Reservations

A reservation books one or more containers ahead of time — for example, for a customer or a shipment. When a reserved container is later registered as an outward, OCTO Ops finds the matching reservation and marks it used automatically.

#Before you start

• The container(s) you want to reserve must already exist in Containers.
• Vessel data comes from Vessels; MLO data comes from MLOs.
• You need the View permission for Reservations to see the list and open records, the Create permission to add or import a reservation, and the Edit permission to change one, remove a container from one, or edit a reserved container's seal number.

#The Reservations list

Open Container Depot > Reservations. Each row is one reserved container, not one reservation — a reservation covering three containers appears as three rows:

It's sorted by Date, newest first, and shows 25 rows per page (10, 50, 100, 150, or All also available). Use the create icon to start a new reservation, or Actions > Import container reservations to import from Excel.

#Create a reservation

1. Open Container Depot > Reservations and select the create icon.
2. Enter the reservation-level fields:

3. Under Reserved containers, type a container number and select Add container (or press Enter). Repeat for each container.
   • "Container not found." appears if the number doesn't match a container. Unlike an outward, a reserved container doesn't need to currently be in stock.
   • "Container already added." appears if it's already on this reservation.
   • Each added row shows its number, the container, ISO type, MLO and current condition.
4. Optionally set Seal number and Description on each added row, and remove a row with its trash icon before saving.
5. Select Create reservation.

Releasable affects what's shown later when someone registers this container as an outward: with it off, the outward's Container data panel shows "Not releasable" for this container instead of a reserved-till date, signalling the container shouldn't leave yet.

On success, you'll see "Reservation created successfully" and land on the reservation's profile. If fields fail validation, you'll see inline errors and a warning toast.

#View a reservation (the profile page)

The page heading reads Reservation: {reference number}, or the reservation ID when there's no reference number. The left-hand card shows the reference number and ID, a Reserved figure (how many containers are on the reservation), then Date, Expire date, MLO, Vessel, Voyage, Agent booking number (labelled Agent booking #), Releasable (Yes/No), Status and Description. Edit the reservation with the toolbar's Edit icon.

The Reserved containers table lists, for each container: the date it was reserved, the container number (which opens the container), MLO, Reserved till (shown only on a releasable reservation), In at (from the container's inward), Issued at (when the line was used by an outward), Seal number, Description and Status (Reserved or Issued), with an Edit (pencil) and Remove (trash) icon on each row.

A Gate passes card shows "Not yet available": gate passes aren't linked to reservations in this version.

#Remove a container from a reservation

1. On the reservation's profile, select the Remove (trash) icon on the container's row.
2. Confirm "Remove this container from the reservation?"

On success, you'll see "Container removed from reservation". This only removes the reserved-container line — it doesn't affect the container's stock status.

#Edit a reserved container's seal number

1. On the reservation's profile, select the Edit (pencil) icon on the container's row.
2. Update Seal number and/or Description.
3. Select Save changes.

On success, you'll see "Container details updated" and return to the reservation's profile.

#Edit a reservation

1. Open the reservation and select the toolbar's Edit icon.
2. Update the reservation-level fields: Vessel, Voyage code, Date (required), Expiration date, Number of containers, Agent booking number, Reference number, Releasable, Description.
3. The Currently reserved containers table here is read-only (#, Container, Seal #, ISO, MLO, Description/Notes, Condition), with a note: "To edit or remove an existing container, use the actions on the reservation's show page."
4. Under Add more containers, add any new containers the same way as on Create, up to the number of containers.
5. Select Save changes.

If you add a container that's already on the reservation, its seal number and description are updated from what you entered rather than creating a duplicate line. On success, you'll see "Reservation updated successfully" and return to the profile.

#Import reservations

1. Open Container Depot > Reservations > Actions > Import container reservations.
2. Choose a file (.xlsx, .xls, or .csv) and select Upload and preview.

Your file's heading row should use: container, vessel, date, reference_number, number_of_containers, seal_number, mlo, agent_booking_number, expiration_date, voyage_code, repo, description. Rows with no container number are skipped. The vessel is only read from the first row of the file — the whole import shares one vessel.

If the vessel code on the first row isn't found, you'll see "Vessel code not found in vessel list: {code}" once for the whole file. If a container number isn't found, that row is flagged "Container number {number} is not found." An MLO that isn't found isn't flagged — that row's MLO is simply left blank.

#Import preview

The preview shows red (errors), amber (missing master data) and blue (records that will be created automatically) alerts where relevant, above a table of Container, Seal number, Vessel, Voyage, MLO, Booking number, and Expiration date.

If the preview lists any errors or missing master data, Confirm and record isn't offered — the page says "Resolve the issues above and import the file again to continue." Fix the file (or create the missing master data) and import it again.

Otherwise, select Confirm and record. On success, you'll see "Successfully imported {n} containers." and return to the Reservations list.

#How an outward uses a reservation

When a container with an active reservation is registered as an outward, OCTO Ops shows a non-blocking warning and displays the reservation's details on the outward's Container data panel. Saving the outward marks the reservation line as used, so it's no longer offered as available. Deleting that outward later releases the reservation line again.

#Business units

Only when your organization uses business units:

• Business unit on the Add and Edit reservation forms starts with the one chosen in the header. A reservation on a business unit that is (or sits under) a separate legal entity is numbered in that legal entity's sequence and shows its prefix, for example PH-4. You can move a reservation to another business unit of the same legal entity; its reserved containers move with it.
• The Reservations list shows the business unit chosen in the header, with a Business unit column. Select the funnel icon to choose another business unit, {your organization} (main business) only, or All business units.
• The profile's details list shows the Business unit.
• When you import reservations, choose the Business unit on the upload page. The reservation and its containers are saved on it, and the preview shows it. If that business unit is deactivated or deleted, or business units are switched off, before you confirm, you'll see "The business unit chosen for this upload is no longer available. Upload the file again." and nothing is saved.

#Current limitations