FAQs

GENERAL

Q. Where can I find my Ad Manager serial number?

A. In Ad Manager, go to the Help pulldown menu, and select About Scala Ad Manager 5.?
The About dialog will show the serial number, in the form of:
Serial number: SSWA-DMGR-xxxx-yyyy-zzzz

Q. Can my data be converted into Ad Manager?

A. Our staff has successfully converted data from Access, dBase, FoxPro, SQL tables and Excel.  Pre-loading your existing data into Ad Manager allows your staff to realize the benefits of the software more quickly, while saving your company time and money.

Q. Are there any restrictions on who can use the program?

A. No. Ad Manager enables SQL security to ensure that staff has access to only the data they need to see. Users can be set up with full access, read-only access or access denied to your data.

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CONTRACT MANAGEMENT

Q. How do I get a list of only one salesperson’s Contracts?

A. In Ad Manager, when you enter Contract details, there is a field called Salesperson. If the data has been entered, you can then use this field, when using the Finder tool and look for Contracts with that name associated to them.

Q. Can I have both digital and static Subcontracts on one Contract in Ad Manager? 

A. Yes!  As long as your license is for both static as well as digital media, both digital and static Subcontracts can be added and managed in one Contract. It is not necessary to create a new Contract for one or the other.

Q. My manager wants a list of all Contracts signed in a certain date range. Is this possible using Ad Manager?

A. Absolutely! When you enter a new Contract into Ad Manager, there is a field on the Details page called “Signed on”. Once a date is entered here, it can then be used with the Finder tool to obtain what the manager requested.

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DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT

Q. I would like to store copies of my Contracts and Lease agreements in Ad Manager. Is this possible?

A. Yes!  Ad Manager has an Attachments page on every Site, Face, Contract, Subcontract (Static), Lease and Design for users with our Document Management module. Any file you wish to attach, from Word documents to Excel spreadsheets to PowerPoint presentations, can be attached on this page to the corresponding object.  

Q. Can I e-mail an attached Contract file from Ad Manager?

A. Yes, you can. Go to the Attachment page of the Contract. Double-click on the attached file.  This will open the document. Once the document is open, go to the File menu and there should be the option to send it in an e-mail (depending upon the type of file).

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FINANCE – BILLING

Q. Can my billing schedules be different than my posting schedules?

A. Absolutely! Ad Manager allows the user to set up the billing using either the Subcontract (posting) dates or with a custom recurrence.  This recurrence can be changed during the lifetime of a Contract.  Ad Manager allows you to enter multiple Bill Definitions on the same Contract to allow for any combination of billing schedules.

Q. I have exported my Invoices to my accounting software and realize that I need to make a change to one of the Invoices and re-export it. I cannot edit the Invoice in question in Ad Manager. Why?

A. Once an Invoice has been exported out of Ad Manager into an accounting software package, Ad Manager marks that Invoice as being “finalized” and “exported”. When an Invoice is marked this way, the record is essentially “locked” and cannot be edited as you do not want to have mismatched information between what Ad Manager contains and that of your accounting software. To “unlock” the Invoice, you will first need to find it either through the Contract or by using a Finder. Once you have found the Invoice, open it, and then go to Tools>Re-set Export Status, then go to Tools >Unfinalize. This will allow you to edit the Invoice, re-finalize it and re-export it from Ad Manager.  

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FINANCE – LEASING

Q. The monthly payments to a landlord have been revised from Annual to Monthly. How do I make the necessary changes to reflect this?

A. Since the existing Lease Payment Schedule is no longer valid, you would go to it and revise it to end on the date that the Annual payments are no longer being paid. To do this, go to the Financial folder>All Leases in the public folders of the main explorer window of Ad Manager. Double-click to open the Lease in question, and on the Payment Schedules page, select and open the schedule for the Annual payments. Go to the Recurrence page of that schedule and in the “Range of Recurrence” area, choose the “End by” option and enter the last date of the Annual payments.

Next, set up a new Payment Schedule for the duration of the Lease by choosing the “new” button on the Payment Schedules page of the Lease. Enter the details of this new Payment Schedule and set it up to have a Monthly recurrence pattern, paid on a certain date of each month.

Q. Can I have multiple lessors on a Lease in Ad Manager?

A. Yes! In fact, Ad Manager not only provides you with the ability to track multiple Lessors for a Lease, it allows you to maintain multiple Lease Payment Schedules, each with a different Payee (usually the Lessor).  

This provides you with the ability to create different Payment Schedules for different Lessors in the data, and also provides you with the ability to set up escalating Lease Payment Schedules and other Payment Schedules when the Lease is input into the data. This saves time later, and reduces the chance of incorrect Payments being made.

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INVENTORY

Q. I found a few Faces in Ad Manager that were on the wrong Site. How can I move them to the correct Site without losing the Faces’ scheduling history?

A. Click on a saved finder of Faces containing the Faces that need to be moved.  Highlight the Face(s) you wish to move.  Go Tools>”Move to Site”. In the window labeled “Specify a site” enter the criteria for the Site to which the Face(s) are moving, and then click <OK>.   If more than one Site matches the criteria, Ad Manager will display a list from which you can select the appropriate one.  The Face(s) will be moved to the selected Site with the posting history attached.

Q. I tried to find all of my Faces for a specific Market using the Finder tool, but some are missing. Why are they not in the resulting list?

A. Most likely, the Faces are in Areas that are not part of the Market definition.  Check the missing Faces to determine which Area has been assigned to them. Then go to the OTHER folder>All Markets and open the Market definition of the one in question.  If the Area is missing as part of the Market definition, add it on the Details page, using the New button. The other reason may be that the Face(s) in question has the wrong Area assigned to it. If this is the case, change the Area name to the correct one and save the Face(s).   

Q. Can I have both Players and Faces on the same Site in Ad Manager?

A. Yes! As long as your license is for both static as well as digital inventory, you can add both Players and Faces to the same Site. It is not necessary to create a new Site for one or the other.

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MAINTENANCE

Q. I need to keep the names of those employees and/or contractors who complete Maintenance Tasks for reporting purposes. Is there a table where this can be done in Ad Manager?

A. Yes! To enter their names, go to the Maintenance folder and click on All Technicians. You are able to enter information such as their name/phone/fax and address as well as see any Maintenance Tasks associated each name. There also is a Notes page where you can enter any notes about the particular Technician.  

Q. I want to be able to schedule recurring Maintenance Tasks such as grass cutting, bus shelter cleaning and changing the time clocks. How do I do this using Ad Manager?

A. To do this, go to the Maintenance folder and click on All Task Schedules. To add a new Task Schedule, click on the new button on the left end of the tool button bar. Set up the Task information for this particular Schedule on the Details page and on the Recurrence page set up the Recurrence pattern of how often you wish this Task to be done and the date range of Recurrence. Click the <Save> button and all Tasks that have been created will appear on the Tasks page. 

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MAPPING

Q. I have mapped my Subcontract (Static) and my client’s locations.  Why can’t I see the option “show available faces” so I can adjust the scheduling using the map?

A. The option to “show available faces” is only available when you have the Subcontract layer highlighted in your list of layers. If you have the Client’s locations layer highlighted, the option will not be available.  The same would apply if you mapped a Contract, or a list of Faces or Postings. Depending upon what layer you have selected/highlighted, there will be different tools available to you in the Mapping Tool.

Q. Can I create maps inside Ad Manager that meet OAAA standards?

A. Yes! Ad Manager allows users to create maps that meet the OAAA standards. You can identify the style, color and labeling for each layer on the map, and also you have the ability to select the type (font), size and color of the symbols to be used when mapping your showings or inventory. Our integrated mapping solution provides Ad Manager users with consistent high quality mapping that can be combined with third party data sources (demographics, store locations) to meet your mapping needs.

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OPERATIONS

Q. Some of the Posting/Installation Cards for this week’s work have gone missing. How do I reprint them?

A. Using Ad Manager’s Finder tool, look for Posting Tasks and enter the necessary criteria to match what time period/Media Type/Advertiser/etc. you need in order to get the list of Tasks. In the results pane, select/highlight those Posting Tasks for which you need to re-print the cards and go to Tools>Update.  

Turn on the checkbox beside the field “Print Cards”, select “YES” and then click <OK>. Ad Manager will then allow you to re-print the cards for those selected Posting Tasks.  

Now go to the Reports Tool and print the posting cards as you normally would.

Q. I am the operations manager and I would like to pre-assign certain Posting Tasks to certain Billposters prior to printing the Posting Cards. Is this possible with Ad Manager?

A. In Ad Manager, both Billposters and Faces can be associated with Posting Routes. This data is entered on the Billposters by going to the OTHER folder>All Billposters. On the Details page, you can add one or more Posting Routes to this particular Billposter by clicking the “New” button and selecting it from the list. On the Face Details page, there is a Posting Route field, which uses the same list of Posting Routes. If this data has been entered and is kept current, use Manager’s Finder tool, looking for Posting Tasks and enter the necessary criteria to match what time period/Media Type/Advertiser/etc. you need in order to get the list of Tasks. In the results pane, select/highlight those Posting Tasks for which you want to pre-assign the Billposter. Then go to Tools>Assign Billposter. Ad Manager will assign the Billposter associated to each Face’s Posting Route to the selected Posting Tasks.

If this data has not been entered on the Face or Billposter, you can still do this. Use the same Finder, highlight those Posting Tasks you wish to assign to a particular Billposter, go to Tools>Update. Turn on the checkbox beside the field “Billposter”, select the name from the list, and click <OK>.    

You can then use your selection criteria to print each Billposter’s posting cards separate from another’s.

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REPORTS

Q. Why does the Proof of Performance Report only list some of the Faces that I had assigned to a Subcontract (static)?

A. This report only lists information on completed Posting Tasks as of the date you run it.  Therefore, if you have assigned 50 Faces to the Subcontract (Static), but the day that you ran this report only 35 of their Posting Tasks were entered into the data as being completed, the Proof of Performance Report would only list the 35 Faces that were completed along with the date each was done. If any of the Posting Tasks listed has been taken down or covered prior to the running of the report, it will also show a date of when this was done.

Q. Can I create my own Report in Ad Manager?

A. Yes. Ad Manager has a reporting engine that allows you to create your own report or take an existing report layout and customize it to include or exclude fields and their positioning on the report.  

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SCHEDULING

Q. When I am assigning Faces to my Subcontract (Static), why am I only getting conflict messages for a few select Advertisers and not all of them?

A. For Ad Manager to recognize Advertiser conflicts, you must have this information entered into the data. To check this, go to the OTHER folder>All Advertisers and double-click on the Advertiser in the list. Add any conflicting Advertiser and/or Categories on the Conflicts page that may be missing.  

You may also need to check the Line-of-Sight conditions for your Faces to make sure that they have been entered. This information is entered on the Line-of-Sight page of the Face, or by using the Generate Line-of-Sight Tool under the Tools menu when on a list of Sites. To use the Tool select the Sites in a listing of Sites, then go Tools>Generate Line-of-Site.  In the “Generate Line-of-Sight Conditions” select the one(s) that apply to the selected Sites and click <OK> to create the Line-of-Sight conditions for all Faces on the same Site.

Once the above two conditions are met, you will get the conflict warning.

Q. Why is the Visual Charting Tool only used with finders that have been saved for Subcontracts (Static) and Faces? Why can’t I just go into Visual Charting if I need to quickly answer a question?

A. Visual Charting is designed as a scheduling tool and requires that Subcontract(Static) and Faces be present in order to display information. If you wish, you can keep the Visual Charting window minimized on your Windows task bar to pull up as necessary for reference. Depending upon your needs, there may be other ways to find the information just as quickly.

The Time Space Report in Ad Manager or the Visual Charting Time Space Report, written in Excel, provide a hard copy version similar to what is being displayed on the screen and may be used as reference, if preferred.

Q. How do I see overall availability for Digital Media in Ad Manager?

A. Under the Tools menu item in Ad Manager’s main explorer window, there is a “View Digital Open Space” tool which graphically will display availability on Player Slots.  

The intensity of the color of the bar tells you quickly how sold out a particular Player Slot is. The darker the color of the bar, the less time available to sell. By placing your cursor on the bar in the date range cell, you can see the actual amount of time sold and still available. By double-clicking on the bar, you can see those Advertisers that have purchased and are scheduled during the time frame. Note: Reservations need to be scheduled in order to appear on this Tool and be counted. Subcontracts (digital) that do not have Reservations scheduled to them will not appear nor be counted.

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