Glossory of Advantage Terms

• Job – A job is a project we’re working on for a client. Each job can have many components, and each component can have many tasks with it. But the overall project or objective is called a ‘job.’ An example of a job would be VisitLex’ brand guide.

• Job jacket – A job jacket is a place within Advantage where every piece of information needed for a job is stored. This will include things like files, objectives, timelines, and milestones.

• Component – A component is one specific part of a job. It’s one complete objective within a job that usually has several tasks and several stakeholders needed in order to complete the component. An example of a component would be logo design for Visit Lex’ brand guide.

• Alert – An alert is an email notification we send out each time a task is asssigned. Alerts have every piece of information needed in order to complete that task, and they’re sent to every person involved, from the person doing the task, to the person supervising or in charge of approval.

Logging Into Advantage Turtorial Video and Steps

1. In your web browser, go to https://www.advantagehosted.com. 
   • You will want to bookmark this URL to access it quickly and easily. You will be using Advantage daily.

2. Click on “Webvantage”. This should take you to the sign-in page for Advantage.

3. You’ll be prompted to enter the following information to sign in:
   • Database: This will be “TCG” for everyone (The Cornett Group).
   • User ID: This will be provided to you from Kris Neuzel, it is usually “230” followed by your first name.
   • Password: This password will be provided to you along with your User ID, but can be changed per your preferences.

4. Click “Remember Me” if you’d like to avoid entering all of your login information each time.

5. Click “Sign in”

6. After this, you should be logged in and  directed to the Advantage homepage. 

How to Open a Job in Advantage Tutorial Video and Steps

1. From the homepage, click on the hamburger menu in the top left corner of the screen (next to the “Aqua” log). From this, the main menu should appear.

2. Click on “Project Management” → A sub-menu of choices should appear the “Project Management”

3. Click on “Job Jacket” within that sub-menu

4. A “Job Jacket” tab should open up in place of the home screen.

5. Click on the green “plus” button. This will prompt you to enter information about the job. It’s recommended that you always auto populate these fields as often as possible for consistency. This can be done by simply clicking on the section titles in blue and selecting from the list. The only parts that should be manually entered are the job name and component description.  The following fields will need to be entered:
   • Client name
   • Division
   • Product
   • Job Description
   • Job Description should begin with client code and include something descriptive enough for you and the team to understand what the project is. Also recommend putting some kind of date in the name (FY23 or October 2022).
   • For example: UKHC - Brand Campaign FY23 or VLEX - Fall Digital Media FY23 or TSFF - Apple Store Mural October 2022   - Component Description
   • Note: The component description will automatically be the same as the job description. However, you can override this and manually change it to whatever you want it to be. This is useful when you plan to have multiple components under one job.  
   • For example:
     • Job Description example: UKHC Brand Campaign FY23
     • Component Descriptions examples: Planning and Strategy, Media Buying, Digital Ad Development, Print Ad Development
       • Sales Class
   • Select the category of the project you are working on.  - Account Executive
   • This is automatically populated with the account manager. - Project Manager: 
   • Note: this should always be the creative operations manager, Cathryn Hahn, but can be updated when you create a schedule.
6. Click on “create job.”  This should take you to your newly created job jacket.

What’s in a Job Jacket?

• Job Information: your job number and information about the job description

• Comments: This is where the details of the job can be placed. Job comments will be carried through within every component of the job jacket.

• Job Component Information: your job component number and information about the component description
  • Background Information (specific to job):
    • Presentation/Brief links
• Component Comments: This is where details specific to the job component can be placed.
  • Background Information (specific to component, as needed):
    • Presentation/Brief links
    • List of attached Documents (in Documents Tab)
    • Key Milestones/Timeline/Final Due Date
    • Budget
    • Reference Job #s
  • Direction for Copy/Messaging
  • Direction for Design/Visuals
  • Final Deliverable(s):
    • Examples: Specs, Quantity, Vendor info, links to DAM or assets, etc.
• All of this information can be updated at any time (Just make sure to click on the floppy disk icon at the top of the page before navigating to a new section to save any changes!)

To make additional components:

• Click on “new component” within your job jacket (next to the “save” button)

• Check “Override First Component Description” → This will allow you to rename the component description so that it’s not the same as the job description or previous component created.

• Click on “Create Component” → This will take you to the new component’s job jacket.

Uploading Documents into a Job Jacket Video tutorial and Steps

1. Within your job jacket, click on “Documents” on the left hand side of the screen.
   • Click on the “Up” arrow to upload. This should prompt you to fill out the following:
   • Whether you want to upload a file/document, or include a link
   • File details/Finding a file on your computer to upload.
   • Selecting the type of file you’ll be uploading
   • Options to add a file description, keywords or labels to identify what you’re uploading

2. Once you’ve entered all of the information on the form, click on the “Up” arrow again to upload your document. 

3. All documents can be accessed later on within the “Documents” section of your job jacket, and they can be included later on in alerts that you send for job schedules/tasks.

Building Schedules

1. Within your job jacket, click on “Schedule” on the left hand side of the screen.

2. Before you can create a project schedule, you’ll be prompted to enter the Traffic Status and Project Manager.  
   • Note: The Project Manager will always be the creative resource manager (ex: hahn).

3. Click on “Create Project Schedule” → This will now take you to the schedule and allow you to add tasks to schedules.

4. Click on the green plus button to add a line item to the schedule

5. From here, you’ll be prompted to enter the following information:
   • Task code → Clicking into the box will give you a variety of task codes to choose from, or you can type it in manually
   • Task description → This will auto populate based on the task code you enter
   • Status → You have the option to choose “Projected” or “Active”. In order for the task to show up on task lists, the task MUST be labeled as “active.”
   • Start date, due date and time due
   • Default Hours
   • Employees assigned to task
   • Task comments: a brief description of the task being assigned
   • Priority

6. Once the line items are filled out, click on the floppy disk icon to save, and the task should be added to the schedule. 

7. Repeat these steps to add more items to your project schedule.

Tutorial 1 Tutorial 2

How to Pull Schedules to See Creative Team Bandwith Video Tutorial and Steps

1. From your desktop, go to the hamburger menu.

2. Open Project Management > Reports > Task List

3. On the third box down, select Choose Employees, and select the name of the employee you want to retrieve a schedule for first.

4. Under Date Options, select the start and end dates you want to show in your task list

5. Under Sort Options, select Due Date

6. Make sure, on the right-hand side, make sure the comments box is checked so that you see task comments.

7. Check the Save My Options box at the bottom to save these preferences.

8. Then click View to download a PDF report.

How to Send an Alert in Advantage Video Tutorial and Steps

1. Once your schedule is built, you can send an alert through Advantage to email everyone involved in the project.

2. Within your schedule, click on the icon with 3 dots at the top of the left hand menu.

3. Click on “Send Alert”

4. From here, you’ll be prompted to draft your alert and can enter the following information:
   • Recipients to alert: Include everyone you’d like to send the alert to
     • NOTE: Always include the creative resource manager in alerts so that they can be notified/kept up to date on projects coming through the pipeline at a high level.
   • Project details: Start date, due date, time due, subject
   • Description: Draft this section like you would an email. Describe the task at hand and when it’s due. Give as much information as you can so that your team has what they need to get started on the project.
   • Add Attachments/Link: Here, you can include any documents you’ve already uploaded to the job jacket, or you can upload any new documents you’d like to include that will be helpful for the project. 

5. Once all of the information is filled out, scroll back up to the top and click on the mail icon to send the email and alert recipients. 

6. You should also receive a copy of this alert to your inbox. Once you hit send, this will start an email thread for your team to collaborate on the project. It also provides an easy way for your team to view the project schedule, job number, and the alert details in Advantage. 

Building Estimates Video Tutorial and Steps

Estimates are an important tool within the job jacket. It allows you to put together estimated costs associated with the project, and helps you create a professional document to receive internal and client approval on pricing. 

1. To create an estimate, click on “Estimate” within the left hand menu in the job jacket.

2. From here, you’ll be prompted to confirm the following information:
   • Client
   • Division
   • Product
   • Job
   • Component
   • Sales Class
   • Description
   • Note: Most of these sections will already be populated based on what you entered when you originally created the job, so it should not need to be changed.

3. Click on “Create Estimate”

4. This will direct you to the estimate page, which contains the following information:
   • Estimate information (estimate # and component)
   • Comments
   • Quote: This is where you enter specific details to appear on the estimate. Consider this your contract for this project with the client that you will get their signature on. Some things to include:
     • The high level scope of the project - what the total estimate includes.
     • Anything that should be considered out of scope.
     • Timeline/Due date
     • Final Deliverables
     • Contingency (some clients allow us to put a line like “This estimate is subject to +/- 15 % contingency).
     • Billing terms
     • Any cancellation notices

5. Within the “quotes” section, click on the “plus” button to build an estimate.

6. You’ll need  to enter the following information:
   • Function Code: All functions you can include in an expense has a set code within Advantage. Double clicking within the box will provide you with a dropdown list of options to choose from (example: prodex = production expenses) 
   • Function Description: This will auto populate based on the function code entered (example: Production Expenses)
   • Detail Comments: A place to enter any detailed comments about the function being expensed. I would recommend keeping this section more concise and include just enough detail so that people can understand what this estimate is.
     • This section can be hidden prior to downloading and sharing with the client.
   • Supplied By: Which vendor is supplying the function → double click within the box to select from a list of options (Example: proplu = Promotional Products Plus)
     • This field does not have to be filled in unless it’s something that the account team or client wants to see.
   • Quantity/Hours: The quantity of items being purchased, how many estimated hours will be used for the particular function chosen, etc.  
     • Note: If a function you’re adding into the estimate is something that will have a set cost no matter the quantity/hours, you can set the quantity/hours as “1” and then Advantage will markup the set rate you include. 
   • Rate: The rate/cost of the expense before markup; Advantage will then automatically calculate what the cost would be after markup and include that in your estimate.

7. Once the line for that function is complete, click on the blue “plus” button. This will save the information that you entered and will allow you to add additional line items if there are more functions you’d like to include in your estimate.

8. Once you’ve included everything you’d like to add to the estimate, scroll back up to click on “print/send.” 

9. You can customize what options appear within the columns by clicking on the “Settings/Options” button at the top of the screen and checking the boxes of the headings you’d like to include/leave out. 

10. Click on “options.” This will give you a list of options that you can have included in your estimate, such as address/contact information, comments, job options, etc. This is where you can make your expense as detailed as possible. It’s typically best to make the estimate as general as possible. However, depending on your client, they may ask that the estimate be more broken down/detailed.
    • For example, some clients like to see the hours broken down by function. While others only need to see the final cost of the total project. 

11. When you’re ready to download/print the estimate, click on “print/send” and then click on print. This will automatically download a copy of the estimate to your computer.

12. The estimate should be reviewed by the account management team before being shared with the client. Once the estimate has been approved internally, click on the “Internal Approval” button at the top of the screen. Note who the estimate was approved by, the date, and any additional notes. (Example: “Approved by Lacy via email”). 
    • Click “Save.”
    • The estimate will then clearly say in the top right corner that it has been internally approved.
    • By doing this, it will allow for the accounting department to see what we estimated for the project and the account management team to compare to actual time spent when processing billing. 
13. Similarly, once the estimate has been approved by the client, click on “Client Approval.” Note who it was approved by, the date, and any additional notes (Example: approved by Erin McElwain via email). Marking the estimate approved is necessary to ensure it shows up on the jobs details report that Kris Neuzel shares with the Brand management team monthly when processing billing. It allows to easy side by side comparison of estimated hours vs actual hours. Without being marked as approved, it will look like there is no estimate in the system. 
    • Click “Save.”
    • The estimate will then clearly say in the top right corner that it has been client approved.
14. If needed, estimates can be revised, deleted, or unapproved.