You can quickly get a list of reports and processes that have been run today, yesterday or any day. You can find how frequently certain reports or processes get run, their status and what options were used.  View the history of when reports and processes have been run at the Request History view (CDSOPR/RQH).

View Processes Run for a Particular Date

The following display was set to Search By the 26^th of the current month and Exact Only has been checked.

No filter was used.

The columns were customized to include the Request Status code and the Job Stream columns.

The display shows

1)      Which processes were part of a job stream called ARP-BASE

2)      The status of the processes (D means Done – processing complete)

3)      No processes ran with a Select Set

4)      CIR230 process ran with publication codes LTP and SHE

5)      131 processes were run on this date

6)      Scroll down the list to view more processes

 

View a Full List of Request Status Codes - Use Contextual Help

1)      Inquire on one of the processes

2)      Click the ? in the upper right hand corner (the mouse pointer retains a ?)

3)      Click the mouse pointer on the status value

4)      Finally click the Valid Values… button

View Frequency of the CDSCLN Process

In the display below the Search Criteria for Process Name is CDSCLN and Exact Only has been checked.

A filter was created called Date Range and Start Date field set between 1-Oct 2010 and 31-Oct 2010.

The list results tell you

1)      Frequency CDSCLN process was run in October 23 times; once a day

2)      The CDSCLN process completed without error during the month (status was consistently D)

View a Full List of Request Status Codes - Use Contextual Help

1)      Inquire on one of the processes

2)      Click the ? in the upper right hand corner (the mouse pointer retains a ?)

3)      Click the mouse pointer on the status value

4)      Finally click the Valid Values… button

The Product Family feature enables you to link a printed title with an e-version of the same content.  This solves the problem of identifying the relevant content when it is published under different titles, or where different content is published under the same title or different translations.  It could also be used to represent the same on-going stream of content – such as a serial.

Valid values are set up at the CDSVLU view under the keyword PROD-FAM.  Collective sales by Product Family are available through the SAL450 report.

 Here are examples of how this can be used.

– to identify on-line and print version of the same publication or title

– to identify additional language translations of the same work

– to designate an initial reference notebook and its serial updates

This feature will enable retail websites to accurately re-use reviews and subject classifications that apply to one publication on every other publication of the same work.  It will automatically group items of distinct works with their own individual titles that are part of the same content.

Standard identification codes that could be recorded in the Product Family field include the ISTC (International Standard Text Code) and the ISSN-L (International Standard Serial Number Linking Number).

Here are some highlights from 2010R3.

·         Usually, an SVCDAT search returns all addresses that satisfy the search criteria this could be the default address, plus several others for the same customer.  You may wish to have the system display only the default address in situations such as this.  You can use a new option to turn this behavior on.  When the option is enabled, the search result will always be the default address (and only the default address) for any matching customers---regardless of which address the criteria actually matched on

·         A tab has been added at SVCDAT/CTM when viewing a customer record,  to establish links to documents you may need to retrieve for a customer.  The documents must already exist on the network; the Documents tab allows you to establish the links to these.

·         You can now configure Advantage to display the CIR subscriptions for a selected customer, as part of the SVCDAT search results display.  When the feature is enabled, a subscription list frame appears below the main results display at SVCDAT.

·         For credit cards, you can now control whether to prompt for the CSC (Credit Card Security) code during order entry, based on the control group response type.  For example, you would want to have the message displayed for phone orders, but not "heads-down" white mail order entry.

·         You can use the cycle-end multi-queue processing to split the process into separate queues in other to optimize processing.  Note that this is used for multiple queues for different publications (as opposed to splitting cycle-end across queues for a single publication.)  Previously, four additional processes (in addition to CIR410) were available: CIR41A through CIR41D.  Five additional processes have been added: CIR41F, CIR41G, CIR41H, CIR41J, and CIR41K.  These five new processes work identically to the existing A-D processes.

·         In addition to MSTDAT/PRO, the following Advantage views now offer the ability to search by the PO number: SVCDAT/CIR, MSTDAT/CEM, MSTDAT/MST, MSTDAT/AMB.

·         The Prodcut Order upload can now create new and renewal CIR subscription orders, based on the presence of specific input data: the upload file must contain a promotion and promotion choice that defines the details of the subscription to be created. Under these conditions, the Prodcut Order upload will create the CIR subscription (either new or renewal). 

Contact your Advantage account manager for more information.

On Tuesday, December 7^th,Phil Montgomery will be hosting a free webinar to review the rewrite of the ARPCSH view in the new UI.  He will also take input from clients on the design efforts.  If you haven't registered already, please visit the webinar registration page to sign up.  All webinars are at 11 a.m. EST and will last for an hour unless otherwise noted.

We've been hard at it with webinars this fall, and there are still a few more on the roster.   

Below is the complete listing of fall webinars. If you missed a recent webinar and would like it repeated, have questions, or have suggestions for future webinars, please email me, Angie Markel.

·         October 14^th Product Discounting, Paul DesRosiers

·         October 20^th Customer Response Letters – Part 1, Mike McCarren

·         October 27^th Customer Response Letters – Part 2, Mike McCarren

·         October 28^th Web Module Interface Architecture, Philippe Rowland

·         November 3^rd Customer Response Letters – Part 3, Mike McCarren

·         November 9^th Report Distribution, Eric Burbeck

·         November 11^th Web Module Interface Architecture (REPEAT), Philippe Rowland

·         November 18^th Back-issue Processing, Scott Ghormley

·         December 7^th ARPCSH in New UI, Phil Montgomery

Date to be determined:

AMB Updates at 10r3, Corey Mantel

When contacting emergency support, you may opt to send email to emergency@advantagecs.com in addition to calling.  Please be aware that the emergency Support Inbox will only accept mail from domains on our Safe Sender list.  We've done this because spam was triggering too many unnecessary calls to the emergency support people. 

All of our client domains are on this list, so please be sure and send your email from your company account.  If you would like to request another domain name to be added to the list, please contact Ev Acton at eacto@advantagecs.com .

Patrick DeLine has joined ACS in the Implementations and Engineering Services group led by Karl Davis.   He is a recent graduate of the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where he earned dual bachelor degrees, in math and computer science.  Having grown up in a small town in rural Wisconsin, Patrick found the urban life in Madison to be a big change.  He missed being surrounded by nature, although he thoroughly enjoyed his college experience, participating in the marching and concert bands (he plays the euphonium), and playing ultimate Frisbee.  He also took a fencing class, which he found to be a fascinating sport.  And he finished on a real high note, spending his last semester of college in Leeds, England.

Patrick graduated from college in January of this year and moved to the Ann Arbor area when his girlfriend got a job here.  He was pleased to find the job at ACS and has hit the ground running.  He feels that ACS offers an ideal environment, offering the chance to work on a system with extensive code and yet being small enough so that all the employees know each other.  So far, Patrick has done work on the advertising module and has also worked with Mike Hasey on Business Intelligence functionality.

Patrick lives in the Kerrytown area of Ann Arbor and likes that, while still a large university town, Ann Arbor is greener and quieter than Madison.  There is even a small stream running by his home.

In his leisure time, Patrick enjoys reading (Stephen King is a favorite of his), music, art and occasionally writing.  He enjoys debate and would like to join a local debate team.  And Patrick is also a gamer, although he is quick to point out that he plays computer games, not console ones, and considers himself a gaming idealist, preferring the open source concept. 

We're glad that he has brought his ideals here to ACS.

 

The annual AUG conference is being held January 12-14, 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada.  The focus of this year's meeting is Digital Publishing and Reporting, and the keynote speaker is Ted Blizzard, CIO of the Massachusetts Medical Society.

The conference will be held at:                                                

New York New York Hotel

3790 Las Vegas Blvd South

Las Vegas, NV 89109

www.nynyhotelcasino.com

Rooms are available at a special group rate of $60.00 per night through Thursday night plus a $12.95 per night resort fee and applicable taxes (base rate is $109.00 for Friday night). The cutoff date for these rates is December 20, 2010.

Make online reservations at:

https://reservations.mgmmirage.com/bookingengine.aspx?pid=010&host=offer&code=SCAUGA0111

This is a New York, New York reservations website specifically set up for our group. Choose which date you want to check in and how many nights you'll be staying and click the "search availability" button. It will show what is available for our group rate. If you're satisfied with everything just click "book this room" and it will ask for your credit card information and give you a confirmation code.  Please keep this code as you will need it upon check in.

 

Or by telephone:

Reservations will be telephoned directly to Hotel Group Reservations Department at 800-693-6763. In order to receive the group rate, callers must specify the group code SCAUGA0111.  Rates cannot be changed at check-in or check-out for guests who fail to identify their affiliation at the time the reservation is made.

Conference fees

The conference fee will be $250.00 per attendee and is due by December 15, 2010.  This includes breakfast and lunch for two days.  A special "early bird" rate of $225.00 ($235.00 via PayPal) will be honored if your registration is received on or before November 19, 2010.  No refunds will be given after December 15, 2010.

New this year!  If you'd like to pay your conference fee with PayPal, use this link:

https://cms.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/?cmd=_render-content&content_ID=marketing_us/send_money

and email the applicable amount to aug@advantagecs.com.  Please identify payment as Personal/Payment owed. Contact Ev Acton (eacto@advantagecs.com) with any problems.

 We hope to see you there!

 Angie Markel applies the same energy and motivation to her job in the Advantage Support Center as she does to running a marathon, which she has done 4 times (including the Boston Marathon, for which one must qualify).  She is detail-oriented, quick to grasp new concepts and adept at building relationships with the clients with whom she works .

Her supervisor, Ev Acton puts it this way:  "Angie is an excellent analyst who works well with all of our clients.  Angie makes sure she understands the customer's needs and ensures that the solutions ACS provides meet those needs.  Angie is a very effective communicator and does a great job of sending alerts to the user community as needed.  In addition, Angie always has a smile on her face and has a dry sense of humor." 

Most of her ten years at ACS have been spent in the Support Center, but Angie has also worked in the Upgrades group.  Her upgrades supervisor Paul DesRosiers has this to say about working with Angie:  "Regardless of the role – projects, training, support, QA – Angie consistently does an outstanding job of completing the task at hand and providing a detailed and structured outline for others to follow. This leadership and attention to detail produces an environment where others are very pleased to work with her.  With her product knowledge and positive mind-set, it's no wonder Angie is such a frequently requested analyst."

Although she also enjoys training and other visits to client sites, Angie appreciates the team environment of the support center.  With two school-age kids at home, she also likes the consistent hours. 

Angie's ACS work history also includes a stint on the Projects team, where she worked with Penton Media on their consolidation project.  Penton's Carver Bonine was very pleased with her work.  "It's difficult to narrow in on only one outstanding aspect of working with Angie," he says.  "From the onset of the monster Penton project, she exhibited incredible cheer and optimism.  As our upgrade/consolidation project manager, she was very adept at all the organizational, technical, and personnel hurdles that come with the territory.  In the thick of things, when we didn't quite get it yet, she held our hands and when we got overloaded, she pitched in and carried us a time or two.  After go live, when we were still plodding through issues, Angie reminded us to celebrate all we'd accomplished.   Even today, when I call up in a panic thinking the sky is falling, she finds a way to remind me that it's probably not as bad as I might think.  If I had to pick one thing Angie does better than everyone else, it's having an attitude that is inspirational."

A methodical person, Angie likes making lists and being able to cross tasks off as she accomplishes them.  She prefers a day completing many small tasks, although according to all her past and present managers, she performs excellently on large ongoing projects as well. The Support Center functions nicely as a team, and Angie credits supervisor Ev Acton with making that happen.  "Ev is an effective manager without being overbearing," says Angie.  "Ev is there to support you if you need it," Angie explains, "but trusts you to follow through and get things done."

Co-worker Molly Mathe feels this way about working with Angie:  "Angie is someone I can count on to bounce ideas off of, troubleshoot problems with, or just laugh with. She has the ability to make an insane day become very sane."

Angie grew up in Bay City, Michigan and attended Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, where she earned a dual bachelor's degree in math and computer science.  During college, she was a co-op student at Dow Corning and then took a job there after graduation.  She moved to the Ann Arbor area in 2000 and joined ACS that September.

Angie lives in Dexter with her daughter, Ella, 9,  her son, Camden, 7, and their cat, Mabel.  With Ella's involvement in soccer, gymnastics and learning the violin and Cam's flag football, wrestling and basketball, Angie is always on the go.  But she manages to find time to indulge in her hobby of running—whether it is on local roads, hills and trails or in organized 5K, 10K or marathon runs.  When she's not running, she heads to the nearby gym to attend a spin class or to swim laps in the pool. And for fun at home, she and the kids are usually playing in the yard or enjoying board or video games. She is also enjoying decorating their new home so that it reflects their personality and active lifestyle.

With all that she does, Angie's shoes would be hard to fill.  If you could catch her, that is.