Reconciliation compares a saved commercial log against actual play evidence to confirm which scheduled spots aired, which did not, and which extra airings were detected. The result becomes retained evidence that downstream charging uses to decide which airings are billable.
Reconciliation covers only placed spots in the selected schedule revision. Unplaced bumps are outside the comparison. The review requires a completed saved draft that has not been charged. Once a log is charged, its draft is locked and reconciliation becomes read-only.
Before you start#
- The log has a complete saved generation (sealed draft or later).
- The log has not been charged, or you are reviewing previously saved reconciliation evidence.
- You have a role that grants access to Commercial Logs and the action.
Open reconciliation#
Navigate to Logs > Commercial Logs#
Select the station and date whose log you want to reconcile.
Open the log#
Choose either Review Draft Log or Edit Draft Log to open the saved draft.
Start reconciliation#
In the editor, open the Convert-Log menu and choose Reconcile Schedule-Log with Play-Log. If you have unsaved editor commands, save or cancel them first. The reconciliation panel opens in a popup window.
Alternatively, from the saved log review screen, choose Reconcile with Play-Log directly from the toolbar.
Prepare play-log evidence#
Neural Log accepts a normalized UTF-8 CSV file with exactly three columns:
| Column | Format |
|---|---|
| PlayId | Unique identifier, up to 128 characters |
| CopyId | Copy identifier, up to 20 characters, case-sensitive |
| PlayedAtLocal | Timestamp on the log's calendar date, such as yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.fff |
The timestamp must be on the same calendar date as the log. Times use local station time, not UTC. Supported formats are yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss and yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.fff.
Convert vendor play logs into this format before uploading. Neural Log does not include vendor adapters.
Upload or paste the CSV#
You can supply play evidence in two ways:
Browse for a file#
Click Browse play log and select a .csv file. The file must be UTF-8 and at most 2 MB.
Or paste CSV text#
Expand Paste play-log CSV, paste the header and rows into the text area, and click Reconcile. Pasted input is labeled pasted-play-log.csv when saved.
If you paste or browse a new file after already running Reconcile, the previous results are discarded and you must click Reconcile again before saving or making decisions.
Set the match window#
The match window defines how far an actual play time can be from a scheduled template time and still match. Enter a value from 0 to 720 whole minutes. The default is 60 minutes. The window is inclusive: a play at exactly the window boundary counts as inside.
Only plays and scheduled spots with the exact same Copy ID are candidates for matching. Copy IDs are case-sensitive.
Automatic matching#
Click Reconcile to run automatic matching. The system compares every play record against every placed occurrence in the latest saved draft revision. A mutually unique nearest pair inside the window is matched automatically. If two candidates are equally near (a tie), the match remains unresolved and appears as a missed item and an extra item, awaiting your explicit decision.
Each play and each scheduled occurrence can be used only once. Unplaced bumps are not treated as missed airings.
Review the results#
After Reconcile completes, the summary shows counts for each disposition:
| Disposition | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Aired | Matched: scheduled spot and play record agree |
| NotAired | Missed item explicitly removed by decision |
| Missed | Scheduled spot with no matching play (unresolved) |
| Extra | Unmatched play with an active catalog Copy ID (unresolved) |
| Added | Extra play explicitly added to the log with an order-line assignment |
| Ignored | Extra play explicitly ignored by decision |
The reconciliation tabs organize the results:
- Reconciled Log Items — every matched airing with scheduled and actual Copy ID, time, match method and Play ID.
- Reconciliation Errors — missed items and extra items that require decisions. This is where you remove misses, add extras, force-match or ignore plays.
- Added extra airings — extras you have explicitly assigned to an order line.
- Decisions and ignored plays — the complete decision trail so far.
Handle missed items#
Missed items are scheduled spots with no matching play. Review them before removing.
Select a missed item#
In the Missed list, click the radio button for the item you want to act on.
Enter a decision reason#
Type a reason in the Decision reason field. A reason is required for every decision.
Remove the missed item#
Click Remove HIGHLIGHTED missed item from Log to remove the selected item. Or click Remove ALL missed items from Log to remove every unresolved miss at once.
Removing a missed item records it as NotAired and retains the scheduled history. It does not delete the original event or suppress billing automatically; charging uses the saved reconciliation evidence to decide what is billable.
Handle extra items#
Extra items are unmatched plays whose Copy ID exists in the active catalog.
Select an extra item#
In the Extra list, click the radio button for the play you want to act on.
Choose an action#
- Add HIGHLIGHTED extra item to log — assign the extra to an eligible current ordinary order line with the exact same Copy ID. You must select an order line from the filtered list and provide a reason.
- Force-Match HIGHLIGHTED extra item to HIGHLIGHTED missed item above — confirm that a selected extra is a variance of a selected missed item. Both Copy IDs remain visible in the saved evidence.
- Ignore HIGHLIGHTED extra item — record the extra as ignored with a reason. The play remains in the evidence but is excluded from billing.
Adding an extra does not consume a scheduled or bumped occurrence. It creates an additional billable airing. Only active ordinary spot lines with the exact copy, finite dates covering the log date, and the correct station are offered for assignment.
Force-Match#
Force-Match resolves a tie or uncertainty by explicitly linking one extra play to one missed occurrence. Select both a missed item and an extra play, enter a reason, and click Force-Match. The extra play is treated as the actual airing for that scheduled spot. This is useful when a play time or Copy ID variance is known and acceptable.
Undo a decision#
Click Undo last decision to remove the most recent unsaved decision. Undo restores the previous reconciliation state without changing saved evidence. You cannot undo after saving.
Empty file warning#
An empty play-log file, or a file with no matching plays, does not prove that nothing aired. It proves only that no evidence was supplied. If you save a reconciliation with no plays, every placed spot remains Missed until you explicitly remove it or supply additional evidence.
Save or Cancel#
When you are satisfied with the review, enter a Save reason (up to 1,000 characters) and click Save. The system replays every decision in a secured transaction, seals the reconciliation with a unique receipt, and updates the log's saved evidence.
- Save retains unresolved misses and extras. You do not need to resolve every item before saving.
- Cancel discards all unsaved decisions and closes the panel.
- Partial reviews may be saved and completed later.
If the underlying schedule, copy catalog or prior review has changed since you opened the panel, save is refused with a stale-context message. Close the panel, reopen reconciliation, and reapply your decisions.
Print Error List#
Click Print Error List to generate a PDF of all unresolved missed and extra items. When the PDF is ready, click Download Error List PDF to view or print it. The PDF is read-only and does not save the review. Generate it after you have made your decisions and before saving, or reopen a saved review to print its unresolved items.
Previously saved reconciliation#
If a log already has saved reconciliation evidence, the panel opens in read-only mode and shows the saved schedule revision, window and reason. If the schedule has changed since the saved review, the panel warns that the evidence is OUTDATED and recommends reconciling a new file against the current revision.
Stale-input checks#
The reconciliation panel guards against concurrent changes in several ways:
- Changing the CSV text or the window value invalidates results and disables Save until you click Reconcile again.
- The browser file chooser loads the file into memory; the panel does not retain a server path.
- Save checks the schedule revision, copy catalog and prior review identity against the current database state. Mismatches refuse the save.
What reconciliation does not do#
Reconciliation does not:
- Derive prices or create invoice items. Charging is a separate step after reconciliation.
- Automatically suppress billing for missed items. Charging evaluates the saved evidence.
- Accept vendor file formats directly. Convert to the normalized CSV first.
- Create or modify broadcast events in the schedule. It creates retained evidence only.
Recovery after a lost response#
If you save and the response is lost, keep the original review available and inspect the saved reconciliation on the log. Do not start a new save while the original outcome is uncertain. If you cannot establish the outcome, ask your administrator to check the saved reconciliation before you repeat the work.