This tab of Reconcile Explorer lists, in chronological order, all traffic broadcast by the media for the specified period. As with the Order Detail listing, additional information is supplied indicating the Status of each line and any Flags COMPASS has applied during the reconciliation process.
Traffic Detail
The number of errors present is enumerated on the upper right. Check the box Show errors only to display only those lines marked as "NOT OK".
The order of the list can be sorted by clicking on the column header. For example, clicking on the "Rate" column sorts the list by rate. However, some limitations apply depending on the column selected. All sorts are alphabetical, not by value. So sorting on the "Rate" column will list rates of "$300.00" before rates of "$40.00".
Traffic Record Linking
Similar to the Order Detail list, some Ad ID Codes might not be linked to actual traffic that was sent to the media. This can be due to the code being incorrectly entered by the media or the wrong copy being aired. For example if the original Ad ID Code in the traffic instructions was "GTSC-0440-19GD" and the media entry was mistyped as "GTSD-0440-19GD", the code will be flagged as "Unknown".
IMPORTANT! If the error is made by media -- such as entering an incorrect ad ID code -- contact the media to obtain a corrected file. COMPASS displays a warning message in this regard when an ad is selected for linking. Failing to get the media to correct their mistakes only encourages additional errors on their part. See Reconcile Options for details.
Left click any "Unknown" traffic with the mouse to select it. This will enable the Link button at the top right of the window next to the error count. Click the Link button to open the Record Linking window.
Traffic Linking
At the top of the window, information on the selected traffic item is displayed. This includes the day of the week and time the ad aired, along with the length and date. The Available Schedule Descriptions section lists the traffic lines that are part of the traffic instructions that were sent to the media for the corresponding period.
Use the mouse to select the traffic with a matching Length and a time range, if possible. In the example above, the Selected record has an Ad ID Code of "AWMA-0104-SH". In the Available Schedule Descriptions list, "AWMA-0104-21GB" is likely the correct copy, being identical in all but the last two characters of the Ad ID Code. The "SH" might have been a typographical error, or traffic from an earlier part of the schedule that should no longer be broadcast.
If there are multiple errors that are identical in nature, click the box Apply to all identical records. This will eliminate the need to repeat the linking process individually for each identical error line.
In the event a traffic record is incorrectly linked to a traffic line, the linking process can be reversed. Left click the line to select it. The Link button changes to Unlink. Click that button to display a dialog confirming the removal of the link. This will return the traffic to "Unknown" status. The line can then be linked to the correct traffic. Because of the danger of unlinking correctly linked traffic, this operation must be performed individually on each line to be unlinked.
The confirmation dialog will appear each time the Unlink button is clicked. Check the box Don't ask me about this for the rest of this session to allow links to be removed without confirmation.
See also: Adjusting an Incorrect Link
There can be occasions where no ads are scheduled to air in a week, yet the media chooses to air "make goods" from previous weeks. This presents a problem, as the unscheduled "make good" ads cannot be linked to any parent. Rather than leave such ads unreconciled, click the Change Date button to select a previous week where the ads were originally scheduled. The orphan "make good" traffic can then be linked to the proper parent, although not in the correct week of the schedule.
To avoid such conditions, see Avoid Reconciliation Problems.
Reconcile Editor
Any of the lines in the Traffic Detail list marked "NOT OK" can be examined in the Reconcile Editor. This gives you the opportunity to accept the errors, or decide to let them remain as a "genuine" error.
Use the mouse button to double click any line (even "OK" lines). This opens the editor and displays the original traffic information parameters. Note that any unlinked line can also be opened in the editor by holding down the Shift key when double clicking.
Editing Traffic in Reconcile Editor
If the traffic is correct other than being marked as "Unknown", select the Traffic OK button. If there are multiple instances of the same error and you desire to apply the edit to all matching instances, check the box Apply to identical traffic in this week. Optionally, enter a note addressing the reason for the correction. Once all edits are complete, click Save Changes to record your edit and return to the Traffic Detail window.
It is NOT recommended to remove the check marks from the Traffic Errors list. Doing so will lose the information as to what caused the discrepancy. There can be occasions where you want to return and review the cause of the problem.
An existing note can be removed from a record without affecting any other records with the identical note. See Deleting a Note.
The Previous Notes section lists all notes that have been applied to this reconciliation. Double-click any note in the list to apply it to the current item being edited.
In some rare cases, there might be an issue with traffic that COMPASS originally classified as "OK". Such lines can also be double clicked to edit. To apply an error, check the appropriate box in the Traffic Errors section, optionally add a note, then click Save Changes.
Once marked as Traffic OK, any errors are ignored. Should you re-edit at some future point and switch to Traffic NOT OK, the errors are again displayed provided none of the check marks have been removed.
COMPASS's reconciliation routine does the best it can given the limited amount of information in the reconcile file provided by the media. Sometimes, traffic information incorrectly entered by media will cause the wrong link to be created. This can easily be corrected by holding down the Shift key when double clicking the entry in Traffic Detail tab of Reconcile Explorer.
With Shift held down, the existing record link is ignored and the full list of available traffic is displayed. Select the desired record from the list to complete the correction.