Status vs Disposition
One of the most powerful tools in Bravo is the Ad Hoc reports generator. Learning how to use this tool can help improve your visibility to your inventory and loan base, and can improve your overall efficiency and therefore improve your bottom line. Learning what terms to use in each section of the software can sometimes seem tricky. But it doesn't have to be!
Let's take two seemingly similar terms: Status and Disposition.
On their face, both seem to refer to the same thing - the overall place or Status of the Item in your shop. Or is it the overall Disposition of the item in your shop?
There is a difference and it is simpler than you think.
- Status refers to an ITEM status in Bravo, and we will use this term when speaking about Inventory.
- Disposition refers to a TICKET disposition in Bravo, and we will use this term when speaking about Loans/Buys.
Let's look at a couple of examples.
In Ad Hoc Reporting for Inventory:
There are several Statuses that we can choose from. However, there is no option for Disposition:
This is because when we are talking about INVENTORY items, we are concerned only with their STATUS within the system. If an item has a Status of Loan, It doesn't really matter if it is on Notice or Courtesy Hold when we are dealing with our Inventory. The item is Loan, it is not available for Inventory.
If we look at the Ad Hoc for Loans/Buys on the other hand, we see both.
This is because when dealing with Loans/Buys we might want to look at items ONLY on Loan status, but we might need to narrow this down to items that are on Police Pick Up or Courtesy Hold Disposition.
For example:
Items on LOAN status can be on a number of Dispositions as shown above. When we are looking at our loan base, we want to be as specific as possible when dealing with the item's disposition.
This item for example:
When we view the item through the Loans/Buys screen, the watch is on Police Loan Hold Disposition. We need to know the specific disposition of this item.
Viewing that same item through the Inventory screen:
The item only shows us that it is on Loan. That is all we need to know about the Inventory Status of the item.
You will also notice that the Column Chooser option on Inventory does not include a Disposition option:
Likewise the Column Chooser option on Loans/Buys does not include a Status option:
If you think about it, you don't need the status option on Loans/Buys. An item with a Disposition of On Notice will always have a Status of Loan: whereas an item with a Disposition of Police Loan Hold will always have a Status of Police.
You can see the change further illustrated through the Item History.
Notice that when the item was put on Police Loan Hold DISPOSITION, the STATUS did not change from LOAN. The STATUS only changed once the item was actually confiscated. The action of Confiscating the loan is what changed the overall Status of the Ticket.
By keeping these differences in mind, you can more easily find the information that you are looking for and you can avoid unnecessary searches.