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Summary: A description of the "standard media interface" for linking data from broadcast orders, print orders, and vendor media invoices from media buying systems like TAPSCAN, SmartPlus, and Strata into accounting programs like Clients & Profits X.

The "Standard Media Interface" (or "SMI") standardizes the communication between Media Buying Systems, such as SmartPlus, TAPSCAN, Strata, and CoreSpot, and advertising agency accounting programs, like Clients & Profits X. Currently, all systems export data from media buys for use in accounting. But there is no consistently between these export files, which causes end-user confusion, training and support inefficiencies, and preventable errors.

Note: While developed by Clients & Profits, Inc., the Standard Media Interface is an open standard. It can be used by software companies royalty-free.

How the SMI works:

A media buyer enters a broadcast plan into a Media Buying System. The broadcast plan is composed of one or more media buys. Each media buy contains details about the buy, including station, run dates, run days, run times, the ad name, the rating, and the cost per spot (at net and gross). When the plan is approved, the buyer prints the station order. At that time the media buying system would automatically (or maybe prompt the user) to update the accounting system. The Media Buying System then creates a standard tab-delimited text file containing the station order. The export file is saved to a preset directory on the file server. The Accounting System will then check this directory as regular intervals (or let a user check manually as needed) then import any new station orders. The station orders appear in the accounting program as Broadcast Orders.

What's involved:

Integrating data from media buying systems to accounting systems involves four components:

(1) A Media Buying System that creates tab-delimited text files based on the SMI specification,

(2) text files containing data from broadcast orders, print orders, and vendor invoices,

(3) a "drop" folder (sub-directory) located on a file server that stores the exported media files, and

(4) an Accounting System that can import and process tab-delimited text files based on the SMI specification

Work flow:

The basic integration between the media buying system and the accounting system works like this:

(1) A media buyer finalizes a broadcast or print media plan then prints the station orders,

(2) the Media Buying System automatically creates a separate tab-delimited export text file for each station/publication on the order, saving the files into the "drop" folder,

(3) the Accounting System checks the contents of the "drop" folder, looking for newly-saved export files,

(3) if files are found, the Accounting System imports the media buys,

(4) the Account System moves the successfully-imported text files into a different "imported_buys" folder.

General Tips and Notes:

-- The media buying system should create tab-delimited ASCII text files for simplicity. Tab-delimited files can be opened and easily viewed and edited in any spreadsheet, unlike fixed-length text files. Also, it is much easier to add a new field or modified an existing field on tab-delimited files, since the literal character position isn't important. Currently, modifying the contents of a fixed-length export file requires recoding the import procedure.

-- The name of the exported media text files should end with .TBY (broadcast buys), .PBY (print buys), or .VAP (vendor invoices) to distinguish them from other files.

-- The name of the .TBY, .PBY, or .VAP files shouldn't exceed 20 characters (including the extension).

-- The Media Buying System should implement tables for stations, clients, and media buyers. Each station, client, and media buyer record should be identified with a short code (or ID number), which should correspond with station, client, and buyer codes in the accounting system. When media buys are imported, these codes will be a more reliable lookup to the accounting system's data. Unless codes are exported, a media buyer's misspellings of a client name or station name will cause the accounting system's import to fail.

-- The media buying system and accounting system will share a common "drop" folder (sub-directory) on the agency's file server. This drop folder, named something like "media_buys", would be used to store broadcast buy, print buy, and vendor invoice text files exported from the media buying system. The accounting system will look inside this folder (manually or automatically at specified intervals) for incoming data.

-- The "drop" folder will be empty once all of the media text files are imported.

-- A special "import_buys" folder will stored all imported media text files. These files will be stored as backups in case one needs to be re-imported (due to an error, for example).

-- A copy of each station order should be printed for the Accounting Department. The Accounting Department should compare each day's printed station orders to the imported broadcast/print insertion orders in the Accounting System to ensure their accuracy.

Broadcast Buys (TV/Radio/Cable)

The broadcast order BUYS data file format (a uniquely named text file ending in ".TBY") ) should contain these fields:

#:	Field Name:	Description:	Field Type:	Column*:
1	Order Number	Unique ID number	Char 10	A
2	Order Date	Date of station order	Date	B
3	Buyer's Initials	Initials of the media buyer placing the order	Char 4	C
4	Client Number	Client ID (call letters or numbers)	Char 10	D
5	Vendor Number	Vendor ID (call letters or numbers)	Char 10	E
6	Job Number	Job number for cost accounting/billing	Char 10	F
7	Job Task	Task code for cost accounting/billing	Char 4	G
8	Flight Dates	Range of dates the spots will run	Char 25	H
9	Broadcast Month	Month or months the spots will run	Char 15	I
10	Ad Name	Name of the ad	Char 30	J
11	Product	Product ID	Char 15	K
12	Line Number	The buy's line number on the order	Number 0dps	L
13	Run Dates	Run dates for each media buy line	Char 20	M
14	Run Days	Days of the week (i.e., MTWTFSS)	Char 10	N
15	Run Times	Times the spots should run	Char 20	O
16	Program Name/Daypart	Daypart or program name	Char 20	P
17	Rating	Rating points per spot	Number 2dps	Q
18	Spot Length	Length of spots	Char 10	R
19	Quantity	Number of spots to run	Number 0dps	S
20	Commission	Media commission percent (e.g., 15.00)	Number 2dps	T
21	Total Net	Total net cost, w/o commission, for all spots	Number 2dps	U
22	Total Gross	Total gross cost, incl. commission, for all spots	Number 2dps	V
23	Market	The market name for the broadcast order	Char 30	W
24	Revision	The order's revision number	Number 0dps	X
25	Run Date	First date of the run referenced in line #13 (used for billing)	Date	Y

* These are the columns used by the media buy text file if it is opened in Microsoft Excel

Broadcast Buy Notes:

-- Each station order must have a unique order number (like a purchase order number). This number is essential for tracking buys, clears, costs, and billings throughout the entire process. It is especially important that each buy and clear record contain the order number; without it, the record won't update the accounting system correctly.

-- Each station order should be exported as a separate tab-delimited text file. The accounting system should store imported station orders in a separate sub-directory of "imported orders" for better accountability. This way, if an import fails, the station order export file can be easily found and imported over again. If export files always have the same name (e.g., FINANCE.DAT) there's no way distinguish one by from another.

-- If a station order is revised, the entire order should be exported again. When the accounting system imports the revised station order, it should know that the order already exists; if so, the old order will be replaced by the new one.

-- The Accounting System shouldn't allow imported station orders to be edited. If so, the order in the accounting database won't match the order in the Media Buying System. The Media Buying System's data should always take priority over the Accounting System.

Print Buys (Newspapers/Magazines/Periodicals)

The print media buy export file format (a uniquely named text file ending in ".PBY") should contain these fields:

#:	Field Name:	Description:	Field Type:	Column*:
1	Order Number	Unique ID number	Char 10	A
2	Order Date	Date of station order	Date	B
3	Buyer's Initials	Initials of the media buyer placing the order	Char 4	C
4	Client Number	Client ID (call letters or numbers)	Char 10	D
5	Vendor Number	Vendor ID (call letters or numbers)	Char 10	E
6	Job Number	Job number for cost accounting/billing	Char 10	F
7	Job Task	Task code for cost accounting/billing	Char 4	G
8	Line Number	The buy's line number on the insertion order	Number 0dps	H
9	Publication	Publication Name	Char 15	I
10	Issue Date	Date the ad runs (e.g., "November 98")	Char 15	J
11	Ad Name/Caption	Name or caption of the ad	Char 40	K
12	Ad Size	Size of the display ad	Char 15	L
13	Space Closing	Date the ad's space closes (optional)	Date	M
14	Materials Due	Date ad materials are due to pub (for traffic)	Date	N
15	Position/Spec. Instructions	Free-form notes about the print buy (opt.)	Char 200	O
16	Quantity/Length	Number of ads on this buy, or column inches	Number 2dps	P
17	Net Cost	Cost to agency less commissions	Number 2dps	Q
18	Commission	Commission % (e.g., 15.00)	Number 2dps	R
19	Gross Costs	Cost to client, including commission	Number 2dps	S
20	Bill Net	Bill net, not gross option (0=No,1=Yes)	Number 0dps	T
21	Run Date	Single date of the issue referenced in Line #10 (used for billing)	Date	U

* These are the columns used by the media buy text file if it is opened in Microsoft Excel

Print Buy Notes:

-- Each publication order must have a unique order number (like a purchase order number). This number is essential for tracking buys, clears, costs, and billings throughout the entire process. It is especially important that each buy and clear record contain the order number; without it, the record won't update the accounting system correctly.

-- Each print insertion order should be exported as a separate tab-delimited text file. The accounting system should store imported station orders in a separate sub-directory of "imported orders" for better accountability. This way, if an import fails, the station order export file can be easily found and imported over again. If export files always have the same name (e.g., FINANCE.DAT) there's no way distinguish one by from another.

-- If a print insertion order is revised, the entire order should be exported again. When the accounting system imports the revised station order, it should know that the order already exists; if so, the old order will be replaced by the new one.

-- The Accounting System shouldn't allow imported print media orders to be edited. If so, the order in the accounting database won't match the order in the Media Buying System. The media buying system's data should always take priority over the accounting system.

Vendor Media Invoices (Accounts Payable):

The vendor media invoice export file format (a uniquely named text file ending in ".VAP") should contain these fields:

#:	Field Name:	Description:	Field Type:
1	Vendor ID	Vendor code or account number	Char 10
2	Invoice Number	Vendor's invoice number (from printed invoice)	Char 20
3	Invoice Date	Date from printed invoice	Date
4	Accounting Period	Period in G/L to be affected (1-24); optional	Number 0dps
5	Invoice Total Due	Total balance due from agency	Number 2dps
6	Order Number	Insertion order number	Char 10
7	Line Number	Line number from insertion order	Number 0dps
8	Quantity	Number of spots/ads that actually ran	Number 0dps
9	Gross Cost	Cost to client including commissions	Number 2dps
10	Commission	Commission % (e.g., 15.00)	Number 2dps
11	Net Cost	Cost to agency less commissions	Number 2dps

Vendor Media Invoices Notes:

-- The "vendor ID" value should match a vendor record in the Accounting System. If not, it shouldn't be imported.

-- If the "accounting period" field is empty, the current period from the Accounting System will be entered automatically.

-- The "invoice total due" should equal the sum of the "net cost" amounts on vendor media invoice's line items.

-- The "order number" and "line number" are critical, since it tells the Accounting System to point at a specific media buy on a broadcast order or insertion order. These two fields are required for reconciliation ordered quantities with actual quantities, which affects media billing.

Bottom Line Invoices (.BLI) are Media Invoices that do not reference any media orders)

#:	Field Name:	Description:	Field Type:
1	Vendor ID	Vendor code or account number	Char 10
2	Invoice Number	Vendor's invoice number (from printed invoice)	Char 13
3	Invoice Date	Date from printed invoice	Date
4	Job Number	Job Number for cost accounting/billing optional (if invoice is to no job enter NONE)	Char 10
5	Job Task	Task Code for cost accounting/billing optional (if invoice is to no job enter NONE for the task code)	Char 4
6	Accounting Period	Period in G/L to be affected (1-24) optional	Number 0 dps
7	Invoice Total Due	Total balance due from agency	Number 2 dps
8	Gross Cost	Cost to client including commissions	Number 2 dps
9	Net Cost	Cost to agency less commissions	Number 2 dps

Interactive Orders

The interactive orders export file format (a uniquely named text file ending in ".IBY") should contain these fields:

#:	Field Name:	Description:	Field Type:	Column*:
1	Order Number	Unique ID number	Char 10	A
2	Order Date	Date of station order	Date	B
3	Buyer's Initials	Initials of the media buyer placing the order	Char 4	C
4	Client Number	Client ID (call letters or numbers)	Char 10	D
5	Vendor Number	Vendor ID (call letters or numbers)	Char 10	E
6	Job Number	Job number for cost accounting/billing	Char 10	F
7	Job Task	Task code for cost accounting/billing	Char 4	G
8	Line Number	The buy's line number on the interactive order	Long Integer	H
9	Website/Network	Website/Network Name	Char 15	I
10	Run Dates	Date the ad runs	Char 15	J
11	Ad Name/Caption	Name or caption of the ad	Char 40	K
12	Banner Size	Size of the display ad	Char 15	L
13	Space Closing	Date the ad's space closes (optional)	Date	M
14	Materials Due	Date ad materials are due to ad company	Date	N
15	Linking URL	Linking URL if any (optional)	Char 15	O
16	File Size	File Size (optional)	Number 2dps	P
17	Net Cost	Cost to agency less commissions	Number 2dps	Q
18	Commission	Commission % (e.g., 15.00)	Number 2dps	R
19	Gross Costs	Cost to client, including commission	Number 2dps	S
20	Bill Net	Bill net, not gross option (0=No,1=Yes)	Short Integer	T
21	Run Date	Single date of the issue referenced in Line #10 (used for billing)	Date	U
22	Special Instructions	Free form notes about Interactive buy	Char 200	V
23	Impressions	Number of Impressions (optional)	Number 0dps	W
24	Cost Per 100 (CPM)	Cost per thousand hits (optional)	Number 2dps	X