françaisMarch/April 2011
Annual AUG Meeting a Success
by Mona Hidayet
The New York-New York Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada was the site of the 2011 Advantage User Group conference and it was a hit! Attendance was up this year, with 53 people (8 from overseas) representing 26 different clients. In traditional AUG style, there were major travel woes on the east coast that caused delays, but most everyone made it safe and sound.
The two hot topics were AMB (access management and billing) and BI (business intelligence). Most clients are either on AMB, implementing AMB, or planning to implement it. There were ACS presentations by Phil Montgomery and me (Mona Hidayet)regarding the new AMB features coming in 2011, as well as two break-out round table discussions on implementing AMB and reporting on AMB. The popularity of the topics was evident, as the conversation flowed fast and strong. In fact, the last set of roundtables kept going well after ending time, as it seemed that networking really took off.
Read MoreBoys' Life Celebrates 100 Years
Congratulations to the Boy Scouts of America on the 100th anniversary of Boys’ Life magazine. The magazine hit the centennial mark on March 1st and a year-long centenary celebration began. The March issue is a special commemorative one full of highlights from the past 100 years of Boys’ Life publications.
In 1912, a copy of Boys’ Life sold for 5 cents and a full page of advertising could be had for $35. The first of many Norman Rockwell covers was published in 1913.
Today, annual readership of Boys’ Life is more than 8.2 million and over 6 billion people have read the magazine over the past 100 years. The brand has kept up with the times as well, with 19,000 Facebook fans and a Twitter feed with several thousand followers.
The Boy Scouts of America have been an Advantage client since 1998 and we wish them another 100 years of successful publishing, in whatever form that may take.
Daryl Vautour: Keep Calm and Carry On
Not much ruffles Daryl Vautour. His easy-going nature and sense of humor help him to be successful in the highly dynamic world of client support. Support center manager EvActon describes him this way: "Daryl is an incredible ‘can do, will do' guy! He helps everyone everywhere whenever he can. You don’t even have to ask him. He’s just the best."
In his five years at ACS, Daryl has worked on documentation, served in the support center, performed on-site support and in his current assignment on the project team, helped manage upgrade and implementation projects. Although he enjoyed working in support, Daryl likes the experience of working with clients face-to-face. And they like working with him as well. After some months of providing telephone support to Oxford University Press (OUP), Daryl went on site to assist in their implementation of the AMB module.
Teresa Armstrong, OUP Business Analyst on the project, has this to say about him: "For weeks, Daryl was just another name (and a difficult one to spell), a disembodied person who responded to our issues and questions. Then, he came over to help us right before we went live. He was charming, amusing, knowledgeable, hardworking, helpful, what more can I say?"
Read MoreKeeping Up With Upgrades
by Bryan Varblow
In 2007, when I returned to ACS after pursuing graduate studies, the iPhone was a relatively new phenomenon and the iPad was little more than an idea on a drawing board. Amazon also had yet to release the Kindle. Now, all these products are central tools exploited by many publishers. In less than four years, the worlds of publishing and marketing have undergone significant changes. Publishers have increasingly been looking at how best to digitize their content, and then monetize that digital content. They have re-oriented their marketing to reach consumers via new electronic means. At the same time, in this world of digitization, some publishers have been successful at increasing print circulation, often through the use of innovative marketing to a core demographic through both print and digital avenues.
Advantage is also changing to keep pace and evolve to meet these new demands. Advantage is a powerful tool that allows publishers to deliver content to consumers, analyze the sales of that content, connect with new prospects, and consequently market their products intelligently. In order to take advantage of the thousands of development hours put into Advantage each year, however, it’s essential to have a plan for regularly upgrading your Advantage software package.
Spring Webinars
By Angie Markel
The 2011 webinar schedule is underway. Click the "Read More' link to see the dates and topics.
Thanks to all of you who took time to respond to the webinar survey. Your feedback helps tremendously to determine the year’s topics and to continue improving the training program.
Be sure to visit the webinar registration page to reserve your spot for these upcoming webinar classes. If you missed a recent webinar and would like it repeated, have questions, or have suggestions for future webinars then email me, Angie Markel.
Thank you,
Angie
Read MoreARP 310 and Last Bill Date
By Molly Mathe
When ARP310 runs, it updates the last billing date (ARPPDH.LST-BIL) and effort# (ARPDH.LST-INVS) of the invoice being billed. The ARP310 select sets can then be based on the current effort number of the customer’s invoice and when it was last billed.
However, there are times when the ARPPDH.LST-BIL is not set during a billing run, even though the effort number may be incremented.
When the ARP310 select set is set up, you have the option of incrementing the effort number and sending a notice to the customer.
Read MoreMore Highlights of 2011R1
by Timothy Martin
Here are some of the exciting new features in 2011R1. Click on the "Read more" button for details and for even more information, contact your account manager.
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Automatic emails to AMB participants
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AMB items can use credit policies
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Cancel/suspend direct debit from AMB
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Monthly invoice options for subscriptions
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List email event table
How To Use the New Data Entry Script Filter
by Mike Miklosovic
Working with data entry scripts can be challenging because of the number of fields they contain.
Beginning at revision 2011R1 you can quickly get to a specific data entry field with the new filter.
All data entry scripts can be viewed with the CDSSYS/DES view.
The FAST-OE script called ADV-NEW FAST displayed below shows the new filter box on the Select Phase line.
Remember, you can check the "Show advanced elements and enable Move Up/Down" check box located just above the Select Phase line to view more data entry fields.
Read MoreAll About Standing Order
by Phil Montgomery
Say you have a line of products that focus on strength training. Some of your customers are fanatics on this subject, and they want whatever you publish – "just send me all your new stuff on strength training," they say. What do you do? Well, you can tell them to watch your web-site for new products. You could put them on a product update LST list. Or you could make a note about it and put it in a folder. (Hmmmm, where did I put that folder??)
We’ve got the answer: use Advantage’s Standing Order module. The Standing Order module allows you to track these types of requests and generate orders as soon as a new product becomes available.
Read More