AAM Column

The Alliance for Audited Media (AAM) requires newspapers to submit circulation figures for auditing purposes. In order to gather circulation figures, Circulation requires that every route and single copy outlet be assigned to an AAM column. A route can only be assigned to one AAM column, but an AAM column can contain information from many routes.

During the setup of your routes, you will define which AAM column the draw for each route is associated with.

The following AAM columns are defined by Naviga:

AAM Column	Description
UnpdComp	Unpaid Complimentary Copies
PaidComp	Paid Complimentary Copies
Mail	Mailed Copies
Samples	Sample Copies
Service	Service Copies (for shortages, etc.)
ThirdParty	Third Party Sales

These columns cannot be changed—in other words, all mail copies will be reported in the mail column and nowhere else. The remainder of the circulation figures—regular (or “paid”) copies from routes or single copy outlets—are user-defined and usually reflect how the product is delivered. An example might be:

AAM Column	Description
Carrier	Carrier delivered paid circulation
MotorRte	Motor route delivered paid circulation
Racks	All rack draw
Dealers	All dealer draw

Before setting up AAM columns, you should determine the level of detail required for reporting. Each subscription type should be put into only one AAM column. For example, you could set up one AAM column for bulk subscriptions for city hotels and another for suburban hotels. Although you may combine the totals for these two AAM columns under the AAM report heading “hotels” on circulation reports, these separate definitions make circulation totals available for city and suburban hotels for use in ad hoc (user-defined) reports. In this example, you would not set up an AAM column for “hotels” since the circulation totals would be stored in the “city hotel” and “suburban hotel” AAM columns. See AAM Report Headings for more information about AAM Report Headings.

As another example, suppose an AAM column is required for each carrier region to allow a breakdown by region of carrier circulation figures in ad hoc reports. If there are four regions in the primary market area (North, South, East, and West) and you want to retain detail at the carrier region level for ad hoc reporting, set up AAM columns as shown:

Report Area	Report Heading	AAM Column
NDM (newspaper designated market area)	CARRIER	NCARRIER
		SCARRIER
		ECARRIER
		WCARRIER

If, however, you have no need for ad hoc reporting, simply set up the following AAM Column for this same report area:

Report Area	Report Heading	AAM Column
NDM (newspaper designated market area)	CARRIER	CARRIER

It is important to be careful about setting up your AAM columns because they define the way circulation totals are stored and reported. If you change your setup plan after circulation history has been retained, it may be impossible to compare subsequent circulation history with previous history in a meaningful manner.

Routes are assigned to AAM columns in Distribution | Route | Distribution Point | Specifics | Distrib Point Publ. The Route Setup Utility in Distribution | Route can also be used.

To set up an AAM column:

• Select AAM Column from the AAM menu to display the AAM Column Setup screen.

  
• Click the Add icon and complete the following fields.

  Field	Type	What to enter
  AAM COLUMN	open (10)	Enter an AAM Column ID, such as “Dealer”.
  DESCRIPTION	open (30)	Enter the description for this AAM Column, such as “Newsstands”.
  THIRD PARTY	yes/no	Indicate whether this column’s draw should be reported as third-party draw when running AAM reports.
  PAID/QUALIFIED TYPE	predefined	Indicate the Paragraph 3 report column to which this AAM column belongs: Business/Traveler, Qualified, or Other.
  START DATE, END DATE	date	Enter the date range in which this AAM Column may be used. You may leave End Date blank.

• Click OK to save the AAM column in the database or Add Another to save the existing record and add another AAM column.