Budget tool FAQ

Here are frequently asked questions about the Budget tool. Please send questions, tips to Ted Mellnik.

Where do I find the Budget tool?
Click on the Budget link at top left of The Big O home page. Remember to use the browser Internet Explorer, not Netscape.
Also, you can get to the Budget tool from CCI's Reference menu.

What if I get a message that the Budget tool page can't be found?
In Internet Explorer, click on the menu item Tools.
Click on Internet Options.
Click the Connections tab.
Click the button LAN Settings.
Make sure the Automatically Detect Settings box is checked, and the other two choices are not.
Click on OK twice to get out.

I can't seem to call up the new budget on the Big O. I click and nothing happens.
Use Internet Explorer, not Netscape. Netscape won't work. There should be an IE icon (blue, lower-case e) on every desktop.

Stories don't come back in the right order. Top stores aren't at the top.
Stories are always listed by PubDate, Section, Page, Play and Slug. Make sure each story has at least the first three filled in accurately.

Do I have to create a separate budget entry for each of those zillions of items that run every week, or every day?
You can group multiple routine, recurring items for a section into one budget entry. For example, you could create a single budget item slugged insidestuff. In the Description box, you could put

WEATHERBOX   High and low temps for all our burgs.

LANDERS      Ann Landers column.

PORK         Weekly pork bellies wrap-up.

Once you create one of these, you can copy & paste the list into new budget entries.
NOTE: You probably should create a separate budget entry for all staff-written stories.

How do I make related stuff, like sidebars, appear together?
Two choices. One, budget sidebars in the same item as the main. See Q&A just above. Or two, use similar slugs that will appear together alphabetically. Budget order is PubDate, Section, Page, Play and Slug.

Should slug names include the date? Any other guidelines ?
Slug names in the Budget tool should NOT include the date. Just use the word.
Except for the date, the Budget slug name should always be the same as the CCI story name. If needed, change the Budget entry if the CCI story name doesn't match.
NOTE: So to match CCI, Budget slugs should not be duplicated on the same publication date.

How do we know if lengths are inches or lines what?
Always include in length whether it's inches or something else. The length box will hold up to 16 characters. So you could enter: 16 inches, or 8", or about 10", or 350 lines.

How do I look at stories we're doing both for our section and for 1A, different sections?
The key here is Team. Every budget line that has a reporter or editor should have a Team. To view the stories you want, enter a PubDate and check your Team (or Teams). Then click Get.

My story has been held. Do I have to create a new budget item for the new publication date?
No. You can just change the PubDate on the existing item. In a Budget, click on the story slug. That takes you into a window for editing a budget entry. You can also change the slug, description, etc. Don't forget to click the Save item button when you're done.

Help. I need to change a slug. I can delete characters, but when I type, nothing happens.
The slug box is overly full, usually with a bunch of spaces. With your cursor in the Slug box, hold down the Ctrl key and hit the letter a. This should highlight everything in the Slug box. Hit delete. Now you should be able to type in a new slug.
NOTE: If this happens, please report it.

The budget buttons on The Big O, how do they work?
The button called Metro brings up a daily budget of stories being reported by Metro teams, no matter what section they will appear in. The button called 3:30 brings up an overall daily budget designed for the 3:30 pm news meeting. Default publication date for both buttons is tomorrow. Enter another date in the box to get another day.





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