The delta alert is a specific feature for iTunes EMA. The delta alert gives clients the ability to ensure that when bulk updates are made via the iTunes EMA Avail, they are accurate before delivery to the platform.
What is an EMA?
EMA is an abbreviation for the "Entertainment Merchants Association", supporting several industry workgroups for recommended asset structures and schemas for the entertainment industry. They are commonly used specifically to reference dedicated asset structures and data types.
-entmerch.org/digitalema
For Storefront, an EMA represents the initial set of clearances, price tiers, to set up a territory for a specific retailer/platform. Another name for an EMA is an "Avail".
If the delta alert is triggered during the Delta check, the avail ingest will be paused, and a notification will be sent out to users for review.
How it works
Delta checks will occur upon receiving an iTunes EMA, and it will check for a 20% or more change to a given territory compared to the prior iTunes EMA.
If the delta checks pick up a 20% or more change for an individual territory, an Alert will be sent out to users outlining that ingest has been halted for review. The alert will outline the territory or territories as well as will have a report that outlines what was changed from the prior EMA Avail.
Delta Checks specifically look at the following metadata attributes:
- Price Tier
- VID (e.g., SMAT Vendor ID)
- Start / End date
- and Rating
Taking Action
Once the Delta Alert goes out, the user will need to review and will need to either "Approve" Or "Reject" the file.
- If approved, the file will proceed with ingest, and the changes will be delivered to the platform.
- If Rejected, then the file will be disregarded, and a new EMA Avail will need to be delivered by the client.
For more information on how to navigate the Delta Alert / Review the report, click here.