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Name suffixes can be included in occupant records when adding or modifying an occupant. The following name suffixes are automatically included in this table: CPA, DC, DDS, DPM, DVM, Esq, II, III, IV, Jr, LPN, MD, PhD, Sr, V, and VPA. If you need additional suffixes, use this option to add them.
Select Name Suffix from the Occupant menu to display the Name Suffix Setup screen.
Click the Add icon and complete the following fields.
NAME SUFFIX
open (12)
Enter the suffix, such as “RN” or “JCD”.
DESCRIPTION
open (30)
Enter a description of this suffix.
Click OK to save the name suffix in the database or Add Another to save the existing record and add another name suffix.
When entering occupant information, you may want to give the occupant an “other name”. You indicate what type of other name you are using (whether it is a company name, contact, etc.) in the Other Name Usage field (see the User Manual). Other name usages must be set up using this option.
Note:
The other name types of “Firm” and “Mail Stop” are automatically added. These are used by Quadient’s address cleansing software.
Select Other Name Type from the Occupant menu to display the Other Name Type screen.
Select the Add icon and complete the following fields.
Click OK to save the other name type in the database or Add Another to save the existing record and add another other name type.
All occupants in the Circulation database must be assigned a credit status, such as “okay”, “poor”, “good”, and “denied”. An occupant’s credit status determines:
Their grace period
The number of days their expiration date can be extended
Whether they can “start and bill” (start receiving papers before paying)
Whether they are turned over to carrier collect or stopped if their grace period ends without a payment
The credit status determines the grace period to allow for office pay subscriptions. The grace period is the number of days (called “grace days”) after a subscription reaches its expiration date that the paper is still delivered (the carrier will still receive credit for delivery). If a subscriber makes a payment during the grace period, the cost of the paper for these days is deducted from the payment.
If the subscriber does not pay, the end-grace transaction (created on their expire date) will be processed, and the grace period will end. The subscription will be stopped by the system (or turned over to carrier collect), and a grace-owed transaction will be created. If a payment subsequently arrives (e.g., the subscriber notices he is no longer getting the paper and writes a check), the subscription will be started again. The grace-owed amount will be deducted from the payment, and a grace-paid transaction will be created.
However, if a payment never arrives, the grace will be written off after a certain number of days (the paper assumes the cost). These concepts are illustrated in the following diagram.
If the Business Rule, Should grace revenue and discount be recognized while a subscriber is in their grace period? (Subscriber Accounting section) is set to “yes”, several grace accrual transactions may be created while the subscriber is still in the grace period (rather than a single grace owed transaction after the period has ended). These grace accrual transactions are created when the Grace Due report is run. When calculating the grace amount, the Grace Due report will use the longest term that will fit within the subscriber’s grace period.
Note: Grace days do not apply to carrier collect subscribers.
In addition to grace periods, credit statuses are used to determine who may initiate a “start and bill” subscription (i.e., started immediately and billed later). If an occupant starts a subscription and does not make a payment, the credit status may change (from “good” to “poor”, for example). If a payment is eventually received, the credit status may change again.
To illustrate how credit statuses can change, let’s take an occupant named Paul. When initially entered as an occupant, Paul is given a credit status of “good”, so when he calls to start a subscription, he is allowed to “start and bill”. However, Paul is a bit short on money that month and doesn’t pay within 15 days (the number of grace days allowed with a credit status of “good”). His credit status automatically changes to “bad” and his subscription is stopped. However, Paul sends a check the next month, so his subscription is restarted, and his credit status is changed to “OK”. After that, Paul continues to renew his subscription until he goes to Hawaii for the summer. When he returns, he starts his subscription again. The associate sees that his status is “OK” (he might not pay on time but he will eventually pay). This time, Paul makes his first payment on time, and so his credit status stays the same.
Business Rules determine the default credit status for new occupants (the default can be overridden), whether grace-owed transactions are created for subscribers who receive papers while in grace, and whether earned revenue is recognized while the subscriber is in grace.
If an occupant’s credit status is changed, a task can be generated, so that the change can be reviewed by Circulation staff (see the User Manual).
Follow the procedure below to define a credit status.
In character Circulation, select Credit Status from the Occupant menu to display the Credit Status Setup screen.
Select Add and complete the following fields.
Select Specifics to define grace days and indicate what credit status should apply if a subscription is stopped, and if a payment is then made to a stopped subscription (see below). If you don’t have a publication or other credit statuses defined, you should do this at a later time.
Select Accept to enter the credit status (and specifics information, if any) into the database.
Define more credit statuses, or press F4 and select Exit to exit to the Setup menu.
Use this specific to define the number of grace days for each credit status, and specify what credit status should be used if the subscription is stopped or if a payment is made after a stop.
During initial setup, you may not enter information in this “specifics” table because your products have not yet been set up. You can select this option once your products are set up, or you can select Specifics | Credit Status Publ from Business | Products | Publication to enter this information.
Note:
Credit Status Publication records must be set up to cover every possible combination of product, credit status, and delivery type that you are likely to encounter (i.e., a specific Credit Status Publication record must apply to every occupant in the system). For these records, the product, credit status, and delivery type must all be specific values; records with a delivery type of “*” (all) will not suffice.
Select Specifics | Credit Status Publ from the Credit Status Setup screen.
Select Add and complete the following fields.
Select Accept to accept the specific.
Define credit status information for another publication, or press F4 and select Exit to exit to the Credit Status Setup screen.
CREDIT STATUS
open (11)
Enter the credit status code, such as “poor” or “okay”.
DESCRIPTION
open (30)
Enter the description of this credit status code.
CREDIT STATUS
display
Circulation displays the credit status code entered on the original Credit Status Setup screen.
PRODUCT
setup
Enter a publication that will use this credit status code.
DELIVERY TYPE
predefined
Indicate the delivery type to which the information entered below should apply—a route type, mail for mail subscribers, online for online subscribers, or “*” for all delivery types. A record with a “*” delivery type must be set up to handle multiple-route subscriptions, which are subscriptions delivered by multiple routes that have different route types. Note that you must also add a Credit Status Publication record for each of the individual delivery types used. For combo subscriptions, the delivery type of the primary product (defined in combo setup) will be used.
RATE CODE
setup
Enter the rate code for which the information below should apply, or enter “*” to include all rate codes. For example, for the credit status “Approved,” you might have one record for rate code “*” with 15 start grace days, and a second record for rate code “Promo” with only 7 start grace days. Subscribers will get 15 start grace days, unless they have the promo rate (in which case they get only 7).
START DATE, END DATE
date
Enter the date range during which this credit status information will be active. You may leave END DATE blank.
STOP CREDIT STATUS
setup
Enter the credit status code that should be assigned to the occupant if the subscription reaches the end of the grace period and a payment is not received. This field will also be used if the credit status is changed while writing off grace. A Business Rule, Should renewal subscribers’ credit status be changed at end grace processing?, determines whether a stop or grace writeoff should automatically change the credit status for subscribers who have renewed at least once.
PAYMENT CREDIT STATUS
setup
Enter the credit status code that should be assigned when a payment is received from a subscriber that has the “stop” credit status.
GRACE DAYS
integer (9)
Enter the number of grace days a renewed subscriber with this credit status should receive.
START GRACE DAYS
integer (9)
Enter the number of grace days a “start and bill” subscriber with this credit status should receive (until a payment arrives, a start and bill subscriber will be in grace).
EXPIRE OPTION
predefined
Indicate whether expired office pay subscriptions (that reach the end of their grace period) should be stopped or turnover to carrier collect. Note that if a home delivery route does not allow carrier collect subscribers, the subscription will be stopped, even if the expire option is “turnover”.
EXTEND EXPIRE DAYS
integer (9)
Enter the maximum number of days the expiration date may be manually extended by an associate for a subscription with this credit status.
EXTEND GRACE DAYS
integer (9)
Enter the maximum number of grace days that may be manually extended by an associate for a subscription with this credit status.
GRACE WRITEOFF DAYS
integer (9)
Enter the number of days that must elapse (after the grace period has ended) before the grace-owed amount can be written off for a renewed subscriber. For example, you may want grace owed kept on your books for 90 days before being written off.
START GRACE WRITEOFF DAYS
integer (9)
Enter the number of days that must elapse before a “start and bill” subscriber’s grace can be written off.
ACCEPT SUBSCRIPTION
yes/no
Indicate whether or not you will accept a new subscription for an occupant with this credit status code. You can use this field to prevent “bad credit” subscribers from starting a new subscription.
SUSPEND WITHOUT PAYMENT
yes/no
Set this field to “yes” if new subscriptions should be suspended until a payment is received.
This section guides the user through the menu options that are available under the Occupant menu.
OTHER NAME USAGE
open (10)
Assign a name for this usage, such as “alias”.
DESCRIPTION
open (30)
Briefly describe the other name usage.
Occupants may be categorized into occupant types such as advertiser, military, senior citizen, student, and so on.
During occupant entry, an occupant type must be entered for each occupant, so at least one occupant type must be defined. Business Rules determine the default occupant type, but it must be set up here. Occupant types can be used in subscriber rating, renewal periods, and Targeted Marketing.
Select Occupant Type from the Occupant menu to display the Occupant Type screen.
Click the Add icon and complete the following fields.
OCCUPANT TYPE
open (15)
Enter the occupant type, such as “senior” or “student”.
DESCRIPTION
open (30)
Enter a description for this occupant type.
Click OK to save the occupant type in the database or Add Another to save the existing record and add another occupant type.
When adding phone numbers for occupants in Customer Service, you must specify a phone number type; which is set up here.
Note:
Only one of the phone number types can have the Default Phone Number Type field checked. This will be the default phone number type when adding phone numbers.
In addition to their descriptive value, phone number types can be used to select specific phone numbers in Targeted Marketing—for example, you may only want to select home phone numbers for a new sales promotion.
Select Phone Number Type from the Occupant menu to display the Phone Number Type screen.
Click the Add icon and complete the following fields.
PHONE NUMBER TYPE
open (10)
Enter a name for this phone number type, such as “home” or “fax”.
DESCRIPTION
open (30)
Briefly describe the phone number type.
DEFAULT PHONE NUMBER TYPE
yes/no
Indicate whether this phone number type should default when adding phone numbers. Only one phone number type can have this field checked.
Click OK to save the phone number type in the database or Add Another to save the existing record and add another phone number type.
Name titles, such as Mr., Mrs., and Dr., can be included in occupant records when adding or modifying an occupant.
Select Title from the Occupant menu to display the Title screen.
Click the Add icon and complete the following fields.
TITLE
open (8)
Enter the title, such as “Rev,” “Dr.”, or “Ms.”
DESCRIPTION
open (30)
Enter a description of this title.
Click OK to save the title in the database or Add Another to save the existing record and add another title.
Communication setup is where you define newsletters, alerts, and other communications sent to your customer base.
Many newspapers and magazines publish newsletters and other communications of various kinds. These can range from updates about the local hockey team to weekend entertainment events to severe weather alerts. These communications surrounding the flagship publication can generate a loyal readership and targeted advertising opportunities.
As Circulation stores many subscriber and non-subscriber contact details, including addresses, phone numbers, and e-mails, it is the logical choice for storing newsletter opt-in and contact information. Circulation’s newsletter workflow is depicted in the diagram below.
You define individual newsletters and other communications here, in Communication setup. As part of setup you specify the contact methods (e-mail, phone, mail) and whether the newsletter is visible in iServices Subscriber.
Subscribers can opt into these communications as part of a start in iServices Subscriber. Subscribers and non-subscribers can also manage their newsletter preferences (opt in or out, the e-mail, address or phone number used, etc.). This information can also be entered by a CSR in Customer Service (see the User Manual).
You select customers who have opted into a newsletter or other communication in Targeted Marketing, and export contact information to a file (see the User Manual). This file is used to send the actual communication. (Because content is created in a separate application, Circulation does not send the actual newsletter or alert e-mail.) Communication preferences can also be interfaced via the Circulation API, and exported to InSight.
Targeted Marketing can (optionally) generate communication history records when exporting occupants opted into a communication item. If history records are created, they can be viewed on the Communication History subtab in Customer Service (see the User Manual).
You can also import communication history, which tracks when a customer was sent a particular newsletter or other communication (see the User Manual).
Note: Currently, only free newsletters are supported by Circulation.
You define the individual newsletter or alert as a communication item. You can then add the communication item to one or more communication groups, and define the websites and publications for which the communication item should be offered.
Select Communication from the Subscription | Occupant menu to display the Communication screen. The top portion of the Items tab lists previously defined communications. Click the plus sign to the left of a communication item to list the communication methods (e-mail, phone, etc.) that have been defined for it.
COMMUNICATION ITEM
open (12)
Specify an ID for this newsletter, alert, or other communication.
START DATE, END DATE
date
Enter the date range during which this communication will be active. Newsletters, alerts, etc. will only be offered to subscribers while they are active. You may leave End Date blank.
DESCRIPTION
open (30)
Enter a description of this communication.
CAN OPT OUT
yes/no
Indicate whether subscribers who opt in to the communication can opt out. Typically subscribers can opt out of receiving newsletters, alerts, and other dispatches.
ENTER ON WEB, SHOW ON WEB
yes/no
Indicate whether subscribers can opt in to the communication during a start in iServices Subscriber, and whether the communication is displayed when subscribers manage their preferences. Typically if Enter on Web is flagged, Show on Web is also flagged.
ITEM TYPE
predefined
Indicate whether this is a newsletter, alert, or other communication.
FORMAT
predefined
Indicate whether this communication is a digital or print document. For example, a weekly newsletter that is e-mailed to subscribers should be set up as digital.
WEB DESCRIPTION
open (unlimited)
If this communication will be displayed in iServices Subscriber, enter the description that should display.
IMAGE PATH
open (unlimited)
If an icon should display for the communication in iServices Subscriber, specify the image name here. This image will be used to represent the newsletter, alert, etc. It should be stored in the iServices “webcustom” area along with other images, ideally in a “newsletter” subfolder. This field can contain a relative path to point to the subfolder (such as “/newsletter/arts.jpg”). Any format that is supported by a browsing device (e.g. gif, jpeg, png) can be used.
BLURB TEXT
open (unlimited)
If this communication will be displayed in iServices Subscriber, enter any additional information or instructions that should display with the web description.
Click the OK icon to add the communication item.
In the Valid Communication Methods area in the lower right of the Items tab, click the Add icon to add a communication method (e-mail, mail, etc.). The fields are described in the table below. Click OK to accept the method. Add one record for each communication method supported by this newsletter.
COMMUNICATION METHOD
predefined
Indicate whether the newsletter or other communication is disseminated by mail (address), email, or phone.
START DATE, END DATE
date
Enter the date range during which this communication method will be active. The communication can only be made using this method while it is active. You may leave End Date blank.
VALID METHOD TYPES, DEFAULT METHOD TYPE
predefined
If the communication method is e-mail, specify the valid e-mail types: HTML, text or both (HTML, text), as well as the default e-mail type. For example, you might allow HTML and text e-mails, but make HTML the default.
DEFAULT
yes/no
Check this field if this communication method should default when customers opt in to the newsletter.
DEFAULT PRIMARY
yes/no
For e-mail or phone methods, check this field if the subscriber’s primary e-mail or phone number should default when that method is selected. For example, if the e-mail communication method has both Default and Default Primary checked, the e-mail method will default when a subscriber opts in, and the subscriber’s e-mail address that is flagged as primary will default.
You can now add the communication item to one or more groups (see step 4 in the Communication Group Setup procedure below), and/or define usages for the item (see Communication Usage Setup).
Communication items can be organized into groups for organization and presentation purposes. For example, you might define a group called “Arts” that contains three newsletters: Books, Film and Music. You could then define an iServices Starts usage for the Arts group; the Books, Film and Music newsletter preferences would display under the Arts heading when entering a start in iServices Subscriber.
Note: Communication groups do not display in Customer Service. Only communication items display on the Contact tab.
In the Communication option, click to the Groups tab. The groups currently defined display in the top portion of the tab.
COMMUNICATION GROUP
open (12)
Enter an ID for the communication group.
START DATE, END DATE
date
Enter the date range during which this communication group will be active. You may leave End Date blank.
DESCRIPTION
open (30)
Enter a description of this communication group.
WEB DESCRIPTION, IMAGE PATH, BLURB TEXT
open (unlimited)
Click the OK button to create the communication group.
Highlight the new group in the top of the Groups tab and click to the Group Items subtab.
A newsletter or alert may only be offered to subscribers of certain publications, or on certain iServices websites. In addition, you must define the areas where the newsletter will be offered. Five areas can currently be configured for newsletters. These are known as “usage types”:
iServices Starts. Newsletters display when entering a start in iServices Subscriber.
iServices Manage. Newsletters display when managing communication preferences in iServices (Preferences option).
Customer Service. Newsletters display in the Communication Preferences area on the Contact tab.
Circulation API. Newsletters defined for this usage can be interfaced to a third party system via the Circulation API.
iServices Registration. This usage is currently not utilized.
Communication usage records can be defined at the individual communication item level, or at the communication group level.
In the Communication option, click to the Usage tab. The usages currently defined display in the top portion of the tab. One line displays for each website/publication/usage type combination.
Click the plus sign to the left of a line to display the groups and items defined for the usage.
WEB SITE
setup
Select the iServices website where this communication item or group will be offered, or select “*” if it will be available for all websites. For example, if you manage several publications in the Circulation database, each with their own website, you may wish to offer a newsletter on only one of the websites. Websites are defined in the iServices Admin module, using the Create Site Specific Settings option. See the iServices Subscriber manual for details.
PRODUCT
setup
Select the publication associated with this communication item or group, or select “*” if it should be offered with all publications. This field is currently only applicable to Customer Service and iServices starts. Only communication items or groups defined for a publication the customer subscribes to or is starting will be displayed. In the case of a combo, the items or groups defined for all component publications will display.
USAGE
predefined
Select the usage type, which indicates the areas of Circulation where the communication item/group should display. For example, if a communication item should display during iService starts, on the Preferences page of iServices, and in Customer Service, you would add three records with usages of iServices Start, iServices Manage and Customer Service.
ENTITY TYPE
predefined
Indicate whether you are defining a usage for a communication group or communication item.
ENTITY
setup
This field label changes to Item or Group, depending on whether “Item” or “Group” is selected in the Entity Type field. Select the item or group for which you are defining the usage in this field.
START DATE, END DATE
date
Enter the date range during which this usage will be active. You may leave End Date blank.
Click OK to accept the usage.
In the Communication Item area in the lower left of the Items tab, click the Add icon () and enter basic information about the newsletter. The fields are described in the table below.
On the Details subtab, click the Add icon (). Define the communication group by entering the fields described in the table below.
If this communication group will be displayed in iServices Subscriber, enter the web description, image path, and blurb text that should display for the group. These fields work the same as they do with communication items (see ).
For each item that should be assigned to the group, click the Add icon (), select the communication group and communication item, and enter the date range during which the item should be part of the group (you may leave End Date blank). Then click OK.
After all communication items have been added to a group, set the display order for items in the Display Order area in the lower right of the Groups tab. Use the and arrows to move the highlighted item up or down the list, or the and arrows to make the highlighted item the first or last one in the list. Click Save Display Order to save the order. You can also click the Show Historical button to include items or groups in the list that are not currently active.
In the Communication Usage area in the lower left of the tab, click the Add icon (). Define the usage by entering the fields described in the table below.
Once valid groups and items are defined for a website/publication/usage combination, you can set the display order in the Usage Display Order area in the lower right of the Usage tab. This determines the order the groups and items display when entering a start or managing preferences in iServices. Use the and arrows to move the highlighted group/item up or down the list, or the and arrows to make the highlighted group/item the first or last one in the list. Click Save Display Order to save the order. You can also click the Show Historical button to include items or groups in the list that are not currently active.
