Key Features

  • Schema planning and budgeting - provides a flexible and easy to use graphical schema scheduling and versioning tools, integrated with presentation templates and long-term programme (and series) planning functions in a multi-channel environment. Schematic period based budgeting functions support business planning based on transmission costs, amortization, production costs, and acquisition costs. Revenue planning based on programming content is supported as well. Long-term programme planning operations and programming scenarios can be built according to the schema requirements in order to verify the feasibility of the schema and its financial limits.
    • Graphical user interface with highly configurable schema presentation features and drag&drop operations;
    • Schema versioning for easy to use schema modifications and alternatives;
    • Schema modifications for already "running“;
    • Schemas with direct links to active transmission schedules for global changes;
    • Programme and series planning;
    • Financial planning functions;
    • Presentation template editing.
  • Transmission scheduling - a graphical programme planning and scheduling tool integrated with the schema planner for complex series and programme planning operations, while supporting automatic replay planning, run availability checking, and billing for multilanguage environments. It provides easy to use hierarchical transmission schedule (play-list) editing tool with direct links to content and media management libraries, commercial content downloads and synchronization, and frame precision time scheduling functions. Complete self-promotion workflow includes planning, production, and scheduling support and is an integral part of the transmission scheduler.
    • Flexible profile-based presentation of information an alert visualization;
    • Schema versioning for easy to use schema modifications and alternatives;
    • Integrated access to content and media management libraries;
    • Immediate run availability checking;
    • Immediate media availability and tracking functions;
    • Series episode rescheduling;
    • Live-events and secondary events support;
    • Multilingual programme billing and EPG;
    • Self-promotion workflow;
    • Play-list consistency checking and automation interfaces.
  • Production management - consists of three integrated functional areas which provide complete application support for production and post-production planning, resource dispatching, and production cost management. Tight integration of production management functions with channel management and planning creates an ideal environment for information sharing and for the exchanges between planning and production processes. Detailed budgeting and cost management functions improve financial insight into the production processes and resource utilization.
    • Hierarchical production budgeting for both internal and external costs;
    • Production contracts, invoicing and cash-flow tracking;
    • Production project planning, documentation storage and reporting;
    • Resource shift management;
    • Production resource planning, costing, dispatching, and utilization tracking;
    • Advanced graphical scheduling, conflict alerts and warnings;
    • Materials management, personality and used music editing and reporting;
    • Royalty payments management.
  • Rights management - covers the complete workflow related to rights and material acquisition in a multilingual and multicurrency environment from title samples and purchase requirements to right deals and material shipment. The module provides accurate and highly optimized information for every person involved in the acquisition process. Strong financial management features support a multicurrency environment with options to store information based on prices related to rights, materials, and services, track invoices and payment schedules.
    • Title samples, sample material tracking and storage, previews and evaluation, purchase requirements;
    • Acquisition contracts, license pricing, payment schedules, invoice tracking;
    • TBA start dates, multichannel rights options and restrictions, bonus runs and other advanced features;
    • Language version licensing;
    • Shipping material requirements, delivery tracking, quality assurance support;
    • Flexible amortization models, multiple amortization rules per license;
    • Automatic run evaluation against transmission planning.
  • Content management - are the centre piece of metadata storage and editing related to the programming assets owned by the organization.
    They also represent a workflow management tool tracking all material movements: copying, archiving, searching and evaluation. Through its extensible data model the GMedia metadata catalogue is ready to support all custom requirements related to content identification, classification, and description. Digital materials management and tracking functions are tightly integrated with all functions provided by the solution.
    • Multi-site programme library support;
    • Extensible content classification and description;
    • Used-music, personalities and used-materials editing, searching, and reporting;
    • Flexible asset identification support for media ID;
    • Post-production clip management tasks and workflow support;
    • Material and programme versioning and preview;
    • Full-text searching options, user-defined querying and reporting.
  • Media management - GMedia media management functions are ready to support both tape and digital media workflow. All media metadata and functions are tightly integrated with the channel management and production management modules, providing for immediate updates on media status that are necessary for the completion of transmission planning and production tasks. Included are also generic interfaces to digital asset management solutions in order to track media creation, media copies, and to support unique media identification. Tape-based workflow for multi-site tape libraries is supported by extensive bulk operations.
    • Digital media workflow support;
    • Multi-site tape library;
    • Media versioning;
    • Music library;
    • Dual tape identification support;
    • Media check-in and check-out, location and personal responsibility tracking;
    • Tape bar-code printing and reading;
    • Media management and movement tasks;
    • Transmission materials workflow;
    • Production materials workflow;
    • Digital asset management interfaces.
  • Financial management - covers the complete financial workflow in a multicurrency environment of a broadcasting organization. All data entered into and processed by the GMedia database can be provided either in a form of aggregate (cost of a transmission day) or detailed (programme cost amortization) printed reports or in a form of data exports for follow-up financial operations using 3rd party software solutions (ERP, SAP,Oracle, Microsoft).
    • Structured budgeting support related to the programming schema with configurable budgeting structure covering both expenses and revenues;
    • Programme production budgeting and evaluation support for both long-term production projects as well as individual productions;
    • Production resource usage costing with a flexible costing structure bound to the production budget, external resource usage invoicing, production cash-flow tracking, and royalty payments;
    • Financial management of acquisition contracts, license pricing, payment schedule specification and tracking, and invoice tracking;
    • Shipping materials tracking and financial management (including costs of materials, license valuation including material and post-production costs, etc);
    • Multiple license asset valuation and amortization models run independently at the same time (both usage and time based models with various options are supported);
    • Acquisition payment tracking in relation to the contract and acquisition invoices.
  • Metadata archive - offers advanced on-line searching services tightly integrated into the client application for complete archive content searching and presentation. The implementation also opens a door to access the metadata archive and its searching features through SOA tools and technologies and to populate the metadata archive from 3rd party sources including production and post-production workflows.
    • Context based XML metadata database capable to attach XML metadata to any object managed by the GMedia TX database;
    • Relational data conversion tools for automatic conversion of structured operational data into XML metadata database with load balancing options (conversion queue management, scheduled conversions);
    • SOA based integration tools to download the metadata from 3rd party sources with flexible XML parsing support;
    • Context based XML full-text indexing and searching support with load balancing options;
    • Metadata searching support and result presentation integrated into the GMedia TX client application;
    • Metadata distribution services for both off-line (email) and on-line (SOA) distribution and integration with 3rd party components;
    • SOA based metadata searching and access services.
  • Integration - provides features and functions for integrating the solution with other asset and workflow management systems and platforms.
    • Configurable asset numbering functions including programme IDs, tape IDs, media material IDs and others;
    • Extensible metadata structures;
    • Support for both tape and digital media workflow;
    • Off-air ingest planning and execution support;
    • Transmission play-list bound media handling requirements and tasks;
    • Task-based production and post-production workflow and digital media handling support;
    • Open and configurable data interfaces for easy integration with other IT solutions and broadcasting technologies (SAP, Navision, Omnibus, Harris, Ibis, Fork, Infostudio);
    • Internal messaging support for change notification with gateways to email solutions.