Float Manager

Book a float (low-loader) to move a machine between jobs — schedule the date and time, pick the float company, send them the request by email, and track whether they've confirmed.

Who can use it — You need "manage asset allocations" permission to see, create, or action bookings, or "view assets" permission to see the page read-only. This is normally a dispatcher, fleet coordinator, or supervisor. See Roles & Permissions for how access is set.

Where to find it — Fleet & Assets → Float Manager in the sidebar.

How to use it

Create a booking. Click New float booking. Pick the Asset to transport, the Float Company, and the To Project (destination) — the From Project auto-fills from the asset's current allocation but can be overridden. Set the Scheduled Date and Scheduled Time, and optionally add Cost, a Driver/Contact Person, and Transport Notes (pickup details, special instructions). Destination and source must be different projects.
New float company? If the company isn't in the list yet, use the inline "create" option on the Float Company field to add one on the spot (name, contact name/phone/email) without leaving the form.
Send the request once the booking is scheduled — see below. This is a separate step from creating the booking; a booking with no request sent shows Not sent in the table.
Track confirmation as the float company replies, and mark the booking complete once the machine has moved.

Sending the request

Use the Send request action on a scheduled booking to email the float company. The form covers:

Recipient email / name — pre-filled from the float company's contact details if set.
CC — extra email addresses.
Site contact — pick a contact from the destination project, or enter a name and email manually.
Pickup / drop-off location — a project location, plus free-text Pickup address / Drop-off address and Access / loading notes.
VMP — a vehicle movement plan document from the destination project can be attached (or linked, if the file is too large to attach). If none is on file, the request is sent without one and the booking's Upload VMP action can add one to the project afterwards.
Notes — defaults from the booking's transport notes.

The request is queued and delivered by email shortly after. Each send is recorded as a row in Float Requests history on the booking, showing its status (Queued, Sent, or Failed), who sent it, and when.

Resend re-delivers the same request content to the float company (available once a request has been sent).
Retry re-queues a request that Failed to send.
If a booking's details change after a request was already sent, the booking shows a warning that the request may be stale — resend it so the float company has the current details.

Confirmation

Once a request has been sent, use the Confirmation menu on the booking to record the float company's reply: Mark confirmed (with an optional reference), Mark declined, Mark needs info, or Reset to awaiting. This is a manual record — float companies don't log into Subgrade, so someone on your team enters what they were told by phone or email. The Float Manager list and the Float Tracker stats at the top of the page (unsent requests, failed requests, awaiting confirmation, declined/needs info, moves in the next 48 hours) surface anything that needs attention.

Booking status and lifecycle

A booking moves through:

Scheduled — the normal state; can still be edited, have requests sent, or be cancelled.
Completed — use Mark Complete once the float has actually moved the machine. This locks the booking (no more editing or deleting) and, if the machine isn't already allocated to the destination project, automatically reallocates it there from the scheduled date — you don't need to also update the Allocation Manager by hand.
Cancelled — use Cancel to call off a scheduled move. If a request had already been sent to the float company, cancelling shows a warning to contact them directly, since Subgrade doesn't automatically notify them.

Bookings scheduled for today (within a rolling 48-hour window) are highlighted in the list. Use the Upcoming, Scheduled, Completed, Cancelled, and All tabs to filter, or the Export CSV tool for a full schedule export with request and confirmation status.

Float transport notice on prestart

This is the important cross-page behaviour: if a machine has a scheduled float booking within 48 hours (before or after), an operator doing a prestart on that machine sees a red Float Transport Notice banner with the move details, the float company, and contact. If the request hasn't been sent to the float company yet, the banner flags that too. The operator must tick "I acknowledge this machine is scheduled for transport and understand it may not be available" before they can submit the prestart — it's a required checkbox, not just a warning.

Every acknowledgement is recorded against the booking (who, when, and which prestart it came from) and shown in the Acknowledgements section on the booking's detail view, so you can see who's aware a machine is about to be moved.

Managing float companies

Float companies (the low-loader operators you book) are managed from the Tools → Manage companies action on the Float Manager page, opened as a slide-over rather than a separate page. Each company has a Company Name, ABN, Contact Name/Phone/Email, Active flag, and Notes. Only active companies are offered when scheduling a booking. A company with existing bookings against it can't be deleted — deactivate it instead so it drops out of the picker but the booking history stays intact.

Connected pages

Start a Prestart — where operators see and acknowledge the float transport notice.
Allocation Manager — receives the automatic reallocation when a float booking is marked complete.
Asset Manager — the asset register the Asset field is drawn from.

Tips & common mistakes

Forgot to send the request? Creating a booking doesn't email the float company — you still need to run Send request separately. The Unsent requests stat and the Not sent badge on the row are there to catch this.
Changed the date or company after sending? The booking flags the request as possibly stale — resend it rather than assuming the float company already has the update.
Can't edit or delete a booking? Both are blocked once it's Completed — cancel isn't possible either at that point, since the move already happened.
Cancelling after a request was sent? Subgrade doesn't notify the float company automatically — you need to contact them yourself to call off the move.
No VMP available? The request still sends without one; use Upload VMP on the booking afterwards to add the document to the destination project for next time.