Motor Information Systems, a Hearst Company, recently celebrated the successful launch of Crash Online—a database of repair estimate information on specific car models, which is used by collision shops to estimate repair costs. Previously, the data had been provided via quarterly print directories, which were time-consuming to update and costly to print and mail. Housing it online is much more efficient, and that is just the sort of application for which the Access Management and Billing (AMB) module of Advantage was created.

MOTOR purchased the Advantage AMB module to handle the authentication of customers and manage billing and accounts receivable for the database customers. A large benefit of using AMB is its integration with the rest of the system. The previous method involved several disparate systems requiring manual updating.

Along with the CRASH database, MOTOR also converted the rest of their E-Tech products, including such things as wiring diagrams, heavy truck products and technical service bulletins. Motor's Jay Goklani and Nilesh Acharya spearheaded the effort to combine the E-Tech family of products using AMB. Their efforts paid off, as there were no unanticipated issues at go-live.

"This was a huge undertaking by both Jay and Nilesh," said Todd Ladson, Motor's Director of Finance, as he announced the launch. "Both of them worked extremely hard at combining both the E-Tech family of products along with Advantage's Access Management module, creating a very robust application for our customers."

A coupon is a discount program you set up to offer a percentage or dollar discount on the order, based on certain parameters. You can allow use of the coupon based on such variables as the promotion code on the order line, the specific items ordered, the owning organization of the product ordered, etc.

The discount is applied only to the "eligible" lines on the order (such discounts are spread proportionally across the eligible lines). In addition, you can set up a particular coupon to allow/disallow repeated uses by the same bill-to customer and access usage statistics for individual customers, as well as the general stats for a coupon "program"---number of uses, sales with and without the coupon discount, etc.

CPNTBL/COU – Coupon Setup

You set up coupons at the CPNTBL/COU view. Coupons can be attached to a promotion, or be valid for a group of promotions, items, owning organizations, etc.

Entering Coupons with the Order

Coupons can be applied to any line items that may be entered on a Master Order at MSTDAT/FST. This includes:

• CIR
• PRO
• CEM
• AMB
• MBR

Coupon discounting is supported at the FST entry view (as well as other entry points that support order scripting---for example, the Next Release tab at SVCDAT/BCL).

At MSTDAT/FST, a "Coupon" button is available for inclusion with the order entry script. This allows the rep to enter the coupon at any point of the order (once the order details phase is started, and up until the point that the payment dialog is displayed).

Multiple coupons may be used per order---however, the end result of the order is that only one coupon may be applied per line. In some cases, two or more coupons may be applicable to the same line, in which case the user must inform Advantage which coupon to honor for that line (see "Resolving Coupon Conflicts" below).

The following terminology and distinctions may be useful in understanding this:

• A coupon is assigned to an order (i.e. entered by the rep). This means is the coupon is available to its order lines, but does not necessarily mean that the coupon will actually be used by any of the order lines.
• A coupon is applicable to an order line if it meets the inclusion and exclusion rules for that coupon.
• A coupon is applied to one or more order lines, as long as it is applicable to that line, and the system has not previously applied another coupon to the line.
• A coupon qualifies for a discount if the sum of the order lines to which that coupon is applied meets the criteria (minimum order quantity, minimum order amount) that has been defined for the coupon.

How Coupon Discounts Work

Coupon discounts work just like other discounts. A monetary or % amount is subtracted from the list price of the item(s) in question when a coupon is used on a sale. Coupon discounts are placed into their own discount "bucket" allowing combination codes to rule whether, say, a promotion discount and a coupon discount are added together or compounded together, or whether the highest discount takes precedence.

Coupon discounts will be applied prior to any calculation of tax. That is, tax is calculated based on the discounted amount.

What if the total discount of the coupon is more than the total of the qualifying lines? For example, suppose you offer a $20 off discount, yet qualifying lines 1, 3, and 5 add up to only $18.50. In these cases, the customer loses the remainder of the coupon (or in other words, only $18.50 worth of discounting is applied to the order). In these situations, a message is displayed to the rep during online order entry.

NOTE: For more information on using coupons, see Online Help or request a webinar training session with Doug Moore (dmoor@advantagecs.com).

When it comes to Martha Krieg, the phrase "jack of all trades, master of none" needs a slight change. In her case, it's "jack of all trades, master of most." The skill set Martha brings to the table is remarkable and yet she is always eager to learn more. She delights in the opportunity to master something new.

"Whether it involves tweaking renewal Invoice forms or working with System Upgrades over the years, Martha is thorough, conscientious, and keen on details," says Peter Loftus, of Standard Rate and Data Service (SRDS). "She is expedient in tackling problems and issues and she goes out of her way to make herself readily available. She has a great temperament and no job seems too big for Martha."

Martha is a member of the Upgrades and IT department led by Ray Zick, and serves as an upgrade engineer for a dozen or so clients each year. As one project winds down to completion, the next is entering the initial busy stage. Upgrade projects happen in four phases: first, the upgrade audit, which may take anywhere from a week to a day. Second is the code configuration, which ranges from two days to two weeks. The third component, testing, can take as long as several months, depending on the complexity. Finally comes the week or two immediately after the cutover to the new revision. During the time the client is testing the new software and immediately after the go-live, Martha acts as a triage person—fixing the things she can and sending the rest to the appropriate ACS engineer.

Ev Acton, Support Center manager, frequently works with Martha. "Martha does a great job of explaining issues to clients at a level that they can understand," says Ev. "She is always VERY willing to help out our customers and it really shows. She's very patient, which many clients really appreciate."

One reason that Martha enjoys working on upgrades is the direct client contact. She has built relationships with a number of clients that she has worked with over the years. One such client is Dottie Thomas of Army Times Publishing. Martha took time on a recent family vacation trip to stop and have dinner with Dottie. "Martha is wonderful," says Dottie. "We at Army Times have worked with her mostly on our upgrades, with an occasional problem solution/fix here and there. Professionally, she is always responsive to our needs and her work is always accurate. Additionally, she takes the time to explain what she did and why. Personally, she is a really nice, interesting person and fun to be around (and she has a really nice family!)."

Martha excels at handling masses of data and detail and she puts these skills to good use in working on upgrades. The initial code compare between the previous version and the new is an exercise in detail which Martha truly enjoys.

Perhaps it is her training in Library Science that makes that kind of detail child's play to her. A native of Ohio, Martha began her education with a bachelor's of arts in English from the College Of Wooster in Ohio. She and husband, Larry, then moved to Michigan so that she could attend graduate school at the University of Michigan, and they have lived in the area ever since. Martha earned a master's degree in Romance Linguistics and one in Library Science, but jobs in the teaching and library fields were hard to come by at that time. She went back to school and earned a PhD in Romance Linguistics at U of M, but as jobs in the field were still scarce, after working as a proofreader at the Middle English Dictionary. she thought computer science would be more practical. She signed up for some computer classes at a local college, and there she found her new profession. She began teaching computer programming at Eastern Michigan University and the local community college, and returned to school again, this time earning a master's degree in computer science from U of M. And somewhere in there, she found time to raise three children.

Martha then decided to enter the corporate world, and joined ACS (then T & B Computing) in 1995. She worked on the CIR team, led by Karl Davis, where she did some software development and worked in the technical support area. She began working on upgrades a few years later.

Paul DesRosiers, Project Director for Upgrades, can't say enough about her. "Martha is our 'go-to' person for Upgrade Audits because of her thoroughness and attention to detail. I can always count on her to complete the task on time and completely," says Paul.

He goes on to say: "She also receives kudos from clients for her thorough responses and analysis of issues. It isn't the simple ‘I've fixed it, try it again' type of response either. She describes her analysis, explains the impact on other areas of the software, suggests areas to test and confirm, as well as documenting her change and why it needed to be changed. Many clients are very appreciative of the extra information that she provides."

Paul credits Martha with making his job easier. "Her hard work has ensured countless successful upgrades and has been instrumental in making our clients more stable and more knowledgeable. Martha builds confidence in our ability to successfully complete projects for them," he explains.

Martha lives in Ypsilanti, Michigan with her husband, Larry, a retired college professor, and two cats. Her married daughter lives close by and Martha enjoys spending time with her 4- year-old grandson. Her daughter is expecting a second child in September. Martha's other two children live out of state—her son in Seattle and her other daughter in Washington, DC. As their children were growing up, Martha and Larry opened their home to a series of 10 exchange students as part of the Youth for Understanding program. She keeps in touch with them all over the world. She and Larry have become second parents to Megumi, their final exchange student, a young woman from Japan, who has come back numerous times to visit and lived with them when she attended college here. At Megumi's recent wedding, Martha and Larry were accorded the same honor as the bride's birth parents.

Martha's interests and hobbies are many and varied. Her fascination with medieval times has led her to participate in medieval reenactments, sew the old-fashioned garments, and sing in a medieval choir. But that's not all—she has won prizes at the state fair for her bobbin lace-making, and she grows peonies, iris, and daylilies. She is also a lay associate of the Cistercian (also called Trappist) order and participates in many activities with that order and with her local parish. Martha speaks fluent Spanish, and also knows French and Italian. She has translated several books from these languages into English for Cistercian Publications and articles for Brill.

Even with all these activities in her life, Martha is not done learning. She remains fascinated by new technologies, and loves to learn about new features and functionality as they are added to Advantage. We could all learn something from you, Martha!

Do you pay commissions to agents or sales reps? If so, you know how complicated it can be to compute commissions payments. Why not let Advantage do it for you?

Advantage's Commissions Management (COM) module is integrated with the Circulation and Product Order modules, and allows you to automatically create commissions-due records for your sales representatives. These records can then be passed to an accounts payable system for the actual payout of the commissions. Using COM means that the payable commissions are calculated automatically, based on Advantage net order amounts.

The Commissions Management module offers maximum flexibility for structuring your commissions. You determine how often a sales rep earns commissions, and at what rate. The rep can be paid a percentage of the sale, a graduated amount per quantity (for example, $5.00 for every book on the order), or a flat rate. In addition, COM allows you to create a separate commissions-due record for the sales rep's supervisor (or sales associate). Because calculations of commissions are select-based, you can vary these formulas as much as desired---in essence, you can pay the rep a different commission amount for each type of order that she/he places for the customer. How you define "type of order" is completely up to you.

You can also build in an automatic escalation based on a quantity threshold---for example, you can increase the commission from $5.00 to $5.50 after 100 units of sales. Finally, you can enter manual commissions records as well. For example, you can enter a flat bonus amount for the rep that is not tied to any order activity in Advantage. These manual adjustments can be negative as well---for example, to correct an overpayment of commissions.

However you handle your Commissions payouts, and whatever rate structures you use, the Advantage Commissions Management module can eliminate the need for spreadsheets and calculations outside the system---reducing the time involved and the chances for error.

For more information on the Commissions Management module, contact your Advantage account manager or Ken Nemerovski.

You can change the report request records using the "Set Process Options" function from CDSREQ. This allows you to add a start/stop condition to the program, set the default paging, breaking and sorting parameters. Choosing the "Add Option" button will add a new environment variable to the request record, like PUB-CDE, ITM-NUM, or PMO-CDE.

If you determine a mistake has been made, you can re-set the request record completely back to the default settings and start over. Please be advised that this re-set will REMOVE ALL CUSTOMIZED settings – so use it with care. Alternatively, if you want to change something specific about the option you added (perhaps the prompt is incorrect), you must do so at SYSDCT/PRC.

Adding a process option:

The process option allows you to add an environment variable, and then either use that as the stop/start value or use it in your selection criteria.

Clicking on the "Add Option Button" launches the following Dialog box:

The "Reference Name" field is what shows up in your process log, and that is what you need to use in your selection criteria. Please use capital letters for the reference name and use a dash, not an underscore in the field name.

To reference the environment variable in the selection criteria:

For an Alphanumeric field ->> YYY.RRR-ZZZ = GETENV(‘REF-FLD') For a Date field =>> YYY.RRR-DDD = DATE(GENENV(‘REF-FLD')) For an Integer ==>>YYY.RRR-NNN = INTEGER(GETENV(‘REF-FLD'))

Examples:

Example 1: For a Subscription report looking for specific Donor type records within a given publication: Reference Name: PUB-CDE Actual Name: PUB-CDE Required = Yes Reference Name: DNR-TYP Actual Name: DNR-TYP

Selection Criteria: SUB.DNR-TYP = GETENV(‘DNR-TYP')

Example 2: For an Inventory report using the CDSIGL-M records, where only a certain item should be selected, and only a certain range of accounting dates should be selected:

The example below uses the INVIGL-V Virtual File – looking at the CDSIGL-M records – which are indexed by Item number, and accounting date. This example will prompt for an item number, and also will prompt for a start/stop accounting date.

Although the field is the same (ACT-DTE) – the reference name is used in the selection criteria, so the reference name needs to be unique for the starting date and the ending date. The prompts were also changed for user clarity at run time. Reference Name: ACT-DTE Actual Name: ACT-DTE New prompt: Beginning Date Required = Yes Reference Name: ACT-DTE2 Actual Name: ACT-DTE New Prompt: Ending Date Required = Yes Reference Name: ITM-NUM Actual Name: ITM-NUM Selection Criteria: IGL.ITM-NUM =GETENV(‘ITM-NUM') AND IGL.ACT-DTE >= DATE(GETENV(‘ACT-DTE')) AND IGL.ACT-DTE <= DATE(GETENV(‘ACT-DTE2'))

Process Log Information:

+ date Mon Apr 13 11:01:36 EDT 2009 + id -urn + id -urn + export USER=TBCDOMAIN\AdvService + set -X + trap exit 1 ERR + export SHELLPID=5364 + umask 000 + export SETENV_FILE=./set5364.env + export VFSTAT=YD + export BEG_STEP=0000 + export TOT_LVL=S + export TOT_ONL=N + export SEL_KEY=KEY-1ST + export SEL_NME= + export SEL_VFL=CDSIGL-V + print STR_VAL = <ITM-NUM> + print STP_VAL = <ITM-NUM> + print PAG_KWDS1 = + print PAG_KWDS2 = + print TOT_KWDS1 = IGL.ITM-NUM + print TOT_KWDS2 = + print SEQ_KWDS1 = IGL.ACT-DTE + print SEQ_KWDS2 = + print SLD_DTA31 = IGL.ITM-NUM =GETENV('ITM-NUM') + print SLD_DTA32 = ANDIGL.ACT-DTE >= DATE(GETENV('ACT-DTE')) + print SLD_DTA33 = ANDIGL.ACT-DTE <= DATE(GETENV('ACT-DTE2')) + export PAGELEN=0060 + export DSB_PRT=KKP_HP + export RPT_CPY=01 + export DTE_OPT=A + export REQ_USR=00004632 + export USR_IDN=KPORT + export REQ_NME=INVWWW + export PRJ_NBR=ALL* + export KEY_1ST=P00000303 + export REQ_CNT=00071278 + export CUR_JSQ=0000 + export ACT_DTE2=20090601 + export ACT_DTE=20070101 + export ITM_NUM=0397512478 

AMA was so pleased with the results of their recent upgrade that they sent a sheet cake to ACS, which we all enjoyed. Congratulations to YOU, AMA, on a successful upgrade!

The upgrade world has been a busy one so far this year and the pace looks to be picking up even more, as additional clients join the queue. Frequent upgrades benefit you, and they help us as well. For Advantage users, upgrading provides you new features and functionality help you operate your business more efficiently, along with technology enhancements, updates for industry standards, new user interface updates and major module rewrites. Plus, the more frequent upgrades are, the more efficient the project execution becomes and the less time they take. For ACS, the more clients on recent releases there are, the better support becomes as there are fewer releases to maintain and support. In addition, webinars and other training events become more pertinent as you run your business on the same revision of the software that ACS is presenting with.

Upgrading recently to a 2008 release were Farm Progress, who went live in January, and the Wildlife Conservation Society (at Palm Coast Data) with a February go-live. March saw the go-lives of the American Medical Association and American Master Products, and April/May is the scheduled timeframe for Penton and God's World Publications.

Several clients are on board to begin upgrading to 9R1, including Bayard Presse, Boy Scouts of America and Oxford University Press. And 9R2's queue has Kalmbach Publishing, Ogden Publications and Our Sunday Visitor, and Agora.

Many of these clients are using the upgrade as a spring board into other endeavors. New features and functionality continues to be released in several key areas to the publishing industry – including online web features and functionality and a dramatically enhanced Access Management and Billing module. The first step to utilizing these new features is an upgrade in Advantage revisions.

There's plenty of room for you if you want to join the upgrade club! Contact your ACS account manager or Paul DesRosiers today.

Offering access to online content and digital products is a little different from selling and managing print publications. The digital format allows you to offer your customers tremendous flexibility in their subscription start times, lengths and conditions, but with that flexibility comes the need to track and manage their purchases differently. That's where Advantage's Access Management and Billing (AMB) module can help.

AMB is a fully integrated solution for tracking, managing, and charging for access to online content that may either complement your print subscriptions, or be offered as its own product line. With the AMB module, you can:

• offer access agreements of flexible lengths
• record the valid participants and their authentication information
• price the access through a variety of means that include rate codes, discount overrides, and markup percents

Once the agreement has been finalized, you release it in Advantage, which creates access ("on-off") records that you provide to the content host. With the AMB module, you do not directly host the content from within Advantage, but rather fully manage and charge for the access.

AMB supports the flexible pricing and discounting models often needed for marketing online access. You can discount certain parts of the content (called "access points" in Advantage), or discount the overall agreement. Or you can provide override prices at any level---such as when you negotiate a set price with a customer for online access. AMB can be used to service agreements of any size, from single-user access to multi-site agreements with many participants, such as a large consortium.

With the AMB module, you can offer access agreements as part of a normal Advantage order---combined, for example, with a CIR subscription, a PRO product, or a CEM conference registration. Access Management and Billing is integrated with Advantage Web capsules, so that customers can self-service at your website. In addition, AMB access agreements can be offered as items on a promotion, as well as included in inventory packages.

AMB includes functionality that supports the subscription aspects of online access, including renewal efforts, auto-renewal, trial terms, and gracing. However, the module also offers features that are unique to online access products. These include agreements that charge per use (i.e., "n" downloads), administrative-only participants who service agreements for their site but do not receive access to content, and the ability to record acceptance of an end-user license agreement before access is granted.

The AMB125 upload process can be used to create fully loaded access agreements with all participants and their authentication information. The process can be used to supplement online order entry, or as a tool for converting or loading agreements that were created outside of Advantage.

Whatever your access management needs, the AMB solution is the ideal tool for any Advantage user, and the perfect fit for your integrated Advantage environment. For more information, contact your ACS account manager or email Ken Nemerovski.

by Tim Zapawa, Vice President of Client Services

There are a multitude of options, tools, and programs available for analyzing and reporting on your Advantage data. Deciding on and then implementing an optimal solution can be challenging for many organizations. And as companies and datasets get larger, the importance and impact of these decisions on data analysis increase as well. I'm often asked questions about how the data is accessed and what type of reporting tools should be used. In this article, I will briefly describe and compare some of the software programs available for data analysis and reporting. In the next article, I'll discuss some of the options for how data can be accessed.

Most of our clients use some combination of Advantage user-defined reports, Excel PivotTables, SQL Server Reports, and Crystal Reports for their data analysis and reporting. Each reporting tool has some benefits and drawbacks that should be considered.

Advantage user-defined reports provide an excellent means for novice users with simple reporting requirements. Report columns can be easily selected and labeled from an array of predefined tables that are linked to one another in what we refer to as a virtual file (note that virtual files are the equivalent of a SQL view; both are just a means of tying together multiple tables into one). For organizations that do not use external software programs for analysis or reporting, the Advantage user-defined report tool is ideal, as IT Operations staff does not have to be concerned about learning and supporting programs outside of the Advantage system. However, like most graphically-designed report writers, the reporting development tool provides only basic report development functionality. We offer more advanced courses for organizations that want to write the reports using our Tools language and this can be a good option for companies that want to maintain all their reports within Advantage.

Excel PivotTable reports are probably the most popular option being used at our client sites. It's not surprising, as PivotTable reports are extremely powerful, yet easy to use. Moreover, most users already have Microsoft Excel installed on their computers, so there is no additional licensing expense. And users are generally already familiar and comfortable with Excel. Building expertise with PivotTable reporting can generally be accomplished with minimal training and practice. Microsoft also continues to enhance the reporting tools in each new release of Excel.

Crystal Reports also provides some powerful tools for report development and analysis. It's also integrated with Advantage, so running a Crystal Report is no different than running an Advantage report. Run-time parameters, such as beginning and ending dates, can be specified and passed to the Crystal Report when requested. However, unlike Excel, Crystal Reports is not as pervasively installed. And while licensing costs are fairly nominal, becoming an expert with this software generally requires more training and practice. This program is also ideal for creating business forms--I don't know of any software that even comes close to matching its capabilities in the same range of software licensing cost.

SQL Server Reports is a relatively new player in the report development marketplace. It provides a lot of the same reporting tools as Crystal Reports, although it cannot hold a candle to the business form development tools in Crystal. However, there's no additional licensing cost if you already have SQL Server installed; it's simply a SQL Server component that needs to be turned on. And like Crystal Reports, SQL Server Reports can be run directly from Advantage. We're making extensive use of SQL Server reports in our Business Intelligence module, as there are so many web-enabled options that provide easy-to-use tools for users to view, subscribe-to, and run their reports through a web page. If you attended any of our BI sessions in the past year, you've seen this impressive program in action.

Most organizations opt to use Excel, given the range of development tools and ease of use. One PivotTable report can easily provide the equivalent of hundreds of comparable reports in Advantage, Crystal, or SQL Reports. However, Excel does not have the same level of web-enabled options as SQL or the powerful form programming tools of Crystal. Of course, you need to weigh multiple factors in choosing the best report solution for your organization.

In the next article, I'll discuss important considerations for implementing reporting and data analysis tools within your organization. Contact me at TZapa@AdvantageCS.com or your ACS representative if you'd like more information about these reporting tools and how they can be best implemented at your company.

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Editor's Note: Tim Zapawa is the author of Excel Advanced Report Development and Excel 2007 Advanced Report Development, both published by Wiley.