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Equipment Booking

The Equipment View provides a timeline for tracking equipment availability and bookings across projects. It can be accessed from the sidebar or embedded below the main Gantt chart via the Panels toggle.

Equipment view showing inventory and the booking timeline

Tip

Admins and superusers can dock the Equipment view directly below the Gantt chart via the Panels button — see Resource Panels.

Equipment List Panel

The left panel lists all equipment items for the selected site with:

  • Status indicator: Green dot (available) or Red dot (currently booked)
  • Equipment name: Primary identifier
  • Type and status: Equipment type badge and "In use" / "Available" label
  • Drag handle: Admins and Superusers can drag equipment onto the Gantt timeline to create bookings

The panel is resizable — drag the divider between the panel and timeline (200px–500px).

Equipment Timeline

The right side shows a horizontal timeline with booking bars:

  • Bars are color-coded by project for easy identification
  • Multiple bookings can overlap on the same equipment, displayed as stacked bars
  • Click any booking bar to edit the assignment (dates, equipment)
  • Timeline zoom and date navigation sync with the main Gantt chart when embedded

Booking Equipment

Method 1: Drag & Drop

  1. Grab an equipment item by the drag handle in the Equipment panel
  2. Drag it onto a project or phase bar on the Gantt timeline
  3. The Equipment Assignment Modal opens pre-filled with the target project/phase dates

Method 2: Context Menu

  1. Right-click on a project, phase, or subphase in the Gantt chart
  2. Select Assign Equipment
  3. The Equipment Assignment Modal opens

Assignment Modal

  • Select the equipment item from a dropdown
  • Set start and end dates for the booking
  • Click Save to confirm

Filtering by Type

Click the filter button in the Equipment panel header to filter by equipment type:

  1. A dropdown shows all available types as checkboxes
  2. Check types to show (e.g., Analytical, Pilot Plant, Safety)
  3. Use Select All / Clear for quick selection
  4. The filter button shows the active count when filtering (e.g., "3 types")

Managing Equipment

Open the Equipment Management modal from the sidebar admin section (Admins and Superusers only).

Equipment Management modal — inventory by site, type filter, and Manage Types

Adding Equipment

  1. Click Add Equipment
  2. Fill in:
  3. Name (required, e.g., "Pilot Plant A", "Mass Spec 1")
  4. Type — select an existing type or click + New type to create one inline
  5. Site (required) — select which site the equipment belongs to
  6. Click Create Equipment

Editing Equipment

  1. Click the edit icon on an equipment row
  2. Modify the name, type, description, or active status
  3. Click Save Changes

Setting equipment to inactive removes it from booking lists and the Equipment View. Inactive equipment and their existing bookings are preserved.

Deleting Equipment

Click Delete Equipment in the edit form. A confirmation dialog warns that all assignments for the equipment will also be removed. This action is irreversible.

Equipment Types

Types are managed via the Manage Types button in the Equipment Management modal. See Settings — Equipment Types for details on creating, renaming, and deleting types.

Maintenance Blocks

Equipment blocks mark a period when an item is unavailable for booking — typically due to maintenance, calibration, defect, or another planned outage. Blocks behave like vacations for equipment: they appear on the Equipment Timeline and are honoured by overlap detection so you don't accidentally schedule a project during a downtime window.

Creating a Block

  1. Right-click the equipment row (or an existing booking) on the Equipment Timeline and select Block Equipment, or open the Equipment panel and use the block action on the equipment item.
  2. The Equipment Block modal opens. Fill in:
    • Equipment (required) — defaults to the row you clicked from
    • Start date and End date (required, inclusive)
    • ReasonMaintenance, Defect / Out of order, Calibration, or Other
    • Description — short free-text label, prefilled from the chosen reason (e.g. "Annual recalibration")
  3. Click Save Block.

The duration is shown live as you change dates so you can confirm the window before saving.

Editing or Deleting a Block

  • Click an existing block on the Equipment Timeline to open the modal in edit mode.
  • Adjust dates, reason, or description and click Save Block.
  • Click Delete Block to remove it. There is no soft-delete — the block disappears immediately and the equipment becomes bookable again on those dates.

How Blocks Affect Availability

  • Block bars are styled distinctly from project bookings on the Equipment Timeline (typically a hatched or muted fill) so they're easy to distinguish.
  • The equipment status indicator in the Equipment panel reflects the block — an item is shown as In use when its current date falls inside an active block, even with no project booking.
  • When you create a new equipment assignment that overlaps a block, an overlap warning is shown (the assignment is still allowed — the warning is informational so you can resolve the conflict deliberately).

Permissions

Only Admins and Superusers can create, edit, or delete equipment blocks. Regular users see them on the timeline but cannot modify them. Superusers are limited to equipment on sites they have access to.

Permissions

Action Admin Superuser User
View equipment & bookings Yes Yes Yes
Assign equipment to projects Yes Yes No
Add/edit/delete equipment Yes Yes (own sites only) No
Manage equipment types Yes Yes No
Create/edit equipment blocks Yes Yes (own sites only) No