Lend a spare from a ticket

A spare is a device you lend someone while their own device is being repaired. Their own device stays assigned to them the whole time. The spare goes out from the ticket about the repair, and it has to come back before that ticket can be solved or closed, so nothing is lent and forgotten.

Spares come from devices whose Pool is Spare (see Which pool?). It's one pool: the same spares can also be checked out at a front desk on Check-in/out, with no ticket. The Spare Pool view on Assets lists them, and Add Devices to Spare Pool (in the empty view, or next to Actions at the top once there are spares) lets you pick more (see Views). To lend and take back spares from a ticket you need Issue spares (assets.issue_spare). Every role that can Update assets has it to start with.

The Spare box#

Open a ticket on Helpdesk › Tickets and look at its Asset panel. Right after each linked device's card there's a Spare box for that device (link the person's device first if it isn't there):

• With no spare out, it says how many spares can be lent at the person's school, like "12 available at Crestdale High", counting spares of any type. When there are none it says so, like "None at Crestdale High". Issue spare is there when you can lend one.
• While a spare is out, it shows Spare out with the spare's tag (which opens the device), its model and serial number, who issued it and when, and Return.

Issue a spare#

1. In the Spare box, select Issue spare.
2. Scan or type an asset tag or serial number, or pick from the list. The person's school comes first; within it, the same model as their device comes first, then the same type (a laptop for a laptop), then any other spare. Each is marked Same model or Same type, and any spare can be lent. Use the location filter to see another school's spares.
3. Two choices, both on to start with:
   • Mark (their device) In repair until the spare is back. Their device moves to your In repair status, and stays assigned to them.
   • Email (the person). For a student, their guardians are emailed too.
4. Select Issue (tag).

The spare is assigned to the person, so it shows on their profile as Spare for ticket #N. The ticket's timeline, both devices' timelines and the audit log all record it. If someone else lends the same spare at the same moment, only one of you gets it, and the other is asked to pick another.

A spare can only be lent while nobody holds it and its status means in use (not in repair, missing or retired), so a spare checked out at the front desk can't be lent from a ticket until it's checked back in. A spare that's out on a ticket can't be checked out or in on Check-in/out: trying says "This spare is out on ticket #N. Return it from that ticket's Spare box." Take it back from the ticket, so the loan is closed there.

The ticket waits for the spare#

While a spare is out, the ticket can't be solved or closed. Trying shows Can't solve yet: "(Person) still has spare (tag). Return it first.", with Return spare, which opens the Return dialog. The same rule holds everywhere a ticket closes: workflows, a requester's "It's fixed", PDQ's solve on success and approvals. Completing a kiosk pickup takes the ticket's spares back itself.

Take it back#

Select Return in the Spare box (or Return spare on the toast), choose what happened, and add a note about its condition if you like:

| Choice | What happens | | --- | --- | | Returned | The spare goes back to the Spare pool: unassigned and Available. Their own device goes back to the status it had before, if nobody has changed it since. | | Keep as (person)'s replacement | The spare becomes theirs: it stays assigned to them and leaves the Spare pool. Their old device stays In repair and is unassigned, so it no longer counts as theirs. | | Not returned | Admins only, and needs a note saying what happened. The spare stays assigned to them and moves to your Lost status (if you have none, its status stays as it is). Their own device goes back to its earlier status. With Manage fines you can add a Spare not returned fine at the same time. |

Each choice is written on the ticket's timeline, both devices' timelines and the audit log. If the person was emailed when the spare went out, they (and a student's guardians) are emailed again.