You create a ‘Campaign’ which will contain a single order definition. The Campaign can run for a week, a month, or even an entire year. You setup the date range and the billing frequency when you create the Campaign.
Each Campaign is divided into one or more ‘Segments.’ Segments can be as short as a week or extend for multiple months. Segments have a name, date range, and a single rate, which designates the billing and income amount of the entire Segment. Advertisers are assigned to Campaigns at the Segment level. An Advertiser can participate in one or more of the Segments. Each Segment generates a separate order for each Advertiser that participates.
You must use Station Combo Groups to define your Segments.
You next create one or more Segment Spot Pattern definitions. These are the patterns that define the Spot Pattern definitions on each Advertiser order. Once you have a Segment and Segment Spot Patterns, you can add Advertisers to that Campaign segment. This is the easy part. Add all the Advertisers you want to the segment and click a single button to create all of the orders. You can do this for five or 500 Advertisers.
Once you have created the order for an Advertiser in a Campaign Segment, the order is processed like any other VT order. It effectively has nothing more to do with the Forward Sales module. You must edit each order separately if you want to make changes. You can change Segment Spot Patterns and Segment information, but those changes will not appear in orders you have already created. You can add additional Advertisers at a later time and they will reflect any changes to the Segment definition.
When you create the orders, you are prompted for the date range. The default value will be the entire Segment date range. You can reduce the range value. This is handy if you add Advertisers after the Segment period has begun. They can still be included as late joiners and you can adjust the start date to reflect this. Of course, this will generate less spots for the Advertiser but the rate amount will be the same as the others unless you make adjustments.
When Forward Sales creates the orders, a non-spot billing pattern is created for all orders. This contains the rate amount of the Segment, which will be both the billing and income amount of the invoice. The default spot rate values on the Segment Spot Patterns is zero. You may want to enter a rate but it will only be used for per spot projection calculations. If you do not enter a rate, some VT reports may show a low per spot value. When the order is created, the Spot Patterns will always show zero dollar rates.