Book-Ends scheduling places a two-item macro as an opening and closing pair around the same break. This page covers previewing placement, generating a draft log, reviewing and revising that draft, reconciling aired halves, handing off to charging and confirming the resulting invoice drafts. The workflow relies on templates, macros and order lines that are already saved in Traffic.
Before you start#
- You need a role that grants access to Commercial Logs, Log Templates and Broadcast Order Browser.
- A saved order line with Position = Book-Ends and Type = MAC is required for line previews.
- For station or template previews and generation, the station must be active and Log Generation Enabled.
- The station must have 1 to 200 Daily templates accessible to your account.
Preview Book-Ends for a saved order line#
Use this when you want to see how a single saved Book-Ends line would place on a specific Daily template before generation.
Open the order line#
Go to Traffic > Broadcast Order Browser, open the order and select the Book-Ends line. The caption Preview Book-Ends appears when the line position is Book-Ends and the line is saved.
Choose template and date#
Click Preview Book-Ends. Select a Template from the list and enter a Date in the format YYYY-MM-DD. The dialog defaults to the line start date and the first available station template.
Calculate the preview#
Click Calculate. The preview shows complete pairs, physical items, per-part warnings and paged unplaced explanations. Changing the date or template removes the old results.
Close the preview#
Click Close. The dialog closes without persisting any data.
Result: A read-only preview of requested, placed and unplaced pairs for the chosen template and date. No log or charge rows are created.
Generate a Book-Ends draft from a station or template#
Use this to generate a saved draft log that you can later review, reconcile and charge.
Open the station or template#
Go to Logs > Log Templates and select a Daily template, or go to Traffic and open the station. The actions Preview Station Book-Ends and Generate Book-Ends Draft are available for active stations with generation enabled.
Choose date and template#
Click Generate Book-Ends Draft. Confirm the Template and Date, then click Generate. The system prepares a draft snapshot using the current station template and demand.
Save the draft#
If you are satisfied with the draft, save it. The dialog closes and the draft is available for review.
Open Review / Edit#
After saving, reopen the generated log from Logs > Commercial Logs to review or edit the draft using Review Book-Ends Draft or Edit Book-Ends Draft.
Result: A saved draft log in workflow state 1, sealed for the Book-Ends engine version. You can now review placements, reconcile aired events, or proceed to charging.
Review or edit a saved Book-Ends draft#
Open the saved log#
In Logs > Commercial Logs, open the saved Book-Ends log.
Review or edit#
Click Review Book-Ends Draft to inspect placements, or Edit Book-Ends Draft to make revisions. The editor shows line and station previews, placed and unplaced pairs, and per-part advisories.
Navigate pages#
Use paging controls to move through large previews. For populated 60-pair previews, second-page navigation and replacement reset pass current component checks.
Close the dialog#
Click Cancel / close to exit without saving changes, or close and reopen if you need to refresh the view.
Result: The draft is unchanged in review mode, or updated with your edits when saved.
Reconcile Book-Ends#
Reconciliation records each physical airing independently against the saved draft so you can review what actually aired before charging.
Open the saved log#
In Logs > Commercial Logs, open the saved Book-Ends log. Click Reconcile Book-Ends.
Prepare the reconciliation#
The system reads the current log state and the latest review against the schedule. It checks that the log generation engine version matches the saved draft, that the draft is sealed and that the workflow state supports reconciliation.
Review decisions and undo#
Use the reconciliation editor to review decisions. Actions, inputs, pagination and upload entry bind to the rendered editor context. You can undo individual decisions. The delayed-upload regression is handled: late success or failure preserves the busy state and replaces the result when the upload completes.
Save or cancel#
Click Save to commit the reconciliation, or Cancel / close to exit without saving. A parent Save is required before the Reconcile action is enabled.
Result: Reconciliation rows are saved and linked to the log. You can now proceed to the Charge Log review.
Hand off to charging and invoice drafts#
After reconciliation, you can hand off the log to charging and then into pending invoice drafts.
Open Charge Log from the saved log#
After reconciling, the saved Book-Ends draft offers navigation to charging. Click the charge review action to open the Charge Log.
Confirm charging#
Review the charged items and confirm. The charge uses the latest saved reconciliation against the current schedule and charges only independently aired physical items.
Refresh the parent log if actions are stale#
After nested charging, if the parent Broadcast Log screen still shows stale actions, click Refresh. It then shows Review Charged Log and Invoice Drafts.
Review invoice drafts#
Click Invoice Drafts to review the draft invoice. Corrected invoice drafts, physical revision receipts and reissue chains retain the original physical package and carry existing payments without creating cash.
Close or proceed to issue#
Close the dialog to return to the log, or proceed to issue the invoice when ready.
Result: Charged items feed into pending invoice drafts. You can issue, correct, revise or reissue invoices from the Billing section.
Billing notes on Book-Ends#
- Corrected and restored invoices: Price and description revisions preserve the original airing history. Restoring a zero amount restores its original hidden presentation.
- Reissue chains: Reissues select the retained invoice version and bind the accounting customer. Original physical packages, complete corrected and restored chains, and existing payments are preserved.
- All-hidden cases: An originally hidden zero-valued airing remains identified and excluded from the visible invoice. When corrected to a nonzero amount, it becomes visible. Restoration hides it again.
Recovery from stale context and lost responses#
- Stale context: If the log, account or workflow changes while a review or reconciliation dialog is open, the system shows a message such as "The log or signed-in account changed. Reopen Book-Ends." Nothing was saved by the refused action. Click Close, reopen the saved log from Commercial Logs to load the current review, recheck your inputs and confirm again. Never restore earlier log or order data to make the old review valid.
- Dirty parent: If the parent order or log has unsaved changes, the action refuses with a message such as "Save or cancel pending changes before using Book-Ends revisions. Your input is retained." Save or cancel first, then reopen the action.
- Lost response after uncertain save: If you submitted a save but did not see the result, it may already be saved. Keep the original context and don't refresh, re-create or re-enter the operation as a retry. You can open the saved log from Commercial Logs to inspect it, but reopening does not resume or retry the original request. Work with your administrator to establish the original saved result before attempting another save.
- Invoice-draft refresh: If the parent Broadcast Log shows stale actions after nested charging, click Refresh to update the action list to Review Charged Log / Invoice Drafts.
Related links#
- Log Templates for template and break setup.
- Log Editor for editing daily logs.
- Charging for charge log review.
- Reconciliation for broader reconciliation workflows.
- Invoices Overview for issuing and managing invoices.
- Workflow Overview for the end-to-end scheduling-to-billing flow.