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Quick Start Guide - Natural Broadcast Systems

1. Rotator Information box Step 4 Use the Rotator on the Orderline as the copy to be played 5d Creating and Using Copy Cont d Packets Copy Type Packet A packet consists of 2 or more individual pieces of Normal Copy that run together and substitute for each other in various dates days and or time periods During order entry you just specify 21 the exact CopyID of the Packet itself to be used when that order line runs When NL creates the log it will find the first Packet line that can run at that day date time and schedule it There is no limit to how many Copy items you can Packet together Packet Example Suppose you have 2 pieces of copy CopyID 0018 and 0450 You want 0018 to run any days before 10AM and cut 0450 to run any days after 10AM Create a Packet named P0118 002 or any unique CopylD you want to use and insert CopylD 0018 on the 1st line of the Packet and specify it to run before 10AM Then insert CopyID 0450 on the 2nd line of the Packet and specify it to run after 10AM During order entry specify PO118 002 the CopylD of the Packet itself to be used when that order line runs Packet Numbering Natural Log will assign a number for your packet using the following pattern P where P stands for Packet and is the Customer ID number followed by the packet number that NL8 assigns to it Packet Settings When you add a new packeted item or edit an existing packeted item you will see a scr
2. Natural Log 8 Radio Traffic Log Billing A R System Version 8 for use with Windows Natural Broadcast Systems Inc 10431 Gulfdale San Antonio TX 78216 Voice 210 349 5808 Fax 210 344 7567 www nat soft com Table of Contents Discussion Topic AON Getting Started Technical Requirements and Registering Program Versions and Updates 0cecceceeeeeeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaeees Data Backups mae dvatcnda das sioviesecndemeaan seen gesgemimenatasanasnts Program Setup irine ineat skied vay diese a ben ei ade sca aac Veu ashe Lash be cacke ts a Administrator CONntrol Ss siicsi4ccsacgsingoccesacaatsewnenatd saubaasedge dak ones i Program Options and User Permissions 6 1eeeee ii Station Settings Document Formats c eceeeeeeeeee es iii Default Screen Entry Values cceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees a Creating Customer AcCounts 0 ccceeeeeee eee eeeeeeeeeeeeeee ened Dw Entering Orders io 2 sav une ser caativeasvens aed ean eee eee c Entering Schedules OrderlineS cccceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeneees d Creating and Using Copy Rotators Schedules Packets a Create amp Edit New Log Templates c cceeeeeeeeeeeeeeee teens Bs COMMECl al LJSE E c Converting Logs to Automation Reconciling Charging amp Reports Billi E E E E A A a Charging Log Sns eea A A A A aaa aa ae AANA b Edit Billing Errore
3. Register Now Complete the registration form and fax or email to us Once we receive the registration form we will generate the software key and return to you You will need to be logged into Windows as an Administrator to unlock the software Additionally the key is computer specific and will work ONLY on the machine that the form was generated from It will not work on any other machine Each machine will need to be registered separately All information on your registration screen must match exactly the information that you receive back from us with your software key 2 Program Versions and Updates To locate the version of the Natural Log 8 that you are currently running from the main menu click on Help About Natural Log This will open up a box that lists the version number 8 0 xxx We are mainly interested in the last three digits Occasionally we will issue Patches or Updates to the Natural Log 8 program that may or may not affect you Once these updates have been tested to our satisfaction we will post them on our website at www nat soft com listed under Downloads then under Patches There are times when you will call with a problem that we are aware of and we will ask you to download the latest update that is not be listed on our website The following are the steps to download and update to the newest version of Natural Log 8 1 Make a data backup of your NL8 database Reference the next section on Data B
4. printed to an Adobe Acrobat PDF file for easy transfer via e mail 38
5. Log system allows you to generate and edit Logs These logs can be printed for a live DJ s use or converted into Automation Logs if you are using an Automation system Note You can t create a log for a station for a day until you have first created a default Normal Daily Log Template for that weekday Monday Sunday for that station so NL8 knows where your commercial avails are scheduled See Creating Log Templates Create New Log Click Logs New Log This generates a new Log for a day Please note that these New real Logs must be generated in chronological order such as 01 01 99 then 01 02 99 etc After the new log is created it is automatically loaded into the Log Editor where it may be edited printed and converted into an automation log Create Trial Log Click Logs Trial Log This generates a Trial Log for any day in the future Copy rotators are not affected After the trial log is created it is automatically loaded into the Log Editor where it may be viewed but not edited Log Editor Editing an Existing Log Converting to Automation Reconciling Charging At the Natural Log main screen select Logs Select an existing Log and then click Open Changing the Log Editor Display You can adjust the split between the upper Log window and the lower Log Diagnostics window by dragging the bottom of the log window up or down NL8 remembers where you last placed the divider You can return to default log display by selecting
6. Templates 24 To access the Log Template Editor from the main NL8 menu select Logs then the Template Type you want to work with You can then use the drop down boxes to select the Station Log Template Type the Specific Log Template and the hour to be displayed In the Log Template Editor click File then New to create a new Log Template Basis for New Log Template Choose if you want to create a new blank Log Template or a new Template using a copy of the open existing Log Template as the basis for the new Log Template Station Select the station to which the Log Template belongs Normal Daily Log Template These are the default Log Templates used by NL8 when creating a log unless it finds a Special Date Log Template There must be a Normal Daily Log template for each weekday Other Log Template These are Log templates you save under a specific name for later use For example you might save the Friday Normal Daily Log Template as Other Log Template named Friday Old Then you can edit the Friday Normal Daily Log Template to add some more commercial breaks for a heavy advertising period Later when you want to revert to the original Friday Log Template open the Friday Old Other Log Template and copy it back to the Friday Normal Daily Log Template Special Date Log Template These are Log Templates used only on their specified dates by NL8 when creating a log in lieu of the Normal Daily Log Template for that date Speci
7. The annual percentage rate is then entered on the Customer Data Screen for each account that will be affected More information on Finance Charges can be found in your help menu of the NL8 User permissions Natural Log allows the NL_Administrator significant control over what individual users can do in NL To enter the User section from the main NL menu click Setup Administrator Controls User Permissions Require User Logln Remember Last User To have user permissions in effect you MUST check the Require user LogIn checkbox If this box is unchecked NL does not prompt for a UserlD or password during startup If you click Require user LogIn you can also click Remember Last User to tell NL8 to remember the last user logged in on each computer This means the user won t have to type in their user name each time but they still must provide their password Usernames and User Types When you click New User the NL_Administrator can enter information for that user Each use must have a unique Username and be assigned to one of the User Types NL_Administrator can do anything in NL including setting permissions for other users Sales Managers are allowed to review and approve orders for air if Sales Manager approval is required Also may have any additional permissions granted by the NL_Administrator Traffic Director is allowed to review and approve orders for air if Traffic Director approval is required Also may have
8. They are Normal Copy Rotator Packet and Schedule Normal Copy This is the simplest Copy item in NL8 It consists of a single piece of Copy During order entry you just specify the exact CopyID of the individual piece of copy to be scheduled when that order line runs This CopyID should exactly match the AudioCut ID or Filename within your automation system See Automation Note When Copy is displayed the Listen button launches your default MediaPlayer if you have one e g Windows MediaPlayer RealPlayer WinAmp etc so you can listen to the copy This work only if the audio cut is available to the NL8 computer through a network connection NL8 will open a browse window so you can locate the actual audio cut The audio must also be in a format understood by the Windows MediaPlayer Note Copy Rotators Copy Packets and Copy Schedules are created using the same steps The only difference is in the Copy Item box of each type 20 5d Creating and Using Copy Cont d Rotator Copy Type Rotator A Rotator consists of 2 or more individual pieces of Normal Copy and or Packets that you want to rotate on a percentage basis During order entry you just specify the exact CopyID of the Rotator itself to be used when that order line runs When NL creates the log it will find the appropriate individual CopyID within the Rotator and schedule it There is no limit to how many Copy items you can rotate Rotator Example Suppose you ha
9. arrite kerei ei aaea E a c Finalizing Invoices tOvANR y occadeccack viecwtce setdecen dea goneudyederevousas ACCOUNIS Receiabler ssiri n de Taaa EAEE EAEE EE En NE a Payment Entry siririca eaaa ea aa dare ere eee elas b Editing and Adjusting Account Balances ccceeeeeeeeeeeees a Creating RepOnS iseer eaa e e e N E b Memorizing EDOM wc ccisccsw ene es eek cdawe hye eeave vex eiddavew er detedresewess c Printing RE DONS es cc abet uss aiad ues dedctes anuas and padend deco deena senate Page No ONDODDOD KAD 1 Getting Started Technical Requirements Natural Log 8 will run on any computer that can efficiently run Windows XP Windows 7 or Windows 8 with either a 32 or 64 bit operating system and with at least 2 gigabyte free hard drive space The program also requires a data backup device such as flash drive tape backup or automatic online data backup system Note If running across a Local Area Network 100mbps minimum is recommended for best performance Once Natural Log 8 has been installed on your computer you can open it by double clicking on the NL8 Icon that has been created as a shortcut on your desktop Click on the Continue Evaluation Mode button and the program will open to a Sample database The blank screen that is displayed is the Main Menu of Natural Log 8 Along the tool bar at the top of the screen you will see the menu items Note The Sample database is part of the progra
10. be applied as their default tax rate When entering Orders the Tax Rate on the Order will default to the Customer s Tax Rate but may be changed during Order entry This allows you to have taxable and untaxable orders on the same customer account Time Classes Use of these classes is Optional but is included for your optional use These are only required when you want to run spots in non contiguous times for example drive times Normal order entry requires you to provide a scheduling window like 6 00 00 AM to 10 00 00 AM for spots to run but what if the required time window is not contiguous See the following example Non Contiguous Schedule Window Example You could create a time class D for Drive Times which includes 06 00 00AM to 10 00 00AM and 3 00 00PM to 7 00 00PM Then on your order you could specify D times and any spots on that order line would run in any hour 6 10A or 3 7P You are allowed up to 5 different day parts in a time class 10 5 Traffic The Traffic section of NL8 is where you enter your New customer accounts or access customer accounts that have already been created through the Customer Accounts Browser You can also access customer Orders directly using the Broadcast Order Browser Two other items found in the Traffic module of NL8 are the Network Spot Scheduler for tracking network spots and the Special Events which allows you to create Special Event templates and the Special Event Scheduler to schedule those eve
11. be to UnRestricted Preemption Level On the Order Line entry screen this lets NL8 know how important it is for the item to be logged If you are oversold and NL8 cannot schedule all ordered items it needs to know what items to log first and what items can be bumped if needed Items with Preemption level 0 are logged first then preemption level 2 then 3 and so on Less important items should have inferior preemption levels 7 8 9 so they get bumped More important items should have superior preemption levels 0 1 etc so they are more certain to be logged ANY items not logged are always placed in the log s Bump ltem file regardless of their preemption level CopylD to be Played On the Order entry screen this tells NL8 what specific CopylD to tell your announcer or automation system to play when this Order Line is scheduled If using automation this CopylD is simply the audiocut identifier in the automation system When you click the Change button you will get a screen on which you can select an existing CopylD for this customer or create a new CopylD This CopyID can be Normal Copy Packet Rotator or Copy Schedule See the Copy Manager section of the NL8 User Manual for more detailed Copy information and examples 19 5d Creating and Using Copy Copy Manager Warning The Copy manager never by itself causes anything to be logged All the NL8 Copy manager does is determine exactly which piece of copy should run when an order ca
12. hold the Right Button and move the mouse over the area for which you need the total length When you release the mouse button the computed length will appear in the red text box on the toolbar Printing the Log In the Log Editor click Print Log in the Log Editor to print your Log See Log Page Setup to design the printed Log Page Print Preview Log displays on screen a preview of the way the printed log will look You can also print the Log Diagnostics that includes the contents of the Time Errors Copy Errors and Break Errors tabs 6c Converting Logs to Automation Convert Log to Automation Log In the Log Editor click Convert Log Automation Log in the Log Editor to create a Log in the appropriate format for the Automation system you selected in Natural Log Setup Station See Automation Interfacing Convert Log Reading Actual Runtimes from Play Log In the Log Editor click Convert Log Reconcile Schedule Log with Air Log to read the automation play log and reconcile it with the NL8 log as originally scheduled This reads actual runtimes for invoicing and creates a discrepancy report showing items that did not run properly or were not scheduled to play but did play See Reconciling Automation Logs Log Reconciliation In Natural Log you can match the Log that you sent over to your automation system with the log that actually aired To see if your automation system is compatible with this process you click on Help Natur
13. includes Order Lists Confirmations Sponsorships Missing Copy Average Rates and Bulk Contract Fulfillment reports Log Reports This includes Log Summary Times and Non Log Charge reports Accounts Receivable Reports This includes AR Aging AR Reconciliation and Unapplied Pre payments reports Transactions Reports This includes Invoices Payments Aged Collections Adjustments and Finance Charges and Tax Due reports Projection Reports This includes a Sales Projection and Sales Projection Comparative Report Inventory Reports This includes an Inventory Sold Inventory Unsold Inventory Total Avails Inventory Sold VS Unsold Inventory Sold VS Total Inventory Avg Rate and Inventory Total Cost Report Sorting Reports All reports can be sorted in different ways by choosing the tab on the left side of the screen and making changes to suit their needs Once all the items are selected you click on the Generate Report button at the bottom left of the page to produce the report on the screen If you would like to save these settings for the next month you can Memorize the report as mentioned below Customizing Reports The following settings for each report may be customized by the user Title SubTitle Column Settings Filter Settings Sort Settings and Page Settings This is accomplished by clicking on Report on the toolbar from the report screen and clicking on the Customize Report Format Note The maximum
14. information for that particular line or line of events Filling in the Log Template Edit box The fields in this box represent the columns on your log template and are described as follows Log Template Event Type The selections for this field are described as follows Note An avail is an available line for a commercial spot to log on Start New Commercial Break Avail used when you want to allow more than one avail in the break A Continue Commercial Break Avail used during editing if you take out a continuation avail by mistake Stand Alone Avail used when you only want to schedule one avail during the break Log Text Program Title Automation Command used when you want to show log text or program titles on the description line of the template Also when you want to put an Automation command on the description line this begins with an amp which tell the automation to perform a particular task PageBreak usually placed on the last event line of the hour to force NL8 to start a new page when the log is printed This gives the user control over where page breaks occur and allows the user to combine hours on one printed log page if desired Maximum Spots in Break This field will appear when you select the log type as Commercial Break You enter the maximum number of commercials you want to allow for this break Rule of thumb is to allow 30 seconds per avail so a 1 30 break will have a maximum of 3 spots i
15. is not one of the default values in the dropdown box just type it in formatted as ss mm ss or hh mm ss Log types simply describe what type of event is being scheduled Some automation systems such as Scott Studios and MediaTouch use this LogType as their audiocut Categories Types A listing of types and definitions are as follows CA Commercial Announcement CM Commercial Matter COM Commercial Designates that the spot to run is a commercial CP Commercial Program Used for commercial programs that haver a length that is larger then any of your total stop set lengths Commercial Programs look for blank lines on the log not avails Note This CP type will block out all Template Avails and anything scheduled within its start and end time on any day it is scheduled CPN Commercial Pgm Non Exclusive Same as CP except it allows breaks to still fill and doesn t block out the log MAC Macro Advanced function of this program See section 3 09 of the NL8 manual for a discussion of macros NLC Non Log Charge Item This does not place anything on the log but passes the specified charge invisibly through the log to the invoice This might be used for production or talent fees 17 The following are all optional choices for the type field POL Political Announcement FCC FCC Announcement PRO Promotional Announcement PSA Public Service Announcement SPA Station Promo Announcement UW UnderWrit
16. item logged in the break or Mandatory Fill Code whether or not any spots are already logged The number of spots per day on the Order Line is treated as the maximum number of items that can be scheduled from the Order Line as filler for that day If NL8 does not need the item s to fill a commercial break this Order Line is not used and nothing from this Order Line is ever listed in the bumped items list for the log NL8 will never open a new break and log only filler items in the break unless the break is Mandatory 16 5c Entering Schedules Order lines Continued Time Range On the Order Line entry screen you most commonly tell Natural Log the start time and end time within which the item on that Order Line must be scheduled You can enter time in your local time format If the desired time is not one of the predefined times just type the time in the box in your local time format You may also select one of your user defined Time Classes if used Important Note regarding Time Range NL8 will assume it can schedule items anytime within the specified time range NL8 will attempt to rotate an item through all allowed hours but may not be able to do so depending on how full your log is with higher priority and or more time restricted items This means you cannot assume NL8 will schedule an equal number of items within any subset of the time range That is if you schedule an item to run 6A to 7P it will be logged within that tim
17. the Specific Log Template and the hour to be displayed What Are Log Templates Log Templates or skeleton logs are used by NL8 so that it will know where you want commercial avails programs text and automation commands to appear on your log Each station has its own set of Log Templates At a minimum there must be a Normal Daily Log Template for weekdays Monday Sunday Normal Daily Log Templates You must have one Log Template for each weekday Monday Sunday for each station These templates are used by Natural Log as the default Log Template when generating logs for that respective day unless it finds a Special Date Log Template for the date for which a log is being generated Special Date Log Templates Occasionally you may need to use a Special Log Template instead of your regular daily log format for only one day The easiest way to do this is to open the Normal Daily Log Template for the day and copy it to a Special Date Log Template for the date You can then make any changes in that new Special Date Log Template that will not affect the Normal Daily Log Template On the specified date only that Special Date Log Template will automatically be used in place of the Normal Daily Log Template Creating New Log Templates Special Events Templates These are partial day Log Templates useful for stations that run programming that often changes times and days such as sports programming See Creating New Log Templates These Special Eve
18. the Total commercial set length Stand Alone Commercial Use this setting for an event that is a Stand Alone commercial avail Remember whatever length you put for this avail on the template is the only length that NL8 will look for to fill that avail For example if you call it a 30 is will only place a 30 spot on this avail when you create your log Fill Priority Within each hour you can specify the order in which NL8 uses the avails in each hour by specifying a Fill Priority Within each hour NL8 will fill all priority 1 avails then priority 2 etc up to priority 99 In this way you can control how an hour is filled with spots or which commercial sets are used first You can use the same Fill Priority for each line within a commercial break or use different Fill Priorities on each line in a break to force NL8 to skip around between breaks Also by assigning a priority of 100 to 199 or 200 to 299 etc to a commercial avail you can create secondary avails to be used only when all lower level avails priority 0 to 99 are full in all hours of the day Your choices First Level 1 to 99 Second Level 100 to 199 Third Level 200 to 299 Continuing to the 8th level 900 to 999 NOTE Mandatory commercial breaks must have priority level of 0 to 99 never 100 to 899 If you leave the Fill Priority blank NL8 assigns it a level of 99 Log Template Fill Code The fill code is requested only for events with designating a commercial break o
19. to view edit the highlighted Copy item You can use the Delete button to delete a piece of copy Note If the logged on user s Copy Manager permission setting is Deny the Copy Manager tab will not be visible Customer Memo tab On the Customer entry screen this tab allows you to enter memo items for this customer Additionally you can enter dated reminders using the Contact Manager Account Date Reminders button Items Found in Tools Menu On the Customer Screen Send E mail On the Customer entry screen the Tools Send e mail menu allows you to send a e mail to this customer s Contact e mail Address from within NL8 provided you have an e mail program on the NL8 computer Print Envelope Mailing Label On the Customer entry screen the Tools Print Envelope Mail Label menu allows you to print these items for the displayed customer account Reminders You can view the date specific Reminders for the displayed customer using the Tools Reminders menu choice on the customer entry screen Activity Log You can view the log of all changes to the displayed customer account using the Tools Activity Log menu choice on the Customer entry screen 13 5b Entering Orders Broadcast Orders are accessed through the NL main menu under the Traffic Broadcast Order Browser menu The orders are displayed on a browser screen that can be configured sorted and filtered as desired You can also access the orders for any custom
20. 0450 thereafter You can create a Schedule named S0018 001 or any unique CopyID you want to use and insert CopyID 0018 first in the Schedule and 0450 second into the Schedule Then within the Schedule designate cut 0018 to expire on Dec 24 During order entry you just specify 0018 001 the CopyID of the Schedule itself to be used when that order line runs After Dec 24 the first line of the Schedule will no longer run Cut 0018 and NL8 will drop to the second line and play cut 0450 This will also works with Packets and Rotators inserted into the Schedule Copy Schedule Numbering Natural Log will assign a number for your schedule using the following pattern S where S stands for Schedule and is the Customer ID number followed by the schedule number that NL8 assigns to it Copy Schedule Settings When you add a new Copy Schedule item or edit an existing Copy Schedule item you will see a screen on which can you set the date and time this Copy Schedule Item expires These settings only restrict the copy played for order lines placed on the log that have this Copy Schedule as their CopylD This does not restrict the dates days or times an order line can be logged See Broadcast Orders in Chapter 3 of the NL8 manual to restrict when order lines are actually logged Creating a Schedule _ _ There are 4 simple steps to creating a Schedule If you keep these in mind they are not difficult to create Schedules are usually created from th
21. Agencies To create an agency item from the Main Menu select Setup Agencies This section allows you to enter and edit information on advertising agencies you deal with This is optional but is advantageous in the following instances 1 If you enter many new customers sponsors that use the same agency you can create an agency in the NL8 setup then simply select that agency during entry of the new sponsor NL8 will then auto fill the data fields for the new customer including billing address invoice type billing cycle etc 2 If you use electronic invoicing through the Encoda SpotData clearinghouse each invoice must have specific agency information attached such as AgencylIDB This agency setup is where that information is entered 4b Major Field Setup Continued Product Codes These allow you to protect similar products from appearing together on the log Then during order entry you put 1 or 2 Product Codes on the Order Natural Log will then provide the required protection between all Orders that have been assigned the same Product Code This prevents 2 car dealers from running too close together Note Product code separation only applies to spots from different customers To separate spots from the same customer see Customer Spot Separation or Order Spot Separation You can specify which type of protection these product codes need When generating the LOGS the computer will not schedule spots with the same Product Codes toge
22. Editor Settings Restore Default Settings You can select which log item properties columns are displayed on the Log Editor screen by selecting Editor Settings Columns from the menu on the Log Editor Then add or remove the desired columns to be displayed click Apply and the Log Editor will display only your selected columns You can adjust the column widths by dragging the column dividers left or right and NL8 will remember these column choices and widths in the future If you prefer not to see the avails information displayed in the left column click Editor Settings Hide Avails NL8 will remember this menu setting until you change it again Note The Log Editor display settings are set separately for each station if you are using a multi station version of NL8 Selecting Items on the Log To highlight select more than one line on the log for some action such as cut and paste use the Ctrl Left Click keys simultaneously on each individual line or hold the right mouse button down while you move the mouse over the lines to be selected 29 6b Commercial Logs Continued Edit Menu In the Log Editor the Edit menu can be displayed by Right Clicking on any logged item This menu has many useful commands such as Clipboard Commands Cut Copy and Paste Log Item Commands Add Edit Swap Delete Insert Blank Line s Find View Commands OrderLine History PlayTimes Listen Item Activity Log Shows user changes t
23. Font size for any of these reports is 9 and you must set the page orientation to Landscape View Underlying Report Data On reports except inventory reports you can double click on any data line on the report to view the underlying data that created that line on the report If the report is a summary type report a window will open with the details of the summary report line Then you can double click the detail data line you want to display Note The user must have appropriate user permission to view the underlying data or it won t display 37 9b Memorizing Reports Memorized Reports You can save the customized report settings described above for future use by clicking Memorize You can later recall them under the Reports Memorized Reports menu choice To memorize a report you must have the report opened on the screen Click on the Memorize button and change the name from standard to any name that makes sense to you so that it is easy to recall next time you want to use it 9c Printing Reports Report Printing Exporting Reports initially appear on screen but may be printed to any Windows compatible printer using the Print button Any report may be exported using the Report Export Report Data menu choice on any report screen NL8 can export to a normal text file or to delimited files that can be easily imported into other programs such as Excel NL8 also includes a PDF output module so any report can be
24. ackups 2 From the Natural Log menu click on Help Natural Log Help and then select Natural Log Updates Website This will open your browser to our Updates page This page will list the most current version number as well as information on previous updates The direct link to this page is http www nat soft com nl8 nl8patches htm 3 Click the link under 2 to download the file You may be asked if you want to run or save the file Always select the SAVE option Do not attempt to open it across the internet 4 After the file downloads you must exit Natural Log 8 and then run the downloaded nl8setup exe from your hard drive 5 The program will ask if you want to Repair Modify or Remove Select Remove 6 Run the downloaded nl8setup exe a second time to install the fully updated program files 7 After the installer finishes restart Natural Log and click Help About to verify that you now have the most current version as listed at the top of the Updates webpage 3 Data Backups Beware Due to the wide range of computer systems in use the existence of malevolent computer viruses and the fact that no hardware is completely fail safe the Natural Log developers make no warranty of any kind that your data won t be corrupted or lost Do regular data backups to multiple locations Your data is valuable Think of how much time it will take you to manually re enter all your data The only protection you have is to do frequent Data Backups
25. ain menu click Accounts Receivable Payments Adjustments Highlight the customer for whom you need to post an adjusting entry and click the Enter Adjustment button on the right side of the screen You must select the invoice or prepayment item to be adjusted and click Continue If the item you need to adjust is not listed click the Show Items with 0 Balances checkbox to see all items for the selected customer 2 Display the individual invoice to be adjusted and click the Enter Adjustment button You can display the invoice from Reports the Transaction Browser from the individual customer account screen using the Accounts Receivable tab or from the Customer Account History Adjustment Entry Enter the date you want to show the adjustment as being posted This must not be before the last date for which books have been closed Enter the adjustment type Valid entries are CR Credit Adjustment Always negative amount that removes money from an invoice DR Debit Adjustment Always a positive amount that adds money for an invoice TCR Trade Credit Adjustment Usually a negative amount that removes money from an invoice BAD Bad Debt Write Off Negative amount that removes money to zero out the account FIN Finance Charge Adjustment Can be either a negative or positive amount TAX Tax Adjustment Can be either a negative or positive amount ACM Agency Commission Can be either a negative or positive amount UCM UnWired Netwo
26. al Event Template Log Templates useful for those stations that run programming that often changes times and days such as sports programming These Special Event Templates have the same formatting as regular Log Templates using elapsed time instead of scheduled time but they apply to less than a full day and may be scheduled to overlay the regular Log template on any given date and time During the period these special templates are used it writes over the regular Log Template during the length of the special event Order Lines may be linked to the Special Event Template so the order line runs anytime the special event is scheduled but not any other time 25 6a Creating amp Editing New Log Templates Continued To access the Log Template Editor from the main NL8 menu select Logs then the Template Type you want to edit You can then use the drop down boxes to select the Station Log Template Type the Specific Log Template and the hour to be displayed Event ID s Log Template event numbers do not correspond to time except that the first 2 digits indicate the hour in which the event occurs Example Event 0810 is simply the 10th line or event in the 8 o clock AM Template hour and may occur at any time in that hour which you enter in the time column Editing or Adding Log Template Events To enter an individual Log template event double click that event number This opens up the Log Template Edit box In this box you setup the
27. al Log Help Contents Interfacing With Automation Systems and look for you re on air system to see if you will be able to perform the reconciliation Charging Finalizing Logs Charging the log is what causes the billable items on the log to be attached the customers invoices To create final invoices logs must be charged through the last day of the month being billed Logs can be charged individually in the Log Editor using the File Finalize Log amp Charge to Invoices or multiple logs can be charged from the Billing section Note After a log is charged it is considered a final log and may no longer be edited Items may still be edited from the invoice but not on a log after it is charged For this reason we highly recommend you not charge logs until after you have verified that the items on the log ran as scheduled by using the Log Reconciliation Log Reports In the Log Editor click Reports to generate a Report for the log displayed in the Log Editor These reports include summary totals by customer order log detail report and log report by scheduled time for one log or multiple logs See Log Reports You can also view a grid type report showing an avails distribution analysis for an individual log 31 7 Billing In the Billing Broadcast Invoices section you can correct invoice errors even on finalized invoices as long as the month in which the invoice is issued is not closed If the month has closed and you n
28. any additional permissions granted by the NL_Administrator 4 Program Setup Continued User permissions cont d Account Rep should have user permissions defined by the NL_Administrator since you may not want them to change accounts receivable information or close months For Account Reps you will also want to set the User Account Rep Restrictions located at the bottom of this screen to only allow that salesman to see his own customer information not all customers User Module Permissions Each user may be assigned any of the following permission levels for each main module of Natural Log such as Traffic Logs Billing A R etc Allow The user can do anything within that module Deny The user may not enter that module Read Only The user may view that module but may not make any change Read Payments The user can see the A R account and enter payments but no other adjustments or changes can be made Station Settings Document Formats This section allows you to setup and edit Station information Station Call Sign This is how the station is identified within the Natural log system and each station must have a unique identifier You may rename the station at any time without affecting anything already entered in NL but you will have to manually modify the station return address on the NL station document settings if you rename the station Station is Inactive You can t delete any station that has 1 or more transact
29. as the number of years to retain history for Orders Logs and Accounts Receivable information Required Reviews Approvals Allows you to set the required level of review before orders can be logged This is an optional setting that can be used when Account Reps are allowed to enter there own orders into the system Also in this area you can check a box that will Prohibit Order Entry if a set Credit Limit has been exceeded Day Weights for Front Loading Random Type Schedules Most stations do not use Front Loading so these should be set to NORMAL However for those that do use Front Loading this option allows you to specify how much front loading can be done for each day of the week when using Random Type Scheduling Miscellaneous This option allows you to specify if NL8 s PDF print driver is used You must set this to Enabled in order to use the PDF writer included with NL8 You can also tell the system to Automatically display the Reminders at Startup and Show On Screen Help when the mouse is held over and item Once you get used to using the NL8 you will want to turn this to OFF to get it out of your way The Calendar Setting allows you to configure the built in calendar to display either Calendar Month or Broadcast Month Finance Charges This option allows you to set how finance charges will be assessed on accounts If you will be using the Finance Charge feature of this program you will need to follow through the setup of this section
30. ce for each order line Then on the View Error screen if you select an order line that shows an error you can click View Line Error Detail and see the exact times items from that order line ran Once you have determined what the error is for the invoice you can fix it if needed as follows 1 If the Package price is incorrect Right Click on an invoice from the list to obtain a drop down Edit View menu and select View Order Click on the Invoice Instructions tab and fix the package price Close the order and click the Refresh Invoices button on the billing screen 2 If the per broadcast cost is incorrect or you need to add or delete a spot Double click on the customer line in the billing error screen to open the invoice for editing Once in the invoice you need to make sure that the invoice type showing on the screen is set to Detail Then you can change the per spot cost and add or delete items on the invoice Verifying script status for Invoices requiring notarized script affidavits In the Billing Broadcast Invoices with the desired invoice list displayed click Tools Pre Billing Script Status Verification on the top dropdown menu The displayed invoice list will be scanned for those that require script affidavits Each script and its status will be displayed as OK or missing depending on whether the script has been typed into the NL8 Copy Manager Note Do a Data Backup It is highly recommended you
31. daily if possible We cannot recover lost data for you so please do not ask We recommend that you save Data Backups to several different media and locations on a rotating basis in case the backup media goes bad or there is a fire or natural disaster The NL8 database is very large and should NOT be backed up to floppy discs It takes too many discs and is inherently unreliable We recommend you use USB Flash Drives Zip discs CD R or CD RW or tape backup devices To begin the EXTERNAL Data Backup from the Main screen Click Data BackUp Select the Natural Log Database to be backed up Select the folder to which you want to backup the data or click Browse to New Folder to add a new folder to the list You may select type of media such as USB Drive Zip Disc or send the Data Backup file to a folder on another computer across a Local Area Network Click Start Data Backup to begin the backup Natural Log will report whether it successfully created the Data Backup file Natural Log uses standard pkZip data compression to reduce storage requirements for the Data Backup files Special Note for USB Drive and Zip Disc Backups Create a folder on the USB Drive or Zip Disc and do all backups into that folder instead of the root directory You can use your station call letters as the folder name 3 Data Backups Continued Natural Log sees USB Drives and all Zip Discs as removable media and will enable the multi volume suppor
32. der entry so here you are only setting up the default value Monthly Sales Goals In the Account Reps setup section you can enter a monthly sales goal for each of the Account Reps for each station This is used in reports to compare actual versus goals for each Account Rep and Station The Station s sales goals are the sum of all the individual Account Rep sales goals for that station You can show these sales goals on Sales Projection Reports Account Rep e mail Address n the Account Reps setup section you may enter an e mail address for each Account Rep If an e mail address is entered NL can send carbon copy e mails you send to the Account Reps customers items such as order confirmations invoices etc Deleting Account Reps You can t delete any Account Rep that has 1 or more transactions in the Natural Log system These transactions may include Customer Account assignments Orders and any billing or collection items assigned to this Account Rep This deletion prohibition maintains the referential database integrity and assures that all items are properly accounted for in the historical accounting records Solution Instead of deleting a discontinued Account Rep in SetUp Account Reps check the Inactive box for the discontinued AccountRep after you have reassigned any customers running orders and any open Accounts Receivable items for that AccountRep This will cause the inactive AccountRep to no longer show up on any menus
33. do a Data Backup prior to generating final invoices 7c Finalizing Invoices To A R In Billing Broadcast Invoices after you have verified invoices are correct you can click Final Invoices to print and post all Ready invoices to Accounts Receivable Alternatively you can manually finalize and print individual invoices by double clicking on an invoice from the invoice list and using the Finalize button and then Print on the invoice display screen Create Trial Invoices To get a paper copy of an invoice prior to finalizing it in the Billing Broadcast Invoices section optionally you can click Trial Invoices to print trial copies but not post to A R the listed invoices 33 8 Accounts Receivable 8a Payment Entry Payment Entry This can be done at any time that you receive payments To enter a payment in Natural Log from the main menu click Accounts Receivable Payments Adjustments Highlight the customer from whom the payment is being received and click the Receive Payment button on the right side of the screen If you receive a payment from an agency that applies to multiple customers you can enter it on one payment screen by selecting Sort by AgencyName select the agency then click Receive Payment On the payment entry screen Enter the date you want to show the payment as being posted This must not be before the last date for which books have been closed Enter the payment method check cash o
34. e invoices that are displayed in the list Ready Invoices not yet issued and are ready to be issued That means the logs have been charged through the end of the Billing Cycle or at least through the Order End Date Pending Invoices that have not yet been issued but may be ready or not ready Final Invoices that have been already issued for the selected billing period Verify and Correct Invoices Before Finalizing amp Printing In the Billing Broadcast Invoices section you can correct invoice errors even on finalized invoices as long as the month in which the invoice is issued is not closed If the month has not closed see editing an invoice If the month has closed and you need to reissue a corrected invoice see reissuing a broadcast invoice The invoice list displays the invoice information in red if the invoice is short from what should have been billed black if the invoice is OK and blue if the invoice is over what should have been billed The columns of interest when fixing errors are How many items were ordered versus how many are invoiced How much cost was ordered versus how much is invoiced You will need to verify and correct your invoices before finalizing them 32 7b Edit Billing Errors Right Click on an invoice from the billing list to obtain a drop down Edit View menu and select View Error Detail To help in troubleshooting invoice errors this shows each order line and lists any errors on the displayed invoi
35. e Orderline instead of from Copy Manager so that you can use it right away The following steps are done from the Orderline by clicking on the Change button This takes you to the Select Copy box where you continue with the steps below Step 1 Make sure that all the copy you will need to schedule have been created If not then create them now Step 2 Create the Schedule by clicking on the New button while in the Select Copy box In the New Copy Information box select Schedule in the Type field NL8 will create a schedule number for you that will begin with and S then make sure the date range is correct and click on the create button Step 3 Edit the Schedule by Appending in the copy Highlight the Schedule in the Select Copy box and click on the Edit Copy button This opens the Schedule Information box In this box you click on the Append button This opens the Select Copy box where you will double click on the first piece of copy to place in the Schedule After you have added in all the copy close the Schedule Information box Step 4 Use the Schedule on the Orderline as the copy to be played 23 6 Logs Log Templates Overview of Log Templates To access the Log Template Editor from the main NL8 menu select Logs then the Template Type you want to work with You can then use the drop down boxes to select the Station Log Template Type
36. e button Step 3 Edit the Packet by Appending in the copy Highlight the packet in the Select Copy box and click on the Edit Copy button This opens the Packet Information box In this box you click on the Append button This opens the Select Copy box where you will double click on the first piece of copy to place in the packet You will see a screen on which you may restrict the dates day of week and times the packeted item may be used After appending in all the copy into the packet you then close the Packet Information box Step 4 Use the Packet on the Orderline as the copy to be played 22 5d Creating and Using Copy Cont d Schedule Copy Type Schedule Use this type of copy item when the copy changes on one or more dates during the order run This Copy type consists of 2 or more individual pieces of Normal Copy and or Packets and or Rotators each of which expires on a particular date These items sequentially substitute for each other after the previous line s in the Schedule expire During order entry you just specify the exact CopyID of the Schedule itself to be used when that order line runs When NL creates the log it will find the appropriate individual CopyID within the Schedule and schedule it There is no limit to how many Copy items you can Schedule Copy Schedule Example Suppose you have 2 pieces of copy CopyID 0018 and 0450 You want to run 0018 until Dec 24 and cut
37. e range but NL8 may not schedule an equal number of items 6A 10A 10A 3P and 3P 7P For example if your log is full with higher priority items that must run between 6A 10A an item scheduled 6A 7P would likely not appear in 6A 10A To force some items to appear in specific dayparts you must schedule them that way In this case schedule some items specifically 6A 10A some 10A 3P and some 3P 7P Broadcasts per Day in the Specified Date Time Range This tells NL8 how many of item s to be scheduled from that Order Line This can be specified in 2 ways You cannot mix these methods on the same Order Line Normal Scheduling Recommended method Specify the actual number to run in the Spots per day box for each weekday Leave blank in any day in which nothing is to run Specifying the actual number to run is the preferred method and gives best control Spots Per Week Scheduling Some stations enter the Order Line to specify how many spots per week to run but let NL decide how to distribute them within the allowed days This is done by placing an X in the Spots per day box for any day the spots may run and then specifying the number to run per week in the Per Week box This was previously referred to in NL DOS and NL8 as random scheduling This also allows you to specify Front Loading Length Type On the Order Line entry screen this specifies the length formatted as ss or mm ss or hh mm ss of the item being scheduled If the desired length
38. eed to reissue a corrected invoice call NL support The invoice list displays the invoice information in red if the invoice is short from what should have been billed black if the invoice is OK and blue if the invoice is over what should have been billed Logs must be Charged Finalized before Invoices can be processed amp printed In the Billing Broadcast Invoices section at the top of the invoice list NL8 will show you the last Charged Log date for the selected station s Charging the log is what causes the billable items on the log to be attached the customers invoices To create final invoices logs must be charged through the last day of the month being billed Logs can be charged individually in the Log Editor or multiple logs can be charged from the Billing screen under the Charge Logs menu Note After a log is charged it is considered a final log and may no longer be edited Items may still be edited from the invoice but not on a log after it is charged For this reason we highly recommend you not charge logs until after you have verified that the items on the log ran as scheduled 7a Process and Print Broadcast Invoices To generate Broadcast Invoices from the main NL8 screen click Billing Broadcast Invoices Select the Invoices to be Listed Select the invoice list settings at the top of the screen to obtain an invoice list You can select the Status Station s Billing Cycle and billing period Status selects th
39. een on which you may restrict the dates day of week and times the packeted item may be used WARNING Only use the packet item restrictions necessary to accomplish your goal For example if the packet item is restricted only based on time do not use the date or day of week restrictions Leave the unneeded restrictions set to As Ordered These settings only restrict the copy played for order lines placed on the log that have this packet as their CopyID This does not restrict the dates days or times an order line can be logged See Broadcast Orders in Chapter 3 of this manual to restrict when order lines are actually logged Creating a Packet There are 4 simple steps to creating a packet If you keep these in mind they are not difficult to create Packet s are usually created from the Orderline instead of from Copy Manager so that you can use it right away The following steps are done from the Orderline by clicking on the Change button This takes you to the Select Copy box where you continue with the steps below Step 1 Make sure that all the copy you will need for the packet have been created If not create them Step 2 Create the Packet by clicking on the New button while in the Select Copy box In the New Copy Information box select Packet in the Type field NL8 will create a packet number for you that will begin with and P then make sure the date range is correct and click on the creat
40. em at the currently highlighted position on the log Hiding deleting or removing Bumped Items Right click on the bumped item list to get a popup menu on which you can Hide Bumped Item to remove the highlighted bumped item from the list This is useful if some bumped items don t need to be logged such as promos bonus spots etc and you want to remove them from the bumped item list This is equivalent to deleting the item from the bumped item list however you can later select Show Hidden Bumped Items to view all items that were in the bump list but have been hidden Do NOT hide items unless you want to remove them from the bumped item list If you change your mind you can also UnHide the items to return them to the bumped item list ClipBoard Cutting and Pasting Log In the Log Editor the ClipBoard is just a temporary container to allow you to hold items while cutting copying or pasting items on the Log See ClipBoard Inserting Deleting Lines on Log In the Log Editor to add a blank line into the Log highlight the spot where you d like it to appear and click on the menu Edit Insert Blank Line s or Edit Delete Line s Undo Log Edit In the Log Editor you may click Edit UnDo to reverse the most recent Log edit Search for Items on Log In the Log Editor click Find to search for any logged item 6b Commercial Logs Continued 30 Compute Length for a Segment of the Log In the Log Editor using your mouse
41. er on the Orders tab on the customer screen To create a new Broadcast Order click the New button on the Broadcast Order Browser or on the Customer entry screen Orders tab To open an existing Order click the Open button or double click the Order listing General Tab This is where you enter tell NL8 on what station s the order is to run as well as basic information about the order See Broadcast Orders General Instructions Invoice Instructions tab This tab allows you to specify how the order is to be invoiced You can set up package pricing or per broadcast pricing and specify the billing cycle and invoice type You can also set up commissions for agency and account rep as well as discounts and trade credits See Broadcast Orders Invoice Instructions Schedule tab The Schedule tab displays the Order Lines that actually schedule the broadcasts There is no limit to how many Order Lines may be attached on an order Approvals Memos tab This tab allows you to enter memo items for this order Additionally you can enter dated reminders using the Contact Manager Account Date Reminders button See Reminders If order review is required in NL8 program options the review check boxes will be visible If the logged on user is one of the user types that can review orders the review boxes will be available for that user to click to show they have reviewed the order Order Confirmation You can print an order confirmation and verify
42. he Order If 1 or more items has already been logged from the order just change the end date to stop it from running anymore Note If the logged on user s Traffic permission setting is Deny the Orders tab will not be visible Accounts Receivable tab On the Customer entry screen this tab lists the unpaid A R items for the displayed customer Using dropdown boxes you can select Revenue Type items to be displayed and station items to be displayed You can right click in the Accounts Receivable list to use the Accounts Receivable menu See Accounts Receivable You can use the Statement button to view print the current account statement for this customer You can use the View Transaction button or double click the item to view print the highlighted transaction You can use the History button to view print a history of the A R transactions on the account See customer history Note If the logged on user s Accounts Receivable permission setting is Deny the Accounts Receivable tab will not be visible 11 12 5a Customer Accounts Continued Copy Manager tab On the Customer entry screen this tab lists the Copy items in NL for the displayed customer Using dropdown boxes you can select Active Copy Expired Copy or All Copy You can right click in the Copy Manager list to use the Copy Manager menu You can use the New button to create a new piece of Copy on this account You can use the Open button or double click the item
43. ing Anouncement 18 5c Entering Schedules Order lines Continued Description Note On the Order Line entry screen this specifies how the item will be shown on the log and on invoices Default values that can be selected from the dropdown box are listed below If the default values do not meet your needs you can also type in anything you want as the description note During order line entry if you include the word LIVE or CALL IN in the description field the item is treated as a live spot or call in spot Avail Type Restrictions On the Order Line entry screen this tells NL8 to put ordered items only into avail slots whose Log Template Avail Type matches the Broadcast Order Avail Type Normally the Avail Type in both NL8 Log Templates and Broadcast Order Lines should be Unrestricted This means any item from the Broadcast Order can be logged into any avail slot within the order line s time window The only time you use Avail Types is when you want to force a particular customer s item into a particular avail slot or to reserve an avail slot for a particular type of ordered item such as a program sponsorship or adjacency In That case the same Avail Type must be entered on both the Log template and the Broadcast Order See Avail Types on Log Templates Position On the Order Line entry screen this tells NL8 if the item being scheduled must be placed in a particular position within a commercial break Normally this should
44. ing this process also invites misconduct by your employees One example could be issuing an invoice collecting the cash and then deleting the invoice and pocketing the cash Once the month is closed deletions are not allowed and even if the user credits off the invoice balance at least there is an audit trail and if require user login is selected in NL8 setup a record of who made the credit entry is saved When this process is performed each month NL8 will print a closing confirmation to verify that the closing process has been done and the date and time closing was performed We recommend accountants collect these confirmation sheets along with the end of month accounts receivable reconciliation paperwork to verify that the closing was actually performed End of Month Closing Defined This closes an Accounts Receivable month in NL8 After a month is closed NL8 prohibits entering any Accounts Receivable transactions dated before the last closing date This serves to protect any month closing Accounts Receivable reconciliation for that month you have submitted to your accountant from being changed after you submit the reconciliation You can still post payments to invoices issued before that closing date the payment transaction itself must have a date after the closing date You can still post adjustments to invoices issued before that closing date the adjusting transaction itself must have a date after the closing date You can still reiss
45. ions in the Natural Log system These transactions may include Customer Account assignments running Orders or any billing or collection items assigned to this Station This deletion prohibition maintains the referential database integrity and assures that all items are properly accounted for in the historical accounting records Solution Instead of deleting a discontinued station in Setup Administrator Controls Station Settings Document Formats check the Inactive box for the discontinued station after you have ended any running orders and zeroed out any open Accounts Receivable items for that station This will cause the Inactive station to no longer show up on any menus however its Accounts Receivable history will show up on billing history reports on which you do not restrict the stations included in the report Automation Log Type This is the type of automation log NL must create if any Station This is not used for most automation systems but may be used to uniquely identify the automation log for a particular station For example the NL8 automation log for BSI Simian is named mmddyyT where is the station number you enter in this box RDS Phantom uses AM or FM in this box If this box is not displayed by NL8 the log for your automation system does not use this entry Automation Log Send Path and Automation Log Read Path These will be set up during your first log conversion and reconciliation When Reconciling P
46. king this button the default values for the new order line will match the values of the highlighted line That way if you have to enter a bunch of similar lines you don t have to reenter the same information over and over Just highlight the line to be copied click Add Order Line and make any changes applicable to the new order line You can use the Edit Order Line button or double click the item to view edit the highlighted Order Line You can use the Delete Order Line button to delete a piece of copy Warning You will not be permitted to delete any Order Line if it has logged 1 or more items since all logged items must be attached to an Order Line If this is the case and you want to the Order Line to stop running change the Order Line end date Cost per Broadcast On the Order entry screen this tells NL8 what to charge for each item scheduled from this Order Line Each station on which the Order runs should be assigned a cost 0 00 is OK Note This entry is not used if Level Package or Variable Package is selected on the Order Invoice Instructions tab Date Range On the Order Line entry screen this tells Natural Log the start and end date for the items scheduled on that order line These Order Line dates must fall within the run dates entered on the General tab of the Order itself See order entry general tab Runs On the Order Line entry screen this field has multiple uses but is most commonly set to All Weeks This mea
47. lay Log match items Natural Log can reconcile its log against the actual play log from some automation systems The value you set here tells NL how much time difference there can be between the logged time for an item and the time it played and still match the items in the log 6 reconciliation If the time difference is outside this window the spot will show on the reconciliation as missed Default value is 60 minutes 4 Program Setup Continued Station Settings Document Formats cont d Logging Options On the station setup screen you can tell NL if you want to Attempt to equalize commercial loads between hours when generating logs NL8 s log generator has 2 conflicting goals when generating a log 1 good horizontal and vertical rotation of customer s spots into all allowed hours and 2 even spot loading in each hour This setting tells NL8 to give priority to equally filling log hours over trying to equally rotate customers spots into every possible hour All customer s spots will run within the time window ordered and will rotate into different day parts and hours but they may not rotate absolutely equally into every possible hour when this option is selected Prohibit Same Announcer Voice Back to Back this stations Logs If you Check mark this box you will have to make sure that you use the Voice ID area when creating your copy for it to take effect Prohibit Live or Call In Spots Back to Back on this s
48. lls for items to be logged Automation Warning Natural Log 8 allows CopylD s of 1 to 20 characters letters and or numbers to uniquely identify a piece of copy in NL8 and in your automation system Some automation systems have additional restrictions See your automation manual and automation in chapter 11 of the Natural Log 8 manual for more information on these CopylD restrictions particularly Scott Studios and MediaTouch Unless you have a specific need for CopyID s longer than 8 characters we recommend you use no more than 8 characters since many standard automation log files only have space for 8 characters in the CopyID field If you do use more than 8 characters you may need to use a special log interface file format to transfer the log to your automation system This 8 characater restriction does not apply to identifiers of copy rotators copy packets or copy schedules in NL8 because these items are converted into actual copyIDs during log generation The NL8 Copy Manager is accessed through the NL main menu under the Traffic Copy Manager menu The Copy list is displayed on a browser screen that can be configured sorted and filtered as desired See Browsers You can also access the Copy for any customer on the Copy Manager tab on the Customer Screen This section of NL8 allows you to manage your Copy within NL8 CopylID s are specified for each order line during order entry Copy Types NL8 allows you to use 4 types of Copy items
49. m and should never be deleted You can browse through the data stored here and play with the customer accounts without disturbing any database that you may have created to use for your station If you choose to work with your own data you can create a new database as follows Creating your own Database On the main menu toolbar click on File New Natural Log Database This will open the Add a new Natural Log Database box In the 3 field shown enter the name you wish to call your database Note Do Not use a period anywhere in the name of your database It will disable the backup feature for your database Click on the Create button and NL8 will prompt you for an internal backup of the database Always click Yes at this prompt You will now be able to begin entering your information into your database We suggest that you begin in the Setup Administrator Controls Station Settings Document Format here you will change the station name from Station One to the Call Sign for your station Go to Page 6 of this manual for more information Natural Log will continue to operate for the remainder of your evaluation period 60 days when you click the Continue button Registering the Software When you open Natural Log program you will have the option to Continue Evaluation or Register Now Natural Log will run for up to 60 days in Evaluation Mode At any time after purchase you can click on
50. n NL menu click Setup Administrator Controls Default Screen Entry Values Once default screen entry values have been set up for Customer Accounts Broadcast Orders Order Lines Copy Manager these values will be entered by default whenever a new Customer Account Broadcast Order Order Line Copy is created You will still always have the option of changing any of these values on individual customers orders order lines or pieces of copy 4b Major Field Setup This section of the NL8 program allows you to enter default value information for your Account Reps salesmen Agencies Product Codes Revenue Types Tax Rates and Time Classes Most of these can be created while you are entering your Customer account information but the default rules and definitions for these fields are setup in this area of the program Account Reps Natural Log uses the term Account Rep to refer to Salesmen This section allows you to enter and edit information on your Account Reps To enter this section from the Main Menu select Setup Account Reps Commission on Direct Sales Agency Sales and Trades In the Account Reps setup section these are default values for this Account Rep s sales commissions Whenever a broadcast order is entered into one of this salesman s accounts this is the that will be entered for commission depending on whether the account is direct agency or a trade The actual commission percentage can be changed on each order during or
51. n the break Scheduled Time You enter the time for the event in this filed If you leave the time blank NL8 looks up the Log Template and uses the last valid time entered in this column and applies it to this event If itis a scheduled time for a Commercial Break you should enter a valid time Note If the Log Template being edited is a Special Event Template this column is elapsed time since the start of the program In all other cases this is actual time of day Description If the event type chosen is a Commercial Break this field will display if the type is a Stand Alone Avail it will display but if the event type is Log Text Program Title or Automation command you will have to fill it in so that it displays on your log when you generate it Note Automation Commands always start with an ampersand amp followed directly no space by the copy number or command to be played 6a Creating amp Editing New Log Templates Continued Length Put the maximum length of the event in this field Just click on the drop down arrow and find the length of time you want to be scheduled if you need the length to be a 10 just select 00 and change the 26 first O toa 1 The length entry is required only in the circumstances shown below If you don t care about the length leave it blank Commercial Break Length For an event which starts a commercial break the length you enter if any will specify a maximum minutes seconds for
52. ns this order line will run the Broadcasts per Day as specified for each weekday see below between the order line Start date and End date However additional uses can arise in complex scheduling situations 15 5c Entering Schedules Order lines Continued Runs cont d Alternating Weeks _On the Order Line entry screen the Run field may be set to every 2nd week through every 13th week in the Runs field to turn the Order Line on only for the weeks desired in an alternating fashion Alternating Weeks Example If you have 2 Order Lines that alternate you could set them up starting 1 week apart and have each alternate every 2nd week When line 1 runs line 2 is off and when line 2 runs line 1 is off Specified Weeks On the Order Line entry screen the Run field may be set to Specified Weeks you can then list the exact weeks you want the Order Line to run The specified weeks must be within the run dates of the Order see Order Entry General tab and the date range of the Order Line Specified Weeks Example Assume you have an Order Line that extends for a whole year but does not run every week in that year Select Specified Weeks and you will see an Edit Specified Weeks button that you can use to set the weeks Link gt Linking an Order Line to a Special Event Template On the Order Line entry screen the Run field may be set to Link gt followed by the name of the Special Event Template to which the Order Line is t
53. nt Templates have the same formatting as regular Log Templates except 1 They apply to less than a full day 2 The Log Template Time column is elapsed time instead of scheduled time since the start of the Special Event is not always the same These Special Event Templates overlay the regular Log template during the specified date and time period that you set in the Special Event Scheduler when you generate a log Order Lines may be linked to the Special Event Template so the order line runs anytime the special event is scheduled WARNING NL8 allows scheduling a Special Events Template to start at a time and with a length that causes it to continue past 11 59 59 PM However the past midnight events will appear after the 11PM hour in the log for the date on which in Special Event began This MAY create unwanted results in your automation system particularly if there are any timed events in the template that occur past midnight Other Log Templates These are Log templates you save under a specific name for later use For example you might save the Friday Normal Daily Log Template as Other Log Template named Friday Old Then you can edit the Friday Normal Daily Log Template to add some more commercial breaks for a heavy advertising period Later when you want to revert to the original Friday Log Template open the Friday Old Other Log Template and copy it back to the Friday Normal Daily Log Template 6a Creating amp Editing New Log
54. nts Copy Manager is also located in the Traffic module of NL8 and houses the list of all Copy that has been created The browser for Copy Manager allows you to make changes to copy sort and print the list as well as get a list of expired copy 5a Customer Accounts Customer Accounts are accessed through the NL main menu under the Traffic Customer Browser or AcctsRec Customer Browser menu The accounts are displayed on a browser screen that can be configured sorted and filtered as desired To create a new customer account click the New button To open an existing customer account click the Open button or double click the customer listing When the Customer Account opens you will see the following tabs Customer Data tab On the Customer entry screen this is where you enter customer information such as name address etc See Customer data entry for a description of the customer account data fields Orders tab On the Customer entry screen this tab lists the Broadcast Orders for the displayed customer Using dropdown boxes you can select Active Orders Expired Orders or All Orders for any or all stations You can right click in the order list to use the Orders menu See Broadcast Orders You can use the New button to create a new order on this account You can use the Open button or double click the item to view edit the highlighted order You can use the Delete button to delete an Order only if nothing has run from t
55. o be linked This allows you to use the Runs field to link this Order Line to a Special Event Template see definition in glossary so the order line will run only when that Special Event Template is scheduled using Special Event Scheduling subject to any Run Dates restrictions on the Order Line This means you don t have to change all orders that run within that Special Event Template if a Special Event is canceled or changed Note You must have created an empty Special Event Template even if it is simply an empty template before you can link to that template Filler Only Specifying Filler Material to Auto Fill Network Breaks On the Order Line entry screen the Run field may be set to Filler Only This is used when you are running programming from a satellite for other network and you need to specify filler items to be used fill Mandatory or If Used commercial breaks to exact length if you don t have enough paid spots You can add these as bonus spots on selected paid orders or you may enter separate orders to run PSA s promos etc as filler material These items are not counted on Order Confirmations because until a log is generated NL8 has no way to know how many items it will schedule to fill any unfilled breaks Notes on Filler Items Filler Items are logged only after all non filler items are logged or attempted to be logged and are bumped due to rule violations This only applies to breaks with If Used Fill Code and at least 1 regular
56. o this log item Rearranging Items on the Log In the Log Editor you may drag and drop items from one place on the Log to another by holding the left mouse button down until you have moved the item to where you d like it to appear When you release the mouse button the item will drop into that slot If you drop it onto an existing item that item and all following items up to the first blank line will be pushed down a line to accommodate the moved item Swapping Items on Log In the Log Editor you can use the Ctrl key combined with Left Click of the mouse to highlight 2 items to automatically swap log positions Then click Edit Swap Log Items to automatically swap the items positions on the log This only works when you have exactly 2 lines highlighted using the Ctrl Left Click method Inserting Bumped Items onto Log In the Log Editor the Bump Errors list includes all items NL was unable to log due to rule violations plus any items you delete from the log You may drag and drop items from the Bump Errors window by Left Clicking and holding the button down until you have moved the Item to where you d like it to appear When you release the mouse button the item will drop into that slot If you drop it onto an existing item that item and all following items up to the first blank line will be pushed down a line to accommodate the moved item You can also highlight an item in the Bump Errors window and click Place to put that it
57. p to the full UnApplied amount on the payment entry screen You might want to create a prepayment for less than the full amount if it is split between 2 or more stations revenue types or broadcast orders In these cases you d have multiple prepayments combined to apply the total UnApplied amount Prepayment may be applied If desired you can reserve the prepayment to only be used for invoices from a particular order The prepayment usually will to any invoice for this customer You choices are To any invoice for this customer NL8 will automatically assign use this prepayment to pay any invoice for the stations and revenue type specified Only to an invoice for this order specified below If you reserve it for a specific order NL8 will never apply the prepayment to an invoice created by any other order If the customer has no current orders this choice will not be available Be sure to click Save Prepayment before closing the prepayment screen and click Save on the regular payment screen If you later need to manually apply this prepayment to an invoice for an order to which it was not originally intended you will still be able to do this using the Apply Pre Payment button on the invoice screen 34 8b Editing and Adjusting Account Balances Editing and Adjusting Account Balances Select the Accounts Receivable Item to be Adjusted There are 2 ways to select the Accounts Receivable item to be adjusted Natural Log 1 From the m
58. r designating a Stand Alone commercial avail It is skipped for all other event types Unless one of the following situations applies this should always be left blank Your choices are Mandatory NL8 will force all Mandatory stand alone avails to be filled It will also fill to the proper length any Mandatory commercial breaks provided you enter a desired length If Used Fill NL8 will fill commercial breaks to the proper length only if at least one spot is logged in that commercial break and a length is entered for the commercial break This is helpful for satellite network formats in which you must fill certain commercial breaks because the network does not cover them Note If no length is entered for a Mandatory or If Used commercial set NL8 only will fill the avails in that commercial break that have an Avail Type restriction Log Template Source This allows you to enter the source for an event Usually this will be Local but you may also enter Network The computer uses this information to generate network spot files containing avails for you to quickly enter network spots If this is entered as Local NL8 will use this avail for local spots If you enter this as Network the NL8 will save this avail for network spots only 27 6a Creating amp Editing New Log Templates Continued Notes about Creating Log Templates Sign ON Sign OFF NL8 assumes you are on the air 24 hours unless you enter Sign ON as the event description at yo
59. r credit card Enter the check number if applicable Enter the payment amount The UnApplied Amount box will keep a running total of the amount of the payment you have not yet applied Manually Apply the Payment _ The entire payment amount must be applied to one or more of the paying customer s open invoices listed in the bottom of the payment screen You can select which invoices are to be paid by clicking so an X appears in the Pay column on the row for each invoice The column will toggle between pay and not pay so just click again to remove the X in the Pay column On any invoice with an X in the Pay column you can specify how much to apply in the Applied column Auto Apply the Payment The entire payment amount must be applied to one or more of the paying customer s open invoices listed in the bottom of the payment screen You can allow NL8 to automatically apply the payment to the oldest invoices first by clicking the Auto Apply button After clicking Auto Apply you can still manually apply the payment differently as described above so long as you have not saved the payment Pre Payments Receipt of payment for an invoice that has not yet been issued If you receive payment for an invoice that has already been issued that is a payment Payments are applied to pay individual invoices already issued in NL8 Prepayments are applied as a credit on a customer s account to be used in the future You can create a prepayment for any amount u
60. rk Commission Can be either a negative or positive amount RCM National Rep Commission Can be either a negative or positive amount Enter a description explanation for the adjustment as it should be shown on the customers account statement Enter the adjustment amount Negative adjustments reduce the customer s account balance Positive adjustments increase the customer s account balance 8c Generating Statements Generating Statements This section of NL8 creates and prints account statements for all or selected customers If you desire you may post finance charges before generating statements To generate account statements from the main NL8 menu click Accounts Receivable Statement Generator After the statement list is generated according to the filter settings you specify click Print Statements to begin the statement printout The statements themselves will be printed as you specified in NL8 document settings You can double click any account statement to view it on screen 8d End of Month Closing Accounts Receivable End of Month Closing While we highly recommend performing this process monthly this process is optional 35 If you choose not to perform this process at the end of each month any NL8 user could go back and enter a new transaction or change or delete any transaction in the past This can change your previous Accounts Receivable reconciliation and therefore throw your current month out of balance Not runn
61. t needed to backup large files onto multiple discs This causes all existing files in the root directory of the USB Drive or Zip Disc to be deleted each time a new backup is done By creating a folder on the removable disk drive you will be able to backup several Natural Log database files to one USB Drive or Zip Disc This prevents deletion of the pre existing files on the USB Drive or Zip Disc during the backup of additional databases Internal Data Backups Everyday when you first open the Natural Log 8 you will be prompted to perform an internal Data Backup It is important that you respond with YES to this prompt It only takes a few seconds and will store this backup on your hard drive Once this has been performed you will not be prompted for this again during the day This internal backup is important especially if incorrect changes are made or data becomes corrupted for any reason during the day and you need to return your data to your last backup You will only have to re enter information for that day 4 Program Setup Setting up program options and default entry values is very important since it can save a lot of time during the customer order entry process There are two main areas in the Setup section of the Natural Log 8 toolbar The first we will discuss is Administrator Controls includes the following setup items Program Options Data Options Allows you to set the interval time for Internal and External Backups as well
62. tation s Logs Station Return Address Optional Logo This is the address to be printed as the station s address on all documents for this station such as Confirmations Invoices and Statements You can add an optional small logo by right clicking on the Logo button or in the Logo picture box If you do add a logo you are responsible for assuring proper dimensions NL does not shrink or expand the logo NL just prints it as is The printed logo should be approximately the size of a first class postage stamp Generally any Windows compatible graphics file format is supported bitmap jpg etc The Logo is printed to the left of the station return address on the documents Station document Formats At the bottom of the Station Setup box are 5 buttons which allow you to format your documents These documents are Order Confirmation Production Order Log Invoices and Statements Be advised that the default font size is the already set to print any of these forms in the Portrait orientation The largest font you should ever try is 9 and you will have to set the page orientation to Landscape in order to get a good printout We realize the print is really small but there is a lot of information trying to get onto your form Default Screen Entry Values Natural Log allows you set the initial default values for new Customer Accounts Broadcast Orders Order Lines and Copy Manager To access and set the default values from the mai
63. tators are usually created from the Orderline instead of from Copy Manager so that you can use it right away The following steps are done from the Orderline by clicking on the Change button This takes you to the Select Copy box where you continue with the steps below Step 1 Make sure that all the copy you will need to rotate has been created If not then create them now Step 2 Create the Rotator by clicking on the New button while in the Select Copy box In the New Copy Information box select Rotator in the Type field NL8 will create a rotator number for you that will begin with and R then make sure the date range is correct and click on the create button Step 3 Edit the Rotator by Appending in the items to rotate Highlight the rotator in the Select Copy box and click on the Edit Copy button This opens the Rotator Information box In this box you click on the Append button This opens the Select Copy box where you will double click on the first piece of copy to rotate If you are going to rotate the copy equally then just click on the save button while in the Rotator Copy Item box If you want to set the percentage of rotation you can enter it here Keep appending in you items until all copy is listed in the rotator then you can click on the Equal Rotation button Remember the percentage of copy rotation must always equal 100 Close the
64. the order is correctly entered using the Confirmation button on the order entry screen Production Order You can print a Production Order showing when production is required for this order using the Production button on the order entry screen Items Found in Tools Menu On the Order Screen Copying an Order You can make a copy of an order using the File Duplicate this Order menu choice on the Order entry screen You will need to specify the Customer to receive the duplicated order and the CopyID to be used on the duplicated order Reminders You can view the date specific Reminders for the displayed order using the Tools Reminders menu choice on the Order entry screen Order Billing History You can view all invoice issued from the displayed order using the Tools Billing History menu choice on the Order entry screen Activity Log You can view the log of all changes to the displayed order using the Tools Activity Log menu choice on the Order entry screen See Activity Log 14 5c Entering Schedules Order lines Order Lines Orders are accessed through the NL main menu under the Traffic Broadcast Order Browser or from an open Customer Account screen Orders tab Within each order there is a Schedule tab that lists the order lines that actually schedule broadcasts for that order You can use the Add Order Line button to create add a new schedule line NOTE If you highlight an existing order line before clic
65. ther You can select the type of protection for each product code from the following 1 per Break 1 item with this Product Code may play within a commercial break No Back Back 2 items with this Product Code may NOT play Back to Back Minutes Protect this Product Code for a number of minutes Revenue Sources Assigned at the customer level Revenue Source allows you to filter your sales reports as National Agency National Direct Local Agency Local Direct Other Agency Other Direct National Rep or Unwired Network sales Revenue Types Revenue Types allow you to break out certain sales into separate sales reports When you enter an Order you will assign that Order to a Revenue Type All Natural Log reports allow you to specify which Revenue Types to include in the report These are most often used to designate orders as Cash Trade etc Natural Log has 3 default Revenue Types that are sufficient for most users Note Revenue Type is your best sorting tool for all your reports You will be able to either include a certain revenue type on a report or leave it off of the report Tax Rates To enter or edit a Tax Item from the Main Menu select Setup Tax Rates Enter a unique name for this tax item Enter percent tax to be applied Indicate whether it is applied to the net gross or discounted gross invoice amount When entering Customers each customer can be assigned one of the defined tax rates or no tax rate if none is to
66. ue corrected invoices for invoices issued before that closing date the corrected reissued invoice will be dated after the closing date End of Month Closing Process From the main NL8 menu click Accounts Receivable End of Month Closing The first time you close a month NL8 will allow you to specify the month Thereafter it will automatically close the next month Before NL8 will allow you to proceed you must click to verify you have performed the following tasks prior to closing All invoices for this month have been issued All payments RECEIVED DURING this month have been posted All accounts receivable adjustments for this month have been posted If required by your accountant an accounts receivable reconciliation has been completed and approved for this month Performed a data backup and stored it in a safe location Then click Close this Month gt NL8 will then close the month and print a closing confirmation if a printer is available 36 9 Reports 9a Creating Reports Natural Log has several standard Reports that are accessible from the Natural Log main screen under Reports All of these reports may be printed to paper sent to an Adobe Acrobat PDF file or exported a text file for importing into any other program such as a spreadsheet Customers Billing History Reports This includes Customer Lists Mailing Labels Envelopes Agency Lists Billing History and Payment History reports Order Lists This
67. ur Sign On time and Sign OFF as the event name at your Sign Off time Hyphen is required Copying Log Templates To access the Log Template Editor from the main NL8 menu select Logs then the Template Type you want to work with You can then use the drop down boxes to select the Station Log Template Type the Specific Log Template and the hour to be displayed Copy an Entire Log Template To copy an entire Log Template open the Log Template to be copied from and click File Copy Template and select the Log Template to be copied to Copy an Entire Hour of a Log Template To copy one hour to other days hours display the hour to be copied from Then click Edit Mass Change Paste Hour to Other Days Hours Then select the appropriate days and hours into which the displayed hour should be pasted Copy a Portion of a Log Template To copy one or more events from one Log Template to other s select the item s to be copied by either Hold down the Right Click and Drag your mouse slowly over the items to be copied or Ctrl and Right Clicking them to select multiple items one at a time then click Edit Select All After the item s are selected click Edit Mass Change Paste Selected Item s to other Days Hours Then select the appropriate days and hours into which the selected items should be pasted 28 6b Commercial Logs Creating a New Log At the Natural Log main screen select Logs This section of the Natural
68. ve 2 pieces of copy CopyID 0018 and 0450 you want to rotate equally You can create a Rotator named R01 18 004 or any unique CopyID you want to use and insert CopyID 0018 and 0450 into the Rotator each set to run 50 During order entry you just specify RO118 004 the CopyID of the Rotator itself to be used when that order line runs During log generation NL8 will play the appropriate cuts to maintain the 50 50 rotation Each Rotator line can have any rotation allowing uneven rotations if needed but the rotation total for all lines on the each Rotator must equal 100 Rotator Numbering Natural Log will assign a number for your rotator using the following pattern R where R stands for rotator and is the CustomelD number followed by the rotator number that NL8 assigns to is Warning for Rotator Edits If at least one item has already been logged from a Rotator any edits of any Rotator lines will cause that Rotator to reset That is it will restart the Rotation process with the first item in the Rotator and set all play counters to 0 This is to prevent a situation in which you might have 2 spots running 50 50 and then add a third to rotate 33 33 33 If the rotator did not reset the added spot would run exclusively until it achieved 33 of the total spots already run not a desirable result Creating a Rotator _ There are 4 simple steps to creating a rotator If you keep these in mind they are not difficult to create Ro

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