Messages

Messages form part of the communications necessary to deliver the newspaper. The topic of a message can be anything from slippery road conditions, to a subscriber who wants the carrier to collect after 6 pm on Tuesday. Messages can be distributed in the following ways:

• Printed on bundle tops

• Printed on truck manifests

• Printed on the District Manager Report

• Dispatched to a district, truck or route

• Broadcast (i.e., displayed on the Accounts tab when applicable routes are displayed; see Accounts)

A message may have a given start and end date to limit its visibility to a certain time period. For example, you may want to broadcast a message during a time when a substitute carrier is delivering a route. To view all messages for a route, click the Route Messages button.

Adding Messages

You can enter messages only for publishing dates that have not yet been processed with Transaction Processing.

To enter a message:

• Open the Messages tab and click Add. Or, click the Messages button ().

  
• Define the contents and distribution of the message.

Field	Type	What to enter
Message Information
PRODUCT	setup	Select the product for which the message should be sent. The product could be a publication or a TM product.
START DATE, END DATE	date	Enter the date range during which this message should be distributed. You may leave END DATE blank.
SELECTION TYPE	predefined	Select the distribution type for this message (distribution method, district, truck, route or all).
SELECTION	setup	Enter the specific truck, district, route, or delivery method for which the message should appear. For example, if you entered route in Distribution Type, enter the route here.
MESSAGE	unlimited	Enter the text of the message.
Message Usage
PRINT ON BUNDLE TOP, PRINT ON DM REPORT, PRINT ON TRUCK MANIFEST	yes/no	Indicate if the message should print on bundle tops, the District Manager Report and/or the Truck Manifest. Print On Truck Manifest is active for only if you enter a Selection Type of “Truck” or “All”.
BROADCAST	yes/no	Indicate if this message should be visible on the Customer Service window when a subscriber is displayed who is on a route, truck, etc., specified in the message. Broadcast messages are also displayed on the Account tab.
DISPATCH	yes/no	Indicate if this message should be dispatched. This option is available if the selection type is “district”, “truck” or “route”. After the message is dispatched, the Dispatch Detail button will become available for viewing the date, time, remarks, compliance information, and other information.
START TIME, END TIME	integer (4) predefined	If this is a broadcast message, you can set the exact time the message should be broadcast during the date range. Enter the start and end time, indicating whether each is AM or PM.

• If the message is broadcast and the selection type is “district”, “route”, “truck”, or “Zip”, you can click the Deadline Override button and override the delivery deadlines of the routes involved. Deadline overrides can be entered only if the message start and end dates are the same (i.e., a one-day message). The deadline override will be in effect for the day of the message.

• Click OK to distribute the message.

• Add another message or click Cancel to exit the Messages tab.

Finding Messages

Locate previously entered messages by clicking Find on the Messages tab. Enter search criteria in the Message Information panel. Any messages that meet the criteria will be displayed. Another way to display messages for a particular route is to Find the route and then click the Route Messages button at the bottom of the Messages tab.