pricing parameters, charges for rentals not returned, and rental NBC Partnership adoption parameters, among other parameters on the Configuration tab.  These setting should be reviewed with each new rental period and changed, when necessary.

NBC Partnership Pricing

This parameter controls rental prices for new and used books that are rented as NBC Partnership 1 titles.  Also in this frame are fields for NBC Vendor, Rebate GL and NBC Rental Tender.

When NBC Partnership 1 rental records are created, PrismCore will calculate a rental price for each NBC Partnership title.  The rental price will be based on cost/margin or retail, depending upon the parameters in the NBC Partnership Pricing frame.  If necessary, the system calculated rental price of individual titles can be edited after records are created.

Because retail and cost are different for new and used textbooks, rental prices for new and used will be different as well.  If you want to rent new and used for the same rental price, best practice is to edit rental prices after rental records are created.

For NBC Partnership titles, the rebate is the same, regardless of which is rented, new or used. 

New and used Margin

Select the Method (Cost or New Retail), Margin (if method is Cost) Rounding and Currency (not available if Rounding is set to None). 

NOTE: For PrismCore users in Canada, the rebate amount is first converted to Canadian currency using the exchange rate stored in WP Admin before being used to calculate the rental price.

Cost Method

The computation for the cost method is based on cost, rebate, and the margin entered.  The formula used is:

Example:  If the New Cost at Inventory Maintenance is $75 and the desired margin for New is 25%, the markup percentage is 25%.  Assuming the selling price is rounded to the nearest dollar, the book would sell for $100 New.  The margin dollars would be $25.  If the rebate is $42 for this book, the system would suggest a rental price of $58.

Rental price = $75 – ($42 - $25)

Rental price = $75 - $17

Rental price = $58

The suggested rental price of different books with the same cost will vary based on the rebate and your desired rental margin. 

Retail Method

The rental price using the retail method is calculated by subtracting the NBC Rebate amount from the items retail, either new or used.

Example:  If the new retail at Inventory Maintenance is $100 and the rebate is $25, the rental price is $75.

Rental price = $100 – $25

NBC Vendor

Click the ellipsis to select the vendor code for Nebraska Book Company.  This is a required entry when renting as part of NBC Partnership 1. 

Rebate GL

PrismCore General Ledger Users:  The general ledger code for rental rebates must be entered in this field.  Click the ellipsis to select it.  If you do not have GL, leave this field blank.

The Rebate GL accounts functions as a clearing account.  Consequently, we recommend using a liability account since the rebate is associated with the return accrual that will be posted later for the rental books you’ll ship to NBC.  If you have any questions about the selection of the appropriate GL code, contact IAS Support.

NBC Partnership Adoption Parameters

The NBC Partnership Adoption Parameters are located in the upper right corner of the configuration screen.

New/Used

These parameters control what type of rental records are activated when Partnership rental records are created.  For example, if you plan to rent used books only, check “Used Only.”  When rental records are created, both new and used records are created, however, only the records checked in this frame will be activated.  You can activate and deactivate both new and used rental records for individual titles after the records are created.

Margin

This parameter is used as a filter during the creation of Partnership rental records.  It blocks the creation of rental records by comparing the rental price and the retail price.  If the rental price is greater percentage of the retail price than entered in this field, the record will not be created.

This is useful if you do not want to rent titles that have rental prices that are close to the retail selling price.

For example, if you want all rental prices to be at least 80% or less than the retail prices, you can enter 80 in this field.  If the selling price of a book is $100, then the calculated rental price must be less than $80.00 for a NBC Partnership 1 rental record to be created.

If you want to create rental records for all books regardless of the comparison of the rental and retail, leave this field at 100.00%.

Minimum QTP

This field can be used as a filter during the creation of Partnership rental records.  It blocks the creation of rental records based on a title’s Quantity to Provide (as seen in the Order Decision module).  This is useful if you do not want to rent titles for which you plan to provide only a few copies.

For example, if you do not want to rent any title that you plan on providing three or less, set this field to 4.  When NBC rental records are created, a book would then need to have a QTP of 4 or greater in order for rental records to be created.

Leave this parameter 0 (zero) if you do not want to use it.

Not Returned Billing

The parameters in this frame are used to calculate the amount charged to customers for RNRs (rentals not returned).  These parameters apply to both NBC Partnership 1 and Store Managed rentals.  There are two separate amounts that can be calculated for Not Returned Billing:  the replacement charge and an additional fee.

Also in this frame, you will select the type of tender can be collected for the rental guarantee (i.e., how the student will be charged if a rental is not returned to the store).

In addition, you can set a parameter to automatically set customer records as ineligible to rent again if a student is charged for a rental not returned.

Replacement

The parameters on this tab are used to calculate the amount the student will be charged if a rental is not returned.  Select the parameters as appropriate for your store.  If necessary, you can edit the replacement amount on individual rental records after they are created.  If no replacement amount is to be calculated, select fixed amount and set the amount to $0.00.

Step-by-step instructions

1. In Rental Number Maintenance <Ctrl+J 1012>, click the Hammer.
2. Click the Configuration tab.
3. In the Not Returned Billing frame, click Replacement.
4. Select the method.  The choices are Cost, Fixed Amount, Rental Price, Retail (new), Retail Minus Rental, Retail/New or Used, Used Retail.

Cost is the cost of the item, either new or used.

Retail is the New Retail.

Retail/New or Used will used the retail of the item, either new or used.

All methods except Fixed Amount and Retail Minus Rental calculate the replacement fee based on the percent applied to the Method: e.g., Retail and 50% equates to a replacement charge of half the new selling price. If Fixed Amount is selected, Percent, Rounding, and Currency are inactivated and the amount should be entered in the Amount field. If Retail Minus Rental is selected, Percent, Rounding, Currency, and Amount are inactivated.

5. If Fixed Amount is the method, type any Amount from $0.01 - $100,000.00.

6. If a percentage based method is used, enter the percentage (from 00.01 to 99.99) and set the rounding and currency.

7. Select the Tax type for the replacement charge.

8. Click in another cell to confirm the entries.

Fee

The parameters on the Fee tab are used to calculate a fee the student will be charged by the bookstore if a rental is not returned.  This fee is in additional to the replacement amount calculated by the settings on the Replacement tab.

The fee parameter applies to both Store Managed rentals and NBC Partnership 1 rentals.  If necessary, you can edit the fee on individual rental records after they are created.

The fee is optional.  If you do not want to charge a fee, set the Method to Fixed Amount and the Amount to 0.00.

The parameters available to calculate a fee are the same as those on the Replacement tab.  Follow the steps listed above to set the Fee.

In the example, a fixed amount of $25.00 will be charged in additional to the replacement charge as calculated on the Replacement tab.

Collect Credit Card, Collect AR

Check the box for the type of tender that will be used to charge the student if a rental is not returned.

You can check both, one or neither.  The rental guarantee tenders apply to both Store Managed rentals and NBC Partnership 1 rentals.

When both boxes are checked, either a credit card or an AR account can be used as the guarantee tender.  However, if both tenders are acceptable, only one rental guarantee tender can be entered per rental transaction.

If an unacceptable tender is selected during the rental transaction, the cashier will see a message similar to "Tender type not allowed.  Please select correct tender."

If neither is checked, the prompt for a rental tender will not appear during the check-out process.

Mark RNR’s as Can’t Rent

If this parameter is checked and a student is charged for a rental not returned, or a rental is closed without charging the student for a rental not returned, the ‘Can’t Rent’ box on the student’s customer account will automatically be checked.  The student will not be able to rent again until the ‘Can’t Rent’ box on the customer account is manually unchecked.

If you do not want the Can’t Rent box for a customer to be automatically checked under these circumstances, uncheck the ‘Mark RNR’s as Can’t Rent’ parameter on the Configuration screen.

Auto Update Prices/Fees

If the ‘Auto Update Prices/Fees’ is checked, rental prices will automatically update when the cost and/or retail of the title is changed, based on the parameters set for pricing.

If this parameter is unchecked, rental prices will not update when cost and/or retail of rental textbooks are changed.  This parameter applies to both NBC Partnership 1 and Store Managed rentals.

Overwrite Manually Set Rental Prices

‘Overwrite Manually Set Rental Prices’ is active only if ‘Auto Update Prices/Fees’ is checked.

When ‘Overwrite Manually Set Rental Prices’ is checked, and you have manually edited a rental price and then the retail/cost of an item is changed, the manually edited rental price will be overwritten.  If you do not want manually changed rental prices to be overwritten automatically, leave the second box unchecked.

POS

Parameters in the POS frame control what happens at the register when books are rented (both NBC Partnership 1 and Store Managed titles).

Tax

Select the appropriate tax code for rentals. 

Dynamic Rental

Check this box if you want to assign rental barcodes to books as they are rented.  When this is checked, a rental record exists for a book and the cashier scans the normal EAN barcode, a prompt will appear asking if the book is to be sold or rented.

If this is unchecked, when a Bookland EAN is scanned, the transaction will be for purchase, even if rental records exist.  If this is unchecked and you are renting, you must pre-sticker all rentals with specific rental tags so that the cashier can scan rental barcodes.

Mandatory Rental Barcode

If you require rental barcodes when renting books, check this box

If this is unchecked, it is possible to rent a book without assigned a unique rental barcode to it.

When a rental barcode is assigned to a rental, the rental barcode can be scanned for a quick and easy check-in when the student returns to the book.  If a rental barcode is not assigned, upon return from the student, the Bookland EAN must be scanned and the student’s name selected from a list.

Allow Discounts

Check this box if rentals are discountable.

Enforce 12 or 20 Digit XRefs

Check this box if all rental barcodes must be 12 or 20 digits.  Rental barcodes generated in PrismCore are 20 digits.

Having this box checked will reduce the chance of entering barcodes incorrectly, such as scanning an ISBN of another title instead of the required Rental XREF.

Tag Printing Defaults

The Type field is for pre-sticker rental barcodes only.  The Printer field applies to printing both pre-sticker rental barcodes and dynamic rental barcodes.

Type

This field applies only to book-specific tags.  If you are renting all books dynamically, you will not use this parameter.  For book-specific tags, select ‘Rental Tag No Price’ to print only book information (rental barcode, author, title, ISBN) or select ‘Rental Tag’ to include the price.

Printer

If you set a printer here, it will be the default printer when you print either dynamic rental barcode stickers or pre-sticker rental barcodes.  You can select any printer that has been defined for your workstation in Windows.  If a default printer is set here, you can still change the printer when printing tags.  If you don’t set a printer here, you will select one when printing tags. 

NOTE: It is not recommended to set a printer in this field for multi-location systems.

Default Max Rented Qty

The Default Max Rental Qty parameters allow you to set the maximum number of copies (new and/or used) that you will rent of any title.

If renting dynamically, when the maximum quantity has been rented, POS will stop displaying the rent or purchase prompt.  The maximum quantity can be edited at Rental Number Maintenance for individual titles.  For unlimited rentals, leaves the parameters set to 0 (zero).

Nebraska Managed Rental Program

The Nebraska Managed Rental Program parameters are not used by the NBC Rental NBC Partnership 1 program.  Do not check the “Participate” box and do not set entries in the other fields.