This article provides an overview of the various possible states of plan items in Mercury Media and describes how states reflect the planning status of a plan item.


Introduction

Plan items go through different phases in the process of campaign planning and implementation. These phases are indicated as statuses.

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Plan items generally go through a fixed sequence of statuses until they are booked or deleted from the media plan.

  • In planning
  • Internal approval granted
  • External approval granted
  • Booked

Until a plan item reaches the Booked status, it can be returned to the In planning status at any time. Once a plan item has been booked it can only be canceled (it is also not possible to delete booked plan items).

The status of a plan item is indicated in the dedicated column in the media plan. Status changes are logged and can be tracked in the logs.[2]


In planning

Newly created plan items are taken into account for all calculations in the media plan, unless they are set to ignore.


Internal approval granted

The plan item was approved internally. This means that it has gone through an internal quality assurance process, e.g. approval by someone in a higher position.

Internal approval is reserved for authorised users.


External approval granted

The plan item was approved externally. This means that the client reviewed the plan item and approved it for booking.

Plan items are usually approved outside the system via an Excel export of the media plan, and the relevant status is later indicated in the system by a user.


Booked

A plan item has been booked. This status is automatically set when an insertion order is sent. But it is also possible to set the status manually.


Ignored

The plan item is set to "ignored" and is greyed out. You can ignore a plan item by selecting the plan item you want to ignore, and afterwards you click on the "eye" in the menu above. Ignored plan items are no longer part of the calculations within the media plan. 


Canceled

Booked plan items can be canceled. They will appear in the media plan as crossed-out plan items.

Watch out: In order to inform publishers, you will need to send a new booking mail (i.e. with the "booked volume" set to "0")


Important information
Cancellation of a plan item cannot be undone!
Metrics from canceled plan items are still included in calculation of costs and service values.