Ad$pender User’s Guide
Welcome to AdSpender. This user guide will show you everything you need to know to access
and utilize the wealth of information available from AdSpender.
This is an Internet-based database that may be accessed by using one of the network computers
in the Business Library in Miller Hall or the Peninsula Center in Newport News.
Mason School of Business graduate students, undergraduate students with a Business major,
faculty and staff may also access this program through the Mason School of Business network.
Introduction
AdSpender is a tool that allows you to view a top-level summary of the multi-media advertising
marketplace. This database monitors advertising expenditures and occurrence information for
more than three million brands across 18 media.
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Table of Contents
Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1
Table of Contents ................................................................................................................ 2
Home Page .......................................................................................................................... 3
Header Tools ................................................................................................................. 4
Header Links ................................................................................................................. 5
Home Page Menu Column .................................................................................................. 6
Custom Reports ............................................................................................................. 6
Step One: Media ..................................................................................................... 8
Step Two: Time Period ........................................................................................... 8
Step Three: Product Set .......................................................................................... 9
First Method ...................................................................................................... 9
Second Method ............................................................................................... 12
Step Four: Report Format ..................................................................................... 14
Step Five: Report Options ..................................................................................... 14
Step Six: Report Summary.................................................................................... 14
Report Viewer ............................................................................................................. 15
Maintenance ................................................................................................................ 18
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Home Page
AdSpender opens with the Home page displayed. The Home page is divided into a header, menu
column on the left, a main display area in the center and an AdSpender Bulletin Board column
on the right.
The Home page header has four links (Home, Help, Contact Us, and Logout) and four tools
(Messages, Availability, Methodology and My Profile). The header is displayed on each page
of the database.
To start using the database go to the menu column and click on Create under Custom Reports.
Go to page 6 for information on the Custom Reports section and page 8 for information about
creating a report.
You may return to the Home page from any location in the database by clicking on the Home
link in the header.
Note: Do not use the web browser back or forward arrows to navigate the database. Use the
Home link in the database header to return to the Home page. Moving back and forward is
possible within the report creation function (Next and Previous links).
The Ad$pender Bulletin Board column presents short articles about various aspects of the
AdSpender database.
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The main display area of the Home page has
two boxes, one (My Reports) has a table of
reports that have been created.
You may run a report by clicking on the
green arrow icon in the row of the
report you want to see. This will open
the report in the Report Viewer section of the
database. See page 15 for information about
the Report Viewer.
The View column has two icons: a
View checkmark and an Open file
symbol.
Clicking on the View checkmark will open
the Report Specification window. This lists
the criteria used to set up the report.
The Open icon will open the Report
Summary page of the Custom Reports
section. See page 14 for information about
the Report Summary page and page 6 for information
about the Custom Reports section.
The other box in the main display area of the Home
page has a pie chart of the money spent on media. The
various slices of pie represent the amount spent on
each type of media. The colors are explained in the
chart’s legend.
Header Tools
The program header has four tools: Messages,
Availability,
Methodology,
and My Profile.
The Messages tool will open a window with any
messages from the vendor concerning any issues with the
AdSpender database.
Clicking on Availability will open the Data Availability
page. This page has a table listing the type of media and
the time period of the data used in the database.
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The Methodology tool will open
the AdSpender Methodology
window. This window is a long
scrolling display of the methods
the vendor uses to develop the data
used n the AdSpender database.
The top of the page is a table of
contents listing the various types of
media covered by the database.
Clicking on a media type will
scroll the page to the entry for that
media.
The My Profile tool will open a
page with information about the
current subscription.
Header Links
The program header has four links in the top line: Home, Help, Contact Us, and Logout.
The Home link will return you to the opening page.
Help will open the AdSpender Help page in a new
window. This page has a list of terms with definitions.
There is also a list of commonly used abbreviations.
Clicking on Contact Us will open a page with contact
information for the vendor.
Logout will exit you from the program.
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Home Page Menu Column
The AdSpender Home page has a menu column on the left side of the
page. This menu column has three sections: Custom Reports (see
below), Report Viewer (see page 15), and Maintenance (see page 18).
You may click on the section name or one of the links below it.
Custom Reports
Clicking on the Custom Reports topic or the Create link under it will
open the Custom Reports page. This page is the main access to the
media data contained in AdSpender.
If you select the Open link in the
menu column, the Report
Specifications Listing page is
opened. This page is similar to the
My Reports box on the Home
page.
This page gives you the options to
delete or rename the reports listed
in the table.
The other controls are similar to
those in the My Reports box. See
page 4 for information about the
My Reports box.
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Clicking on the Create link or
the Custom Reports header will
open the Custom Reports page
with the display showing the first
step in the six-step process of
creating a new report.
The six steps are: Media, Time
Period, Product Set, Report
Format, Report Options, and
Report Summary. You use each
of these steps to set up the
various criteria for your report.
These steps are listed in the menu
column on the left side of the Custom Reports page. When setting up
your report you may go from one step to the next or you may go directly
to a particular step by clicking on it in the menu.
When the report has been set up you will view the finished report in the
Report Viewer. See page 15 for information about the Report Viewer.
Custom Reports Links and Tool Bar
The Open Report and New Report
links near the top of the Custom Reports
page will open the Report Specifications Listing page (Open Report see page 6) or the Custom Reports Step One: Media page (New Report see page 8).
The Report Toolbar has four tools: Run, Save, Save As, and
Spec.
The Run tool will execute your report without your having to go through the entire six-step
process. This is the same as the Run Report button on the Report Summary page. This will
open the Report Viewer page, see page 15.
The Save tool will open the Save Report Specification page which allows you to name the
report (if it doesn’t already
have a name) and select if you
want it to be public or private.
Clicking on the Save button
places it on the My Reports
page. See page 4 for information about the My Reports page.
Save As also opens the Save Report Specification page. This allows you to save an existing
report setup under a new name.
Spec. will open the Report Specification window. This lists the criteria used to set up the report.
See page 4 for information about the Report Specification window.
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Step One: Media
When the Custom Reports
page is opened the first
step (Media) is displayed.
Use this page to select the
media you want to include
in the report. The media
types included in the
database are listed in the
Available Media box on the left. Using the Select arrow buttons you may highlight your
selections and move them into the Selected Media box. The Remove arrow buttons may be
used to move selections from the Selected Media box back to the Available Media box.
Once you have media in the Selected Media box you may change the order in which they are
displayed by highlighting an item and, using the arrow icons on the right side of the box, move
it up or down the list. Also, you may arrange the items alphabetically from A-Z or Z-A.
You may create a group by highlighting the items you want in your group and click the Create
Group button. You will be prompted to name the group.
The Display Dayparts and Show Groups selections below
the Available Media box are used to display more choices.
Clicking on the checkbox next to the Display Dayparts
selection will insert the various time selections for the
different media (e.g., Early AM, Daytime, etc.). These
items may be selected in the same manner as the main
media types.
The Show Groups selection will open an Available Groups box. If any groups have been
created they will be displayed in this box. A group may be
added to the Selected Media box by highlighting the group
and clicking on the Add Group button.
When you have finished making your selections click on the
Next link near the top or bottom of the page. This will take
you to the next step.
Step Two: Time Period
The second step in the
report creating
process involves
selecting the time
period of the report.
The Time Period Single page allows
you to select the type
of time period
(Calendar or
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Broadcast) and the time period (from a drop-down menu with four selections:
Current Month, Current Quarter, Current Year to Date, and Specify Time
Period). When the Specify Time Period selection is chosen the date range
boxes become active and you may then set up the dates you need.
The bottom of the page has a check box for selecting the option of displaying the latest period
through which all media are available. You must de-select this option if you do not want to use
it. The Show Data Availability button will open the Data Availability window, which has the
same list as the Data Availability page (opened when the Availability tool in the header is
selected). See page 4 for information about the Data Availability page.
The Select Multiple Time Periods button on
the right side of the page will open the Time
Period Selections - Multiple display.
This page allows you to set up more than one
time period. The Time Period setting from the
first page is listed in the Time Periods box.
As you create additional time periods you may
add them to the Time Periods box by clicking
on the Add arrow.
This page has two tabs: Static and Dynamic. The criteria selections are similar
on each tab. The finished criterion is then moved to the Time Periods box.
When you have finished setting up your time period click on the Next link.
This will take you to the next step, Product Set.
Step Three: Product Set
The third step in setting
up your report is on the
Product Set Search and
Select page. This page
is used to identify the
products you want to
include in your report.
You may develop a product list using two different methods. The items finally entered into the
Selected box using either method will be used to create your report. Click on the Next link to go
to the fourth step, see page 14.
First Method
The first method uses the Search box drop-down menu to select All Categories or
All Products or specific categories or products. Then use the Where box menu to
select where to search (First Word or Any Word). Then enter a search
term into the blank box.
Click on the Search button when you have made your selections. The
search results vary depending on the selection you make in the Search box menu.
The results of this search are displayed in a table below the search boxes.
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All Categories Selection
If you selected All Categories
in the Search box menu the
table will have six tabs, each
showing different levels of
categories. The tabs are: Global
Product Groups, Industries,
Majors, Categories,
Subcategories, and
Microcategories. Note: Tabs
with zero items will not be
displayed.
The Categories tab is displayed
when the table is first opened.
Each tab has a number in
parentheses indicating the number of items in that tab’s list.
Items are selected off these lists by clicking on an item so that it is highlighted. More than one
item at a time may be selected by holding the Ctrl key while clicking on items. When you
have made your selections click on the arrow button to move the items to the Selected
Items box.
You may move all the items in the open tab to the Selected Items box by clicking on the
double arrow button.
If you move items from different tabs into the Selected Items box new tabs will be created
correlating to the tabs in the top section.
The E button allows you to select items to be excluded from the selection of items to
move into the Selected Items box.
The Drill button and drop-down menu arrow button allow you to
open lower levels of the item you select. Highlight an item in the list
and click on the Drill button. This will open the Drill to Options
window. Select the level you want to drill down to. You also may
enter a new search term and select a date range. Once you select a
level the search will be made and the results will be listed in
the top section, replacing the original list.
The Drill arrow button will open a menu with similar levels
listed. Select the one you want and that level will be listed in
the top section, replacing the original list.
The Info button will open an information
window for the selected item. Highlight
an item in the list and click on the Info button to display the window.
You may create a special group from selected items by using the Group
feature. Highlight the items you wish to have in a group and click on the
Group button.
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This will open the Create Group window. This window
lists the items you had selected and allows you to
change the order in which they are listed, name the
group and determine if the group is public or private.
You also may add these items to an existing group by
checking the Add to Existing Group check box.
Click on the Save button when you are finished making
your selections.
Your new group will be added to the Selected box and
will also be listed in the Select Groups button list (see
page 12). Click on the Next link to go to the fourth
step, see page 14.
All Products Selection
If you selected All Products in the Search box menu the table will have six tabs, each showing
different levels of products. The
tabs are: Ultimate Owners,
Parents, Subsidiaries,
Advertisers, Brands, and
Products.
The Products tab is displayed
when the table is first opened.
Each tab has a number in
parentheses indicating the number
of items in that tab’s list.
Items are selected off these lists
by clicking on an item so that it is
highlighted. More than one item at
a time may be selected by holding
the Ctrl key while clicking on
items. When you have made your selections click on the arrow button to move the items
to the Selected box.
You may move all the items in the open tab to the Selected box by clicking on the double
arrow button.
If you move items from different tabs into the Selected box new tabs will be created correlating
to the tabs in the top section.
The buttons and other controls along the lower edge perform similarly as those described in the
All Categories section (see page 10).
Categories Selections
The Categories section of the Search box menu has six selections: Global Product Groups,
Industries, Majors, Categories, Subcategories, and Microcategories. A search using one of
these selections will produce a list of items similar to those described in the All Categories
section of this guide. Each display will be specific to the selected topic. See page 10 for
information about the All Categories section.
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McLeod Business Library, Mason School of Business
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Products Selections
The Products section of the Search box menu has six selections: Ultimate Owners, Parents,
Subsidiaries, Advertisers, Brands, and Products. A search using one of these selections will
produce a list of items similar to those described in the All Categories section of this guide.
Each display will be specific to the selected topic. See page 10 for information about the All
Categories section.
Second Method
The second method uses the Show All box and its drop-down menu and the Select Groups
button and drop-down menu.
These buttons and arrows are tied in with the Search box selections. For All Categories and the
Categories selections (Global Product Groups, Industries, Majors, Categories,
Subcategories, and Microcategories) the Show All button is active. For the All Products
selection and most of the Products selections (Ultimate Owners, Parents, Subsidiaries,
Advertisers, Brands, and Products) the Show All button is grayed out and cannot be used.
For those selections where the Show All button is active, clicking on the Show All button will
display all the items from the selected category. See page 10 for information on the display
area.
When the Show All button is grayed out, you may use the drop-down menu to
select the topic to display. There are seven selections on the menu: Global
Product Groups, Industries, Majors, Categories, Subcategories,
Microcategories, and All Categories. Selecting one of these will cause the
selected items to be displayed. See page 10 for information on the display area.
The Select Group button is grayed out
much of the time until a topic is
selected that has had a group saved in
it.
When the button is active, clicking on
it will open the Select Group window.
You may select a group to use from
the list. Once a group is highlighted,
click on the Add Contents or Add
Group button (Add Contents places
the items in the group into the Selected
box individually while the Add Group
button will place the group into the selected box) to add the items to the Selected
box.
The Select Groups drop-down menu has eight selections: Categories,
Subcategories, Microcategories, Parents, Subsidiaries, Advertisers, Brands and
Products. Clicking on one of these selections will open the Select Group window.
Once the Selected box is populated click on the Next link to go to the fourth step in
creating your report. See page 14.
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The Product Set Search and Select page has a tool bar with six selections: Open Set, Save Set,
Save As Set, New Set, View
Set, and Open Help.
The Open Set selection will
display the Open Product Set
window. Any saved sets are
listed in this window. Each
line has icons that allow you
to View the set, Open the set,
Edit the set or
Delete the set.
Opening a set will replace any
items in the Selected box that
may have been previously
selected.
Save Set will open the Save Product Set window. You have
the option to name the set and select whether it is Private or
Public access. Click on the Save button when finished.
Save As Set will open the Save Product Set As window, which
is similar to the Save Product Set window. The Save Product
Set As window allows you to save an existing set under a new
name.
The New Set selection will open the Step Three: Product Set page where you may select
products to create a new set.
View Set will open the Product Set Contents
window. This window gives you information about
any set that may be displayed.
Open Help will open the Product Set Help window.
This window has three selections that will display
some help pages to assist in the use of the
product page.
Once you have finished setting up your list of
products, click on the Next link to take you to
step four in setting up your report. See page 14.
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Step Four: Report Format
The fourth step in the report creating
process is the Report Format page.
The page is divided into three sections
of formatting selections.
The page top matter indicates your
selections from the previous pages.
The sections allow you to select how
you want your report to break out the
data, what unit measures to use, and
what data should be ranked.
When you have finished setting up
your report format click on the Next
link to take you to the next step.
Step Five: Report Options
The fifth step in the report creating
process is the Report Options page.
This page is in three sections and
allows you to select row and column
options, number format options and
print options.
The print options section has entries for
you to make headers and footers and to
display the title of the report.
When you have finished making your
selections click on the Next link to go
to the next step.
Step Six: Report Summary
The sixth and last step in building
your report is the Report Summary
page. This page gives you a display
of the various criteria and selections
you have made in creating the
report.
After reviewing the summary you
may start the report creation process
by clicking on the Run Report link.
This will open
the Report
Viewer page
(see page 15).
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Report Viewer
Clicking on the Run Report link after setting up your custom report will open the Report Viewer
page, under the Report Viewer topic in the menu column. This page lists all the reports in
AdSpender. These
are reports that have
been created by
database users.
The Report Viewer
page lists the reports
in a table. The current
report is listed at the
top of the list.
In the picture at right
the newest report’s
status is listed as
“submitted”. It will
stay this way until you click on the Refresh
Listing link above the table.
Note: You must
refresh the listing
in order to have
your new report
fully listed in the
Report Viewer
table.
Once your report’s
listing is complete
there will be some
icons in the View,
Delete, and Create
columns.
Not all icons may be available for all
reports. The icons are: Spec, PDF,
Spreadsheet, ASCII, Delete,
Private to Public, Public to Private, Quick Group, and
Group or Set.
The Spec icon will open the Output Report Specification
window. This window displays information similar to the
Report Summary page. This window gives you a display of the
various criteria and selections you have made in creating the
report.
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Selecting PDF will open
the report using Adobe
Reader.
Please note that this report is
auto formatted. So, if there are
a large number of columns the
pagination will be the same as
Excel when the number of
columns exceeds the page
width. Pages will run down
the columns until all the rows
are finished, then will run
down the next page width of
columns until all the rows are
finished. It will continue this
until all the columns are
finished.
If you do not expect this format you may become confused because the data will appear to be
jumbled.
If you want to control how your report is displayed export the report using the Export icons.
The Spreadsheet icon will export
your report into Excel. You then
have all the editing options of that
program available.
The ASCII icon (when present)
will export the report using the
ASCII format.
Clicking on Delete will open a
window asking you if you really
want to delete the selected report.
Click on OK to continue.
The Private to Public and Public
to Private icons will convert the
report from one status to the other.
These selections are not always
available.
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In the Create column, the Quick Group icon will open the Create Quick Group page. This
window lists the items
included in the current
report. It allows you to
change the order in which
they are listed, name the
group and determine if the
group is public or private.
You also may add these
items to an existing group
by checking the Add to
Existing Group check box.
Click on the Save button
when you are finished making your selections.
Your new group will be listed in the Select Groups button list (see page 12).
The Group or Set icon will open the Product Set Search and Select page under Maintenance
in the menu column. This page is similar to and operates in a similar manner as the Product
Set Search and Select page in
the Step Three: Product Set part
of the Custom Report set up.
Items are selected off this list
by clicking on an item so that it
is highlighted. More than one
item at a time may be selected
by holding the Ctrl key while
clicking on items. When you
have made your selections click
on the arrow button to move
the items to the Selected
Items box.
You may move all the items in
the open tab to the Selected
box by clicking on the
double arrow button.
The E button allows you to select items to be excluded from the selection of items to move into
the Selected Items box.
The Info button will open an information window for the selected item. Highlight an item in the
list and click on the Info button to display the window.
You may create a special group from selected items by using the Group feature. Highlight the
items you wish to have in a group and click on the Group button. See page 11 for information
about the Group button.
Once you have moved items into the Selected box, click on the Group button in the Selected
box to create a group from these items. See page 11 for information about the Group button.
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Maintenance
Clicking on the Maintenance topic in the menu column will open the Maintenance page. This
page has two links, and two selections for the same locations under the Maintenance topic.
These are Groups and Product Sets.
Groups
The Groups link or
menu selection will
open the Group Listing
page.
This page lists the
available groups. Each
group has four icons
that allow you to
perform some tasks on
the group. These icons
are: View Contents,
Open, Rename, and
Delete.
The Delete icon
will open a window
asking if you really want to delete the group. Click on the OK button to finish the deletion.
The Rename icon will open a
new section of the page with
boxes that allow you to enter a new
name and an abbreviation. Click on the
Save button to make your changes
permanent.
The View Contents icon will open a Group Information
window with a brief listing of the group and its contents.
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The Open icon will open the Create/Edit Group page. The left part of the page lists all the
items available for that type of group (Subcategory, Category, Advertiser, etc.). The
contents of the group is listed in the Selected box.
You have the option to add or remove items from the group and then save or open the group for
use.
This page is similar to and operates in a similar manner as the Product Set Search and Select
page. See page 10 for information about the operation of this page.
The Group Listing page also has
a function that you may use to
create a new
group. The
Select Group
Type box has a
menu with the
types of groups
listed. Select the
type you want and click on the Create Group button.
This will open the Create/Edit Group page. The Selected box is empty and you may set up the
group you want. This page is similar to and operates in a similar manner as the Product Set
Search and Select page. See page 10 for information about the operation of this page.
The Group Listing page has two boxes, the Access and Type
boxes, with menus that you may use to change the groups
being displayed. Click on the selection you want and the list
will automatically change to display only the selected items.
If the list of groups is very long, you may use the search feature to narrow the
list according to a search term you enter.
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Product Sets
The Product Sets
link or menu
selection will open
the Product Sets
Listing page. This
page lists all saved
product sets.
Each product set
has four icons that
allow you to
perform some
tasks on the set.
These icons are:
View Contents,
Open, Rename,
and Delete.
The Delete icon will open a window asking if you really want to delete the product set.
Click on the OK button to finish the deletion.
The Rename icon will open a new section of the page with a box that allows you to enter a
new name. Click on the Save button to make your changes permanent.
The View Contents icon will open a Product Sets Information window with a brief listing
of the set and its contents.
The Open icon will open the Product Set Search and Select page. See page 9 for
information about the operation of this page.
The Product Sets Listing page also has a
function that you may use to create a new
product set. Click on the Create New Product Set link near the top of the list. This will open
the Product Set Search and Select page. See page 9 for information about this page.
The Product Sets Listing page has a box, the Access box, with a menu that you may
use to change the product sets being displayed. Click on the selection you want and the
list will automatically change to display only the selected items.
If the list of sets is very long, you may use the search feature to narrow the list according to a
search term you enter.
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