PROCESS CONTRACT REVISIONS ELECTRONICALLY
The evolution of eBusiness in Canada enables TV buyers to update their buys instantly to reflect seller-initiated contract changes. Electronically managing revisions up front is the best way to reduce discrepancies at invoice time.
OVERVIEW
Agencies simply can’t keep up with the abundance of contract changes broadcasters initiate. This reality is the #1 contributor to the high volume of discrepancies that arise when agencies match station invoices to their buys each month.
For their mutual benefit, agencies and stations want to reduce the time and labour spent on maintaining buys and resolving invoice discrepancies.
Mediaocean has developed eContracts XML, the standard for sending and receiving electronic contracts, marking another pivotal advancement in eBusiness for the entire TV advertising industry.
When a broadcaster sends a contract XML file to an agency, the revised contract is compared to the agency’s existing buy and the following changes are identified:
- makegoods as a result of a preemption
- new spots or programs
- bonus spots
- day and/or time program changes
- preemptions
- cancelled spots and programs
The buyer reviews the changes and processes them electronically, ensuring the buy is up-to-date.
ADVANTAGES OF eCONTRACTS
With eContracts XML, the seller sends the most recent version of a contract for direct import into the buyer’s system. This eliminates faxes, spreadsheets and manual re-keying. All trading partners save time and gain efficiencies by electronically transacting business.
eContracts save time
By automating comparison of the buy to the contract and updating the buy, eContracts eliminate 90% of the time currently spent manually keying in data. At invoice time, buyers also recover time spent tracking down internal paperwork and email in support of contract changes that haven’t been processed and which falsely appear as discrepancies.
eContracts are immediate
With the click of a mouse, differences between a buy and its contract are identified, enabling immediate action. This does away with waiting for internal discrepancy reports that often arrive often weeks or months after the changes.
eContracts are flexible
Buyers can choose to process each contract as it arrives or simply process the most recent version to capture all contract changes before invoices are received.
eContracts are easy to use
Differences between the agency buy and the contract are clearly categorized, making them simple for buyers to assess and process.
eContracts eliminate paper
The central repository (or inbox) of contract XMLs eliminates the time and effort of handling paper contracts.
BUYERS
If you want to start receiving electronic contracts, contact your Mediaocean account executive.
SELLERS
If you want to start sending electronic contracts, contact local@mediaocean.com to schedule an initial discussion. As part of our getting started package, you’ll receive the eContract schema and its associated business rules, as well as samples files and a test plan.
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