Incorporated Management Reports
Overview
MediaStats, our incorporated management reports tool, is a web based front end for the standard business reporting tool - Crystal reports. Crystal Reports gives reporting compatibility with most databases making it a true Enterprise-wide reporting solution.
From high level finance professionals through senior management to front end users, MediaStats is designed to allow authorised users to access and run reports that have been created in Crystal Reports. Reports are run in a web-based environment, presenting users with real time raw data and graphical representations of complex sets of figures for instant analysis.
Full integration between Crystal Reports and MediaStats means that users can enter parameters to define the yield of the report while results can be grouped and totaled, with drill down functionality.
Intergrated Sales Ledger
Media Financials is MSL's Accounts Receivable module specifically designed for use by Publishers. Sitting between the SOP and your main Accounts package, Media Financials can be tightly integrated in real-time to MSL's Forum SOP and CCC sales systems or can stand alone.
Media Financials has been devised as a sophisticated but easy to use Sales Ledger and Credit Control package with extensive reporting capabilities and treats Accounts and Credit Control as an integral part of the sales process. When integrated with MSL's CCC package, the rights managed data becomes available to everyone who has need to know the financial status of a customer which integrates and informs the sales team and means that the data is no longer the specialist preserve of a few staff in the back office.
Better customer account handling
A full, real time, 2-way flow of information with Forum give accounts better account control. Prepaid customers can be created at the front desk or by salespeople; account customers are then vetted by credit controllers in Media Financials. Invoice Address cannot be changed by front desk on account customers. Media Financials Can block/Release ads on financial grounds.
In real terms this gives the Credit controllers more control over the sales team. Integrated into the CRM for better salesperson account management - when Avusa start to use CRM or the new CCC both Sales and Accounts have access to the same system.
Invoicing
Invoice formats are designed to client specifications as are the invoicing rules. Media Financials supports manual invoicing and manual upload of invoices from other parts of the business (for example reprints, circulation, magazine handled outside of Forum even temporarily, Web, any other revenue streams). Ability to reprint an invoice on demand; either on paper or on PDF for instant emailing. There is a full audit trail from Forum to General Ledger through invoicing.
Cash Handling
Media Financials streamlines cash collection by a stream lined handling of high volumes offering auto allocation of pre-payments, manual full or partial allocation of payments.
Cash collection is possible by optional Credit card interface with optional Direct Debit interface.
Credit Controllers daily workflow management
Client accounts are assigned to a Credit Controller and Media Financials automatically maintains a "to do list". As soon as an invoice reaches its due date the account enters the to do list reminding the credit controller to look after this account. This improves the working practices as holidays and sickness do not rely on individuals. A Credit Controller can leave notes on an account and also get an at-a-glance a view on the relationship history. Reminder (dunning) letters are integrated with the possibility to automatically block an account on reaching a certain reminder threshold.
Support and infrastructure
Media Systems is able to quickly turn around any customer specific change requirements due to changes in workflow between finance and advertising departments offering an end to end solution.
Intranet Booking
Overview
As variation of the Self Service Ad Booking environment, Webtaker can be configured and utilised on a company's intranet. As a lite form of Forum's Sales Order Processing, orders can be processed for traditional display and classified print advertising, as well as Web based bookings.
Utilising MSL extensions to industry standard makeup products, linage ads (using Word) and display material (using Quark/InDesign) can be made-up, planned (using MediaPlanner) and electronically output ready for printing.
A web-based view of the page-plan can also be made available for sales staff.
Self-Service ad booking & Make up
Overview
Publishers everywhere are seeking to reduce their costs of conducting their business and hence improve profitability. They do this by encouraging their consumer and business customers to self advertise via the Web. WebTaker is designed specifically to support this principle of self-service. WebTaker is fully sinkable.
The key is to offer the requisite facilities in a very easy-to-use manner. If it is a lengthy process or difficult to use, such opportunities will be eschewed by the customer and more effort will by necessity be required from the internal staff. WebTaker complements the existing systems for the larger publishers or can act as a complete Advertising system.
To this end WebTaker enables any customer to place a lineage ad in print, on the web or both and also to preview the format as it will appear in the paper or web format. There is an inbuilt up-sell facility whereby more than one preview can be generated, each with a different format and cost. Payment can be made by credit card and the ads scrutinized and passed into the main sales system and/or web system for production.
There is an extra online display ad-makeup module which allows users to makeup adverts online using a templates-driven ad creation function via InDesign server.
EasyBuild
This powerful production tool can automatically build almost any document, from simple display ads to multi page marketing documents. If it can be designed using Adobe InDesign, EasyBuild can automate its production. Even the most complex documents can be built in far less time with improved quality over the conventional methods used today.
Forum Order Booking Software
Overview
Forum Advertising Software is the business software solution for today's rapidly changing Media Sales market. The Forum Ad booking system is at the cutting edge of today's advertising systems. It allows booking of traditional print advertising alongside new media and online booking all controlled from one central location. The Advert booking system includes all of the expected functionality in addition to many unique features.
The Forum Software solution provides capabilities which have been designed from the ground up as a sales order systems for Exhibitions, Events, Distribution ads (email/newsletters), Web Ads and loose inserts as well as the traditional print booking system. This provides the solutions for Media business to have a system that takes all sales orders whether a Classified or Display booking for print or floor space at an Exhibition; providing the business with a single view of customer orders.
You can find more information on some on these products below
Some of the Order Booking modules available
- Exhibition Booking software
- Loose Insert Booking software
- Event Booking software
- Distribution Ads software
- Web Ad Booking software
Forum is the media sales solution for leading Newspaper publishers in the UK such as The Independent, Express Newspapers as well as niche publishers such as Times Supplements Limited (TES). The Advert booking system also provides solutions to leading magazines such as OK magazine and The British Medical Journal. The Advert booking system also provides solutions to some of the leading Newspaper and Magazine publishers in South Africa and Ireland.
Media Systems Ltd also provides full production control capabilities from advert make-up, to copy chasing and full page planning using MediaPlanner. The software solutions are highly configurable so can be tailored to fit your exact business requirements in order to align with your existing business workflows.
Customer Control Center
Features
The Customer Control Center is highly configurable and contains all of the key components required by a leading CRM solution. The key components are shown in the presentation below
Customer data is presented allowing easy identification and use. The main header component gives pertinent information on the record selected allowing key tasks and actions to be performed such as sending an email or creating an appointment. Interaction with Google maps is used allowing the user high visibility of the customer they are dealing with.
The Customer Control Center also has document management incorporated allowing drag and drop of documents along with a libary feature for common used documents.
Contact information can be stored where relevant allowing import of details from Outlook
