Limiting Active Vehicles

The Limiting Active Vehicles feature allows administrators to strictly control the maximum number of active vehicles a user can associate with their portal profile. Its primary purpose is to help manage parking inventory, prevent permit abuse, and ensure users maintain a reasonable number of registered vehicles within the system. This article is intended for OPS-COM administrators responsible for managing user configurations and parking regulations.

Setup and Configuration

Active vehicle limits are controlled and configured through the specific settings of individual User Types.

Admin Side: Administrators must have the appropriate system role permissions enabled to access the user configuration menus and modify user type settings. For detailed information on working with user types, refer to the User Types wiki article.

User Side: Users will directly experience these limits on the user portal when attempting to add new vehicles or change the active status of their existing vehicles.

Editing Active Vehicle Limits

1. Hover over System Configuration, click Users, then Types to open the User Type Administration page.

2. Locate the specific user type you wish to edit from the list and click the Edit button.

3. Locate the Extra Active Vehicles field.

4. Enter the desired number to reflect the maximum additional active vehicles allowed for this user type.

5. Click the Update User Type button to apply your new configuration limit.

The number entered in the Extra Active Vehicles field represents how many additional active vehicles a user may have on their profile, beyond their first required active vehicle. For example, if you set this number to 1, the user may have a maximum of 2 active vehicles (their one required active vehicle plus one additional).

Using this Feature

Once the active vehicle limit is set for a user type, it directly dictates how those specific users can interact with their vehicle information on the portal.

Standard User Portal Interaction

1. Navigate to the Vehicle tab on the user portal to access the vehicle information section.

2. Click the Add New Vehicle button.

3. Fill out the required vehicle information and click the Save Changes button.

4. Observe the confirmation message and verify the vehicle now appears on the active list.

Exceeding the Active Vehicle Limit

If a user tries to add a vehicle that would exceed their configured limit (e.g., attempting to add a third vehicle when their limit is set to a maximum of two):

1. Enter the new vehicle information and click the Save Changes button.

2. The user will still receive a confirmation message indicating the vehicle was successfully added to their profile.

3. Observe that the newly added vehicle appears on the vehicles page, but it is locked in an inactive state.

4. Attempt to make the vehicle active by toggling its state. The system will block the action and display a message indicating the vehicle cannot be made active due to the limit set for their user type.

Minimum Active Vehicle Requirement

Conversely, if a user attempts to make all of the vehicles on their profile inactive, the system will block the action. A message will appear indicating that the user must always have at least one active vehicle associated with their profile.

Best Practices and Considerations

• Understand the additional limit logic: Remember that the Extra Active Vehicles setting represents additional vehicles beyond the one required active vehicle. A setting of 0 means a user can have a maximum of one active vehicle. A setting of 1 means a maximum of two active vehicles, and so on.

• Account for grandfathered vehicles: If you reduce the number of allowed active vehicles for a user type, users who currently exceed the new limit will not be immediately affected. They are grandfathered in with their current active vehicles. The new, stricter rule will only come into effect when the user attempts to add new vehicles or reactivate previously inactive vehicles in the future.

• Communicate limits clearly to users: Inform users about active vehicle limits in your FAQs or permit purchasing guidelines to manage expectations. While the system provides messages when limits are reached, proactive communication prevents user confusion and reduces support tickets.

• Handle existing system vehicles: Be aware that if a user attempts to add a vehicle that is already present in the system, they will be prompted to claim it. The exact same active vehicle rules and limits described above will still apply to this claiming process.