Occupancy Adjustment Overview

A location’s occupancy count is established by the current number of issued tickets. An operator can manually reduce the occupancy count by soft closing tickets or the count can be manually increased using the Actual Count field available in the Flash Admin portal. 

Reduce Count

Soft closing a ticket removes the ticket from the Issued or Open Ticket Count and reduces the occupancy numbers in all system reporting. There are multiple ways of soft closing tickets, described in the sections below.

If integrated with an Occupancy Display Sign soft closing tickets will automatically update the current occupancy count or available spaces displayed. 

Inflate Count

The occupancy count can be increased under necessary circumstances, such as if an entry gate is left open allowing unrecorded entries, and an accurate display of Available Spaces is required for an integrated sign. The Occupancy Count can only be increased through the Actual Count field in the Admin Portal, inflating the count essentially creates "ghost tickets" and will increase the count for integrated signs and Flash IQ data. 

Downloadable Flash Occupancy reports will not be affected by a manual increase of the Actual Count. 

Manual Occupancy Adjustment Options

The bulk soft closing option is available in the Flash Admin Portal under the Clean Up Tickets tab. If Automatic Capacity is enabled for the location, the count can be manually adjusted using the Actual Count field.

Any soft closing actions or Actual Count adjustments will be accounted for in the Adjustment field visible in the Flash Admin portal and Flash Valet app. 

Clean up Tickets

To soft close tickets, follow the steps below.

1. Go to https://portal.flashvalet.com and log in to the Admin Portal.

2. On the left menu, click Locations, then choose a Location.

3. On the top menu, click Clean Up Tickets.

4. Select a Ticket Type in the dropdown or keep the All Tickets Types default.

5. Select a date on the Issued Before Date calendar and click Search.

Soft closing a Monthly or Transient ticket will not interfere with exiting the parking facility. The ticket reinstates at exit and payment can be collected for Transients, or an exit is recorded for Monthly parkers.

6. Check the intended tickets to soft close, then click Soft Close Selected Tickets.

Adjust Count with Auto Capacity Settings

Auto Capacity Mode allows the operator to control the parking facility occupancy count quickly through the Admin Portal. Reducing the Actual Count will always soft close the oldest Transient tickets.

Increasing the Actual count will inflate the occupancy number for integrated occupancy signs and Flash IQ data. Increasing the count will also affect the Kiosk Status if Auto Open/Full is enabled see the Auto Open/Full article for more information. 

The Actual Count field is available for entry once Automatic Capacity is enabled for the location or logical zone. 

How to Adjust Actual Count

1. Go to https://portal.flashvalet.com and log in to the Admin Portal.

2. On the left menu, click Locations, then choose a Location.

3. If applicable, select Logical Zones on the top menu then click the Logical Zone to view the Current and Actual Count fields. 

4. Select Actual Count and update based on the physical count of vehicles or that Location or Logical Zone.

5. Click Save.

Reducing the count will soft close the oldest transient tickets and update the Current Count. Increasing the Actual Count will only affect integrated occupancy signs, Flash IQ, and the Auto Open Full status if enabled. The Current Count will remain unchanged if the count is inflated. The Adjustment field will always calculate the difference between the Current count and the Actual Count. 

Actual Count Increased and Adjustment Accounted

Reset Monthly Accounts to Neutral

An individual monthly parker is reset to neutral from their monthly account in the Flash Admin portal. If the parker has any active tickets (current parks) open, the active ticket(s) will be soft closed and the occupancy count is reduced by the number of soft closed tickets. If the monthly parker does have any current open tickets a soft close action will not occur.

How to Reset a Monthly Parker to Neutral

1. Go to https://portal.flashvalet.com and log in to the Admin Portal.

2. On the left menu, click Monthly, then choose a Location.

3. Locate and select the monthly parker. 

4. Select the Reset to Neutral button. 

Scheduled Soft Close Tickets 

PARCS tickets can be scheduled to soft close after a set number of hours, the auto soft close setting is configured per ticket type, meaning the Transient, Monthly, Overnight, and Membership tickets can have separate auto soft close settings. Tickets will only soft close after a set amount of hours from the issued date and time. 

It is currently not an option to schedule tickets to soft close on a specific date and time.