Establishing a Media Inventory allows organisations to limit the possible combinations of field options when inputting data into the sheet view.

This feature has many applications, but the main goal is strict data validation and ensuring that combinations of qualitative & quantitative data conform to desired limitations. Similar to tag hierarchies, it allows you to determine acceptable relationships between all fields; not just tags.

For example, a tag titled Format, which has thirty possible options but only some options are relevant to some Media Vehicles. This presents a risk, where a media planner could accidentally choose a format (e.g. 1200x300 banner) that is not compatible with that Media Vehicle (e.g. Facebook). In this situation, you could use the Media Inventory to relate Format to Media Type and limit the available options for Format based on whether you are planning for Facebook, a local newspaper, or any other relevant Media Vehicle.

Configuring your Media Inventory is a simple, but powerful way to reduce human error and keep your data accurate and conforming to your own best practices.

All Media Inventory settings are controlled between the Media Types and Fields settings page and the Media Inventory settings page.

The Media Type and Fields settings page is used to determine which fields are related to each other. The Media Inventory settings page is used to determine which options will be allowable in that relationship.

To determine which fields should have a relationship to one another, you’ll need to build the relationships per field in the order you'd like them to operate in when creating new entries in the sheetview. You can determine if a the field should allow multiple options, or allow only a single option to be selected.

For example, if you'd like the field Format to follow the Media Type, you would select the Format field and click edit field, tick the box "Use media inventory," and then add it's relationship to the the field Media Type. If there are multiple relationships (eg. when a Format is chosen, the correct Sizes that correspond to these formats should appear, and then the corresponding Rates should appear), you will need to add Media Type and Format in the Size fields Relationships, and then add Media Type, Format and Size for the Rate fields relationships.

Examples:

Format Relationship: When working in a Media Type, only the correct Formats to this media type should appear.

The Format field Relationships should be: Media Type.

Size Relationship: When a Format has been selected in an entry in the sheetview of a media type, the correct Sizes for the Format of that Media Type should appear.

The Sizes field Relationships should be: Media Type, Format

Rate Relationship: The Rates that are available to select from will be dependent on the media type of the sheetview, and the format and size that has been added to an entry.

The Rate field Relationships should be: Media Type, Format, Size

Note that changes to the Media Inventory will not affect data that has already been entered, but only new rows created in the sheetview.

Once the Media Inventory relationships have been established, you can begin building the Media Inventory library. Navigate from the Media Types and Fields page in Settings to Media Inventory, and select the Relationship tab you'd like to work with (each tab will be labeled with the first option in the relationship, a ->, and then the last option in the relationship string.

To build out the Media Inventory, input a combination of tags, text fields and number fields, with options that will appear as drop-downs when users are working in the sheetview. If only one option for the corresponding relationship exists, the media inventory will autofill with the correct option. All combinations for a particular relationship must be included, so if a Media Type should have 2 corresponding Formats, and each Format should have 2 corresponding Sizes, and each Size should have a corresponding Rate, a total of 4 Media Inventory relationships need to be input in order for all combinations to appear in the sheetview of that Media Type.

If a relationship does not exist when working in the sheetview, it needs to be added to the Media Inventory at the correct Organisational Hierarchy (see below).

If you enter in a combination of options in the sheet view that is not allowed in your media inventory sheet, an error will appear and users will be unable to save their current entries/planning data.

For advertiser organisations, you will only need to reference the Media Inventory set at the organisation level, but for media agencies and advertiser groups with subsidiary organisations, it's important to note the order of reference for the Media Inventory.

If you have Media Inventories for both the parent and the child organisation(s), there may be overlap or competing combinations, in which case the sheet view options for a particular plan will reference the child, followed by the parent. If a combination is present in both, the Media Inventory restrictions will defer to the child organisation.
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​Child Organisation Media Inventory > Parent Organisation Media Inventory

​Note that it is very important for the characters/ capitalisation to match exactly when using the Media Inventory for several organisations and if there are any discrepancies, it will cause errors. Ie if you have “Media Vehicle” as an option on the parent org and “mediavehicle” as an option on the child org, the media inventories will be in conflict and you will experience errors when selecting either option.

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