How to Use the Advertiser Helper Layout Selector
The Layout Selector window is a popup screen called from the various analysis and reporting screens. It has 3 different tabs for changing different options as they relate to the layout and calculation of the reporting statistics. There is also a common pane on the right side of the screen which allows the order of the columns in the datagrid listing to customized.
Columns on each of the 3 screens can be added to or removed from the datagrid report simply by checking or uncheck the checkbox next to the column description. The columns and rows screens have an additional "Select/Unselect All" checkbox in the bottom row, for each column. Selecting or unselecting this box causes all of the columns boxes above to also be selected or unselected.
Software Features for the Layout Selector
Layout Selector Column Display Order
As columns are added or removed on each of the three screens, they will also be automatically added or removed from the Column Display Order box on the the right side of the screen. This box simply lists all of the columns which are currently in the datagrid report listing, and the order of display.
To change the order, simply select one of the column names in the box and click either the up green arrow or down green arrow at the top right. The up arrow will move the selected column closer to the front of the datagrid report listing and the down arrow will move it further to the end.
Layout Selector General Data
The general screen column options are descriptive data. Mostly descriptions of the various levels of activities. Couple exceptions, the activity date and the hieararchy level.
The activity date can only be selected for those layout which involve as listing by date - such as the Advertising Activity Analysis. For this layout, the remaining description columns on this screen are greyed out, meaning they are disabled. Likewise, for the layouts which are not sorted by date the Activity Date column is greyed out, or disabled, and the remaining columns are available for selection.
The hieararchy level column option is represented by an image, see the Advertising Activity Detail report listing. There is no numeric or descriptive data associated with this column.
Layout Selector Columns Data
The second, columns screen has column options for each of the levels of advertising activity. The columns for Avg, Max and Min are presently not implemented. Choosing the will simply results in a column with zeroes on your report.
The first column, row, represents the sum of activities reported agains that specific row in the activities tree. Using the example below, "Page View" results have been entered for the online site activity with "www.advertiserh" in the description. Based on the date range parameters, all page views for this activity have been summed and reported for this activity only. The red box in the example below represents this.
The second column, sum, rolls up to the level(s) above the activity at where it was entered. The green box in the example below illustrates an example of this. So, if there were 12 page views for this particular online site then there were also 12 page views for this advertising message, which is the activity level just above. Continuing this example, the advertising group above this advertising message also had 12 page views. It stops depending on which activity level is currently selected in the activities tree.
Since your can define different layouts for each of the activity levels in the activities tree, this gives you considerable control over whether you want to see summary data for each level, or more detailed statistics (See the tools menu option for Layouts).
Example of Row column option versus Sum column option
Layout Selector Rows Data
The third, Rows screen is split into two different sections: Column display and column calculations.
During maintenance of your levels of advertising activity, the software captures whether you added new levels or changed existing levels. The "Row Totals Visible" allows you to control which of these activity level maintenance counts should be displayed.
In the example below, you can see the columns for "Sites Added" and "Sub Markets Added" to illustrate how this option works. It's often been said that "Sales and Marketing is a numbers game...". Well, now it can be quantified. If last we you add 10 new sites, and this week you added only 2 and your page views are down also - you know why.
The "Row Filtering" section on the right side of the screen, control 3 more options for each of the different levels of advertising activity. The first column, "Rows Visible", controls whether or not the level should be displayed. If you're looking at all of your advertising activity by selecting the top-level "Ad Methods" node in the activities tree, then you may not want to see all of the detail associated with the online sites and sub markets.
The second column, "Non-Zero Rows Visible" gives you a value based criteria for which rows are to be displayed. If the row has any of the columns being displayed with a positive or negative value, then the row will display on the report listing. Otherwise, it will not. This gives you the option to remove the "clutter" of advertising activities with "zero activity".
The third column, "Include in Calculated Columns", refers back to the statistical columns selected for display from the second, Columns, screen. A simple example is Page Views. Yo umay want to see totals for the Page Views from online sites and sub markets only. Page view results against the campaign advertising level, you do not want to see. So you then uncheck this box for the campaign level. Generally, the closer the result is entered to the actual advertising activity itself results in more acurate statistics to analyze with. This column give to the option to control this analysis.
Example of Row column option versus Sum column option