Contract Exceptions
Our philosophy is to manage by exception. If everything looks OK, why hold it back? This applies to your contracts; only hold back the exceptions and let everything else run free.
There are four main exceptions that your contract can trigger; debtor, avails, rate and charge lines.
Exceptions only have a direct consequence when a contract is live.
While you can trigger a debtor, rate and charge line exception on a proposal contract, there's no impact on your spots and/or revenue, as proposals aren't in the real world yet.
An avails exception only triggers on a live contract. Avails aren't considered in a proposal contract or in a contract that's in a held state.
Your contract can have none, one or multiple exceptions. You'll see if your contract has any exceptions from the contracts browse screen and on your contract's header details.
Exceptions can be managed in two ways; you either resolve the trigger (what caused the exception) or if you've got the right level of access, approve the exception.
Debtor exception
When you trigger a debtor exception, all of your contract's revenue (spot sand charge lines) will be held back and any commercial spots will not go to station schedules.
You'll trigger a debtor exception if your contract has no receivable account or if its receivable account is:
90+ days in arrears
over its credit limit
on stop credit.
Avails exception
Each station has two availability thresholds which are set as a percentage of inventory sold. When you book spots on a station that has reached one of these thresholds, the colour for that station on that day will change from white to:
Orange (availability warning level)
Red (availability critical level).
The availability warning (orange) is just that; a warning that the station's availability on that day is running out. You can still book spots on that day and, if the contract is live, they'll still get to that station's schedule.
You can also book spots on a day that is critical (red). When your contract is live, this triggers an avails exception and spots on critical day(s) are held back, including their revenue.
If you have access to approve an avails exception and you put spots into a critical day, you won’t trigger an avails exception.
This also applies if you make a proposal contract live which has spots on a critical day; you won’t trigger an avails exception.
Rate exception
Every spot line has four distinct rate elements; a rate card rate, discount percent, discounted rate and total:
Rate Card Rate; this generates from your rate card and takes into account any agency commission, loadings and network discounts. This rate is read only.
Discount Percent; this is the discount percent applied to the rate card rate, calculated based on the product your spot line was built from/belongs to. You can change this percentage; the discounted rate will automatically adjust.
Discounted Rate; this is the rate card rate after any valid discount from the product your spot line was built from/belongs to has been applied. You can change this rate; the discount percent will automatically adjust.
Total; the value of your spot line (the number of spots multiplied by the discounted rate).
You trigger a rate exception on a spot line as soon as you lower its discounted rate or increase its discount percent. Both fields turn red and the revenue for that spot line is held.
When you hover your mouse over a discount percent field or discounted rate field on a spot line with a rate exception, a tool tip will appear with that field's original or previously approved value.
Because a rate exception only considers rates and not inventory availability, the spots on your spot line aren't held; they still go into the station schedule(s).
Charge line exception
When you create a charge line, your level of access may cause a charge line exception to trigger. The revenue of your charge line(s) revenue is held until the exception is resolved or approved.
If you edit a charge line that's already been approved, you'll re-trigger a charge line exception.
Multiple exceptions
You contract can have multiple exceptions.
When a contract has a debtor exception, all spots are held.
If that same contract also has spots booked on critical days, the avails exception will only trigger once the debtor exception is resolved or approved.
If your contract has a rate exception and an avails exception, these will both apply to your contract.
For example, you book 30 spots across a spot line and two of the days you place spots on, Monday 16th and Monday 23rd, show as critical availability. You place two spots on those days and trigger an avails exception. You then adjust the spot line's discount percent or discounted rate which triggers a rate exception.
In a live contract, your four spots on the critical days will be held back; they won't make it to the station schedule(s). The revenue for these spots is also held (4 x $107.20 = $428.80).
The remaining 26 spots from this spot line will go to the station schedule(s), as they're not booked on a critical day. However, their revenue is held back as the spot line has a rate exception.
Approve exceptions
Each exception can be approved independently.
When you're setup with access to approve an exception, you'll see that exception approval enabled on the contract's header. If you don't have access, you'll still see the exception approval, but it will be greyed out.
Debtor, rate and charge line exceptions are an all-or-nothing approval. When you select a check box, it approves all elements of that exception.
EXAMPLE
A contract has five spot lines with a rate exception. When you select the Approve Rates check box, all five rate exceptions are approved and all the held revenue for the rate exception is released.
With avails exceptions (oversell), you can define the quantity of spots you’ll approve for an oversold day, approve all oversold spots for each spot line or a combination of both.
Avails Exception
From a contract's header, select the Approve Oversell link; a window pops up with only the spot lines that have an oversell exception.
Grouped by month, each spot line shows its spot line number, timezone, length, station and all booked spots. Below each day with oversold spots booked on it is a box.
When a spot line is from a combo station, you’ll see the combo station and then the actual station which has the oversold spot(s).
The quantity displayed in each oversold box is the number of booked spots on that day that are fine; they don’t have an avails exception. Those spots may have been booked before that day became critical or were previously approved for oversell.
When the number shown is 0, all the booked spots on that day have an avails exception.
one spot is booked; no spots are OK so the booked spot needs approval
three spots are booked; one spot is OK, two need approval
four spots are booked; two spots are OK, two need approval
four spots are booked; three spots are OK, one needs approval.
Approve Oversell
You can define the quantity of spots you’ll approve for an oversold day, approve all oversold spots for each spot line or a combination of both. You can also approve every oversold spot with one click. When you’re finished, select Done to release your approved spots and return to the contract’s header.
Spot by Spot Approval
In an oversold box, enter the number of spots you want to approve for that spot line on that day. You can only enter a figure that’s between the pre-populated oversold number and the total number of booked spots.
Spot Line Approval
Below the timezone of each spot line is an Approve link. Select this link to accept every oversold spot for that spot line; each oversold box quantity will update to match the booked spot quantity.
Approve All
At the bottom left of the window is an Approve All link. Select this link to accept all oversold spots; each oversold box quantity will update to match the booked spot quantity.
If you have access to approve an avails exception and you put spots into a critical day, you won’t trigger an avails exception.
This also applies if you make a proposal contract live which has spots on a critical day; you won’t trigger an avails exception.
Contract alerts
An alert is triggered for each contract exception when a contract is live. Alerts aren't triggered for exceptions on a proposal contract.
Each branch has three commercial workflow roles and, if you're defined as one or any of these roles, you'll receive an alert. You can also receive an alert if you're mentioned in an internal note in a contract or in a brief.
Alerts appear in the top right of your screen, under the alert icon; the number of active alerts is shown in red.
Manage Alerts
Select the alert icon to reveal your active alerts. Each alert is grouped by type; you'll see the number of alerts for the type shown in red. Select the blue icon below the number to expose all the alerts for that alert type.
Each alert has a brief summary which includes the contract number, client and date the alert was generated.
Select an alert to open its associated contract, so you can assess the exception. Depending on the alert type, you'll be taken to its header details, spot laydown or charge lines tab.
An alert automatically closes when you resolve the contract exception that triggered it. You can manually close an alert, however the contract exception will still exist.
Alert Triggers & Targets
If you're defined as a branch's Sales Manager, you'll receive the following alerts:
Debtor; a client in your branch triggers a debtor exception.
Avails; spots booked on your branch's station(s) trigger an avails exception.
Rate; the spot rate on your branch's station(s) trigger a rate exception.
Charge Line Entered; an account manager in your branch creates or edits a contract charge line.
Commitment Cancelled; the commitment for a client in your branch is cancelled.
If you're set as a branch's Inventory Manager, you'll receive the following alerts:
Avails; spots booked on your branch's station(s) trigger an avails exception.
Rate; the spot rate on your branch's station(s) trigger a rate exception.
Charge Line Entered; an account manager in your branch creates a contract charge line.
If you're defined as a branch's Credit Controller, you'll receive a Debtor alert when a client of your branch triggers a debtor exception.
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