CAS 6.0 Release Guide (ZenDesk copy)

CAS 6.0 Release Guide

SCS · Version 6.0 · Plain-language overview of user-facing changes since version 5.18.

Version 6.0 rebuilds the way you place ads, look up customers, and start your day — and brings tools that used to live only on the old green screen into the web, right next to everything else. This document has three parts:

Part 1 — Guided Tour: what’s new, module by module.
Part 2 — Your New Home Screen: the new sign-in and home page.
Part 3 — Testing Checklist: small, tick-off checks for the acceptance pass.

Badge key: New = new capability · Improved / Rebuilt / Faster = improved · Fixed = bug fixed · Permission = needs an access right · Admin = for administrators · Migrated = moved from the old green screen.

Part 1 — Guided Tour

The big picture

Three themes run through 6.0. First, order entry was rebuilt as a clear, step-by-step flow that also works on a phone. Second, whole tools moved onto the web — most notably Customer Inquiry and the Interface Tool, which previously required the old X-Windows “green screen.” Third, the app got more personal and easier to navigate, starting with a brand-new home page.

You should be able to look up a customer, check a balance, place an ad, and see what needs your attention — all in the browser, without ever opening the old green screen.

Your new home screen

After you sign in, you now land on a personal Command Center instead of a plain welcome page: a greeting, your pinned shortcuts, a live “needs your attention” list, and a searchable grid of every tool you’re allowed to open. This is the short version — the full walkthrough is Part 2.

A launchpad, not a welcome page (New). One organized screen to start every session: greeting, quick shortcuts, what needs doing, where you left off, and all your tools.
Where: shown right after sign-in; the “Home” menu item.
Pin your favorite tools (New). Click the pin on any tool to promote it to a favorites bar at the top. No pins yet? You get sensible shortcuts for your role automatically.
Where: every tool tile; the bar at the top of Home.
“Needs your attention” (New). Live counts of work waiting on you — approvals, pending items, saved ad searches — each opening straight to the right place.
Where: left card of the Home context band.

Quick Order Entry (Module · QOE)

The display-ad order screen was rebuilt from the ground up into a modern, step-by-step wizard — clearer to follow, harder to make mistakes on, and now usable on a phone or tablet. Many capabilities from the desktop system came along with it.

A guided, step-by-step order screen (New, Rebuilt). Order, Ad Info, Placement and Uploads are now clearly separated steps with clickable breadcrumbs and Back/Next buttons. After you submit, an “Order Submitted” panel stays on the page with the order number and next actions — no more pop-up that vanishes on a stray click.
Where: Quick Order Entry, start to finish.
Works on phones and tablets (New). The step bar scrolls and centers itself, Back/Next stick to the bottom, and calendars and dropdowns stay within the screen.
Where: Quick Order Entry on a narrow screen.
Edit an ad that has already started (New, Permission). You can now edit an ad even after some dates have run. Dates already run or billed show as locked; future dates stay editable, and a locked date can never be dropped by accident.
Where: editing a started ad · needs the “edit started ads” permission.
A heads-up before re-billing (New). If an edit would change the price of dates that were already billed, the final Save shows exactly how the amount changes and warns that an adjustment will post to the customer.
Where: final Save when editing a started ad.
Place ads past deadline (New, Permission). Dates whose deadline has passed show in amber. Most users can’t pick them; users with the override permission can, after a “place anyway?” confirmation. Auto date-fill only chooses on-time dates.
Where: Select Publication Dates.
Upsells & Attributes step (New). A new step shows the add-ons configured for each product, chosen in a searchable “available / selected” picker. Charge items are badged and the price updates as you toggle them. The step only appears when a product actually has upsells.
Where: the “Upsells” step in the order wizard.
One “Adjust Price” dialog (Improved). The old multi-dialog override flow is now a single modal for both the whole-order override and per-product overrides (including $0). A reason is required and remembered, and an “OVERRIDE” marker shows in the breakdown.
Where: Pricing card → “Adjust Price.”
A better publication-dates calendar (Improved). One modal with an inline calendar: click dates directly, fill a From/To range, quick-fill a number of buys, and an “every other week” option that only appears for weekly schedules. Color-coded legends keep past-deadline and already-billed dates clear.
Where: the Select Publication Dates field.
Smarter fields that reject bad values (Improved). Dropdowns like Ad Category filter as you type and clear anything that isn’t a real option when you leave the field. Products you pick show as removable chips.
Where: order-entry form fields.
An actionable “required fields” list (New). Try to submit with something missing and you get a list grouped by step — each entry a button that jumps you straight to that field, scrolls it into view, and highlights it.
Where: on submit, when a required field is empty.
Confirm before losing work (New). Removing a product or leaving a page mid-order now asks first (naming the product it’s about to remove), so a stray click can’t wipe out an in-progress order.
Where: cart and navigation.
Move between entry and inquiry (Improved). Look up a customer in Customer Inquiry and “Place Display Ad” opens Quick Order Entry with them loaded. From a customer’s ad history you can Edit or Pick Up a display ad directly in Quick Order Entry.
Where: Customer Inquiry ↔ Quick Order Entry.
Faster loading & tidier notes (Faster). The screen shows a shimmering placeholder immediately instead of a blank flash. Ad notes moved to a cleaner card with per-note actions, and creating a new customer now correctly loads the template list.
Where: Quick Order Entry load, Notes card, New Customer.

Classified Order Entry (Module · COE)

Classified (liner) order entry gained the same modern conveniences as Quick Order Entry, plus a few of its own. It now starts from Customer Inquiry, so every classified ad is tied to the right customer from the outset.

Start from Customer Inquiry (Improved). Classified OE no longer has its own customer search. You pick the customer in Customer Inquiry and launch Classified OE for them; their name, account, contact and billing type carry straight in.
Where: Customer Inquiry → “Classified OE.”
Edit ads that have already started (New, Permission). Edit a classified ad after some dates have run. Already-run dates show locked and can’t be removed; the ad re-prices as you change it, and re-billing a posted date asks for confirmation.
Where: “Edit in Classified OE” · needs “Edit Started Ads.”
Adjust price — whole ad or per product (New). The same Adjust Price override as Quick Order Entry: override the total or an individual product’s price, including $0 (free). A reason is required and shown again when you reopen the ad.
Where: Classified OE → Adjust Price.
Place past deadline (with permission) (New, Permission). The old per-product “Override” button became a permission-driven model matching Quick Order Entry: past-deadline dates are amber and disabled unless you have the override permission, with a legend explaining the colors.
Where: Classified OE date picker.
Past dates no longer dropped when editing (Fixed). Past-but-never-posted dates now show (soft blue, labeled “Past date — not yet posted”) and are kept when you close the picker and save. Previously they were silently lost.
Where: editing an ad → date picker.
Optionally skip the payment step (New, Permission). A “Prohibit Payment” permission makes Classified OE skip the credit-card step entirely — replaced by a “Your Information” contact step. The ad is still priced and shows a receipt, and submits unpaid.
Where: Classified OE checkout · off by default.
Better ad-copy editing (Fixed, Improved). Pasting formatted text no longer dumps raw HTML, pressing Tab indents inside the field instead of jumping away, and a per-package “Strip Formatting” option forces plain text end-to-end. Uploaded Word/PDF files flow into the ad body.
Where: ad-copy fields; document upload.
Address autocomplete (New). The contact form suggests addresses as you type and fills the fields when you pick one.
Where: Classified OE contact form.
Ad Category is its own column & a stricter picker (Improved). Ad lists now show Ad Category as a separate column (Description keeps the real description). The Ad Category field itself became a type-to-filter picker that rejects anything that isn’t a real category.
Where: ad lists; the Ad Category field.
Uploaded logos archived; dead action hidden (Improved). A logo uploaded with a classified ad is now archived through AdMAX, and “View in Track” is hidden for classified liner ads where it doesn’t apply.
Where: logo upload; ad row actions.

Predefined Buys / packages (Module · Packages)

“Predefined buys” are pre-built packages an operator can drop into an order. In 6.0 they get a modern setup editor and a much better picker inside order entry, and CAS becomes the system of record — changes flow through to AdMAX.

A guided package editor (New, Admin). The old maintenance page is replaced by a step-by-step editor (Type, Basics, Products, Scheduling, Web Display, Styles, Classifications, Sizes, Review) with one Save button. Fields adapt to the package’s type.
Where: Customize → Predefined Buys.
Correct package types (Fixed). The type picker now offers the four real types — Classified Liner, Classified Display, Preprint, Retail — with the stray/mislabeled options gone, and only shows fields that apply to the chosen type.
Where: package editor → Type step.
A browseable package picker in order entry (Improved). The single dropdown became a searchable card grid that scales to 100+ packages, filtered to only the packages that match the ad type you’re entering. When you customize, each product is an opt-in row whose details load only when you check it.
Where: order entry → Predefined Buys.
Change ad type mid-order (New). The Ad Type no longer locks once you’ve added products. Change it and CAS asks to confirm, then clears the product items while keeping your order going.
Where: order entry → Ad Type.
Packages look like packages (Improved). A scheduled or reopened package now shows in the cart under its own name and lists its member publications, instead of misleadingly showing only the first publication.
Where: order cart.
Package sizes steer the order (Improved). When a package has specific sizes configured, order entry offers only those sizes. A new “Allow custom ad size” toggle (on by default) controls whether the custom-size option stays available.
Where: package editor → Sizes; order entry size step.
Scheduling date fixes (Fixed). Package run dates no longer shift a day earlier for users in Central/Pacific time, and “every other week” now only appears for weekly schedules where it makes sense.
Where: package scheduling / date pickers.
Run one ad across versions, clearly marked (Improved). “Create a new version for each publication date” now sends each date as its own distinct version, and a small “V” chip flags a versioned entry in the cart. Genuinely multi-version ads are steered to AdMAX for safe editing.
Where: version options and the cart.

Customer Inquiry (Module · CI · Migrated)

This is one of the headline changes: the customer-account inquiry tool that used to run only in the old X-Windows green-screen client is now a full page in the web app. You look a customer up once and their whole account is on one modern screen. (green screen → Customer Inquiry on the web)

The whole tool, now in the browser (Migrated). Account summary, balances, ads, payments, contacts, notes and more — all on one page. Reps no longer switch to the legacy client to see an account.
Where: “Customer Inquiry” on the main menu.
Look up a customer (Migrated). Search by Name, Phone, Customer ID or Address — plus alternate ID, Invoice Number, Ad Number and a created-date range — with results in a sortable, configurable grid.
Where: Customer Inquiry → Search.
Several customers open at once (New). Opening a customer keeps a tab for them, so you can work several side by side and switch instantly — instead of exiting and re-entering for each one.
Where: the tab bar across the top.
Account health at a glance (New). A summary card shows the customer, their sales rep, Total Due, an aging status (worst past-due bucket, color-coded), a credit-used gauge, and a prepay-required flag.
Where: top of the customer view.
Balances & invoices (Migrated). The full balance breakdown — posted/pending, unapplied credits, prepayments and the invoice list — matching the legacy inquiry, with drill-down into the underlying ad or invoice.
Where: Balances / Invoices sections.
Ad history you can act on (New). Every ad the customer placed, searchable, with row actions to open in Track, or Edit/Pick Up in the right order-entry screen — something the green-screen inquiry could not do.
Where: Ad History section.
Full payment history (Migrated). Recent payments with a “Full History” toggle, plus how each payment was distributed across invoices, and unapplied payments.
Where: Payments section.
Notes you can add and edit (New). Customer and credit notes aren’t just viewable — you can add, edit and delete them right where you research the account.
Where: Notes section; “Add Note” on the card.
Contacts, day-by-day & deep research (Migrated). Contacts with click-to-call/email, a day-by-day transaction ledger for any date range, plus Disputes, Make Goods, Writeoffs, Credit Links, Credit Card Log, Agencies, Aliases and Contracts — all migrated from the green screen.
Where: the account’s sections.
Create a customer & see them on a map (New). Create a new customer straight from search (with a duplicate check) and, when there’s a usable address, a location tile shows an embedded map.
Where: Search → Create New Customer; the location tile.
Make the view yours (New). Collapse or hide sections you don’t use, filter the section list, and read a short plain-language description on each section. The tool remembers your layout.
Where: section navigation / “Manage sections.”

Payments & billing (Module · Billing)

The customer-facing e-bill portal and the payment steps got a round of clarity fixes and conveniences.

Clearer e-bill statements (Improved). The e-bill ad list now shows Ad Category as its own column and keeps the real description, so ads no longer show repeated or blank text.
Where: E-Bill statement, ad list.
E-bill display & link fixes (Fixed). The customer name reads cleanly, a single billing contact loads correctly, invoice links appear only when there are invoices, and clicking an ad opens the right ad.
Where: E-Bill page (guest and logged-in).
Pay a specific invoice from a link (New). Opening e-bill from an invoice link auto-selects that invoice and starts the payment flow, then tidies the link so a refresh behaves normally.
Where: E-Bill payment flow, via an invoice link.
Address autocomplete when paying by card (New). The credit-card billing address offers autocomplete (with a search-by-company toggle); picking a suggestion fills address, city, ZIP, state and country.
Where: credit-card payment step (used across entry & e-bill).

Account & sign-in (Module · Account)

Account self-service got safer and clearer, especially for sites using single sign-on.

Set up security questions for the first time (New). Account Info now lets you create security questions, not just edit existing ones — the button reads “Set Up Security Questions” when none exist. This also unblocks password reset for those users.
Where: Manage → Account Info.
Single sign-on users see the right options (New). Users who sign in via SSO or Active Directory no longer see Change Password or Security Questions (with a short note explaining why), and forgot-password tells them to contact IT instead of sending a dead reset email.
Where: Manage Account; Forgot Password.
Sign-in fixes (Fixed). The Forgot Password link works on newly set-up sites, the built-in admin account can change its password again, and the most privileged “root” account can no longer create a login token.
Where: Login & account settings.

Lists, grids & exports (Everywhere)

Improvements here show up across the whole app, wherever you see a table of records.

CSV & PDF export works again (Fixed). Newer-style grids that returned “Failed to generate report” now export cleanly to both CSV and PDF.
Where: any list with Export to CSV/PDF.
Sorting sorts the right column (Fixed). Column sorting was corrected across several tables (including Customer Inquiry and the Interface Tool), so clicking a header sorts by that column.
Where: list grids throughout CAS.
Smarter columns (Improved). Grids can start with less-used columns hidden, the column panel has a mini search box, column filtering is back, and toolbar buttons show tooltips.
Where: grid column-management controls.
Clearer row actions & bigger results (Improved). Rows with a menu now show an icon and support right-click, and maintenance searches return many more results (up to 2,000) before truncating.
Where: grids with per-row actions; maintenance search.

Interface Tool (For operators · Migrated)

For the operators who configure how ad files flow into SCS: the Interface Tool — where each ingestion “interface” and its field mappings are defined — has moved off the green screen into the web. (This one is for administrators; the green-screen tool still works too.) (int_manager → Interface Tool on the web)

Configure interfaces in the browser (Migrated, Admin). A five-tab editor (Main, Alerts, Custom Fields, Destinations, Mappings) mirrors the old tabbed screen and writes exactly the same runtime configuration — no terminal access needed.
Where: Settings → Application → Interface Tool.
At-a-glance interface health (New). Each interface shows a colored status dot and a pending-file count: green (healthy), yellow (backed up), steady red (down), pulsing red (stuck). See whether an interface is running without logging into the server.
Where: Interface Tool → the interface list.
Field mappings as real grids (Improved). The value-mapping tables are now the same sortable, searchable, paged grids used elsewhere in CAS, with a right-click “Copy” to duplicate a mapping row.
Where: Interface Tool → Mappings tab.
Pick field names from a list (Improved). Field-name inputs across the mapping editors are now drop-downs of known SCS fields (you can still type your own), with an XML-path hint when you pick a known field and a guard that blocks conflicting mapping rules.
Where: Interface Tool → mapping row editors.
Destinations & alerts, self-service (Improved). Route an interface’s output to downstream apps with a checklist, manage the shared applications registry, and maintain the email alert list — all from the web.
Where: Interface Tool → Destinations / Alerts tabs.
Limited to authorized admins (Permission). The tool (renamed from “Interfacing” to “Interface Tool”) is only visible to root/admin accounts that hold the Interface Tool permission, since it affects live ad ingestion.
Where: Security Group maintenance; Settings → Application.

Part 2 — Your New Home Screen

Sign in to 6.0 and you no longer land on a plain welcome page. You arrive at a personal Command Center — a greeting, your shortcuts, what needs your attention, and a searchable grid of every tool you can open.

What’s on the page

Here’s the home screen, region by region, top to bottom:

Greeting. A dated, time-of-day greeting with your first name and your role — “Good morning, Dana · Sales.” If your site set up an Online Marketplace as a link, a globe pill sits on the right.
Announcements. Any banner messages an administrator posted for your group appear as colored strips you can dismiss for the session.
Your shortcuts. The tools you’ve pinned as favorites, as big action cards. Pinned nothing yet? You get shortcuts chosen for your role automatically.
Needs your attention · Pick up where you left off. Two cards: live counts of work waiting on you (each opens straight to it, and your saved ad searches appear here as live watch rows), and the tools you recently used.
Search tools. Type any tool’s name to filter instantly. Pressing the “/” key anywhere jumps your cursor into this box.
All your tools. Every tool you’re allowed to open, grouped by category, each a tile with a short description and a pin button.
Marketplace (optional). If your site pasted in a marketplace widget, it rides along as a tall card on the right of the top region.

What you can do here

The home page is built to save you clicks and show you what matters — and much of it personalizes itself with no setup.

Pin your favorite tools (New). Click the pin on any tool tile and it jumps to the favorites bar at the top. Hover a favorite to unpin it. Your pins are remembered.
Where: tool tiles & the top bar.
Search every tool instantly (New). Start typing a tool’s name to filter the whole grid. Press “/” anywhere on the page to jump straight into the search box.
Where: search bar above the tools.
See what needs your attention (New). Live counts of approvals and pending work, tuned to your role. Expand a row to see the actual items — each opens the right tool on that record. When you’re clear it says “You’re all caught up.”
Where: left card of the context band.
Watch your saved ad searches (New). Searches you save in Ad Inquiry appear here with a live match count; open a match and it opens in a new tab so your list stays put.
Where: inside “Needs your attention.”
Pick up where you left off (New). The tools you recently opened, newest first, with a relative time. One click to resume yesterday’s work; a “Clear” button empties the list.
Where: right card of the context band.
A greeting that knows your role (New). Time-of-day greeting by first name plus your role, and — before you’ve pinned anything — shortcuts chosen for whether you’re staff or an advertiser.
Where: top of the home page.
Announcement banners (New, Admin). Administrators can post messages (with a title, link, severity and date range) targeted to a user group; they show as dismissible strips at the top of matching users’ home pages.
Where: Customize → Banner Messages.
Online Marketplace widget (New, Admin). Sites can embed an online marketplace as a card on the home page, or add it as a simple link pill by the greeting.
Where: Web Settings → Online Marketplace.
Favorites match the Ctrl+K palette (Improved). The keyboard quick-launch palette’s “Favorites” now shows the exact same set as your home-page favorites, so tools stay in sync however you launch them.
Where: Ctrl+K palette.

A note on pins & recents: your pinned favorites and recent tools are remembered in the browser you’re using. Sign in on a different computer or browser and you’ll start fresh there — that’s expected, not a bug.

A fresh sign-in and a smarter look

The changes start at the front door and carry through the whole app’s color.

A cleaner sign-in screen (Redesigned). A centered “Sign in” card with password, single sign-on, create-account and forgot-password options, and the full two-step verification flow in tidy dialogs — on a richer, brand-tinted backdrop.
Where: the login screen.
Continue as a guest (New). A “Continue without signing in” card lists any tools your site has opened to the public — place an ad, pay a bill — so visitors can reach them without an account.
Where: the login screen.
Any brand color stays readable (Improved). The whole app’s colors now adapt from your site’s chosen brand color so text, buttons, links and highlights always stay clear — even with very light or very vivid brand picks that used to wash out.
Where: everywhere — buttons, links, highlights.
Consistent menus & dropdowns (Improved). The navigation bar keeps your chosen text color on hover, and dropdown lists no longer flash an unreadable first row — every picker behaves the same clean way.
Where: navigation bar & all dropdowns.

Pick any brand color you like — the interface keeps itself readable, in both bright and dark shades.

Five quick things to try

Sign in and read the top. Confirm you land on the dashboard and it greets you by name with your role.
Pin a tool. Click the pin on any tile and watch it appear in the bar at the top; reload and confirm it’s still there.
Search. Press “/” and type a tool name; confirm the grid filters to matches.
Check your attention list. Expand a “Needs your attention” row and confirm it opens the right tool on that item.
Reopen a recent tool. Open a couple of tools, come back, and confirm they’re listed under “Pick up where you left off.”

Part 3 — Testing Checklist

Work through the modules in any order. Each line is one small thing to do (marked ☐) and what you should see. Items marked (Permission) need a specific access right; (Admin) items are for administrators. A few checks depend on matching AdMAX/back-end behavior — confirm those against the live system.

HOME — Home & Dashboard

The new Command Center you land on after sign-in.

☐ Sign in. You land on the new dashboard (not a blank welcome page), greeted by your first name with your role shown.
☐ Click the pin on any tool tile. It appears in the favorites bar at the top with a filled look.
☐ Reload the page. Your pinned favorite is still there; hovering it shows an unpin button that removes it.
☐ Press the “/” key, then type part of a tool name. The cursor jumps to the search box and the grid filters to matching tools; clearing it restores the grouped list.
☐ Expand a row in “Needs your attention.” The underlying items load; clicking one opens the right tool on that record.
☐ Sign in as someone with no pending work. The attention card reads “You’re all caught up” instead of disappearing.
☐ Save a search in Ad Inquiry, then return to Home. It appears under “Saved Display Ad Searches” with a count matching Ad Inquiry; opening a match opens it in a new tab.
☐ Open a couple of tools, then come back to Home. They’re listed under “Pick up where you left off”; the “Clear” button empties the list.
☐ Sign in as an advertiser with no pins. The quick-launch bar shows advertiser shortcuts (place ad, send artwork, manage account, pay bill).
☐ Press Ctrl+K. The palette’s “Favorites” shows the same tools as your Home favorites bar.
☐ (Admin) Post a Banner Message dated for today, targeted at All Users; reload Home. A banner strip shows at the top; the X dismisses it and it returns after signing out and back in.
☐ (Admin) Set the Online Marketplace embed in Web Settings, then reload Home. The marketplace shows as an interactive card on the right; clearing it and setting only a URL shows a link pill by the greeting that opens in a new tab.

QOE — Quick Order Entry

The rebuilt display-ad order screen.

☐ Open Quick Order Entry and search for a customer. A clean search card; results appear in a modern table.
☐ Select a customer. A compact customer header appears above the order form.
☐ Move through the order steps using the breadcrumbs and Back/Next. One section shows at a time, the active step is highlighted, and you can jump back to a completed step.
☐ Complete and submit an order. An “Order Submitted” panel stays on the page with the order number and a “Place Another Ad” button — it doesn’t vanish on its own.
☐ Narrow the browser to phone width and move through the steps. No sideways scrolling; the step chips scroll and center, Back/Next stay pinned at the bottom, and calendars/dropdowns fit the screen.
☐ (Permission) Open an ad that has both past (run) and future dates. It opens for editing; run dates show locked with a “locked” badge, future dates stay editable.
☐ Try to remove a locked date, then save. The locked date is kept regardless.
☐ Open an ad whose dates are all in the past. Editing isn’t offered; Pickup is the path instead.
☐ (Permission) As a user without the “edit started ads” right, try to edit a started ad. The edit action is blocked.
☐ Edit a started ad so an already-billed date’s price changes, then Save. A confirmation names the old and new amounts and warns an adjustment will post.
☐ (Permission) Without the deadline-override right, open dates whose deadline has passed. Past-deadline dates show amber and can’t be selected.
☐ (Permission) With the override right, pick a past-deadline date and save. A “place anyway?” confirmation appears before it’s placed.
☐ Use the “number of buys” quick-fill on the date picker. Only on-time dates are auto-selected.
☐ Add a product that has upsells, open the Upsells step, and move one to Selected. The step appears, the item moves, charge items are badged, and the price updates. A product with no upsells shows no Upsells step.
☐ Open “Adjust Price,” set a total override with a reason, and Apply. One dialog handles total and per-product; the price recalculates, an “OVERRIDE” marker shows, and reopening restores the reason. “Clear all overrides” returns to normal.
☐ Click the publication-dates field and use From/To plus “number of buys.” A modal calendar opens and fills the range; “every other week” appears for weekly schedules but not daily ones.
☐ In Ad Category, type something invalid and click away; then type a valid option. The invalid value clears; a valid one filters and selects. Selected products show as removable chips.
☐ Submit with a required field empty. A “Required Fields” dialog groups the missing fields by step; clicking one jumps to that step and highlights the field.
☐ Add a product, then click its cart “x.” A confirmation names the product before removing it; leaving mid-order also asks before discarding.
☐ From Customer Inquiry, use “Place Display Ad,” then “Edit in QuickOE” on a display ad. Quick Order Entry opens with that customer / that ad loaded.
☐ Open Quick Order Entry fresh. A shimmering placeholder shows immediately, then the real content fades in (no blank flash).
☐ Start creating a new customer from Quick Order Entry. The Customer Template dropdown is populated (not empty).

COE — Classified Order Entry

The liner-ad order screen.

☐ In Customer Inquiry, find a customer and click the “Classified OE” shortcut. Classified Order Entry opens with that customer already filled in — no separate customer search.
☐ Complete and place a simple classified ad. The finished ad shows the correct customer name and account (not a default/blank customer).
☐ (Permission) Edit a classified ad that has already started. Already-run dates show selected and locked; future dates are editable and the ad re-prices as you change it.
☐ Change something affecting an already-posted date, then save. A confirmation warning appears before the re-bill.
☐ Open “Adjust Price,” try to save without a reason, then add one; set a product to $0. It requires a reason; the total reflects the override; the $0 product shows free; reopening shows the override and reason.
☐ (Permission) Open a date picker where the deadline has passed, with and without the override right. Without it, past-deadline dates are amber and disabled; with it, they’re selectable and labeled “(past deadline)” with a legend, and placing one asks for confirmation.
☐ Edit an ad that has a past date that was never posted; open the date picker, then save. The date shows highlighted (“Past date — not yet posted”) and is kept after saving.
☐ (Permission) With “Prohibit Payment” enabled for the group, place a classified ad. No credit-card step appears — a “Your Information” step and a receipt instead, submitting unpaid. Without the option, the normal payment step still appears.
☐ Paste formatted text into the ad-copy field, then press Tab inside it. The paste is clean (no raw HTML tags); Tab indents within the field instead of jumping away.
☐ On a package with “Strip Formatting” on, enter formatted text or upload a Word/PDF. The composed ad is plain text and the document’s text lands in the ad body.
☐ On the contact form, start typing a street address. Suggestions appear; picking one fills the address fields.
☐ Open an ad list and the Ad Category field. Ad lists show a distinct “Ad Category” column; the field itself filters as you type and clears anything that isn’t a real category.
☐ Place a classified ad with a logo upload, and open the actions for a liner ad. The ad completes with its artwork retained; “View in Track” is not offered for liner ads.

PKG — Predefined Buys (Packages)

Package setup and the in-order picker.

☐ (Admin) Open the Predefined Buys editor. A filterable list with an Active/Inactive/All toggle and a “New Prebuy” button (not the old page).
☐ (Admin) Create a new buy: step from Type through Review and Save. It opens on the Type step first, and saves and appears in the list afterward.
☐ (Admin) Create a Retail buy, then a Classified Liner buy. Retail hides the liner-only steps; Classified Liner shows them and a per-product Scheduling Type.
☐ (Admin) Change an existing buy’s type so it must discard incompatible products. A confirmation appears first, and Cancel reverts the type.
☐ (Admin) Configure a size set on a buy, turn off “Allow custom ad size,” and save. In order entry that buy offers only those sizes with no “Custom Ad Size”; turning the toggle back on offers it again.
☐ Open the Customize menu and the Home launchpad. The old “Pre-Defined Buys” and “Prebuy Groups” items are gone; only the new editor remains.
☐ Start an order of a given ad type and open Predefined Buys. Only buys matching that ad type appear (with a “Showing… for <type> ads” note); the search box filters the card grid with a live count.
☐ In Customize, check one product and use “same size & category for all.” The product’s controls appear only after you check it; the shared size/category applies to all selected products.
☐ Add a product, then change the Ad Type. A confirmation appears; confirming clears the product items and continues under the new type, cancelling reverts.
☐ Schedule a package and check the cart; reopen the package ad. The cart entry is named for the package and lists its member publications, both when new and when reopened.
☐ Add a package, then try to add one of its member products (and the reverse). A clear message blocks the combination both ways.
☐ Check “Create a new version for each publication date”; then try to edit a multi-version ad. A “V” chip (tooltip “New Version”) marks the cart entry; a genuinely multi-version ad won’t open for editing and points you to AdMAX.
☐ As a Central/Pacific user, schedule a package and check the run dates. No off-by-one day shift; “every other week” only appears on weekly schedules.

CI — Customer Inquiry

The account tool now migrated from the green screen.

☐ Open Customer Inquiry from the menu. The page loads with a search box and no errors.
☐ Search by name, by customer number, and by Invoice or Ad Number; click a column header. Each finds the expected customer(s) and the results re-sort by the clicked column.
☐ Open customer A, return to Search, open customer B, then click back to A. Both are kept as tabs and A’s data is intact when you return; the reset control clears the tabs and saved searches.
☐ Open a customer with an outstanding balance; then one within terms. Total Due shows an amount with a color-coded past-due Aging bucket; the in-terms customer reads “Current.” “View Details” shows account/credit/sales-rep.
☐ Open the Balances section and a posted balance line. The figures match the summary, and the line opens the underlying ad/invoice detail.
☐ Open Ad History and use “View in Track” and “Edit in QuickOE.” Track opens on that ad; the QuickOE-type ad opens for editing; “View All in Track” opens Track filtered to the customer.
☐ Open Payments, toggle “Full History,” and open a payment’s distribution. Recent then older payments list, and the distribution breakdown shows.
☐ In Notes, add a note, edit it, then delete it. The note appears, the edit persists, and it’s removed on delete.
☐ Open Contacts. Names and phone numbers list, and the card’s Call/Email buttons appear for a customer with a phone/email.
☐ Open Day-by-Day and choose a From/To range covering known activity. Transactions in that range list and update when you change the dates.
☐ On a customer known to have them, open Disputes, Make Goods, Credit Card Log, Agencies and Contracts. Each section lists its rows (agency shows the billing split; contracts show current/past).
☐ Click “Create New Customer,” fill the required fields, and save; then try a near-duplicate. The new customer opens as an active tab; a near-duplicate triggers the duplicate-comparison step.
☐ Open a customer with a full address, then one with no usable address. The first shows a location map tile with a pin (and a pop-out “Open in Google Maps”); the second shows no map tile.
☐ Collapse a section, hide one via “Manage sections,” then restore it. The collapse sticks as you navigate, the hidden section leaves the nav and returns, and each section shows a short description.

BILL — Payments & Billing

E-bill portal and payment steps.

☐ Open an e-bill for a customer with online-placed ads. There’s an “Ad Category” column and a separate “Description” column, and Description isn’t blank.
☐ Open an e-bill as a guest, and one for a customer with zero invoices. The customer name reads normally; no invoice links are generated when there are no invoices; where invoices exist the links work and open the correct ad.
☐ While logged in, open an invoice-specific e-bill link, then refresh. The matching invoice is pre-selected and the payment flow begins once; the refresh doesn’t re-trigger it.
☐ On the credit-card step, type in the billing address and pick a suggestion. Address, city, ZIP, state and country populate; the “search by company name” toggle switches the search mode.

ACCT — Account & Sign-in

Self-service, security questions, and login.

☐ As a user who never set security questions, open Manage → Account Info. A “Set Up Security Questions” button appears; after filling every slot and saving, it reads “Update Security Questions” with answers pre-filled.
☐ As an SSO or Active Directory user, open Manage Account and Forgot Password. Change Password and Security Questions are hidden with an explanation; forgot-password shows a “contact IT” warning and sends no email. A normal local user still has all controls.
☐ Start creating a new web account. An informational note about custom security questions is shown.
☐ Click “Forgot Password” on the login page. It navigates to the reset page (not a broken link).
☐ Sign out and view the login screen. A centered “Sign in” card with SSO, Create account, and Forgot password; a “Continue without signing in” card lists any guest tools; a 2FA account shows a one-time-code dialog.

GRID — Lists, Grids & Exports

Improvements that show up in every table.

☐ On a newer-style grid, use Export to CSV and Export to PDF. Both produce a valid file with the expected columns and rows (no “Failed to generate report”).
☐ Click several column headers on a Customer Inquiry grid and the Interface Tool grid. Each sorts by that column (and reverses on a second click); no header sorts an unrelated column.
☐ Open a grid with hidden-by-default columns and use column management. Not every column shows initially; the mini search box narrows the column list; toggling a hidden column on adds it; toolbar buttons show tooltips on hover.
☐ On a grid with per-row actions, note the menu icon and right-click a single-action row; run a broad maintenance search. Rows show a context-menu icon and right-click runs the action; the search returns many more results (up to 2,000).
☐ Open a customer with an assigned sales rep in Customer Inquiry and in Quick Order Entry. The header shows the rep as “Name (Id)” and the View Details Salesperson row is populated.

IFACE — Interface Tool

For operators — migrated from the green screen.

☐ (Admin) As a root/admin user with the Interface Tool permission, open Settings → Application → Interface Tool. A list of existing interfaces appears (the menu reads “Interface Tool”).
☐ (Admin) Create a new interface: fill the Main-tab basics and Save, then reopen it. It’s created with an auto-assigned ID, and the Alerts, Custom Fields, Destinations and Mappings tabs are enabled.
☐ (Admin) Look at the interface list’s status dots and pending counts; drop files into a queue and Refresh, then stop a watcher and Refresh. Hovering a dot explains the state; the pending count rises and the dot shifts to yellow/red; a stopped watcher shows a steady red “Down.”
☐ (Admin) On the Mappings tab, switch tables, sort a column, and right-click a Field Map row → Copy. Each grid loads and sorts; Copy opens an “Add Field Map row” editor pre-filled, and saving adds a new row without changing the original.
☐ (Admin) In the Field Table editor, open the Field Name and an “Other 1/2/3” field. Both are drop-downs of known fields (typing still allowed); picking a known field shows its XML-path hint.
☐ (Admin) In the Field Map editor, choose a Field Name, then try to save a conflicting rule. The “Old 1/2/3” keys relabel to the field’s Other names (unused ones hide); an ambiguous/overlapping rule is blocked with a warning.
☐ (Admin) On the Main tab, open the Custom Output Filter and Custom Map Program fields. Each offers a drop-down of installed/known options while still accepting free text.
☐ (Admin) On Destinations, toggle an application and add one to the registry; on Alerts, add and remove an email. Routing updates, the new app appears as a destination, and removing an email asks for confirmation first.
☐ (Permission) Sign in as a non-admin user, then grant a root/admin user the permission and sign in as them. The non-admin sees no Interface Tool item; the permitted admin sees the launcher and can use it.

CAS 6.0 Release Guide. Plain-language overview of user-facing changes since version 5.18, prepared for the 6.0 acceptance pass. Feature descriptions are drawn from the changes shipped between the 5.18 and 6.0 cut; a few items depend on matching AdMAX/back-end behavior and are worth confirming on the live system. This is the portable copy-and-paste version of the full cas6-release-guide.html.

cas6-release-guide.html
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A big release, a friendlier CAS (release 6.0).