Smarts Broadcast Systems

Thanks for your interest in SMARTS - The Second Generation Windows based traffic system. We have taken our 17 years experience with the DOS version of SMARTS, and incorporated our basic concepts into the easy to use Windows platform.

We have sent you an evaluation copy of the program to review. It is a fully working system, but is limited to entry of only 10 advertisers. This evaluation copy gives you the opportunity to see how the system can work in your station.

How to install:

~ In the Windows 95 Desktop screen:

Place SMARTS Second Generation CD into CD-ROM tray
Close all open applications on your taskbar
Left click the "START" button on your task bar
Left click "RUN"
Left click "BROWSE"
Left click on the down arrow at the top of the current window
Double left click the CD-ROM Drive
Double left click "SETUP.EXE"
Left click on "OK"

~ In the SMARTS setup screen:

Left click on "OK"
Left click on "Computer Icon"
Left click on "OK" when completed

How to use it:

Install the program by standard Windows installation procedures for a CD ROM. (Described above) You must use a Windows 95 computer, and must have at least 20 megabytes of space available.
On the main menu, you will see a bar menu across the top of the screen. Each option will access a pull down menu with further options. Take a moment and access each option, just to become familiar with what is offered. We will direct you through Setup, Order Entry, Log Generation, Transfer and reconciliation to the SMARTCASTER, Financial Reports, and Break Scheduling.
The first thing you will do when you put SMARTS into your station is to enter basic setup data. When you access the Setup menu option and click on Database, you will see the various Setup options available. They all work more or less the same. The Help screens offer more detail. Please click on the Daypart Setup to see an example:

This is the Daypart Setup screen. We have entered three Dayparts. If you would like to enter more dayparts, click on + to add, and follow the screen directions. Highlight the newly named Daypart, and use the Start and End time slide bars to set time parameters for your Daypart. Click on the left arrow, and the time decrements by 1. Click on the right arrow and time increments by 1. Click in the gray space to the left of the cursor bar, and time decrements by 1 hour. Click on the gray space at the right of the cursor bar, and time increments by 1 hour. Click on the x in the upper right portion of the screen to save and exit.

Community, Product Type, Revenue Type, Source Type, Voices, and States work in a similar fashion. You may use the + key to add, and the - key to delete. Take a moment and try them.

Once these setup options are complete, you may then enter Station Setup:

As you can see, we have entered one station into our Station Setup. If you want to enter a station, click on the + sign in the upper left part of the screen. You may tab between entries. The slide bars in the lower right set ROS parameters and broadcast hour parameters.

You may have an unlimited number of stations.

>Now you are ready to enter advertisers. Because this is an evaluation copy, you may enter only 10 accounts.

Account Setup works much like Station Setup. Click + to add an account. Default entries for some field will appear. You may add some of your own accounts to see how the system works.

Once Setup is complete, you may enter Orders. Click on the Order option on the menu bar. Click on Entry to see one of the ways you can enter orders.

City National has been entered as a sample account. To enter an order for City National, you may click on a start date. You may then choose specific days on the row of check boxes in the center of the screen. If you choose All, your order will schedule all seven days of the week. If you click on any individual day's checkbox, your order will schedule on that day or days. If you click on the red S for Saturday or Sunday both days will be scheduled. If you click on any of the blue letters for weekdays, all weekdays will be scheduled. Then click on a date for a stop date. The slide bar below the calendar takes you forward and backward through the months. Click on the right arrow to go forward one month. Click on the left arrow to go back a month. Click on the open gray area to the right of the cursor to go forward a year.

To enter a Rate, click to the right of the zeros in the Rate Box, and key in your rate. To enter number of spots, click in the Number of Spots box and enter your number of spots. Click on Place Order to schedule your order.

Other options on the Order Entry screen include a listing of Cuts for each script, a listing of Stations for multiple station entry, a shortcut to Recurrent (long term level billing), Co-op Affidavit and Tear sheet request, list of times, Bill End of Order, and No Posting.

The time bar at the lower right allows giving weight to this order - if this is an important client, and should have preferential scheduling, raise the number by clicking on the gray area to the right of the screen.

Click on Note to write a free-form billing note to your client. Note the total dollar amount of the order in the lower right. And the account number appears in the lower center, and may be used as a transfer number to your digital system.

SMARTS offers a second form of Order Entry for more complex orders. It is called Grid, and is found under the Order menu option.

With Grid, you may enter very complicated orders at one time. Take a moment to explore the menu options under Grid.

Note that Order Entry options appear down the left side of the screen. You see two rows for ROS, and one row for each Day Part. You see two TAP Plan rows, and three Fixed Position rows. You may increase or decrease the number of rows by accessing Utilities\Set Row Count options.

Orders may be recalled and edited. Options such as Co op, Times, No Posting, Bill End of Order, Sponsor and Note may be used. Every week may be scheduled, or odd/even weeks, or random weeks.

Orders are displayed for this account and for all accounts under the Order option. You may check the total of your order. You may also delete the order and set the weight of the order.

Order entry is complex. If you want more in depth information, please give our sales department a call, and they will arrange for a support person to take you further into the Order Entry portion of the program.
Once orders are entered, you may generate logs. Click on the Log option, and select Generate.

Pick the date for which you wish to generate a log by clicking on the arrow to the right of the calendar. The date shown above is Dec. 29, 1998. Choose your Breaks and your Master from the pick lists at the lower left corner of the screen. A Sample Schedule and a Sample 1 hour Master are included in the Evaluation copy. Click on the Build Log button at the lower right of the screen. Orders on file for that day are selected and a dynamic log is build, using the data available at the moment. Spots that have not been placed by the computer may be placed in any line where the word ***Available*** appears. Highlight the log line by clicking on it, and then double-click the bumped spot on the right screen. It will move into place on the log.

When your log is the way you want it, click on Logs, and select Nail Log. That puts the log into final form, and ready to print and/or transfer to your SMARTCASTER or other digital system. If you want to see your commercials for day, click on Utilities and select Spot verification list. You may try all four sorts by clicking on the circle to the left of each option. The Customer sort shows a daily spot tally.
Now your log is ready for transfer. You may go to Logs and select Breaklog. The evaluation copy will not let you go further than seeing the menu options, but the process is to take all of your spots, convert them to a listing of the breaks, or stopsets, and transfer them by code number into the SMARTCASTER.
You may retrieve yesterday's log from the SMARTCASTER, or most other digital units, and have it automatically reconcile with your program log, to make co op times correct to the minute. The menu access for this option is Logs\Breaklogs\Verification, but the evaluation copy will not show you more than the menu option.
Financial reports follow the scheduling. As you schedule spots, financial information is accumulated, unless you select No Posting. Once you have entered several traffic orders, we suggest you go into the Financial Menu and explore options.

You may practice posting checks in the Post Check option. Note that accounts may be designated to be Balance Forward, or Open Item invoicing, just by checking the Balance Forward option on an account.

Take a look at the Ledger Card option - it shows you activity by account on screen.

In the Reports section, you will want to take a look at the Account List, Big Report (Accounts Receivable) and the Collection Report. The Avail Report, showing unsold inventory, will function if you have entered Breaks and a Break Schedule. The Aging Report can be viewed, but will have limited value with the data entered in the Evaluation Copy. The Co op Report will function only after co op orders are entered, and logs run and nailed which contain co op spots.

Try the Run Statements option after you have entered several orders. Note that you may change type style and fonts by clicking on the Fonts option in the upper left hand corner of the screen. You may choose fonts for each part of the statement. Have fun experimenting, but realize that overly large type or some of the weird type fonts will not result in a good looking statement.

You may try running Invoices, which break down your billing by Order.

Aged Billing and Aged Billing Summary have limited value in the Evaluation copy, but feel free to take a look.

Finance Charge is for the purpose of computing a monthly late charge on designated accounts.

Calculate Billing is one you should try - it instantly computes your month's billing on the screen.

The Sales Goal report (located under Setup/Database/Sales Setup) will measure Salesperson activity against sales goals, and let the salesperson know how much to sell each day to meet goal.
Break Events is one of the key features to the SMARTS systems.

Through the Break Editor, you may create as many breaks as you wish, and then schedule them through the Break scheduler. In our Sample Break, we have a :10 liner in the first position, followed by two :30 spots, a :20 liner and a :30 forced weather cut, making a 2 minute break. Play around with this option - it allows you to set up a break in whatever format you want. It gives you total control over your breaks, and is easy to change or add to.

Once you have created your breaks, then you may schedule them.

In our Sample Schedule, we have scheduled our Sample Break four times in the Midnight Hour. You may add to it with the Sample Break, or create your own break, and integrate it with the Sample Break. You may create an unlimited number of breaks and schedules. If you are using satellite delivered music, you are directed by your flex clocks. If you are doing your own music on hard drive, your imagination is your only limitation.

SUMMARY:

Going through the above options should give you a general idea of how SMARTS handles your traffic and billing. We think it is important to for you to know exactly what you are buying when you buy SMARTS. Please feel free to call our sales department with any questions and to arrange to talk to a support person for a more in-depth view of the program.

We thank you for your interest in SMARTS: The Second Generation, and would welcome the opportunity to put SMARTS to work in your station.