Automatic Placement (Log)

The automatic placement buttons and menus available on the Log are what schedules spots using the instructions entered through Formats, Contracts, Rotation, Copy, Customer configuration, etc. If, when opening a Log, there aren't any spots currently on the Log, the automatic placement processing occurs automatically; saving you the extra step of doing so.

Rules

The automatic placement process honors all of the following "rules":

• Station - When a Contract is defined, the Station on the ContractLineItem is used to further align a spot with a particular Log. With regards to the Log, the Station determines several specific scheduling criteria:
  • Station Scheduling Weight - Sometimes you want to give more weight to the rate of spots, other times you may want to have more control by giving more weight to the "placement level" that you define. This can be configured according to your preference as to what will be given more weight first, second, etc. If all things being equal on the first, the second is evaluated and so forth.
  • Log Generation - The number of days into the future that the "structure" of a Log is generated so that scheduling can take place.
• Format - Additionally, Formats are defined on a per Station basis. Each Format defines several details regarding the "how" a Log should be structured; specifically regarding the scheduling of spots, the avails (see AvailType) are added defining the when, available time and maximum number of spots that can be placed. It is also possible to "weight" these avails to create preferential placement on a per avail basis.
  • Avail - See AvailType.
  • Priority - A number 1 and 9 that defines the weight in relation to other avails defined. You can leave the priority set to nothing (blank); these will be treated as the lowest priority (if, of course, any other entries actually contain a number).
• Target Date - On a ContractLineItem, you define a date range and within this range, possibly a pattern to target one or more days of the week (or using Daily scheduling to target specific calendar date(s)). When the Contract is approved, spots are created to target the defined criteria and each "target date" is used to determine which Log the individual spots should land.
• Start Time - The Start Time and End Time fields on a ContractLineItem define the range of time that a particular spot can be placed.
• End Time - See Start Time.
• Avail Type - On the ContractLineItem, you define where you want spots for this billing line to fall; this aligns with the respective Avail entries contained on Station Formats.
• Primary Conflict - Each Contract can have a primary Conflict and secondary Conflict defined that will be applied (restrict). The placement of scheduled spots will not place within the defined criteria; which can be defined on an avail Format or minute (time) basis with a related separation amount that represents the amount accordingly. It is possible to set the Conflict to None; effectively removing the restrictions. However, other surrounding spots may still have Conflicts and those will still have the restriction(s) applied as expected.
• Secondary Conflict - See Primary Conflict.
• Override Conflicts - Each ContractLineItem can further define whether or not to participate in Conflict rules; to not participate, place a check mark next to this field. Effectively works the same as setting the Primary Conflict and Secondary Conflict to None; but on a per ContractLineItem basis.
• Customer Separation - You can define, on a Customer basis, the amount of minimum separation that will be applied (restricted). This can either be on a avail Format or minute (time) basis and the related separation amount is the amount respectively.
• Override Customer Separation - Each ContractLineItem can further define whether or not to participate in the Customer defined separation. (See Override Conflicts above.)

Spot Placement

Taking all of the information into account, the list of available spots is first sorted by using a number that is a composite of the Station Scheduling Weight described above and a separate list of available locations on a Log is determined.

Using these two lists, the placement engine starts with the high priority spot and works it's way through to the last spot on the list. For each spot, a list of avails is determined and sorted by priority; again using all of the above criteria. For each priority level (See Format), an avail is determined at random. Once all of the avails have been evaluated, the next priority level is processed accordingly. Each spot is attempted to be placed into these avails verifying that all of the rules are not being violated. If a particular avail does not work, it is removed from the list for this spot and another one is chosen at random. If all avails have been exhausted, the spot remains on the bump list.

Copy Assignment

When the Log is locked, the Copy assignment process is executed. Through this process, the Copy associated with each Contract is evaluated (and potentially rotated if used) to assign a legal piece of Copy based on all of the rules defined to a particular spot. This determination is also done in the background (without the rotation aspect) to assist in notifying you that there are potentially spots that will not be able to have Copy assigned. If using an AutomationSystem, the Log will not allow locking until all spots that have missing Copy are resolved by either getting Copy assigned or removing the spot(s) from the Log.

Notes

It is important to remember that the only point where automatic placement occurs without User interaction is if, which, in of itself is a User interaction, the Log is opened and currently contains no spots on the actual log; meaning all of the spots are still on the bump list. These spots do not "save" on the Log until the Log is actually saved.

You can use the Bump All Spots menu/button to remove all spots back to the bump list and subsequently use Automatic Placement to start from anew. To get the best possible results, this is the method that can provide the best opportunity for placement given that everything that can be on the Log is evaluated at the same time.

You can also use the Bump by        context menu (available on the Log) to bump spots by a wide assortment of criteria and capabilities. Automatic Placement can be run at any time throughout the Log editing process; regardless of how many spots are already on the Log. This means you can bump all spots of a particular placement level and then re-run the Automatic Placement process to re-process those items that are now in the bump list.

There is nothing in the system that will "automatically bump" spots; this is because doing so may produce undesirable results, possibly undoing work that you've spent considerable amount of time. Again, we do not do anything automatically with regards to the Log without your express consent (actions). We strive to make this all as easy as we can while still providing you a much control as you may desire in the process.

Additional Information

See Stations.
See Formats.
See AvailTypes.
See Contracts.
See Conflicts.
See Copy.

Disclaimer

As you can probably imagine, all roads for the Traffic side of Traffic and Billing lead to the Log; as such, this is an area that we are constantly striving to improve and the material included in this document may not be representative of the current version.