Overbooking alerts notify you when your future events would reserve more of an inventory item than you have available. The system rebuilds the alerts at startup, on a repeating timer, when inventory changes, and when the dashboard reads the alert payload. The dashboard can show a banner when a conflict is active, and email alerts can send an immediate notice plus 30-day and 7-day reminders.
What Is an Overbooking?
An overbooking occurs when the total quantity of an item requested across overlapping events exceeds your available inventory. For example, if you own 10 round tables and two overlapping events each need 6, you're short by 2 tables — that's an overbooking.
The system only flags future shortages. Past events that were overbooked are not flagged since they've already occurred.
How Overbookings Are Detected
The system runs at startup and on a repeating timer, with the interval capped at a minimum of 15 minutes. It also refreshes whenever inventory changes or the alert payload is requested. Weekend-shared items are included in the calculation.
Dashboard Alert Banner
When an overbooking is detected, a banner appears on your calendar dashboard below the pickup alerts. The banner shows a brief summary like:
2 items overbooked in 3 events
Click the banner to review the details, or click the x button to dismiss it temporarily. The banner reappears on page refresh if the shortage still exists.
Reviewing Overbooked Events
There are two ways to see which events are affected:
From the CalOps Panel
If you're on a desktop screen with the CalOps panel visible, the Overbooked Items card shows the count at a glance. Click Review events to switch the live context panel to a detailed list showing:
- Each affected event with its date range
- Which items are short and by how much
- Quick-action buttons to edit the event or jump to it on the calendar
From the Alert Banner
Click the alert banner on the dashboard to navigate to the overbooked events view in the CalOps panel.
Resolving an Overbooking
Once you've identified the conflict, you have several options:
- Reduce event quantities — Open the affected event and lower the quantity of the overbooked item.
- Increase your inventory — Go to Inventory and increase the total count for the item.
- Move event dates — Shift one of the conflicting events to a different date range that doesn't overlap.
- Remove the item from one event — If the item isn't essential for one of the events, remove it entirely.
After making changes, the system automatically re-checks and resolves the alert if the shortage no longer exists.
Email Alerts (Optional)
You can opt in to receive email notifications when overbookings are detected. When enabled, the system sends up to three emails per shortage:
- Immediate alert — Sent as soon as the overbooking is first detected.
- 30-day reminder — Sent if the shortage still exists 30 days before the affected event date.
- 7-day reminder — A final warning sent 7 days before the affected event date.
What the Email Contains
Each email includes a table showing:
- The shortage date
- The event name
- The item (category and name)
- How many are missing (e.g., "Short by 2")
- A note if weekend sharing is contributing to the shortage
The email also includes a reminder that the alert auto-resolves once you adjust inventory or event quantities.
Enabling Email Alerts
- Navigate to Settings.
- In the Business section, check Email business account when inventory is overbooked.
- Save your settings.
Emails are sent to your configured business email address. The system tracks which notifications have already been sent to avoid sending duplicates.
Gotchas
- Only future events are flagged: If an overbooking existed last week but the event has already passed, no alert is shown. The system only looks forward.
- Weekend blocking can cause unexpected shortages: If two events are both marked as "weekend jobs" on the same weekend, items are blocked for the full Friday-Sunday range for each event. This can create shortages even if the events are on different days within the weekend.
- Dismissing the banner is temporary: Clicking the x on the alert banner hides it for your current session. It will reappear on your next page load if the overbooking hasn't been resolved.
- Email alerts require a business email: The overbooking email is sent to the business email address configured in Settings. If no business email is set, email alerts won't be sent even if the option is enabled.
- Composite items (Build Kits) are checked at the component level: If a tent like "40x80" is a composite item, the system checks availability of its component parts (frames, ends, mids), not the composite item itself. A shortage in a component used by multiple composite items will be flagged.
- Checks run every 15 minutes: There can be a brief delay between creating an event and seeing an overbooking alert. Click Refresh in the CalOps snapshot to force an immediate check.