--- title: "About Reference Data" canonical: "https://hub.freewheel.tv/space/OS/114229325/About%20Reference%20Data" format: markdown --- Overview Reference data records store business information like fee and tax rates, and are used in calculations, building schedules, and sending orders. Reference Data Terms and Concepts This section contains information about terms and concepts related to reference data records. Types of Reference Data Records There are seven types of reference data records: Reference Data Record Type Description Fee & Tech Rate Record Fee record Defines a service or technology fee that can be applied to a campaign. A Fee record can be applied in one of two ways: Assigned fee: The fee is assigned to a specific Placement. Central Fee: The fee is added to the schedule. Tax Record The  tax workflow  is a gated feature and not enabled by default. If the tax workflow is not enabled, Tax records are not available. Defines the rules and requirements for a tax scenario. Commission Record Defines the service commission structure (percentage and basis) for a specified master data set. Exchange Rate Record The  exchange rate workflow  is a gated feature and not enabled by default. If the exchange rate workflow is not enabled, Exchange Rate records are not available. Defines the exchange rate to be used when converting costs from one currency to another. Terms & Conditions Record Defines the set of terms & conditions that apply to campaigns with a specified Media Type and master data set. There are two types of Terms & Conditions records: Advertiser View: The set of terms & conditions is included when viewing or exporting the Advertiser View page. Order: The set of terms & conditions is included when sending orders. Media Type Record Media Defines a Media Type. A Media Type is a high-level, functional way of categorizing media activity. Media Types are applied at the campaign, estimate, or Supplier level: A campaign is created for a specific Media Type. An estimate is also created for a specific Media Type. A campaign and an estimate can only be linked to each other if they have the same Media Type. A Supplier is associated with one or more Media Types. A Supplier can only be assigned to Cost Lines within a campaign created for a Media Type that the Supplier supports. Note: Suppliers and Cost Lines are further restricted by cost categories. For more information, see Cost Category Record  below. Media Types can be used flexibly to complement an advertising agency's workflow; some agencies might use just one Media Type and other agencies might use multiple Media Types. If an agency uses multiple Media Types, the Media Types are usually used to categorize media activity by format, channel, or team. For example, an agency could create a Display , Social Media , or Programmatic Media Type. Media Types can also be used to limit internal user access, since each user is assigned a media access level. If a user does not have access to a particular Media Type, they cannot view or edit campaigns created for that Media Type. Cost Category Record Cost category Defines a cost category. A cost category is a way of grouping and tracking costs at a more granular level than a Media Type, since Media Types are applied at the higher campaign level and cost categories are applied at the lower Cost Line level. Cost categories are also applied to Suppliers. A Cost Line is assigned a specific cost category. A Supplier is associated with one or more cost categories. A Supplier can only be assigned to Cost Lines that have a cost category that the Supplier supports. Media Types and cost categories have a many-to-many relationship: A Media Type can be associated with one or more cost categories. A cost category can be associated with one or more Media Types. Validity Dates The Valid From and Valid To fields on a reference data record define its validity dates. In turn, the validity dates affect the campaigns or Cost Lines that the reference data record can be assigned to. Reference Data Record Type Validity Dates Fee & Tech Rate Record The fee can only be assigned to campaigns that start or end within the Fee record's validity dates. Tax Record       Tax categories do not have validity dates. Alternate Tax Options do not have validity dates. Client Tax records: The client tax can only be applied to Cost Lines that start or end within the Tax record's validity dates. Vendor Tax records: The vendor tax can only be applied to Cost Lines that start or end within the Tax record's validity dates. Commission Record The commission can only be applied to Cost Lines that start or end within the Commission record's validity dates. Exchange Rate Record The exchange rate can only be applied to campaigns that start or end within the Exchange Rate record's validity dates. Terms & Conditions Record Terms & Conditions records do not have validity dates. Media Type Record The Media Type can only be assigned to campaigns that start and end within the Media Type record's validity dates. Cost Category Record The cost category can only be assigned to Cost Lines that start or end within the Cost Category record's validity dates. About Fees and Tech Rates Fee records streamline financial management by providing pre-defined, consistent fee structures that are automatically calculated and applied, reducing human error and improving efficiency. Fee Types There are three ways that a fee or tech rate can be applied: Fee Type Description Assigned Fee The fee is assigned to a specific Cost Line: There is an underlying Assigned Fee record that defines how the fee cost is calculated. The calculated fee cost cannot be changed by the user within the schedule Central Fee The fee is added to a schedule, with some pre-defined values: There is an underlying Central Fee record that defines how the fee cost is calculated. Depending on an additional setting, the calculated fee cost either can or cannot be changed by the user within the schedule. Entered Fee The fee is added to a media schedule, with no pre-defined values: There is no associated Fee record. All fee costs are specified by the user within the schedule. Fee Record Rate Types   There are three categories of rate types: Fixed Percentage of Media Volume-based The rate type categories are described in the following table: Rate Type Category Description Examples Fixed The cost is a fixed, user-defined amount that does not take into account the volume (number of units) of the media purchase. A purchase of 5,000 clicks for $1,500. Even if the number of clicks being purchased changes, the cost is still $1,500. A flat ad serving fee of $2,000 Percentage of Media ( POM ) The fee cost is calculated as a percentage of the cost type of the Cost Line that the fee is assigned to. A fee that charges 1% of the Placement line's Vendor Net Cost   Volume-Based All other rate types, such as: CPM (Impressions) CPC (Clicks) CPA (Acquisitions) The cost is triangulated from other values, including the volume (number of units) of the media purchase. A purchase of 5,000 clicks for $0.30 per click A volume-based ad serving fee that charges $0.01 per click, with a 10% buffer   The following table describes the available rate type categories(s), by Fee record type: Rate Type Fee Record Type Fixed Percentage of Media (POM) Volume-based Assigned Fee       Central Fee       Fee Record Fee Rates The meaning of the fee rate (the Rate and Client Net Rate fields on the Fee record) depends on the rate type category: Rate Type Category Fee Rate Description Fixed The fee rate is the fixed vendor fee cost. Percentage of Media (POM) The fee rate is the percentage used to calculate the fee cost. For more information, see Rate Type Cost Formulas . Volume-based The fee rate is the cost-per-unit rate used to calculate the fee cost. For more information, see Rate Type Cost Formulas . Fee Record Cost Types The cost type of a Fee record determines which media cost the fee is calculated on: Cost Type Description Vendor Net The fee cost is relative to the vendor media cost. Client Net Only available if the  margin workflow is enabled The fee cost is relative to the client media cost. Allocated Amount Only available if the  allocated workflow is enabled The fee cost is relative to  the money specially allocated for media and fee costs . The following table describes the available cost types, by Fee record type and rate type category: Cost Type Fee Record Type Rate Type Category Vendor Net Client Net Only available if the  margin workflow is enabled Allocated Amount Only available if the  allocated workflow is enabled Assigned Fee POM Volume-based Central Fee Fixed Fee Record Vendor and Client Rates Every Fee record has one vendor rate and at least one client rate: Rate Description Location Vendor rate How the vendor fee cost (the amount that the agency is charged by the vendor) is calculated. Defined by the Vendor Rate Details section Client rate How the client fee cost (the amount that the agency charges the client) is calculated, for a specific client or grouping of clients. Defined by the Client Rate Details section By default, the vendor and client rates of the fee are the same. However, if fee margins are enabled, margin fees that have different vendor and client rates can be created: Fee Description Default Non-margin fee The vendor rate and client rate of the fee are the same; the amount that the agency is charged by the vendor is the same as the amount that the agency charges the client. Margin fee Fee margins are a gated feature and not enabled by default. If this feature is not enabled, margin fees cannot be created: the client rate must be the same as the vendor rate. The vendor rate and client rate of the fee are different, creating a margin between the amount that the agency is charged by the vendor and the amount that the agency charges the client. Vendor Rates The vendor rate of a Fee record determines how the vendor cost of the fee is calculated. A vendor rate includes the following information: Vendor Rate Component Description Location Rate Type Category The method used to calculate the vendor fee cost. The Rate Type field in the  Vendor Rate Details section Cost Type The media cost that the vendor fee cost is calculated on: The Cost Type field in the  Vendor Rate Details section Vendor Fee Rate Depends on the rate type category. For more information, see Fee Record Fee Rates . The Rate  field in the Vendor Rate Details section Client Rates The client rate determines how the client cost of the fee is calculated, for a specific client or grouping of clients. A client rate includes the following information: Client Rate Component Description Location Client Rate Level Level Which clients the client rate applies to. From least specific to most specific, the client rate levels are: All Clients : The client rate can be applied to campaigns for all Clients in the enterprise or Business Unit, depending on whether the Fee record exists at the enterprise level or not. < A specific Client Group >: The client rate can only be applied to campaigns for Clients that are part of the specified Client Group. < A specific Client >: The client rate can only be applied to campaigns for the specified Client.   The Client column in the Client Rate Details section Client Rate Commission Setting The commission structure of the client rate: None : When the client rate is applied, no commission is added, even if there is one or more Commission records that would normally be applied. Default : When the client rate is applied, any Commission records are applied as normal. Same as Media:  For Assigned fees, when the fee is assigned to a Placement, any Commission records applied to the Placement are also applied to the fee/client rate. The Commission column in the Client Rate Details section Client Fee Rate Fee margins are a gated feature and not enabled by default. If this feature is not enabled, margin fees cannot be created: the client rate must be the same as the vendor rate. The rate type category and cost type of a client rate are the same as the rate type category and cost type of the vendor rate on the same Fee record. By default, the fee rate of the client rate and vendor rate are also the same. However, if fee margins are enabled, the client fee rate and vendor fee rate can be different, The meaning of the client fee rate (the value of the Fee Rate field) depends on the rate type category. For more information, see Fee Record Fee Rates . The Client Net Rate column in the Client Rate Details section Client Rate Validity Dates The validity period of the client rate. A client rate can only be applied to a campaign if the validity dates of the client rate and campaign overlap by at least one day. By default, the validity period of a client rate is the same as the validity period of the containing Fee record, but can be changed: The valid-from date of the client rate cannot be earlier than the valid-from date of the Fee record. The valid-to date of the client rate cannot be later than the valid-from date of the Fee record. A Fee record can have multiple client rates for the same client, as long as their validity dates do not overlap. For example, a Fee record could have the following client rates: The Valid From and Valid To columns in the Client Rate Details section Client Rate Examples Applying a Fee record to a campaign means applying one of its client rates, meaning that a Fee record can only be applied if it has at least one client rate that satisfies the following conditions: Eligible: The level of the client rate matches or includes the client of the campaign. Valid: The validity dates of the client rate overlap with the validity dates of the campaign by at least one day. In general, a more specific client rate on a Fee record takes precedence over a less specific client rate on the same record. However, if the more specific client rate is not valid, the Fee record goes up the hierarchy looking for the next most specific, but valid, client rate. For example, imagine a Fee record that has the following client rates: An All Client client rate  A Client Group A client rate that includes Client A1 A client rate specifically for Client A1 Given a campaign for Client A1, the most specific and valid client rate is applied: All Client client rate Client Group A client rate Client A1 client rate Result Valid Valid Valid Client A1 client rate is applied Valid Valid Not valid Client Group A client rate is applied Valid Not valid Not valid All Client client rate is applied Not valid Not valid Not valid Fee record cannot be applied The following example illustrates the client rate scenarios in more detail. Imagine a Fee record with the following client rates: Client Commission Client Net Rate Valid From Valid To All Clients None $3.00 January 1, 2024 June 30, 2024 All Clients None $3.25 July 1, 2024 - Client Group A None $2.00 January 1, 2024 - Client A1 None $1.00 January 1, 2024 June 30, 2024 Client A1 None $1.25 July 1, 2024 December 31, 2024  In the following scenarios: Client A1 and Client A2 are part of Client Group A Client B is not part of Client Group A Campaign Scenario Outcome Client: A1 Dates: June 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024 Both of the Client A1 client rates are available. The user can choose whether to apply the $1.00 rate or $1.25 rate. Client: A2 Dates: June 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024 Only the Client Group A client rate ($2.00) is available. The All Clients rate cannot be applied, because the Fee record contains a valid client rate that is more specific, the Client Group A client rate. More specific client rates take precedence over less specific client rates. Client: B Dates: June 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024 Both of the All Clients client rates are available. The user can choose whether to apply the $3.00 or $3.25 rate. Client: A1 Dates: January 1, 2025 to June 1, 2025 Only the Client Group A client rate ($2.00) is available. The two Client A1 client rates cannot be applied because their validity dates do not overlap with the campaign dates. The Fee record "falls back" to the next most specific, valid client rate, which is the Client Group A client rate. Fee Record Uniqueness Requirements A Fee record must have a unique combination of the following values: The Name of the record The Valid From date of the record The Rate Type of the record Applicable To details: The Apply at Enterprise level checkbox is selected OR the values of the Agency and Business Unit fields Client Rate details: The values of the Client , Commission , Client Net Rate , and Valid To fields Only one of the values listed above needs to be different. For example, two Fee records that have different Agency values can be otherwise completely identical. About Taxes The  tax workflow  is a gated feature and not enabled by default. If the tax workflow is not enabled, Tax records are not available. Tax records enhance OneStrata's financial management capabilities by providing the structure needed for proper tax handling. Types of Tax Records Term Description Tax Category Record Defines a tax category. Tax categories provide the structural foundation for OneStrata's tax management system. A tax category is created as either a client tax category or a vendor tax category: Client tax categories A Client Tax record belongs to a client tax category. A Client record can belong to a client tax category. Client Tax records are applied to Cost Lines in order to determine the client tax for that Cost Line, if any. A Client Tax record can only be applied to a Cost Line if the Client of the containing campaign and the Client Tax record are in the same tax category. Vendor tax categories A Vendor Tax record is created under a vendor tax category. A Payee record can be associated with a vendor tax category. Vendor Tax records are applied to Cost Lines in order to determine the vendor tax for that Cost Line, if any. A Vendor Tax record can only be applied to Cost Line if the Payee of the Cost Line and the Vendor Tax record are in the same vendor tax category. Alternate Tax Option Record Defines an Alternate Tax Option. Alternate Tax Options provide flexibility in tax management by allowing users to set up multiple tax setups for the same master data set. Client Tax Record Defines the rules of a client tax, which is charged by the advertising agency to the client: Tax category (Client Tax Category): Restricts the clients that the client tax can be applied to. Tax rate (Client Tax Percentage): The decimal percentage of the client tax. Tax basis: The cost that the client tax is calculated on. A Client Tax record is applied to a Cost Line in order to determine the client tax amount for that Cost Line. Vendor Tax Record Defines the rules of a vendor tax, which is charged by the vendor to the advertising agency: Tax category (Vendor Tax Category): Restricts the vendors that the vendor tax can be applied to. Tax rate (Vendor Tax Percentage); The decimal percentage of the vendor tax. Tax basis: The cost that the vendor tax is calculated on. A Vendor Tax record is applied to a Cost Line in order to determine the vendor tax amount of that Cost Line.