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Table of Contents


Overview

Media buyers can use the Schedule grid to define the tactical details of a campaign and quickly build out different media schedule options. The Schedule grid is a spreadsheet-like interface that combines user-entered data with pre-defined reference data records and formulas, and is located on the Schedule tab.

Once an agency is ready to move forward with a particular schedule option, they can commit lines on the Schedule grid and start the next step of the OneStrata campaign management workflow.

This page contains information about terms and concepts related to schedules in OneStrata.

Types of Schedule Grid Lines

There are six types of lines that can be added to the Schedule grid:

Media

Placement

A Placement represents the purchase of a single ad unit, with one format and one set of format dimensions.

There are three types of Placements:

  • Standalone Placement: A Placement that is purchased alone (not as part of a Media Package or Cost Package)
  • Child Placement: A Placement that is purchased as part of a Media Package
  • Secondary Placement: A Placement that is purchased as part of a Cost Package.

Media

Media Package

A Media Package represents a group of (children) Placements that are purchased together as a package, from the same vendor.

Flight dates, the number of units, the cost per unit, and the rate type are set at the parent Media Package level, and all children Placements inherit those values.

There are two types of Media Packages:

  • Standalone Media Package: A Media Package that is purchased alone (not as part of a Cost Package)
  • Secondary Media Package: A Media Package that is purchased as part of a Cost Package
Media

Cost Package

A Cost Package represents a group of (secondary) Placements and/or (secondary) Media Packages that are purchased together at a single and fixed total cost, from the same vendor.

Flight dates, the number of units, and the rate type of each secondary Placement or Media Package can be independently defined.

Non-MediaEntered Fee

The fee is completely manually added to a media schedule, and has no pre-defined values.

There is no pre-existing Fee record, and all values of the Entered fee are specified by the user within the schedule.

Non-MediaCentral Fee

The fee is added to a media schedule, with some pre-defined values.

A pre-existing Central Fee record defines how the cost of the Central fee is calculated. Depending on an additional setting, the calculated fee cost can or cannot be changed by the user within the schedule.

Non-MediaAssigned Fee

The fee is assigned to a specific Placement line.

A pre-existing Assigned Fee record defines how the cost of the Assigned fee is calculated, and the calculated fee cost cannot be changed by the user within the schedule.

About Cost Lines

The phrase "Cost Line" is the general term for a Schedule grid line that has associated costs. Not all Schedule grid lines are Cost Lines, because not all types of Schedule grid lines have costs.

For example, a child Placement that is purchased as part of a Media Package is not a Cost Line, because the Media Package (which is a Cost Line) is paid for as a single item, and the individual children Placements are not paid for separately. Within a cost package or a standalone media package, the top-most line (the Cost Package line or the Media Package line) is always a Cost Line.

The costs of a Cost Line are divided into monthly intervals called billing periods. Costs are actualized, clients are billed, and vendors are invoiced at the billing period level.

Many important actions in OneStrata occur at the Cost Line level. For example:

The following table describes which types of Schedule grid lines are Cost Lines:

Standalone PlacementYesMedia Cost Line
Child PlacementNoN/A
Secondary PlacementNoN/A
Standalone Media PackageYesMedia Cost Line
Secondary Media PackageNoN/A
Cost PackageYesMedia Cost Line
Entered / Assigned / Central Fee

Yes

Non-media Cost Line

Cost Line Cost Methods

The cost method of a Cost Line defines what type of cost-related fields are available or editable within the Cost Line, and how they are calculated. Each Cost Line can have a different cost method, depending on what cost methods are enabled within the OneStrata enterprise.

Standard Cost Line

A Cost Line that uses the Standard cost method (the Cost Method value of the Cost Line is Standard).

Margin Cost Line

A Cost Line that uses the Margin cost method (the Cost Method value of the Cost Line is Margin).

Allocated Cost Line

A Cost Line that uses the Allocated cost method (the Cost Method value of the Cost Line is Allocated).

About Flight Periods, Billing Periods, and the Unit Calendar

Schedule grid lines can be divided into flight periods and/or billing periods, which are managed through the Unit Calendar.

About Flight Periods and Billing Periods

The following table describes flight periods and billing periods in OneStrata:

Flight Period

A flight period defines the period of time that a media activity purchase runs for, as well as the number of units purchased during that time frame.

Standalone / Secondary Placements and Media Packages have at least one flight period.

Child Placements, Cost Packages, and Fees do not have any flight periods.

Notes

  • If a Schedule grid line has multiple flight periods:
    • The dates of the flight periods cannot overlap. 
    • The start date of the Schedule grid line is the same as the start date of the first flight period.
    • The end date of the Schedule grid line is the same as the end date of the last flight period.
    • The total number of units of the Schedule grid line is equal to the sum of the number of units of its flight periods.
  • By default:
    • There is one flight period per month. 
    • The number of units of the Schedule grid line is distributed among its flight periods according to the default cost distribution setting (Pro Rata or Even) of the media campaign.
    • However, the start and end dates and the number of units of a flight period can be customized.
  • To customize a flight period, see Edit a Media Line's Flight Periods.

Imagine a standalone Placement that runs from March 15th to May 22nd, with 300 units.

By default, this Placement has three flight periods:

  • Flight Period 1: March 15th to March 31st
  • Flight Period 2: April 1st to April 30th
  • Flight Period 3: May 2nd to May 22nd

If the default cost distribution setting of the campaign is Pro Rata:

  • Flight Period 1: 75 units
  • Flight Period 2: 132 units
  • Flight Period 3: 93 units

If the default cost distribution setting of the campaign is Even:

  • Flight Period 1: 100 units
  • Flight Period 2: 100 units
  • Flight Period 3: 100 units

For more information on cost distribution settings, see:

Billing Period

A billing period defines the committed financial details (the amount that a vendor should be paid or that a client should be gilled) of a given month of service for a Cost Line.

All Cost Lines have at least one billing period.

Notes

  • Billing periods are used for billing and actualization. Each billing period has a corresponding Billing Period line on the Actualization grid
  • There is at most one billing period per month, and the billing period must start and end in the same month.
  • A billing period can define the costs for multiple flight periods, if the flight periods all start and end in the same month.
  • If a billing period is paired with multiple flight periods:
    • The start date of the billing period is the same as the start date of the first flight period.
    • The end date of the billing is the same as the end date of the last flight period.
  • If there is no flight period within a given month, there is no billing period for that month. 

Imagine a standalone Placement that runs from March 15th to June 30th, with the following flight periods:

  • Flight Period 1: March 15th to March 31st
  • Flight Period 2: May 2nd to May 10th
  • Flight Period 3: May 15th to May 19th
  • Flight Period 4: May 21st to May 22nd
  • Flight Period 5: June 1st to June 30th

This Placement, and any fees assigned to the Placement, has three billing periods, one for each month with at least one flight period:

  • Billing Period 1 (March): March 15th to March 31st
  • Billing Period 2 (May): May 2nd to May 22nd
  • Billing Period 3 (June): June 1st to June 30th 22nd

There is no billing period for April, because there are no flight periods in April.

About the Unit Calendar

The flight periods and billing periods of a Schedule grid line can be viewed and managed through the Unit Calendar. The Unit Calendar has two parts:

  • Unit Calendar bars: A high-level summary and visual representation of a Schedule grid line's flight periods or billing periods.
  • The Unit Calendar widget: A detailed list of a Schedule grid's line flight periods or billing periods. Flight-level adjustments, like changing the start or end date of a flight period, can be made through the Unit Calendar widget.

Unit Calendar bars 

A high-level summary of a Schedule grid line's flight periods or billing periods.

A Unit Calendar bar can represent a flight period or billing period:

  • Flight period: The Unit Calendar bar displays the number of units and/or the cost of the flight period.
  • Billing period: The Unit Calendar bar displays the cost of the billing period (in other words, the cost per month).

In general:

  • Unit Calendar bars on the Schedule grid display the units and cost per flight period.
  • Unit Calendar bars on the Advertiser View page display the cost per billing period/month.
  • Unit Calendar bars on the Order Details page display the units per flight period.

By default, a Unit Calendar bar displays:

  • The number of units purchased during the flight period; and/or

  • The cost of the flight period or billing period, in the primary cost type.

    Primary cost type (Vendor Net or Vendor Gross) is an enterprise-level setting that is managed on the Administration > Cost Model Settings page.

On the Schedule grid and Advertiser View page, hover over a Unit Calendar bar to view more information:

  • Dates: The start and end dates of the flight period or billing period.

  • Rate: The vendor rate of the flight period or billing period, in the primary cost type.

  • Units: The number of units of the flight period or billing period.

  • Cost: The cost of the flight period or billing period, in the primary cost type.

Unit Calendar widget

A detailed list of a Schedule grid line's flight periods and/or billing periods.

If the Schedule grid line is a standalone / secondary Placement or Media Package:

If the Schedule grid line is a Cost Package or Fee:

For more information about the Flight Periods grid or Billing Periods grid, see Unit Calendar Widget Reference.

Open the Unit Calendar widget for a specific Schedule grid line by double-clicking its Unit Calendar bars, on the Schedule grid.

Make flight-level adjustments through the Unit Calendar widget:

About Committing 

Once a Schedule grid line has been filled out and customized as desired, the line can be committed.

Committing a Schedule grid line indicates that the line is ready to move from a draft state to a "real" state, with financial implications. Once a Schedule grid line is committed, it becomes available throughout the rest of the OneStrata platform:

When schedule lines are committed on the Schedule grid, located on the Schedule tab, OneStrata automatically does the following:

  • On the Schedule tab: Enables automatic flight period soft locking
  • On the Orders tab: Groups committed lines with the same Order ID into orders on the Orders grid
  • On the External Integrations tab: For Placement lines with a Technology Assignment value, creates one or more Ad Placement lines on the Ad Server grid 
  • On the Actualization tab: Creates one or more Order, Cost Package, Media Package, Placement, Fee, and Billing Period lines on the Actualization grid

See also:


About Soft Locks and Hard Locks

There are two types of locks, soft locks and hard locks:

  • Soft locks can be unlocked in OneStrata.
  • Hard locks must be unlocked in the external financial system, providing an extra level of security.

Items that are soft locked or hard locked must be unlocked before they can be edited, ensuring that any changes with potential financial impacts are done carefully. As such, soft locking and hard locking only apply to committed Schedule grid lines; non-committed Schedule grid lines are considered drafts that can be freely edited without financial impact.

The following table provides more information about soft locks and hard locks:

Soft lock

Summary

  • Soft locked items are indicated by a dark grey, "active" lock icon.
  • Soft locked items can be unlocked in OneStrata. To unlock a soft locked item, click the lock icon next to the item.
  • Flight periods, billing periods, and certain Schedule grid lines can be soft locked.
    • All items can be automatically or manually soft locked.
    • Schedule grid lines can be partially soft locked or completely soft locked.

Automatic soft locking

  • For committed media Schedule grid Lines:
    • When a flight period begins (its start date is in the past), the flight period is automatically soft locked.
    • The Schedule grid line that contains the flight period is also automatically soft locked.
  • For committed Fee lines:
    • When a billing period is actualized, the billing period is automatically soft locked.
    • The Fee line that contains the billing period is also automatically soft locked.

Manual soft locking

  • Flight periods, billing periods, and Schedule grid lines can be manually soft locked at any time.
  • To manually soft lock an item, click the white lock icon next to the item. The icon becomes dark grey and the item is now locked.

Schedule grid line partial soft locking

  • When a flight period or billing period within a Schedule grid line is automatically soft locked, the containing Schedule grid line is also automatically soft locked.
  • However, the Schedule grid line may contain other flight periods or billing periods that are not soft locked.
  • In this case, the Schedule grid line is partially soft locked, meaning that at least one, but not all, of its flight periods or billing periods are soft locked.
  • Partially soft locked Schedule grid lines are less restricted than completely soft locked Schedule grid lines. For more information, see Types of Locked Items.

Schedule grid line complete soft locking

  • If all of the flight periods or billing periods within a Schedule grid lines are soft locked, the Schedule grid line is completely soft locked.
  • Completely soft locked Schedule grid lines are more restricted than partially soft locked Schedule grid lines. For more information, see Types of Locked Items.

Schedule grid

  • Flight periods
  • Billing periods
  • Media
    • Standalone Placement lines
    • Secondary Placement lines
    • Standalone Media Package lines
  • Fee lines

Hard lock

Invoice lock

Summary

  • In the Schedule grid, hard locked items are indicated by a soft gray, "inactive" lock icon.
  • Hard locked Billing Period lines do not have a lock icon, but have an invoice status of Invoiced.
  • Hard locked items cannot be unlocked in OneStrata. To unlock a hard locked item, unlock its corresponding invoice within the external financial system.
  • Billing periods, flight periods, and Billing Period lines can be hard locked.
    • All items can only be automatically hard locked; manual hard locking is not available.

Automatic hard locking

  • When a billing period is invoiced (actualized in OneStrata and matched/cleared in the external financials system), the billing period is automatically hard locked.
  • Any paired flight periods are also automatically hard locked.
  • The corresponding Billing Period line (on the Actualization grid) is also automatically hard locked.

Schedule grid

  • Flight periods
  • Billing periods
  • Media
    • Standalone Placement lines
    • Secondary Placement lines
    • Standalone Media Package lines
  • Fee lines

Actualization grid

  • Billing Period line

Types of Locked Items

The following table describes the impact of soft locking or hard locking an item:

        Soft lock

        Flight period


        Flight Periods grid

        (Schedule tab)

        Soft locked (and hard locked) flight periods cannot be manually changed by the user or indirectly changed by a unit or cost redistribution.

        In other words, the units or cost values of a locked flight period do not change, even if the units or cost of the containing media Cost Line changes.

        Soft lockBilling period

        BIlling Periods grid

        (Schedule tab)

        Soft locked billing periods cannot be manually changed by the user or indirectly changed by a unit or cost redistribution.

        In other words, the units or cost values of a locked billing period do not change, even if the units or cost of the containing Fee line changes.

        Partial soft lock

        Media Schedule grid line

        • Standalone Placement
        • Secondary Placement
        • Standalone Media Package

        Schedule grid

        (Schedule tab)

        For partially soft locked media Schedule grid lines, the following values on the Schedule grid cannot be changed until the Schedule grid line is unlocked:

        • Start Date
        • Cost Category
        • Rate Type
        • Vendor Net Rate (VC)

        The number of units or vendor cost of a partially soft locked media Schedule grid line can be changed.

        However, since locked flight periods are protected from unit or cost redistribution, the new units or cost value of the Schedule grid line cannot be less than the lowest minimum value, the sum of the units or cost of any locked flight periods.

        The difference in units or cost is redistributed among the unlocked flight periods, according to the default cost distribution setting (Pro Rata or Even) of the media campaign.

        Partial soft lockFee line

        Schedule grid

        (Schedule tab)

        For a partially soft locked Fee line, the following values on the Schedule grid cannot be changed until the Fee line is unlocked:

        • Start Date
        • Cost Category
        • Rate Type
        • Vendor Net Rate (VC)

        The number of units or vendor cost of a partially soft locked Fee line can be changed.

        However, since locked billing periods are protected from unit or cost redistribution, the new units or cost value of the Fee line cannot be less than the lowest minimum value, the sum of the units or cost of any locked billing periods.

        The difference in units or cost is redistributed among the unlocked billing periods, according to the default cost distribution setting (Pro Rata or Even) of the media campaign.

        For partially soft locked Assigned fees only:

        • Reminder: Assigned fees are calculated according to the values of the Placement line(s) that the fee is assigned to.

        • Making a change to the Placement line that a fee is assigned to:

          • If the change impacts the units and cost of the fee, the changes are redistributed among its unlocked billing periods.

          • The status of the Fee line changes to Draft - Revised.

        • Un-assigning the fee from a Placement line:

          • If the fee was only assigned to that one Placement, un-assigning the fee is the same as canceling the fee. The status of the Fee line changes to Draft - Cancelled.

          • If the fee is still assigned to other Placements in the schedule, the units and cost change to the fee is redistributed among its unlocked billing periods. The status of the Fee line changes to Draft - Revised.

        • Canceling the Placement line that a fee is assigned to:

          • If the fee was only assigned to that one Placement, the fee is also canceled. The status of the Fee line changes to Draft - Cancelled.

          • If the fee is still assigned to other Placements in the schedule, the units and cost change to the fee is redistributed among its unlocked billing periods. The status of the Fee line changes to Draft - Revised.
        Complete soft lock

        Media Schedule grid line

        • Standalone Placement
        • Secondary Placement
        • Standalone Media Package

        Schedule grid

        (Schedule tab)

        For completely soft locked media Schedule grid lines, the following values on the Schedule grid cannot be changed until the Schedule grid line is unlocked:

        • Start Date
        • Cost Category
        • Rate Type
        • Vendor Net Rate (VC)
        • Units
        • Vendor Net Cost (VC)
        Complete soft lockFee line

        Schedule grid

        (Schedule tab)

        For a completely soft locked Fee lines, the following Schedule grid values cannot be changed until the Fee line is unlocked:

        • Start Date
        • Cost Category
        • Rate Type
        • Vendor Net Rate (VC)
        • Units
        • Vendor Net Cost (VC)

        For completely soft locked Assigned fees only:

        • Reminder: Assigned fees are calculated according to the values of the Placement line(s) that the fee is assigned to.

        • Making a change to the Placement line that a fee is assigned to:

          • If the change would affect the fee, the Fee line is not automatically updated.

          • Instead, a warning is displayed.

          • The warning informs the user that the changes to the Placement line cannot be pushed to the associated Fee line, causing the two lines to be out of sync.

          • Examples of changes that would cause the warning to be displayed:

            • Changing the dates, units, or rate of the Placement line.

            • Un-assigning the fee from the Placement line.

            • Canceling the Placement line.
        Hard lockFlight period

        Schedule grid

        (Schedule tab)

        		Hard locked flight periods behave the same as soft locked flight periods (see above).
        Hard lockBilling period

        BIlling Periods grid

        (Schedule tab)

        Hard locked billing periods are read-only and cannot be edited.

        If a billing period is hard locked, the following items are also hard locked:

        • Any paired flight periods.
        • The corresponding Billing Period line.
        Hard lockBilling Period line

        Actualization grid

        (Actualization tab)

        Hard locked Billing Period lines are read-only and cannot be edited.

        Billing Period lines do not have lock icons to indicate hard lock status. However, if the invoice status of a Billing Period line is Invoiced, it is hard locked.

          

        About Secondary Units

        Schedule grid lines are required to have a rate type, which indicates the primary ad metric being tracked or purchased and its cost per unit. Schedule grid lines can also track other ad metrics, referred to as secondary units.

        Rate Type


        The primary unit type and cost per unit negotiated between an agency buyer and a vendor for a media purchase.

        For a Schedule grid line, its Rate Type value indicates what type of unit is represented in the Units value, and is required before entering rate, units, or cost information.

        For a Fee record, its Rate Type value indicates how the fee is calculated (whether the fee is a flat fee, a percentage-of-media-cost fee, or a volume-based fee).

        See also:


        Secondary Unit

        Secondary Unit Type

        An additional unit type that is tracked alongside the primary unit type.

        For example, the primary unit type of a placement might be impressions, but the agency might also want to track clicks, views, or acquisitions.

        • Secondary units are optional; a Schedule grid line does not need to have a secondary unit.

        • A Schedule grid line can have multiple secondary units.

        • Secondary units can be entered manually, or calculated by a conversion rate.

        • Secondary units have no effect on the (net) cost of a media purchase, but can affect any fees assigned to the purchase:

          • For example, an ad server or content verification provider may charge an impression- or click-based fee for ad serving, even though impressions or clicks may not be the purchased/primary rate type.

          • Whenever an Assigned fee has a rate type that matches the Schedule grid line's rate type or any of its secondary unit types, fee costs are generated.

         

        About Schedule Options

        A campaign can have multiple schedule drafts, in order to map out and consider different budgets and tactics during the planning process. These different options can be shared and reviewed with clients, and iterated on until a specific option is approved.

        When one or more lines on a specific schedule option are committed, that schedule option becomes "active". Any other schedule options are immediately archived and become read-only.

        Moving forward, any changes to the campaign's media schedule can only be done on the active schedule option, now referred to simply as "the schedule". A campaign that has an active schedule cannot create new schedule draft options.

        There are three schedule option types/statuses:

        Draft Schedule

        When a media campaign is first created, the campaign automatically has a single draft schedule option.

        During the initial planning phase, draft schedule options can be freely created, deleted, and renamed within the media campaign.

        However, as soon as one or more lines on a specific draft are committed, any other draft schedule options within the campaign become archived, and no new draft schedule options can be created.

        See also:

        Active Schedule

        An active schedule has one or more committed lines, and any number of uncommitted lines.

        A media campaign has at most one active schedule.

        Archived Schedule

        During the initial planning phase, a media campaign may have multiple draft schedule options. When a specific draft is chosen and moved forward, and one or more lines on that draft is committed, any other draft schedule options become archived.

        Archived schedules are read-only and cannot be edited or deleted.

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