The Scenario

Managing a lab means tracking more than just equipment time; you also need to manage the materials that make experiments possible. It’s frustrating when critical stock—like specialized slides or chemicals—runs out unexpectedly or goes unbilled. This setup ensures every item used is tracked at the time of booking. You’ll protect your inventory levels, prevent sudden shortages, and automate billing so every consumable used is captured and paid for.

QReserve Subscription: Core
Implementation Difficulty: Beginner

Implementation Steps:

• 1. Create the Consumable: Navigate to Resources → Add Resource and set the resource type to Consumable / Item. Be sure to enter your starting inventory quantity.
  2. Link to Primary Resource: On the consumable resource, navigate to Reservations → Profile → Related Resources to link it to the equipment it is used with.
  3. Restrict Usage: To ensure it is only booked with its related equipment, go to Reservations → General → Can Only Be Used With Related Resources and select Only Related. Set this same parameter for the parent resource by going to Reservations → General → Can Only Be Used With Related Resources and select Only Related. 
  4. Add User Reminders: Navigate to Profile → General → Disclaimer on the primary resource and add a note reminding users to add any necessary consumables to their booking.

Pro Tip: If you want this process to be automated—so consumables add themselves to the booking automatically—you can create a Reservation Preset.

📖 Learn more about Inventory Tracking

📖 Learn more about Related Resources

📖 Learn more about Reservation Presets

🎬 [ ▶ Watch Setup Video Guide ]