Keys and deposits

This is for physical things you hand out and money you hold against them. Gate keys, shed keys, a plot deposit.

It is deliberately kept apart from rent. This is money you are minding, not income, and it appears nowhere in your billing figures. The one exception is a deposit you forfeit, which becomes income at that moment and is counted in a "forfeited this year" total inside this section only.

How it is arranged

Three levels, and it is worth understanding them before you set anything up:

• A deposit type is a category you define — "Gate key", "Plot deposit". You decide whether it has individual items to track, and what the usual amount is.
• An item is one actual object that exists over time — gate key number 24. It gets issued, returned and issued again to somebody else.
• A deposit is the record joining a member to what they hold, and for how much.

A type that does not track items — a plot deposit, say — just holds money, with no inventory.

Setting up your keys

Make a type called "Gate key", tell it that it tracks items, and give it the usual amount. Then add your items. There is a range option, so "1-30" adds thirty keys in one go rather than thirty forms.

Day to day

Everything happens on the type's own page.

• Issue — on an available item's row, or using the permanent form at the top for a money-only type. The amount is filled in from the type's default and you can change it.
• Return — record the date and how much you refunded. The item goes back to available for the next person.
• Forfeit — for money you are keeping. If the key is gone for good, there is a tick to retire it so it is not offered again.

Deleting things

You cannot delete a type that still has deposits held against it — Allotmin will tell you to return or forfeit them first. That is on purpose: this is members' money, and a type deleted by accident is a list of who is owed what, gone.

Anything with history can be archived or retired instead, which keeps the record and takes it off the forms. Money held against an archived type still counts in your totals, and you can still return it.

Where else it shows up

Each member's profile shows what they hold, there is a tab on their record for the detail, and the dashboard carries a quiet summary once you have set any of this up. Members see their own held deposits on their balance page, clearly marked as separate from anything they owe.