New Features and Improvements

Prize Chain of Custody Enhancements

• We added a Start Date and End Date to the Prize Entry form (for entering prizes into the Prize Closet) that will determine the date during which a prize may be used in Contests. After the End Date, vPromotions lets you know that you have leftovers if any are remaining.
• When giving away a Prize that is not yet in-house, such as a WIBYCBI, a reminder lets you know that you should attach a signed Contract from the prize provider.
• Expected Delivery Date was added, and the Sales Person or whomever will be bringing in the Prize will get a reminder when the Delivery Date is nearing.
• Prizes that are not currently in-house show a yellow reminder in the Prize Closet listings.

Minimum Lead Time for PRFs

No more last-minute PRF’s! Now you can create a minimum amount of time that a PRF can be submitted before the Start Date. This is a Station-base option that may be edited via Settings > Firm > Stations in the Actions column of each Station.

Locked Client List

If you have a pre-loaded Client and you would like to lock it to keep people from entering Clients in correctly, there is now an option for that in Setting > Firm > Firm Options.

More Status Email Notifications

To help you keep up with your PRF submissions, Email Notifications have been added for the following actions:

• Your successful PRF submission
• Each Approval that your PRF receives
• Your PRF is Approved and “Live”
• Your PRF was Denied

Consolation Prizes

Consolation Prizes aren’t just for Jackpot Contests any more. Now you can give contestants a “nice parting gift” if they don’t win the big prize no matter what kind of contest it is.

Talent Request Accept/Deny

On Air Talent now have the option of Accepting or Denying their assignment to events. The person who assigned them will get a Notification letting them know that they need to assign that event to another On Air Talent.

Winner Tracking Notes

A paperless promotions system isn’t really paperless if you have to print a Winner Report and then jot notes next to each winner to keep track of who has been called, what was said, etc. Now, no matter who talked to a winner, (On Air, Front Desk, Promotions) each person can add notes to that Winner’s listing. That means you’ll always know who has been contacted and what was said!

New Premium Firm Option Now in Beta:

Priority-Based Liner Scheduling (Promotions and Program Directors)

We have completely rebuilt our Liner Scheduling in a whole new way that is more like a music scheduling system. Here’s how it works:

• When liners are entered, one of 4 Priorities is assigned (1, 2, 3, 4). High Priority Liners would be Priority 1, Low Priority Liners are given Priority 4. The determines the order in which the Liners will be scheduled on to the Grid.
• Clicking Save on a new liner adds it to the Liner Queue which is where all Liners will go until you Schedule.
• Scheduling is done only after all of the liners for a particular time period are entered. When you click the Schedule button, you are asked for the date(s) that you are Scheduling, and then you are shown a list of liners that will be Scheduled from the Liner Queue.
• Scheduling from there will start it Priority 1 and schedule the number of liners per day or per daypart that you want to run. Then the scheduler moves to Priority 2, then 3 and 4.
• From there, the Liner Grid Editing/Manual Scheduling works just the same way.
• If you enter dates to Schedule that have already been scheduled, you’ll see a warning, and if you schedule anyway vPromotions will remove all of the liners for the day(s) and rescheduling them. No”Unscheduling” is required. This is very useful in new Liners need to be added in.

This new priority-based liner scheduling is currently in beta testing. If you are a brave Program or Promotions Director that would like to use it and give us your thoughts, please contact the vPromotions Help Desk and ask to beta test the new Liner Scheduler.

New Premium Firm Option: PRF Builder Enhancements
(Firm Admin, Promotions and Program Directors)

We basically rebuilt the PRF Builder from the ground up. It looks very different, and has more functionality. What is chosen in a drop down field on a PRF can determine what additional fields will show up. For example, if in the “On Air Talent Needed?” field if they choose “Yes,” you can add fields for Talent Name, Talent Fee, etc. that will be required only if they choose “Yes.”

NOTE: After choosing this Premium Firm Option, you will be unable to return to the previous PRF Builder configuration.

New Features and Improvements

Contest On The Fly

(Promotions and Program Directors)

When Promotions and Program Directors create Contests that are exclusively Programming oriented, they can create Contests more quickly now, without having to fill out the full PRF.

Setting Up Contests/Events On the Fly

• Go to your User Settings (Settings > User) and check the “Load Wizard on PRF Submit” button. This will automatically open the Wizard as soon as you submit a any new PRF.
• Go to PRF Category Settings (Settings > Promo > PRF Categories) and create a new Contest  Category (Type: Contest) using the new Visibility field so that only Promotions Directors and Promotions Directors will see it. (You can do the same thing with an Event type PRF Category as well.
• Go to the PRF Builder and edit a PRF that is as short as you want it. This will be the form you will use for any Contest that does not come from Sales through a PRF.
  

  
  

Using Your New PRF

• Now you can use your super short PRF to go right to the Contest Wizard (or Event Wizard) and get down to business!
• Choose the PRF that you created, fill it out, and click Save. The Wizard will open immediately for you to begin setting up the contest.
  

  
  

More PRF Time-Savers

(Promotions and Program Directors)

Default Fulfillment Notes

If you have standard fulfillment notes that go with just about every Prize, now you won’t have to type them over and over! Go to Settings > Promo > Default Fulfillment Notes and enter the usual notes for each Fulfillment type.

The next time you are adding a Prize, after you select the Fulfillment Type those notes will automatically appear.  Of course, you can add to them or edit them for each individual Prize.

Auto-Populating Wizard Fields

The Wizard just got a little more magical! Some of the fields from the PRF will now automatically copy right into the corresponding fields in the Wizard.

• PRF "Location" field information auto-populates to "Location" Field in Event Wizard
• PRF "Start Date" and "End Date" field auto-populates to "Start Date" and "End Date" in the Contest Wizard
• PRF "Prize Information" field auto-populates to the "Prize Description" field in Prizes On The Fly when adding new prizes to Prize Closet from a Wizard
• PRF "Prize Value" field auto-populates to the "Prize Value" field auto-populates Prizes On The Fly when adding new prizes to Prize Closet from a Wizard
  

  
  

Attach File on PRF Submission

Now you can attach a file to a PRF when you submit the PRF!

Promotions Directors or Program Directors will need to add the file  attachment fields to all of the PRFs that need them in the PRF Form Builder (Settings > Promo > PRF Builder) by adding a new field, give it a label, and the Type should be “File.”

PRF Category-Based Approval Process

(Premium Feature - Firm Admins on Activation)
We’ve talked about it for a little while now, “Wouldn’t it be cool if certain PRFs could have a different approval process from the normal one that we have set up?” For example, what if you need your Traffic Manager to approve any Remote Broadcast to ensure that the proper contract and order have been submitted?  Well, it is finally here.

Activation

To activate PRF Category-Based Approvals, have your vPromotions Firm Admin contact vPromotions Help Desk  to request this Premium Firm Option. Once activated, the Firm Admin will be able to set up special approval processes for specific PRF Categories on specific Stations. This can get a bit complex if you let it, so either keep it simple, or make it as complex as you need to, but create some kind of diagram to refer back to later if needed.

Approval Roles

• Once activated, Firm Admins go to Settings > Firm > Firm Approval Roles
• Note: You won’t need to add any Approval Roles if all needed Roles are listed in Firm> People > Abilities.
• Add any roles that will need to approve but are not already in your Firm > People Abilities list.  (For example: “Traffic Manager”)
• Go to Firm > People and assign the new Approval Roles to the appropriate People

Approval Process

• With your Approval Roles in place, go to Settings > Firm > Category Approval Process
• Click +New Approval Process, specify Stations, and PRF Categories for this Approval Process
• Choose the Roles that will approve in the order needed. Use +Add Approval to add additional Approvals into the process.
• Once you have set up your PRF Category-Base Approval Process, click Save.
• Only PRFs from the specified PRF Category will follow this new process.  All others will follow the current Approval Process that is in place for your Stations.
• At the bottom of the Category Approval Process, you may select Go Live Roles. These are Abilities or Roles that have the ability to circumvent the new PRF Category-Base Approval Process and have their PRFs go Live immediately on submission. Click “Save Go Live Roles” after choosing these. 

Additional Improvements

• Household Rule Restrictions added to Contest Wizard
• Liner Scheduling Improvements including Same Time 2 Days in Row and Same Time 2 Days Ago restrictions.
• Static On Air Copy Tabs (Liners, Billboards, PSAs, Mentions) do not show in the On Air view if there is nothing in their respective lists.

No Liners or PSAs, only Billboards and Mentions shown

New Features and Improvements

Improved Account Recovery

It happens to the best of us. A forgotten password, username or maybe BOTH. While the friendly help staff at vCreative will always be standing by to get you into your account, we wanted to make sure you had a quick and easy way to get into your account on your own as well. The login page for vPromotions (as well as vPPO) has the link for "Account Recovery". This unique page will allow you to enter what information you DO know and email you to get you quickly back into the system. If you are doing a password reset it will apply to both your vPromotions and vPPO accounts.

Pick A Prize Contests

Now, you can let your winners Pick A Prize instead of having to assign them one. People love choices!  Let’s say that you plan on having a "Spring Cleaning Weekend" during which you are going to give away all of the leftover stuff in your Prize Closet, and have the On Air Winners choose what they want! Here’s how to make that happen:

Creating the Pick A Prize Package

• Create a Prize Package to assign to the Contest Plays either as Step 3 of the Wizard (after scheduling the Plays) or in the Prize Closet
• Check the Pick A Prize checkbox when creating the Package
• As many different prizes as you need to the Package and Save.
  
  
  

On the On Air Screen

• When the Winner is chosen and entered, the Pick A Prize choices will show below Winner Name and Notes. It will list each item in the Package with a checkbox to the left of it.
• Click the checkbox next to the Prize that the Winner Picks and click Assign Winner!
• That’s it!

Enhanced Manual Liner Scheduling

Want to schedule your Liners the old fashioned way:  One Liner at a time? Or maybe you just want to fill in the open Liner spaces with a few hand-picked Liners. Either way, you are going to like Enhanced Manual Liner Scheduling. Just click the “Activate Manual Scheduling” switch on the Liner Grid (Promotions Directors and Program Directors). Now when you click an Available space on the grid, a list of available Liners to schedule shows up for you  to choose from. Choose one, click Insert, and repeat.

Delete Recurring Calendar Items

It has happened to everyone at one time or another, you create a Recurring calendar item for that weekly Thirsty Thursday remote, and choose a few too many months. The new “Delete Recurring” button will fix that without an embarrassing call to the Help Desk. Click on one of the Recurring Calendar Items (any of them except the original item) and you’ll see a red Delete Recurring button right next to Make Recurring. Clicking it will give you a choice between getting rid of them all, all except the original, or just the one you clicked on and all of the recurring items after it.

Attach Audio to Static Liners

Now you can Attach Audio (airchecks) to Static Liners, just like you do for the scheduled ones, so you’ll have the airchecks for the Recaps either way!

Other Improvements

• The “Winner By Prize” Report now provides the Status of the Prize.
• In the On Air Screen, clicking on a Play will no longer cause the view to jump to the top.

New Features and Improvements

Prize Chain of Custody

You can now track the custody of a prize from the time it enters your building to the time it leaves. Through a short approval process, chosen by you, prizes will be placed in the prize closet with instructions of how the prize was meant to be utilized. A nifty new prize history can show you the entire lifespan of a prize and every milestone.

To enable Prize Chain of Custody, contact the Help Desk department today!

Key Features

• New Prize Entry and Prize Approval Roles which determine who will be creating and approving prizes for use
• Surplus intentions: Prizes now have a surplus option that enables automatic notifications outlining if the prize should be returned to the client, reused in further contests or made available for internal use
• Upcoming event reminders for Promotions Directors and Promotions Assistants
• Automatic removal of unused prizes from events that have ended

Corporate Contesting (Premium Firm Feature)

Corporate contests are a complex and sometimes monstrous endeavor. With vPromotions Corporate Contesting we have streamlined the workflow to lessen the burden. Although some initial setup is required, once done you’ll be managing and tracking multiple promotions in multiple markets with ease.

Market and User Account Requirements

• You must have the following to get started
• A Corporate Firm
• A Corporate Contest Manager (CCM) user in the corporate firm
• Any number of firms may be associated with the corporate firm to be included in corporate contests
• At least one Corporate Contest Liaison (CCL) per associated firm that serves as the point of contact and local contest manager. If no CCL is found the Promotions Director will be the CCL, or the “point-person” that will opt in to the contesting.

Now that you’re all set up you can start creating corporate contests. The steps below are an abbreviated example of how to get a contest out to your markets.

Example Contest

• As the CCM, create a new PRF with the category Corporate Contest
• Schedule the Grand Prize play
• Optionally at this point you may send an email to CCL’s in this contest’s market pool
• At this point your market CCL’s will receive a notification to confirm (if not required) the local contest
• The CCL’s may now add local qualifying prizes, create their own local liners, tailored to their market, for all stations in which the contest is running
• As the CCM you can track promotions that have been approved (if not required)
• Once all of the contests have been completed the CCM can draw a random winner from the grand prize play that draws from all qualified winners across all markets that ran the contest

And that’s it! You’ve completed your first corporate contest in vPromotions.

Partial Prize Package Claim

Prize packages can now be partially claimed. If the winner can only accept some of the prizes in their Prize Package, that can be accommodated. All unclaimed prizes are returned to the prize closet.

Prize History

Now, in the Prize Closet, you can see a quick report of any prize in the closet just by clicking on the History icon. It is a great way to track prizes that have been given away over a period of time.

Asset Calendar

The new asset calendar tracks assets like never before. You can now easily add, edit and remove assets for multiple promotions all in one convenient monthly calendar view. If a promotion’s dates change, no worries, the asset follows suit without further interaction. If enabled, you can find the Asset Calendar link in the drop down menu under your name in the upper right of your vPromotions screen.

New Improved End of Year Report

A robust report of all wins for the prior year that includes all required winner tax information and boasts a 1099 generator to save on data entry.

Quick-start Guide:

• Choose “Year End Prize Report” from the reports menu
• Choose the dates for your financial year
• Choose the stations you are reporting on
• Click “Generate Report” and await the email that will contain a link to your personalized report
• Once all SSN’s are decrypted you can print and export the list or open the generated 1099 copies

Other Improvements

• Improved liner validation, scheduling and performance
• Faster access to the Promotion Wizard
• Only live promotional plays and contests show in On Air schedule
• Improved efficiency of prize claims that require SSN
• More information and convenience in On Air details
• Improved winner validation during assignment