MusicMaster Blog
Rule Issues? Ask The Rule Wizard posted on July 15th, 2013
By Jesus Rodriguez
In this blog post we will take a journey like a storybook does to meet the Rule Wizard who is always available to help us in a time of need. We often get calls asking why certain rules are not functioning properly. Are my rules to tight? May be to loose? Do I have the right times set for my rules? I just did a new database what rules should I use? I inherited a database but I don’t know if the person before me had the correct rules? Can you help us because we made huge changes to the database and now it’s acting weird?
Anytime I am asked any one of those questions my first response is always “Lets check with the Wizard?” After a few seconds of them realizing that we have a Rule Wizard in MusicMaster and that I’m not a kid that just put down his Harry Potter book to answer their phone call it all starts to make sense. Plus I only read Harry Potter during lunch.
If you have ever doubted the settings on your Minimum Rest, Keyword Separations, or even your Hour Rotations you will never have to worry about that again. Seriously, didn’t we transferred from the business program to broadcasting so we didn’t have to do any math in the first place? If we had a wizard in school maybe we would have stuck it out in business but we didn’t have a wizard so MusicMaster figured we might need one. The Rule Wizard will do all the calculations to maximize the fullest potential of your database. The Wizard will show you which rules will create no problems, which rules should be tightened up and which rules may be to restrictive. One click is all it will take to pick and choose the suggestions you want to use or even pick the entire list of suggestions at once.
When in the Rule Tree select the Rule Wizard Icon:
After choosing the icon, the Wizard will begin to go through your database in order to make the proper suggestions. When the process is completed, you will be able to see its suggestions in the bottom portion of your screen.
Above you will see the that the Wizard will show you its results and suggest which rules you have that may be too loose or too restrictive. The Wizard will also let you know which rules caused imperfect or unscheduled positions the last time you scheduled.
If you decide that you would like to use all or any of the suggestions that the Wizard brought to light simply use the toolbar to do so.
Icons from left to right: Close the Rule Wizard, Activate this Suggestion, Activate all Suggestions, Hide Suggestions, Restore Hidden Suggestions, and Recalculate the Rule Wizard. Recalculate is helpful after you’ve implemented some of the suggestions.
There is no yellow brick road to see the Wizard because it is always there to assist you if you need to recalculate your rules. I highly suggest paying the Rule Wizard a visit once in a while so that things are always in order. This is especially true when making big changes to your database like adding more categories, more songs to a category, or using new clocks.
If for whatever reason the Rule Wizard gives you suggestions you don’t understand, remember that you can always get in touch with your MusicMaster Scheduling Consultant who can help explain the suggestions. Your Consultant may even put on their pointy wizard hat. Of course, since this is radio, you’ll just have to take our word for it.