This article explains which status phases a Plan Item in Mercury can go through and how they reflect the progress from planning to booking.

Which status phases exist for Plan Items in Mercury?

In Mercury, each Plan Item moves through different status phases that indicate its current stage of processing. The exact definition and use of these phases may vary depending on company-specific workflows.

Status phases at a glance

The following statuses show the progress of a Plan Item from creation to final booking. This way, you always keep track of the current state.

  • In Planning: Automatic start status of new Plan Items.
  • Request approval: Internal review, mandatory booking-related data must be complete.
  • Internally approved: First approval level by management or responsible person.
  • Externally approved: Second approval level, usually by the client or strategic procurement. Only from this status onward, Mercury allows booking emails to be sent.
  • Booking requested: Set automatically after a booking email is sent, can also be set manually.
  • Booking confirmed: Marks a confirmed booking.
  • Booking declined: Indicates that a booking request was rejected.
  • Cancelled: Plan Items cannot be deleted anymore, only cancelled.

Detailed description

  • In Planning: Every new Plan Item automatically starts in this status. It indicates that the item is still being worked on and is not yet ready for approval.
  • Request approval: With this status, you pass a Plan Item on for internal review. Mercury checks automatically whether all mandatory booking-relevant data is filled in. If information is missing, the status cannot be set. Once set successfully, a task is created for the responsible users.
  • Internally approved: First approval stage, typically by management or another responsible role.
  • Externally approved: Second approval stage, usually by the client or procurement. Only from this status onward can Mercury send booking emails.
  • Booking requested: Set automatically once a booking email has been sent from Mercury. It can also be set manually.
  • Booking confirmed: Marks a confirmed booking. This status can be set manually. In the future, it will be set automatically when a Publisher (via Mercury Inventory Management) accepts a booking request.
  • Booking declined: Marks a booking request as declined. It can be set manually. In the future, it will also be set automatically when a Publisher rejects the request.
  • Cancelled: This status must be set manually. Requested, declined, or confirmed Plan Items cannot be deleted anymore, only cancelled. This ensures full transparency and traceability of the process.

Note: Cancelled Plan Items appear crossed out in the media plan. Their metrics still flow into cost and performance calculations. Make sure to either set their volume and costs to zero or hide them from your plan.

User Story: From planning to booking

The following example shows how a typical approval and booking process works in Mercury:

  • A planner creates a new Plan Item, which automatically receives the status In Planning.
  • After completing the details, the planner sets the status to Request approval. This creates a task for the responsible manager.
  • The manager reviews the Plan Item and approves it internally by setting the status to Internally approved.
  • The account manager presents the Plan Item to the client. After client approval, the status is changed to Externally approved.
  • The planner sends a booking email to the Publisher. Mercury automatically changes the status to Booking requested.
  • The Publisher reviews the request. If approved, the status changes to Booking confirmed. If declined, it switches to Booking declined.