1Overview #
Campaign figures need to know what the advertising cost. This screen says which Meta ad accounts to read that from, and how the reading behaves - how often, how far back, and what counts as revenue on the other side of the sum.
The accounts are not typed in. The page asks Meta which ones the connected app may read and you tick them, because an id typed by hand is the commonest reason spend never arrives.
2Who it is for #
- An administrator or a sales manager setting the module up, once.
- Anybody checking why a campaign's spend looks wrong - the pull log is here.
3What it is not for #
- Creating or paying for the ads - that is Meta Ads Manager.
- Deciding which campaign a lead belongs to - that is the sources on CRM > Campaigns.
- Spend for anything that is not Meta - key that on the campaign itself.
4Step by step #
- Pick the Meta app and press Look up accounts. - The app is the one connected on CRM > Lead Intake.
- Press Read this one beside each account whose spend you want. - Its name and currency come from Meta, so nothing is mistyped.
- Set how the reading behaves, and save. - The hour, how many days to re-read, and what counts as revenue.
- Press Pull spend now to see it work. - It queues a read; the figures appear as each one finishes.
- Watch the pull log below. - Every read, what came of it, and Retry for anything that failed.
5The fields #
An ad account
One row per Meta ad account.
- Name - What to call it here. Meta's own name is filled in. Optional
- Ad account id - Meta's own id (act_ then digits), as it was ticked. Read-only Which account is read. It cannot be changed - add the other account instead.
- Currency - The ad account's own currency, from Meta. Read-only Spend is stored in it, whatever the company's currency is.
- Read its spend - Whether the daily pull includes it. Optional Switching it off stops the reading; what was read already stays and still counts.
How spend is read
Settings 271-276. They apply to the whole company.
- Read Meta spend automatically - Whether the server reads spend at all. Optional Off means every figure comes from spend keyed by hand. Setting 271.
- Hour of day to read - When the daily read runs, on the server's clock. Optional Nothing else. Outside working hours is kinder to the rate limit. 0 to 23. Setting 275.
- Days to re-read each time - How far back each pull re-reads and corrects. Optional How quickly a restated day is put right. 1 to 90; seven is usual. Setting 272.
- What counts as revenue - WonDeals or Books. Optional Every return figure on every campaign. Setting 273.
- Count Meta's test leads - Whether test leads are counted. Optional Cost per lead. Off by default, so a test cannot flatter it. Setting 274.
- Currency of hand-keyed spend - What currency keyed spend is in. Optional Blank means the company's own. Setting 276.
The pull log
Every read, newest first.
- When / Account / Days - What was asked for, and of which account. Read-only
- Status - Pending, Done or Failed. Read-only A failure is retried with a longer wait each time, then left as Failed.
- Tries - How many attempts it has had. Read-only It gives up at six.
- What came of it - How many day-and-campaign rows were written, what they came to, and how many belong to no campaign yet. Read-only
6Rules and integrity #
- Nothing here reads Meta except the look-up - Look up accounts lists them; everything else is the server's work. Pull spend now only queues a read, so closing the page abandons nothing and a rate-limited Meta retries by itself.
- A day is read again, not added again - Meta restates recent days as conversions settle. Each pull re-reads the last few days and UPDATES them, so spend can never double.
- Spend is stored in the ad account's currency - Not the company's. Where the two differ, the figures show the currency beside them rather than converting silently at a rate nobody chose.
- An account whose spend was read is not deleted - Switch it off instead, so the spend it brought in still belongs to something.
7Shortcut keys #
- F5 - Save the account being edited.
- Esc - Close the list, cancel the edit, or leave the page.
8If something does not work #
"The Meta app behind this ad account has no Facebook connection - press Connect Facebook on CRM > Lead Intake."
- Why
- Ad spend is read with the same Facebook connection that brings lead ads in, and that connection is missing or expired.
- What to do
- Press Connect Facebook on CRM > Lead Intake, then pull again.
"No Meta app is connected yet. Ad spend is read with the same Facebook connection that brings in lead ads - set it up on CRM > Lead Intake first, then come back."
- Why
- There is no Meta app to read spend with.
- What to do
- Set it up on CRM > Lead Intake first.
"That ad account is no longer there."
- Why
- It was removed after the list was read.
- What to do
- Refresh the list.
"Marketing campaigns are not licensed for this company ..."
- Why
- The CRMCAMP add-on is not on this company's licence.
- What to do
- Ask your vendor, then sign out and in.
"No Meta app is connected yet ... set it up on CRM > Lead Intake first."
- Why
- Spend is read with the Facebook connection made for lead ads, and there is none.
- What to do
- Connect Facebook on CRM > Lead Intake, then come back.
"Campaigns are set up by an administrator or a sales manager."
- Why
- This screen decides how the advertising money is reported.
- What to do
- Ask an administrator or a sales manager.
"'...' has no Facebook connection - press Connect Facebook on CRM > Lead Intake first."
- Why
- The app exists but nobody has signed in to it, or the token has lapsed.
- What to do
- Press Connect Facebook again on CRM > Lead Intake.
"Meta refused the ad account list: ..."
- Why
- Meta answered with its own refusal - usually because the person who connected Facebook has no access to any ad account.
- What to do
- Connect again as somebody who does, or have them given access in Meta Business Manager.
"Meta answered, but this app may read no ad account."
- Why
- The connection worked; there is simply nothing it may read.
- What to do
- Check in Meta Business Manager that the connected person is on the ad account.
"'...' is already being pulled - change that row instead of adding a second."
- Why
- That ad account is already on the list.
- What to do
- Open the existing row.
"Ad account: Meta spells it act_ then digits - copy it from the list rather than typing it."
- Why
- The id is not of Meta's shape.
- What to do
- Use Look up accounts and tick it; ids are never typed here.
"... day(s) of spend were pulled through this account. Switch it off instead ..."
- Why
- Removing it would leave that spend belonging to nothing.
- What to do
- Switch it off - the reading stops, the history stays.
Spend never arrives although an account is listed
- Why
- Automatic reading may be off (setting 271), the account may be switched off, or the hour may not have come round yet.
- What to do
- Check both switches, then press Pull spend now and read the pull log.
A pull says Failed with Meta's own words
- Why
- It was tried six times with a longer wait each time, and the reason is on the row and on the account.
- What to do
- Fix what it names - usually the connection - then press Retry.
"... belong to no campaign yet - add its Meta campaign id as a source."
- Why
- Spend was read for a Meta campaign nothing has been told about. The money is stored; no campaign is counting it.
- What to do
- Add that id as a source on CRM > Campaigns, and the spend moves to it - including everything already read.
Today's figure looks too low
- Why
- Meta reports the day as it stands and restates it later.
- What to do
- The next pull corrects it; that is what the re-read window is for.
The figures are in an unexpected currency
- Why
- Spend is stored in the ad account's own currency, not the company's.
- What to do
- Read the currency shown beside the figure; keep the two the same if you want one number.
Changing a setting did not change an old figure
- Why
- The revenue basis and the test-lead switch are applied when a figure is READ, so they do change old figures - but the re-read window and the hour only affect future pulls.
- What to do
- Press Pull spend now if you want the spend re-read at once.
9For an administrator #
- What the server does - CrmCampaignWorker queues one pull per active account a day, at the hour in setting 275, covering the last setting-272 days; it writes one row per ad account per Meta campaign per day and updates that row on a re-read. Failures back off 2^n minutes and stop at six.
- If the hour passes while the server is off - The pull still happens when it comes back - the guard asks whether this account has been queued since the hour struck today, not whether a timer fired.
10Settings it uses #
- 271 - pull Meta ad spend automatically.
- 272 - days of spend to re-read each pull.
- 273 - campaign revenue basis: WonDeals or Books.
- 274 - count Meta's test leads in campaign figures.
- 275 - the hour of day the pull runs.
- 276 - the currency hand-keyed spend is in.
This is the help InvoiceNET® ERP shows beside the Ad Accounts screen. Whether you have the screen depends on the modules of your licence and the rights your administrator has given you.
See this screen for yourself
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