When a log will not import

Work through these in order. Each step rules something out, and the first two answer most problems.

1. Ask the automation what it did

On Daily Log, press Verify import on a sent log.

This reads your automation system's own report. Sending means Cartwright wrote a file into a watched folder. Whether the automation read it, and what it made of it, is a separate question — and it is the one that matters.

Do not guess from a dialog box. The automation writes its answer down, and Verify import reads it.

2. Read what it says

Every automation system words it differently, but the answers come in four kinds:

• It took everything. The rows offered and the rows inserted match. Done.
• It found nothing for a particular time. Not an error. That break has nothing sold into it. Expect one for every unsold break in the hour.
• It took nothing, but understood the file. The format was right, but the automation had no break at that time to merge the rows into. This looks like a format problem and is not, and it can stay silently wrong for months.
• It rejected the file. A column or layout problem. Normal use should never cause this. Do not adjust importer settings by hand; call us on (707) 505-8885 or email hello@cartwright.fm.

3. Check the file reached the folder

If Settings shows the On-Air Bridge as anything but ready, the folders cannot be reached and nothing has been delivered. The banner names which folder.

4. Check the automation knows about the audio

A file on disk is not the same as a file the automation knows about. Most systems look up a cart in a library they scanned earlier, so a file added after that scan is invisible to them.

A row can fail for that reason alone, with nothing wrong in the log at all. See Automation systems for the specifics.

5. Changing a day that has already been sent

A sent log will not generate again. That guard stops a day being quietly replaced underneath the automation.

Use Revoke delivery. It reports whether the automation had already read the file, which decides whether anything changed on air.

If it had, treat what is on air as correct and fix forward. Do not assume the revoke undid it.

What is never the answer

Do not edit your automation system's database, and do not reshape its rotations to make an import fit.

Cartwright writes a file into a watched folder and stops there. That boundary is why a bug on this side cannot take your station off the air, and it is worth more than any single spot.