Vexcom Client - AD-ID Advertising Digital Identification

Project: Ad-ID Advertising Digital Identification (Version 2.0)

Client: American Association of Advertising Agencies - New York, NY

Client Testimonial

"Vexcom has been instrumental in the development of our Ad-ID system; we have had a very positive relationship. They helped us overcome many technical challenges, the knowledge and skill they brought to the table were invaluable. We look forward to working with them on future projects, and would recommend them to anyone looking to develop a cost effective, high-end internet system"

Mike Donohue Board of Directors
American Association of Advertising Agencies - New York, NY

Overview

The Ad-ID system is a central database and identification code management system. The system allows advertisers and advertising agencies to generate a unique industry-wide tracking code to identify the asset throughout the entire process life-cycle. The web based application interface allows users to create and manage codes through the web site interface. The system also uses XML web services to allow users to integrate their existing systems with the Ad-ID database. Additionally Ad-ID partners, such as encoding, trafficking and auditing companies can interface with the system and extract data related to the asset.

The AAAA hired Vexcom to get their ad-id initiative up and running. They had a initial system in place but the software did not meet the requirements of their clients, which are the largest advertisers and advertising agencies in the US. Vexcom analyzed their existing systems, reviewed the requested features from their clients and the architected a new software framework. While being able to salvage several components from the existing (but non-functioning) system the actual software had to be re-developed to fit with the evolving business rules. The system was built on Windows 2000 server platform running apache and MySQL. The application layer was developed in Java using TomCat and JSP.

The fundamental core architecture of the original java based system would not support the business rules and logic required of the system. Within 6 months Vexcom had re-written all the software from the ground up moving from Java TomCat to a Java/ColdFusion application layer making the management and upkeep of the source code easier to manage and more dynamic. After beta testing the new system was launched as Ad-ID2 in 2002 and Vexcom has been working with the AAAA and ANA ever since to enhance the features and usability of the system.

The Task

The AAAA (American Association of Advertising Agencies) and the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) were tasked with the responsibility of coordinating agencies and advertisers to make sure that codes were unique.

The Ad-ID web system was developed to maintain a repository of all codes being used, and to enable the easy creation of new unique codes. The previous ISCI code system was in place for years, but being only 8 characters long, the codes were quickly running out. The new 12 digit codes were created to extend the life span of the coding system, enabling the creation of trillions of codes.

System Specifications

The first 4 characters of an Ad-ID code (called a Prefix) are owned by a specific company. That unique prefix begins all Ad-IDs created by that company. The system needed to be able to contain an archive of all the 8,700+ existing Prefixes, and allow new companies to create new Prefixes.

The system allows advertising agencies to create an account and generate new prefixes and Ad-ID codes. It also allows them to manage their account adding users form their organization, and allows multiple agencies working for the same advertiser to create sequenced codes based on the same prefix without overlapping or needing to share data.

System Features

Additionally the system allows users to archive meta-data for each Ad-ID code, creating an elaborate asset tracking database storing all the information about the asset, such as actors contact information, production company information, campaign and branding specifics, and hundreds of other pieces of information about the advertisement.

Unique Problems, Unique Solutions

The Ad-ID system required the last 4 characters of a code to increment from the left to right, and to cycle through numbers and letters. Ad-Id codes are 12 digits, however, many legacy systems only accept 10 digits, this algorithm allowed for the creation of the maximum number of unique codes using only the first 10 digits, creating 1296 combinations instead of 99 before a duplicate is encountered within position 9 and 10 of the code.

Technology

Platform: Redhat Enterprise Server Linux

Web Server: Apache

Middleware: Cold Fusion

Database: MySQL

Ecommerce: Mas90