New Hampshire Union Leader Leads the Way in SCS Integration

As the primary news source for the state of New Hampshire and a newspaper with a national audience, the Union Leader is a complex operation. With statewide penetration, a multi-faceted web presence and four regional papers, the Manchester-based paper needed an advertising accounting and designware package as solid as the bedrock from which the Granite State takes its nickname.

That's when SCS entered the picture.

SCS has been working with the Union Leader for more than a decade and the biggest paper in New Hampshire makes good use of our entire package of software for its display and classified advertising departments. From AdMAX™ to Community Advertising Services, the Union Leader has what it takes to meet the integrated, cost-efficient demands of today's newspaper industry.

"What's terrific is that it's all integrated. It's extremely flexible and we do everything we can with the system," said Joyce Levesque, chief financial officer at the Union Leader.

SCS Business Systems Manager, Keith Keffer, who has been working with Levesque and her team for the past year, says the Union Leader is a great example of what can be done with SCS's wide array of offerings.

"They use everything in the system the way I'd hope people would use it," Keffer said. "This site is one that really wanted to take advantage of the best practices available through our applications."

Among the packages already in use are:

• AdMAX™ - Accounting for Retail and Classified
• eTearAdBoss™ - Handling of tear sheets 
• SCS/ClassPAG™- Classified pagination
• SCS/Track™ -  Ad tracking and workflow management 
• CAS - Community Advertising Services for self-service display ad workflow and for self-service classified order entry
• Layout-8000™ - Page dummying

They have just gone live with the self-service classified module, Keffer says, noting that it allows sales representatives to input ad orders as well as allowing members of the public to order and create their own ads.

Levesque, who has been involved in almost all of the implementation and oversees the operations from the accounting side, said the programs have been integral to the paper's efforts to create efficiencies and expand the services to its own customers.

Adding the SCS/Track and AdMAX applications allowed the Union Leader to eliminate the multiple platforms previously required to coordinate the ad orders, placement and billing.

One of the biggest advantages of the AdMAX application, said Levesque, is that it keeps track of current customer billing and lets newspaper representatives know when a delinquent customer tries to post a new ad.

"The advertising system travels all the way through to print and web, customer credit and ad sizing," she said. "This has helped us manage revenue, too. We are very, very pleased."

---