When it comes to planning, a distinction is made between program planning, in which only the main content (movies and series episodes) is scheduled for weeks in advance, and broadcast planning/daily planning, in which all content – including trailers and commercials – is planned frame-precise for each day.

With the Planner App, broadcast plans can be created with ease. It allows to add trailer versions, secondary events and commercial versions to the plan that has been filled with main content in the Programmer App at this stage. These features can either be performed manually or automatically by using wizards.

Content and assets (video files) are created and managed in the corresponding Web Apps (Content and Assets respectively).

1 Overview

When the Planner is opened for the first time, the programs and the commercial breaks are visible. The
times are fixed with the pins. By clicking the expand and collapse icons, slots and blocks can be expanded and collapsed to determine whether subordinate content is visible or not. 

Slots originate from the program planning in the Programmer (see Create slot schemes and slot types) and are superordinated to blocks, which, in turn, contain events (programs, trailers, commercials etc.). 

The header in the plan can be configured with a right-click or via the plus button.

Display Options Menu:
This menu allows users to customize which information is visible in the planning view by toggling different display layers on or off.

Display Options Menu: Controls the visibility and expansion of different elements in the planner
Expand all elements: Expands all items in the schedule view (checked/active)
Expand slots: Expands time slots to show more details (checked/active)
Expand blocks: Expands blocks to display their contents (checked/active)
Expand versions: Expands version information for events (checked/active)
Expand ad breaks: Expands commercial breaks to show details (checked/active)
Show secondaries: Shows secondary events or metadata (unchecked/inactive

The tabs below the plan provide insight into the statuses of the different areas, e. g. trailers.

2 How to schedule content manually

After selecting the content type on the left-side menu (trailers, design & secondary elements, advertisements and program versions), it can be scheduled via drag and drop. Frequently used content can also be collected in folders, favorites and in the clipboard and be scheduled from there.

Multiple elements can be selected with SHIFT; they are scheduled in the order they were selected.

All scheduled elements – including programs, trailers, commercials etc. – are refered to as events, which are contained in slots and/or blocks. The context menu of an events contains a variety of options. Those will be listed and explained down below.

• Event settings: Opens the settings for the selected event.
• Edit version: Allows editing of the event's version.
• Edit asset: Edits the associated asset/media.
• Edit series: Edits the series information.
• Unpin: Removes the time lock/pin from the event.
• Split segment: Splits the event into multiple segments.
• Change version: Switches to a different version of the event.
• Add ad break: Adds a commercial break at this position.
• Correct event length: Corrects the duration of the event.
• Edit time: Changes the start/end time of the event.
• Resolve conflict by shortening: Resolves time conflicts by shortening (grayed out/inactive).
• Fill gaps by lengthening: Fills gaps by lengthening (grayed out/inactive).
• Planning status: Manages the planning status of the event.
• Layout: Changes the display/layout.
• Add to clipboard: Copies the event to the clipboard.
• Delete: Deletes the event from the schedule.

3 How to schedule content via imports

Instead of planning all content manually, users can also import entire broadcast plans if a corresponding import has been established.

All kinds of jobs, including imports and exports, are performed in the Connect tab.

After selecting an import, the import file can be browsed or added by drag and drop.

Related topics:

• Jobs, imports and exports 

During the execution of imports and exports, work can continue. Clicking on the job icon displays the statuses of all jobs.

The next step is to navigate to the Plan tab and then to the corresponding section – with plan imports, it is the trailer section, while commercials are imported in the Commercials tab etc. Here, the Import icon (1) has to be clicked.

Elements are displayed with a red dot when they have not yet been transferred to the schedule.
Via Expand all, the individual elements within the blocks become visible. The Import into plan button schedules the elements in the plan.

The status displays green when all elements have been placed in the schedule.

4 How to use scheduling assistants

Like plannning actions, scheduling asssistants allow to perform large-scale scheduling operations by creating rules. Those rules can be saved and reused.

Also, groups of rules can be created to perform multiple rules at once, with one rule executed after the other.

After accessing the Assistants side tab in the left-side menu, new rules can be created with Create new rule.

After giving the rule a name (1), multiple channels (2) can be selected via a drop-down menu. By assigning channels to the rule, the rule can be executed on those channels.

4.1 How to use single rules

The first option is to create and use individual rules.

4.1.1 Define the source

In this part of the dialog, users can specify what content to schedule.

Users can specify the source (1) in terms of content type and search conditions.

Content types include design elements, trailer versions, commercial versions and secondary elements.

The Search elements option allows searching for specific elements by typing their name or reference number into the search field.

The Choose folder option (1) allows users to select content within a folder. The folder name (2) can be entered in the search field. In addition, the content within the folder can be narrowed down by its type via the drop-down menu (3) on the left side.

When opting for folder content, users can determine to what extent and in which order the content within the selected folder is to be processed (scheduled or deleted). Users can therefore include either all content (4) or a certain number of it (5) (All or Count).

Furthermore, it is possible to define whether the folder content is processed in the order set in the folder or in random order (6 and 7).

The order only becomes relevant when elements are (re)scheduled, not when they are deleted (see Define time range and condition).

4.1.2 Define the target

In this part of the dialog, users can specify the target content.

Users can specify the target (1) in terms of content type (2), and they can select specific conditions (3) depending on the content type (e.g. on what segments to schedule the source content). Conditions vary depending on the target content type.

By clicking Add conditions (4), further conditions can be set depending on the target content type, e. g. specific age ratings, genre etc. for progams or specific tariff categories for ad breaks. This allows to further specify the target content to be processed by the rule.

When it comes to selecting the target content type, users can define how to place the source content by ticking the checkboxes (1) (e. g. before or after progams). 

4.1.3 Define the time range and condition

Finally, the time period during which the rule should be executed can be configured, with two options available. Furhermore, users can define what action the assistant performs (scheduling and deleting).

The rule can either be executed within the currently loaded plan or within an individual period (1), for which a starting and end time can be determined.

Also, users can define what action the rule performs regarding the source and target under Choose condition (2).

For all content types selected as source and target, there are three conditions available:

• Schedule selected items, do not delete items in the plan
• Find and remove selected elements in the plan
• Schedule selected elements and delete identical elements in the plan

In addition, a minimum space can be defined between elements in the plan (in minutes) by ticking the checkbox (1) and adding a number into the field. The rule is then only applied to elements located in this space to each other.

The rule can be executed right away by clicking Apply (2). In this process, the rule is saved automatically.

Alternatively, a rule can be saved (3) first and then be executed from the list of all rules (see next chapter), or the dialog can be left without saving the rule by clicking Close (4).

4.1.4 Execute the rule

A rule is executed by selecting it from the list and clicking Apply. In this process, the rule is saved automatically.

Select from list:

Apply:

4.2 How to create and apply groups of rules

Group of rules serve to perform multiple rules in one run, with one rule executed after the other, according to their numbering.

Groups can be created by clicking Create new group.

After giving the group a name (1), channels (2) for the group to be available on can be selected.

Indidividual rules can be added to the group by clicking Add rules (3).

By clicking the plus button, the individual rules are added to the group. Rules will be displayed on the right side in the order they were added, which is also the order they will be executed.

The order of the rules can be changed by drag and drop.

Rules that have been added can then be configured individually by clicking the edit button (1), which leads to the dialog described previously (see chapters from Define the source to Define the time range).

Alternatively, they can be removed from the group by clicking the bin icon (2).

By clicking the highlighted button, existing groups can be edited.

In this dialog, the name (1) can be edited, channels (2) can be selected, rules can be added (3) or removed (4), and the order of rules can be changed by drag and drop (5).

5 Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Here is an overview of frequently asked questions about the Planner, with the links leading to the corresponding sections in the documentation:

• How to import content into the schedule?
• Planning assistants: How to create and apply rules and group of rules?
• How to set the time range in the Planner?
• How to pin columns?
• Where to collect frequently used content?