Setting up distributed scheduling in Film Manager

Use distributed scheduling in Film Manager after completing the following setup.

Head Office codes

HO (Head Office) Codes are optional for films and sites in Head Office but necessary when using a distributed scheduling workflow in Film Manager.

The HO Code field must be populated with a unique code in every Film and Site maintenance form, and must match the film and site HO Code in Cinema Manager.

HO Codes are also necessary when uploading data from Cinema Manager to Head Office for summarisation and aggregated reporting.

Cinema screens 

In a distributed scheduling workflow, you may wish to assign films to booking slots rather than individual screens. Booking slots are used to indicate the relative size of screens (for example: booking slot 1 indicates the largest screen in a cinema). When bookings are downloaded to Cinema Manager, local cinema managers can use this information to assign the films to screens.

In order to use the Holdover Sheet in Booking Slot mode, you must specify a number of booking slots for each cinema.

Before you begin

Contact your Vista representative to ensure you're set up to operate in Booking Slot/Booking Approval mode.

Steps

1. Set the number of Booking Slots in Head Office > Maintenance > Film Scheduling for each of your cinemas. The number of Booking Slots defaults to the number of screens at the cinema.
2. Go to Head Office > Maintenance > System Settings.
3. Click Select Category > FILMSCHED.
4. Set the Configuration Value for HoldoverSheetView to Booking Slot or Booking Approval.
   

   Note: We recommend that you configure cinema screen properties even if you use booking slots.

Automatically linking films to sites

A number of Film Manager tools let you link films to cinemas automatically, rather than manually. If you are using the Holdover Sheet, for instance, you can choose to automatically link films that have been added to the sheet to a cinema upon saving.

1. In Holdover Sheet, select Tools > Options.
2. Set Film Linking Mode to Auto-link to cinema when assigning film in holdover.

Warning: If your organisation uses Cinema Manager in Booking Slot or Booking Approval mode, exports to Cinema Manager will be made via a webservice. Webservice exports will fail if the film record doesn't exist at Cinema at the time the Holdover Sheet is exported. Therefore, users who maintain Holdover records and who want to export soon after saving (within the space of a day) should not use automatic linking.

See also:

• Film Manager
• About film programming
• Minimum requirements for Film Manager