Koldheim · Ruby
Media Bookings
AdvertisingFrom approved plan to reconciled invoice.
Book the plan the client approved, and bill what actually ran.
A media plan approved by the client as a PDF through a link, booked with each media owner from the approved lines, checked against proof of flight and the owner’s invoice, and billed to the client to the cent.
The problem
“I cannot say quickly which plan the client approved, whether it was booked as approved, whether it ran, or whether the owner’s invoice matches.”
What it runs
8 stepsWhat happens, in order
Every one of these is a step the service takes itself. Nothing in this list is somebody remembering to do it.
- The planner builds the plan: one line per placement across TV, radio, out of home, print, digital and cinema. Commission and VAT are copied from your settings, so a later change does not reprice a running campaign.
- Each line is worked out to the cent, and every submission is the next version with its own plan PDF.
- A media director signs it off, never the planner or whoever raised it.
- The client approves that PDF, or asks for changes, through an emailed link. The approval is pinned to the PDF they saw.
- One booking order per media owner is made from the approved lines. The owner confirms the insertion order through their own link, with their reference.
- The buyer sends the material by link, or records the clock number for TV and radio, and records proof of flight and any make-good.
- Finance records the owner’s invoice. Within your tolerance it reconciles; outside it, the buyer accepts it or asks for a corrected one.
- Each reconciled order becomes a client bill: net, commission, VAT and total. The last one billed completes the campaign.
It opens on these
- Plans in progress
- With the client
- Insertion orders not yet confirmed
- Material due within 3 days
- Invoice variances to decide
- Ready to bill
Every figure opens what it counts and offers the next action. Nothing here is compiled at month end.
Try the rule
Change the line. Watch the bill.
The same arithmetic the service runs: per line, to the cent, with commission and VAT at your rates. Move the invoice past the tolerance: inside it the invoice reconciles by itself, outside it the buyer decides.
R 382 950,00Within 1%: reconciled by itself, the buyer is not asked, billed as booked
- Net, to the media owner
- R 278 055,00
- Agency commission, 16,5%
- R 54 945,00
- Gross
- R 333 000,00
- VAT, 15%
- R 49 950,00
- Total to the client
- R 382 950,00
- Plan line20 units × R 18 500,00 = R 370 000,00, less 10% discount: R 333 000,00 gross.
- Insertion orderThe media owner is booked at R 278 055,00 net: gross less 16,5% agency commission.
- Invoice reconciles by itselfR 279 500,00 is R 1 445,00 from booked net, within the R 2 780,55 tolerance (1% of booked net). The client is billed as booked.
- The buyerNot asked: only an invoice outside the tolerance is theirs to decide.
Who sets what
Yours to change, and ours
Most vendors are vague about this line. Yours is everything about how your organisation works. Ours is the shape of the process itself.
Your administrators change these
- Your clients and media owners
- Agency commission (16.5% by default), VAT (15%) and invoice tolerance (1%)
- Who holds media planner, media director, media buyer and finance
- How long each link lasts
Authored with the service
- That booking orders come from the approved plan, never a working copy
- That the person who records the invoice is not the one who accepts a variance
A change here is a draft, checked and published. Work already under way stays on the version it started on.
Where it stops
The part most pages leave out
A service that only ever says yes is not evidence. This is the place it deliberately refuses, and the suite that proves it still does.
Refuses, on purpose
What is booked is what was approved
Booking orders are made from the approved version’s lines, and the insertion order is generated from them. Nobody retypes a plan into a booking, and paying more than was booked is the buyer’s decision on the record, not finance’s.
Proof
Every claim here runs on each build
Not a policy, a suite. This one is npm run media, and it fails the build rather than a report nobody reads.
Questions
6 answersWhat people ask first
Is commission always 16.5%?
It is the default, the South African convention: the media owner invoices the agency net, and the client is billed gross. Your administrators change it in Media settings. A new campaign takes the rate in force when it starts; a running one keeps its own.
How is VAT worked out?
On the client bill: VAT at your rate, 15% by default, on net plus commission, rounded once on the bill. Every line amount is rounded to the cent first, so a plan, its booking orders and their bills always add up.
Can we send TV and radio material?
TV and radio material travels through an ad delivery service, so the booking records its clock number. Video and audio files are not uploaded. Print, out of home and digital material can be sent as a file.
Can a media owner counter-offer, or confirm part of a booking?
No. Their link confirms the insertion order as it stands. If the booking cannot be taken, they contact the buyer, who sends a new one.
Can we change the plan after it is booked?
Not in place. Cancel the affected booking orders and raise a new plan for the client to approve.
Does it post to our accounting system?
Not directly. When a bill is ready, and when a campaign is fully billed, a signed event reaches your own webhooks for your systems to pick up.
The rest of the collection
One stone, many cuts
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