New manual insertion order [in-depth guide]

Guide contents: Overview | Setup | Main input: new insertion order | Line items tab

Overview

Insertion orders are similar to purchase orders but are used to place orders for ad spots in publications. These orders include the gross amount and a commission percentage to calculate the net amount. Additionally, insertion orders allow tracking user-specified dates for each line item.
NOTE: If the order line needs to have an "Insertion Date" and an "End Date", the buy should be setup as a Broadcast Order, not an insertion order.

• Each insertion order must be approved before it is sent to a vendor/station. If you print an unapproved IO, the system will place an unapproved watermark across the page.
• Each user is assigned a specific ordering limit which allows them to approve insertion orders below that dollar amount. If you're purchasing limit is zero, you will not be able to approve any IOs.
• As you enter line items into an insertion order, the system will try and determine if you have the right to approve the order and that dollar limit. If you do not have the right, the system will use the default approver from the Transaction preferences screen. If this person has an approval limit greater than the amount of the IO, the system will automatically assign them as the approver. If this person & the person entering the insertion order don't have sufficient limits to approve the order, the order will be assigned to no one.
• When an insertion order is assigned to no one for approval, anyone in the company with an approval limit above that of the order will be able to approve it. When the IO is set for approval, everyone with that approval limit will receive an email.
• Once the insertion order is approved, the person entering the order will receive an email back.
• Once an insertion order is approved, you cannot edit it. If you need to edit it, you must unapprove the order first. Doing so will increase the revision number on the order. Once you have completed the order revision, you will need to either approve it yourself or resubmit it for approval.
• A vendor invoice can only be applied against approved insertion orders. Once a vendor invoice is linked to the IO, you will not be able to unapprove the IO. The Vendor invoices tab shows a list of vendor invoices that have been applied to this IO.

Setup

From Menu > Admin > System setup > Account information > Transaction preferences there is a section for Insertion orders that lets you determine the default approval process, along with other system-level setup aspects of the IO process.

Main input: new insertion order

Process flow

Once the insertion order is saved, the rest of the information on the Order info tab is available and the rest of the tabs are available to the user. On save, the user is taken to the Line items tab to enter information. The order will need to be approved before any vendor invoices can be applied or if the order is to be prebilled. Anyone with an IO purchasing limit greater than or equal to the net amount on the IO can approve it, by default the user who creates the IO will be the approver. Once approved, IOs are usually prebilled to the client either by clicking on the Prebill order action or by clicking on the Prebill line button on a line.

Order info tab

Linked specifications

This allows the users to link in specifications from other projects. Multiple specifications can be attached to the PO to be sent to the vendors. These specifications will be printed on the top of the PO.

Linked specifications are set up via Menu > Admin > System setup > Tracking > Define spec sheets. The specification sheet is created and filled in as a project associated with the media buys. You can then associate these spec sheets with the order(s).

Send order copies to

This popup window allows you to select several contacts from the selected vendor to send copies of this order. Select the appropriate names from the lookup list and press Add selected users. This will cause the system to print a copy of the order & specification sheets for each person on the list. The person's name will replace the contact name from the order's header on the printout.  When the order is printed, there is one copy for each person selected. When emailed, if the person has an email address in the system, they will be sent a notification email.

IO approval process

An IO can be approved by anyone with an IO purchasing limit greater than or equal to the net amount on the IO. You can set different approval limits for each person to control the maximum amount that a person can approve. Once an IO is sent for approval, the person approving the IO will receive an email but the person creating an IO will only receive an email once it's approved or rejected. A person whose IO limit has been reached cannot approve it, but can still unapprove an IO.

Address/instructions tab

Line items tab

The Line items tab enables the user to enter the item detail information about each ad for which an IO is placed. Some are defaulted from the header and can be changed on each line.

Prebilling insertion orders

When you create an insertion order, it is quite normal to prebill the client for the insertion after the order has been approved. In order to prebill an insertion order, you must:

• Have the security right to create new invoices

• Have a client assigned to the project that appears on the order's header.

When you prebill an order you have the option to prebill either the entire order (if no line items have previously been billed) or you can prebill a specific line item.

• To prebill the entire order, select the appropriate insertion order and click the Prebill order at the top of the page.

• To prebill a specific line item, select the insertion order and then select the line item you would like to bill. Then, click the Prebill line button

The system will then take you to the invoice that was created. All invoices are created as a one-line invoice with all line items from the order attached to this single order. It can be viewed under the Client invoices tab of the insertion order and would be as follows. The client invoice can be edited from here by clicking on the Pencil icon.

Any vendor invoices that have been applied against this IO will show up under the Vendor invoices tab and can be drilled down into by clicking on the Pencil icon.

NOTE:  Client invoices would only appear here if you pre-bill the order. If you bill the vendor invoice instead, you will need to open the vendor invoice to locate the client invoice. The Media discrepancy report will help manage media orders (for both insertion & broadcast) to include: 'order amounts', 'vendor invoice amounts', & 'amounts billed to client'.