Do You Have A Question for the ProTrack Team? - PBS

Do You Have A Question for 

the ProTrack Team 

Hosted by the 

Traffic Advisory Committee

Welcome from Crist Myers 

• New developments since we last met 

• Project updates 

• New release announcement and feature highlight 

• Future development strategies and industry direction

ProTrack Users Session 

• Use Microphone, speak slowly and clearly 

• Introduce yourself and the media facility you 

represent 

• We’ve come prepared… ask questions on any 

subject 

• Where possible, we will utilize ProTrack to help 

answer questions 

• If we run out of time, please stop by our booth in the 

PBS Vendor Exhibit area (220) or NAB (N3434)


Q & A

ProTrack Users Q & A Session 

How do you decide what gets in an upgrade 

of ProTrack Is it based on station 

requests Along with my first question, is 

there a way that you can tell stations before 

you upgrade the system of the new 

information and see if this would benefit 

them


Can I remove package types I don’t need or 

use anymore How do I do that manually 

I’m tired of plowing through all the old 

package types.


This is regarding rights loading from ProLink: 

ProLink: How does this work Why are my 

rights not getting updated


This is regarding Toolbox feeds: Why can’t I 

ever find these and record as a stand-alone 

entity


Is there any way when putting multiple spots 

into a flight for rotation to have ANY control 

on the order of the rotation. It always seems 

to be pretty much alphabetical Very 

annoying when you want don’t want to have 

the same type of message in consecutive 

breaks. (Referring especially to the 

“development” break.)


Following up on last year: Is there any way 

to set a record length longer than the length 

in the offer (instead of creating a new offer 

version or modifying the offer length then 

switching it back once record schedules are 

finished)


Following up on last year: Can screen 

formats be assigned and recognized for 

each media assigned to an offer


On the purge list, can a field “next air date” 

be included


When scheduling airs through the PBS Feed 

schedule, and offsetting it, can the new time 

be calculated somewhere on the screen to 

be sure the offset time is correct (instead of 

scheduling then realizing it’s wrong then 

deleting and trying it again). The time 

calculator isn’t always the most useful tool 

when offsetting times that cross over 

midnight


Can Myers create a report for SABS I don’t 

have any issues with the program 

distributors or figuring out hours of 

programming, but I do have a problem trying 

to find the # and duration of pledge minutes. 

Why is there no easy way to find or get that 

information in a report


Would Myers consider adding another 

choice (Ingest) to the Media Information 

Status screen Right now the choices are 

Recorded, Not Recorded, Purged, and 

Requested. If you added Ingest as a 

selection we could create our dub list using 

that status.


When purging media through the interactive 

purge list, is it possible to see a list of 

programs slated for purging (“Are you sure 

you want to delete these forever and ever”) 

before actually purging, to verify.


Can a version of the grid be generated to 

include the entire title of a program If not, 

is that something a station can request as 

special report


Currently there is a Tape Pull List Report. 

Can that same report option also be created 

for Promo/Fillers and Underwritings


How do I deal with a program that is split 

into two server files. We can make “multitape” 

attachments to one program, but not 

“multi-server”. I’m not talking about a 

program with sub-clips.


I’d like to know about the module that allows 

ProTrack to interface with archive systems.


Is there a way to immediately tell if a show has been 

segmented We do not have enough server space 

to get pledge shows and pledge events. We ONLY 

record pledge events and subclip them if we have 

live pledge from the local studio. Because ProTrack 

only counts the time on default segments, 

subclipping out the pledge breaks changes the 

length. If the program airs at a later time as a pledge 

event, the length is wrong on the program 

information page. Programming ends up putting a 

90 minute program in 60 minute slot.


Not a new question, but several of us who 

have participated in the Myers sessions at 

TechCon in the past, have inquired about an 

option for day-parting spot inventory, similar 

to the current ability to include/exclude days 

of the week – for example, making PBS Kids 

promos available for manual placement only 

during appropriate times. What is the 

possibility of this happening


How can we export program and break time 

info from ProTrack so it can be imported/ 

uploaded to Blackbaud’s Team Approach 

software


Some of us have the task of running the Quarterly Topic 

Report that originates from PBS and tailoring it to fit what 

programs we ran under certain program categories during 

that time span. We have recently received a 

software program from another Pennsylvania Station that 

works in tandem with ProTrack to take this task from 

several days down to maybe an hour or so to do. It is not a 

program that everyone has. I think it would be helpful if 

Myers could develop a program that could help with this 

report. If you do not have help (like we do), it is extremely 

time consuming.


Our automation system automatically updates the ProTrack offer 

length when a piece of media is ingested. That’s great. The 

downside is, when airchecks are recorded that are longer than the 

offer length. When changing the offer length BACK to the original 

time (still not a problem), it also updates the lengths of future 

airs. THAT’S where it becomes a problem. When the aircheck is 

scheduled multiple times where logs are generated, you have to go 

into the log to fix the length. It can get time consuming. We don’t 

want to create two offers for the same show (one as aircheck/one 

as standard pledge) for airdate tracking purposes and for creating 

airchecks, etc. 

There is a prompt that asks to change attached media length. Can 

there be a prompt to ask “change existing airdate lengths”


There are some programs that are not formatted for 

pledge, but then we do pledge them, so they are 

segmented. Our operators enter in database/ 

automation Segment 1 as full program duration and 

then segs 2 thru whatever is the program broken into 

segments for pledge. Since the program is airing 

from same tape whether base version or segmented 

for pledge version, is there a way that we can update 

within the log (when broken into parts) to start with 

seg 2


When pulling up a log, ProTrack defaults to 

a date that is 3 or 4 months prior. I would 

like this to default to a current date. Is this a 

default you can adjust for me


I would like to be able to print air date & time 

when researching Program Info on Air Date 

List (F3) screen. (I want to print the whole 

list, not just is visible on the screen.)


Open Q & A 

From the Audience

Thanks for your participation 

at the TAC sponsored 

ProTrack Session 

support@myersinfosys.com

Do You Have A Question for the ProTrack Team? - PBS

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