Importing Asset Types from the Library

Every business that sets up reservations builds the same handful of asset types. If you're a marina, you build "Monohull Sailboat" with a length field and a beam field. So does every other marina. And a surprising number of them get one detail wrong in a way that isn't obvious until the first invoice.

The library is that work done once, correctly. You tick what you handle and it lands in your asset type list — fields, units, sizing rules, artwork and all.

Find it under Reservations → Asset Types → Import from Library.

Why this exists, and the detail it exists to fix

Say you charge $2.50 per foot per night for dockage. You build a boat type, add a field called Size, and set your rate.

Then a 42-foot boat books three nights and you invoice $7.50.

The rate is correct. What's missing is the link between "per foot" and which number on the boat record is the feet. A field called Size is just a number to the system — it has no way to know it's the one your dockage multiplies. The library types have that link already made, on the right field, with the right units.

That single detail is most of the value here. Everything else — saving twenty minutes of typing, getting a decent icon on the map — is a bonus.

What you get with each type

An imported type arrives complete:

The measurement fields that matter, with units. A monohull gets LOA, beam and draft; a mini excavator gets operating weight and dig depth.
The canonical length and width marked, so per-foot and per-metre pricing multiply the right number and slip fit checks compare the right dimension.
Artwork, where we have it, so the map viewer draws a boat rather than a grey rectangle.
Sensible inventory settings for things you rent out — a wet slip arrives as bookable inventory that must be assigned to a specific berth, which is how marina slips actually work.
Placement margins for scaling maps, so a catamaran gets more clearance than a sailboat of the same length.

The two kinds, and why the distinction matters

Every asset type is one of two things, and the library labels them plainly:

Things you rent out — a wet slip, a mooring ball, a dry stack rack, an RV site, a storage unit. These are your inventory. They become berths on your map and the thing a booking occupies.

Things the customer brings — a boat, a travel trailer, a motorhome. These are gear that has to fit in what you rent.

You generally need both. A marina that imports boat types but no slip types has described what arrives without describing where it goes. A campground that imports sites but no RV types can't check whether a 38-foot fifth wheel fits the pad.

Getting these backwards is the classic setup mistake: it makes your occupancy reports count boats instead of berths.

Filtering, and why you can ignore the filter

The library is filtered to your industry by default. If you're on a marina plan you see boats, slips and moorings first — not backhoes.

But it's a default, not a wall. Tick Show every industry and you get the whole catalog, or just search. This is deliberate: marinas own forklifts, campgrounds own tractors, and equipment yards store boats over the winter. The filter is there to keep the first screen relevant, not to tell you what your business is.

Search matches more than the name. Searching "ketch" finds Monohull Sailboat; "bobcat" finds Skid Steer Loader.

An import is a copy, not a subscription

This matters more than it sounds.

When you import a type, you get your own independent copy. Rename it, add fields, remove fields, change the artwork, change the rules — it's yours.

Nothing reaches back. If we improve the library's Monohull Sailboat next month, your copy doesn't change. If we retire a type from the library entirely, your copy stays exactly where it is. Your pricing can't shift under you because someone else edited a shared definition.

The flip side: improvements don't reach you automatically either. If you want a newer version of something, import it under a different name and move your assets across deliberately.

The typical flow

Import your inventory types first — the slips, sites or units you rent. Everything downstream (map slots, packages, availability) hangs off these.
Import the customer gear you accept. Be a little generous here. A boat type you never use costs nothing; a boat type you don't have means staff typing a vessel into the wrong category on a busy Friday.
Rename to match your language. If your team says "berth" rather than "slip", rename it. The library's wording is a starting point, not house style.
Add your own fields. The library covers what's universal. Your gate code, your insurance carrier field, your hull-cleaning schedule — add those yourself.
Set your rates. The library defines what a thing is, never what you charge for it. Pricing lives in packages.

Common stumbling blocks

Importing the same type twice. Import skips anything whose name already exists and tells you it did. But it matches on the name — so if you imported "Wet Slip" and renamed it to "Berth", importing Wet Slip again will succeed and you'll have two. Check your list before a second pass.

Expecting the library to price things. It doesn't, and shouldn't. An asset type describes a thing; a package prices it. See Building a package.

Deleting fields you think you don't need. The draft field on a sailboat looks like clutter until the first boat that can't reach your shallow slips at low tide. Fields you don't fill in are invisible on the record; fields you deleted are gone.

Importing every type in the catalog. Every type you keep is another choice on the booking screen. Import what you actually handle. You can always come back.

Assuming a hand-built type will bill per foot. If you build a type yourself rather than importing one, you have to mark which field is the canonical length. Otherwise per-foot pricing has nothing to multiply and bills one unit per booking — silently.

If the Import button isn't there

The button only appears when the shared library is reachable. If it's missing, the connection between your account and our catalog service isn't available right now — build the type by hand in the meantime (Reservations → Asset Types → Add Asset Type) and nothing is lost.