Rate Card Manager 3.0 Release Notes

Rate Card Manager 3.0 Release Notes

Rate Card Manager has been redesigned in form and functionality to meet the requirements and requests of users, to provide efficient and effective management of rate cards in a multi-market environment, including a new rate indexing strategy that allows this feature to more closely adjust rates based on demand.

The Rate Card List
The rate card list screen is the homepage for interaction with RCM. Features include…

•   Exports a selected rate card to Excel
•   Configures columns, and saves configurations as public or private favorites, including Market and Syscode filters
•    Imports a rate card from the standard Excel template
•   Switches to the Indexes page, or the Network Tiers page
•   Offers Mass Editing of the on-screen parameters of selected rate cards simultaneously
•   Saves changes
•   Accesses an audit trail of changes to a selected rate card. The columns headers of the audit report provide filtering and sorting, and the Activity text field is searchable by word

•   Copies a rate card for future use. Rate cards created from copies must have a different name than their source car

  Market and Syscode filters search the RC list and return any card with     syscodes in the selected market(s)…
  or any card containing the selected sycode(s).

• Rate Cards can be filtered by entering names in the blank field at the top of the Rate Card Name column
•   Each column can be sorted ascending of descending by clicking into the column header field, once for ascending, twice for descending
•  Columns with blank cells at the top and a down arrow indicate a picklist for filtering the column, instead of entering a value
•    Fields with funnels allow users to filter that column based on value logic

Rate Card List Columns

• Select Column – for selecting cards to be edited or copied
• Rate Card Name – The rate card name
• Status – indicates and assigns draft, activated, or deactivated status
• Idx – indicates if a rate card has an index associated
• OneTIM – indicates if the rate card is available for use in OneTIM
• PAM - indicates if the rate card is available for use in PAM
• LUR - indicates if the rate card is a Lowest Unit Rate card
• LUR C - indicates and sets the cushion, in minutes, where LUR rates are considered in force outside the time period of the RC line
• Rounding – Indicates and sets rounding to either round to the nearest (X) or round up to the nearest (X)
• Rnd Increment – The currency increment to which the rate is rounded
• Default Rate – the rate applied to and order line when the order line time period does not match any line on the rate applied rate card
• (XXX) sec. sp – the multiplier factor for spots other than 30-second spots. 30-second spots always report 100% of the indexed rate card value. Spots of different lengths report adjusted rates based on the factors in these column fields
• Created By – lists the rate card publisher
• Created On – lists the publication date
• Modified By – lists the last user who modified the rate card
• Modified On – lists the last date of modification

Note – created and modified information is available in the audit trail, also

Opening and Editing Rate Cards
RCM now allows rate cards to be opened from the Rate Card List screen by double-clicking on the rate card name. Once open, the card can be edited and saved regardless of its activation status. Individual cards have the same functionality and navigation on the screen as the Rate Card List screen,


plus the ability to add a new line at the bottom of the card  ,

…and to delete a selected line

Assigning an Index to a Rate Card
Rate Cards imported using the Excel template do not have an index assigned, even if there was one on the Excel sheet, and copied rate cards may need their index changed as part of their modification. To index a card, click the Select All box near the upper left of the screen

With all lines selected (yellow), click “Mass Edit” from the toolbar

From the Mass Edit pop up window, click “Index” to expose the list if active indexes. The selected index will be applied to all lines on the rate card

It is possible to assign different indexes to different lines or groups of lines by selecting only the ones to be indexed instead of using “Select All.” Sorting RC lines by daypart, or network, for example, would allow them to be grouped together for easy selection and indexing. Ctrl-Click and Shift-Click select multiple lines also.
Assigning Matching to a Rate Card
Matching dayparts and rate card lines has been simplified to just two choices

• “E” requires an exact match between the order line daypart and the rate card line daypart before returning a rate to an order
• “C” requires the order line daypart to be contained within a rate card line daypart, and returns a rate based on the closest matching line

Different lines on the same rate card can have different matching parameters. A rate card line for a specific program may require an “E” match, while a broad daypart RC line will probably have a “C” match to return a rate for any sub-segment of the broader daypart.
The process for mass editing of matching is the same as for Indexes.

Both Indexes and Matching can be edited by clicking in their fields on individual RC lines, also.
Creating Indexes
Creating indexes in RCM is now simpler and more flexible, allowing users to match indexing with demand patterns. To create a new index, or edit an existing one, select   from the Rate Card List toolbar.
When the Index List screen opens the user can double-click an existing index to view or edit it,

… or can click  to create a new index. Double -clicking opens the Index configuration screen.
If creating a new index, the user must name and save it…

…then select and double click it from the index list to open the index configuration screen.



The Index Configuration Screen

• The default Demand Factor for all time periods and days is 1.00, which means that the rate will not be increased or decreased for order line dayparts in those time windows
• Demand Factors can be increased to raise a rate card rate, or decreased to lower it
• Demand Factors are adjustable by day, and by each half-hour around the clock
• The Indexed Rate is a product of (rate x (the average days factor x by the average hourly factor)). The daily and hourly factors appear rounded in the Scratch Pad, but exact values are used for the calculation
• The daily Demand Factor adjusts all rates for the day by the values entered in the column’s second cell

• The half-hour Demand Factor adjusts all rates for the time period by the values entered in the row’s second cell. To edit the half-hour demand factors easily, use the Mass Edit feature in the upper left of the screen…

• …which exposes checkboxes allowing time periods to be multi-selected, and edited simultaneously by entering a factor in the Demand factor field at the top of the screen, and clicking “OK.” Time periods can be selected one at a time, or in sequence using “Shift-Click,” and individually using “Ctrl-Click.”

• The factors in the selected lines will change to the value in Demand Factor at the top of the page

• Note that factors can be less than 1.00 and will lower the rate card rate when applied.
• “Save and Deselect” will clear the selections for more edits on the same index. “Save” will save the changes and close the Index screen
• Historical demand data is the best guide for setting daily and half-hour factors. Experiment with small changes, because the compounding of factors makes a big difference in the final index

How a Final Index is Determined
The Scratch Pad calculator allows user to see the effects of an index scheme on a base rate by entering the daypart the same way one enters it in VIEW or OneTIM, and then clicking “Calculate.” The cells used to calculate the index will be highlighted in the grid.

Rate Card Profiles
In Setup > Configuration > Rate Card Manager is a feature that allows storage of a set of default values which can be used repeatedly, without having to re-enter the information for each new card created.

• Update Existing Import Profile(s) allows the user to select a default set to edit
• Import Profile Name allows the user to assign a name to the set of default values
• Default Rate is the rate to be shown when no rate card line matches an order line
• Rounding mode selects between rounding up, or to the nearest unit
• Rounding Unit selects the monetary increment to which the rate is rounded
• Visible in VIEW makes the card available to VIEW users
• Visible in PAM makes the card available to PAM users
• LUR Card denotes a Lowest Unit Rate Card
• LUR Cushion (Minutes) not visible until LUR Card is selected – allows additional time to be added to the daypart window when determining LUR compliance
• Spot Length Variables assigns percentage values to spots other that 30-second spots. 30-second spots always default to 100% of rate card value before indexing
• Save in the upper right of the screen saves the default values
• Note: Any of these values may be changed for any rate card on the Rate Card list screen

Example of a saved Profile:

Network Tiers
Another new shortcut in RCM is the Network Tiers function. Instead of assigning rates to every network, users can assign the same rates to groups of networks, making a shorter Excel template and quicker configuration of rate cards. From the Rate Card List screen select "Network Tiers"  from the tool bar.


 

• Edit a tier group activates the select menu to the right, from which the user selects which tier group to edit, rename, or delete
• Create a new tier group activates the name field, and requires the choice of the number of tiers in the group

Creating a New Tier Group

• After naming the group and selecting the number of tiers, each Tier can be named using the “Assign Names to Tiers” feature if desired. 
• The user populates each tier by first selecting it, and then moving available networks from the left menu to the selected menu on the right. Holding down the control key multi-selects.
• Networks are only available once, so they cannot be accidentallyy used in multiple tiers
• When all tiers are populated, the tier group can be saved using   from the menu bar

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• Tiers replace individual networks when building a rate card in Excel, so the number of tiers and the number of dayparts determine the number of rows on a card, rather than the number of networks

Using the Excel Rate Card Template
Importing a rate card using the Excel template is one way to create a new rate card (.xls or .xlsx)

• The same template that was used in earlier versions of Rate Card Manager works in this version, also.
• Do not populate Match and Index columns in Excel. They will be populated with a bulk edit after importing
• Each Line must have a start date, end date, daypart (in the VIEW format), description, network or tier, and as many syscodes as needed

To Import an Excel Rate Card
From the Rate Card List screen toolbar select . The import dialog screen will open…

• Load Rate Card – Choose File allows navigation and selection of the Excel file to be imported
• Rate Card Name allows the user to enter a unique name for the card
• Tier Group Structure tells RCM if the file to be imported uses networks or tier groups. Tier groups on the Excel rate card will be expanded out to individual networks when the card is imported
• Import Profile selects the rate card default profile to be applied
• A completed import dialog looks like this. Click Import to continue…

• A successful import will be indicated by a green message bar at the top of the Rate Card List screen. An unsuccessful import attempt will trigger a red message bar, with a message identifying the issue to be addressed

• Filter for the new card. Note it will be in Draft status, and defaults have been applied

• Select options for the card
  • Check OneTIM if the card should be available to apply to orders (including VIEW)
  • Check PAM if the card should be available to be attached to packages in PAM

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• Check LUR s the card is a LUR card, and set the LUR Cushion (in minutes)

• Double click the card name to open it, and then select all rows
• Click Mass Edit to open the Mass Edit popup window

• Select a Match and an Index, then click OK, or “OK and Deselect” to apply the Match and Index. Click Save to save the changes.

• Return to the RC List, filter for the new rate card, and activate it, then Save. The card is ready for use.

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• If a rate card has different rates for every week of the year, that rate card will apply the different weekly rates to orders in OneTIM by deselecting the  Combine Weeks button on the lines tab before applying a card

• Rate Card Manager also produces rates for orbits created on the fly. It is not necessary to build specified orbits on the rate card. RCM will calculate the average rate for the networks and dayparts, including indexing, for any orbit built on the fly in OneTIM.

• In the example below, the orbit spot rate is the average of the individual rates for the same daypart of ​ESPN, ESPN2, and GOLF

           ($95+ $150+ $75)/3 = $106.67



Confirming How a Rate Was Calculated

• The calculation steps for the rates on selected order lines are available through the Download Log button on the Lines Tab of the order.

  

• The Unique Line # column must be in your layout to understand the log information. Add it from the Column Chooser dialog box. The Column Chooser button on the menu below opens the dialogue box.

        

• Once the Unique Line # column is present, select the order line(s) for the report, and click “Download Log.” Locate the downloaded file, and click to open.

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• The log file above contains the calculation factors to arrive at the rate for line 23 of the order, including any index (listed as the “Rate Multiplier” in the log,) and rounding
• If multiple lines are selected for logging, each line will have a separate explanation, in this format, of how the rate was determined