ARA’s Top 35 Features
In 2022, ARA started an ongoing survey to identify the 35 software features deemed most valuable for software purchases. The ratings next to each feature represent the responses from the ARA survey, highlighting their importance to each member. The features labeled “Unique to Fame” are not from the original ARA survey. Fame has added them to enhance your experience.
Fame Rental took these 35 features and showed how we rank for each:
Accounting & Financial Management
Business Intelligence and Reporting
Client Management
Rental and Sales Management
Inventory Management
Asset Management
Operations & Logistics
Accounting
Very Useful: 83% | Useful: 17%
Built on the SAP Business One Business Technology Platform, Fame Rental customers get world-class accounting and business management, with every transaction reflected in real-time.
Invoice management
Very Useful: 50% | Useful: 50%
Our invoice management system seamlessly integrates with the general ledger, purchasing, and work order processes. It offers advanced features including user tracking, multiple payment options, and automated purchasing. The work order management enables smooth invoicing and purchasing, complemented by a customer portal for invoice review and payment. Providing real-time tracking, the system delivers comprehensive visibility across all rental business operations.
Late Fee Calculation
Very Useful: 28.57% | Useful: 71.43%
Fame Rental’s late fee calculation feature serves multiple purposes: it provides an incentive for customers to pay on time, it generates additional revenue for the accounts receivable team by enabling them to effectively chase late payments, and it allows the company to identify the customers who consistently pay their invoices on time.
Job Costing
Very Useful: 25% | Useful: 25%
Job costing is an accounting process that allows businesses to track tasks, time, materials, and profitability for projects that span multiple days or weeks. While we don’t currently offer job costing capabilities, the team at Fame Rental is committed to enhancing our project management tools in this area.
Asset Accounting
Unique to Fame
Fame Rental’s asset-centric approach tracks equipment comprehensively from cradle to grave. With world-class depreciation management and multi-book accounting, you can reduce accounting fees and taxes. By integrating Rental, Lease, Maintenance, and Financing functions, you gain real-time insights into each unit’s location, performance, current needs, and future requirements. The result is a performance scorecard that reflects every aspect of asset ownership.
Equipment Financing Management
Unique to Fame
Fame Financing helps you track the loan contracts for your equipment, keeping up with loan balances, interest paid and owing, long-term and current debt, and payment schedules – all at the Asset level.
Rent-to-Own/ Sales Financing
Very Useful: 25% | Useful: 25%
Fame Leasing, which includes Rent-to-Own, Sales Financing, Operating, and Capital Leases, helps you make more sales by providing financing to your customers. Through Rent-to-Own, your company can capture rental revenue from the equipment until the sale is complete and eliminate the need for in-house financing on used equipment. Whether Rent-to-Own or straight leasing, you can ease the cash requirements for your customers, helping you sell more.
Subrent Tracking (Re Rentals)
Very Useful: 16.67% | Useful: 66.67%
Subrent tracking streamlines the re-renting process by allowing direct purchase order creation from rental contracts. Fully integrated between Rental and Purchasing, this feature ensures seamless tracking and reconciliation for customers.
Analytics, Dashboards, and Business Metrics
Very Useful: 57% | Useful: 43%
Fame delivers comprehensive business intelligence with pre-configured dashboards that can be easily extended. With all your business information fully rationalized in one place, you can produce any metric and answer any question, customizing the dashboards to meet your specific needs.
Export-to-Excel/CSV
Very Useful: 62.5% | Useful: 37.5%
Our export-to-Excel/CSV feature, allows you to easily convert any report into a format that suits your needs. Whether you want to print, customize, or further analyze your rental data, our platform makes it simple to export the information to Excel or CSV.
Customer Relationship Management
Very Useful: 33.33% | Useful: 33.33%
Fame Rental now offers a fully integrated, real-time CRM embedded directly within FameAir. Unlike traditional systems that connect separate databases, our embedded CRM provides seamless, real-time data access with no delays or synchronization issues. Track meetings, calls, and tasks with integrated dashboards and calendars, link activities to documents (Quotes, Contracts, Work Orders, Invoices), and maintain schedules with automated reminders. The system includes real-time notifications that send automated text and email messages to customers based on events like “We’re on the way with your delivery,” with customers able to respond to reschedule if needed.
Online Account Management
Very Useful: 83.33% | Useful: 33.33%
Our Online Account Management system (Customer Portal) is a secure, 24/7 web-based platform offering comprehensive self-service features. Customers can pay and print invoices, view equipment rental history, browse inventory, create reservations and sales orders, track work orders, and manage call-off rentals. The portal provides a personalized experience with flexible payment options, including multiple payment methods (credit card and on-account), PCI-compliant processing, grace periods, discounts, partial call-offs, user-friendly navigation, and real-time general ledger integration, all designed to meet customers’ specific needs.
Additional After-Hours Support
Very Useful: 50% | Useful: 25%
Our Additional After-Hours Support provides our customers with a sense of peace of mind knowing that we will be there for them if they need assistance, even outside of regular business hours. This additional support helps us build strong relationships, demonstrating our commitment to providing exceptional customer service and support.
Employee Time Clock
Very Useful: 33.33% | Useful: 33.33%
Our Employee Time Tracking allows users to create profiles, track skills, and facilitate work assignments, integrating with customer billing and analysis. The user-friendly system is designed to meet the unique needs of technicians, drivers, and field workers, keeping them organized and providing valuable insights into their activities.
Extra Shift Billing
Very Useful: 42.48% | Useful: 42.86%
We allow your customers to be billed for double or triple shifts without lost revenue for hour overages. This flexible extra shift billing model empowers our clients to adapt to changing rental needs without facing penalties.
Event Space CAD Renderings
Very Useful: 40% | Useful: 0%
Since Fame rental specializes in equipment rentals rather than event rentals, we do not offer an “Event Space CAD Renderings” feature.
Quote Contract Management
Very Useful: 50% | Useful: 37.5%
Our Quote Contract Management system tracks missed and lost rentals, helping your company analyze why potential rentals weren’t completed. While current tracking metrics are limited, upcoming CRM integration will enhance our ability to identify areas for improvement in your sales and quoting process.
Recurring Rentals
Very Useful: 57.14% | Useful: 28.57%
Fame Rentals’ Recurring Rentals feature enables automatic monthly billing for customers with ongoing equipment rental needs.
Recommended Items
Very Useful: 50% | Useful: 37.5%
Our system intelligently suggests complementary equipment and supplies that add value to your rental experience. These automated suggestions help ensure you have everything needed for a successful project, whether it’s additional rental items or purchases
Digital Signatures
Very Useful: 75% | Useful: 12.5%
Fame Rental’s digital signature capture streamlines documentation by collecting legally compliant signatures via tablet or email. By eliminating paper-based processes, this feature reduces errors, prevents lost documents, and demonstrates your commitment to innovative, customer-centric service that sets your rental business apart.
Credit Card Processing
Very Useful: 75% | Useful: 13%
Fame Rental’s credit card processing offers flexible rate structures, billing algorithms, and auto-charging, as well as various POS payment options. The system integrates seamlessly with the EBizCharge payment processor, providing automated billing, PCI compliance, and secure customer data. It also includes comprehensive credit card management features, such as real-time notifications and daily settlement and reconciliation.
E-commerce
Very Useful: 57.4% | Useful: 42.86%
Our integration with Sana provides customers an online portal where they can shop, reserve and buy items on their own. It keeps track of inventory and pricing automatically, making it easy to do business with us 24/7 without needing to call or visit.
Fleet Sales
Unique to Fame
Fame Rentals optimizes fleet management by seamlessly converting rental contracts to sales contracts. Using analytics, you can pinpoint the ideal time to sell equipment, maximizing returns and ensuring efficient fleet turnover.
New Equipment Sales and Financing
Unique to Fame
Fame Rental simplifies new equipment sales by offering both in-house and customer-secured financing options. Dealers can sell from new inventory without impacting their rental metrics, creating a seamless sales process.
Rate Management
Very Useful: 62.5% | Useful: 37.5%
Our Rate Management system provides flexible rate structures and customizable billing algorithms, allowing businesses to tailor their pricing strategies effectively. The option to embed Rouse into the sales process allows you to be sure that you are competitive on each quote.
Inventory Management
Very Useful: 50% | Useful: 50%
The comprehensive inventory management system integrates purchasing, sales, and fixed assets with multi-warehouse and multi-bin capabilities. Enhanced by MRP and demand forecasting, it features real-time tracking and a customer portal for centralized asset management, maximizing equipment utilization.
Inventory Management with Kit Ability
Very Useful: 28.57% | Useful: 42.86%
Set precise inventory control with customizable min/max levels and seamless stock transfers between locations, while real-time data ensures optimal equipment availability.
Parts Inventory Management
Very Useful: 42.86% | Useful: 42.86%
Parts Inventory Management integrates seamlessly with maintenance and retail sales, optimizing stock levels of repair parts and delivering comprehensive control over critical inventory.
RFID
Very Useful: 0% | Useful: 25%
RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is a versatile technology that allows you to easily locate and identify specific rental units. By attaching RFID tags to each unit, you can quickly find the exact item you need using an RFID reader. While Fame Rental does not currently provide this capability, we are exploring partnership opportunities to potentially offer RFID-enabled features in the future to enhance the rental experience for our customers.
Maintenance Management
Very Useful: 37.5% | Useful: 50%
Through real-time asset monitoring and automated work orders, Maintenance Management streamlines your operations. All maintenance, asset, and cost data is tracked comprehensively and shared across your organization.
Safety Inspection
Very Useful: 50% | Useful: 33.3%
Safety Inspections are integrated into Fame Rental, enhancing compliance and safety. This feature provides thorough inspections with detailed photos, documenting any potential issues. This allows businesses to address concerns quickly and maintain a safer working environment.
Telematics
Telematics technology integrates seamlessly with our rental ERP system, delivering real-time control over rental assets through geofencing, meter readings, and security alerts. This comprehensive monitoring provides critical insights for maintenance and utilization while enabling early issue detection to minimize downtime and optimize equipment efficiency.
Hour Meter Tracking
Very Useful: 50% | Useful: 50%
Track equipment service intervals effortlessly with accurate hour meter monitoring while preventing customer disputes over equipment usage time.
GPS Delivery Routing
Very Useful: 66.67% | Useful: 0%
Fame Rental leverages an integrated GPS-based routing system with real-time data and optimization algorithms. By partnering with a leading location technology provider like Mapbox, the system determines precise coordinates, calculates optimal routes, and enables dispatchers to make informed decisions that improve delivery efficiency and customer satisfaction.
Scheduling
Very Useful: 50% | Useful: 33.3%
Fame Rental’s Scheduling and Dispatch system streamlines Rental Logistics and Maintenance operations by intelligently matching technicians and drivers to jobs. The system evaluates availability, skills, workload, and location to optimize scheduling. A customizable calendar provides real-time schedule visualization with instant updates across employee calendars. Integrated location tracking enables dynamic route management and swift field personnel reassignment, ensuring efficient service and timely equipment deliveries.
Hour Meter Billing
Very Useful: 25% | Useful: 62.5%
Fame Rental’s hour meter billing precisely charges customers only for the actual equipment usage time, ensuring transparent and fair billing based on real-time utilization.
Inspection Management
Very Useful: 16.67% | Useful: 83.32%
Fame Rental’s Inspection Management integrates comprehensive check-out and check-in inspections with mobile photo capture. The system enables real-time asset scanning, signature collection, and instant information updates. Inspection failures automatically generate repair work orders and can immediately take units offline. This data-driven approach maximizes asset uptime, facilitates damage collections, extends equipment life, and improves overall asset return.
Multi-Location Support
Very Useful: 71.43% | Useful: 14.29%
Fame Rental’s Multi-Location Support helps manage operations across different sites. It tracks inventory and work orders, lets technicians work from mobile devices, and keeps everyone connected. You can easily move equipment between locations while keeping accurate financial records. This system ensures smooth, consistent work across the entire organization.
QR Codes
Very Useful: 25% | Useful: 25%
Fame Rental’s QR code feature simplifies inventory management, enabling quick scanning for parts sales, merchandise tracking, and seamless equipment check-in and check-out.