CAMS: every cylinder, accounted for.
A bespoke Cylinder Asset Management System we're designing and building for a UK business that hires out gas cylinders to trade and retail customers. Who has which cylinder, where it is, what is owed, and the full history of every movement.
The problem
The business runs two very different kinds of hire. Local customers are served from its own stock, delivered by van or collected. For remote customers, a gas supplier ships cylinders direct and the business never handles them.
Hires were recorded in spreadsheets, orders in the online shop, supplier orders in email and agreements on paper. None of these were connected, so working out who had what, and what they owed, took time and was easy to get wrong.
The scope
- Track every cylinder as an asset with a permanent history
- Handle local and remote hires in one system
- Bill gas and rental correctly, cylinder by cylinder
- Automate supplier orders and customer emails
- Give managers a live overview of stock and money
- Secure and ready for data protection from day one
The solution
One web system for the office, the counter and the van, built in stages with the client testing each one. Staff scan cylinders with a phone or tablet, build delivery runs, confirm supplier orders and print invoices, while every change is recorded and can never be quietly edited.
Business rules such as prices and free periods are settings, so they can change without any redevelopment.
What it does
Cylinder register
Every cylinder has a permanent ID and barcode, so staff can see what it is, where it is and who has it.
Scan on any phone
Receive, hire out, return and send back cylinders by scanning with an iPhone, iPad or Android camera.
A history that can't change
Every movement adds a new record that is never edited or deleted, so any dispute can be settled from the facts.
Hires
Reserve a size and quantity, then tie the actual cylinders to the customer at the moment they're handed over.
Delivery runs
Plan the van, load it by scanning, and scan each handover at the door, which starts that cylinder's rental.
Supplier orders by email
The system drafts and sends the order, and a member of staff confirms the supplier's reply before the hire begins.
Rental & invoices
Rental worked out per cylinder on its own clock, with printable invoices showing gas and rental clearly.
Manager dashboard
Live counts of customers, hires, cylinders, invoices and money outstanding, with free stock shown by size.
250+ tests
Automated checks on security and business rules, run continually, and before every change.
10+ modules
Built in planned stages, with every design decision recorded and reviewed.
Two-step sign-in
Required for all staff, with a full audit trail from the first day.
Phones & tablets
Barcode scanning in the browser, with no app to install.
A look at the system
These screens show sample data only. No real customers or records appear.
The system drafts, a person checks
CAMS never records something it hasn't seen. For a remote hire it knows a customer has a cylinder of a given size, not which one, so it never pretends otherwise.
Steps that involve money need a person to confirm them, and their name is recorded:
- Remote hire: the order goes to the supplier by email, staff confirm the reply, and only then does the rental start
- Local delivery: cylinders are scanned onto the van, customers are emailed that they're on the way, and each handover is scanned at the door
- Collection: cylinders are scanned to the customer at the counter
Built secure from the start
The system holds personal details, so security came first. The foundations were in place before any other work began.
- Two-step sign-in for every member of staff, and lockout after repeated failed attempts
- Admin, staff and read-only roles, each seeing only what it needs
- The staff system and the customer area kept completely separate, and tested to prove it
- A hardened server with encrypted connections, and updates that can be rolled back in one step
- A UK GDPR design that lets personal details be erased while the cylinder history stays intact
A current project, in development
CAMS is being built in planned stages, and the client tests each stage with sample data as it is finished. The features above are built and working, and before real records go in we'll complete the final data protection and backup checks, including a full test restore.
Coming next:
- A live link to the online shop, so customers and orders flow in without retyping
- Hire agreements signed online
- A customer area to view their own hires and invoices
- Richer reports for managers
Could your business work like this?
Whatever you hire, deliver or track, we can build a system around the way you work. Give us a call for a chat.