Digital Signage Scheme CMS User Guide
1 Introduction
This updated guide includes the following updates:
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Access in line with single-sign on
Access to multiple groups of screens
The Content Management System has been developed for the University of Warwick Digital
Pilot Scheme and tailored to provide a centrally based system to manage scheduled playlists
across a number of screens with the ability to share content and maintain a blend of content
of interest to all audience groups.
Each screen within the scheme will have a player (DMP) assigned to it which displays the
content through the central template.
The template includes:
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Tailored welcome message (set up by the system administrator)
Date, time and 3 day weather forecast
RSS feeds for insite news, press stories and events (managed centrally)
The central image area is managed by the CMS and content can be tailored per screen
using a combination of centrally created images and local content.
2 Overview of features
The screen & player will be set up for you following a short assessment of your requirements
which will cover:
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Relevant welcome message – this is limited to 41 characters (in addition to the
‘Welcome to’ part)
How many screens will be grouped if applicable
How many groups you need, if applicable
How many users need access to the system
The key features of the CMS are outlined below and covered in more detail in this user
guide:
Global playlist
A central global playlist will be supplied regularly so there is always a range of content to
appear on the screens.
This content is ‘pushed’ to the local playlists where the schedule can be edited at local level.
Gallery
Upload new local images which can be accessed by all users
Search functionality allows searches by category, valid dates and user.
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Manage screens
The manage screens tabs allows you to add and remove images from the playlist, schedule
times and days for images to appear.
You can also select which images from the global playlist to feature
Local crisis management (restricted to Department administrators)
Department administrators are able to set up emergency screens for localised crisis and
display tailored messages on one or more screen within the assigned group.
Global Crisis management
Further functionality has been built into the CMS to allow crisis messages to be broadcast to
all campus screens if required. Any ‘global’ crisis will override both local crisis messages and
content. Once the incident is over, content will be returned to the previous content manually
by the system administrator.
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3 Accessing the CMS
The CMS is browser based and can be accessed at:
http://digitalscreens.warwick.ac.uk/DMSLive/admin/login.aspx
The CMS has been designed to be optimised in Internet Explorer 8+ but also works in
Chrome and Firefox.
You can access the CMS off campus via a VPN connection, the CMS can also be accessed
through the hotspot secure WiFi connection on campus.
Access to the CMS is now via your usual University login username and password.
If you forget your username and password you will need to contact ITS to reset your
University login details. If you believe you should be able to access the CMS but are unable
to, please contact the Digital Signage Team: digitalsignage@warwick.ac.uk.
NB Your University login will not automatically give you access to the CMS, you will
still need to be set up by an Administrator.
CMS login page
4 Content
The images for the playlists must be uploaded to the gallery as RGB jpgs. The system will
resize images to fit the template – this could result in images being stretched or squashed.
The optimum size for images is 1390px wide x 770 px tall.
Photoshop, other graphics packages or PowerPoint can be used to create the images in line
with the guidelines provided on insite:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/insite/digitalsignage/content/guidelines/
When setting up a playlist, try and schedule contrasting images so that the playlist is
eye catching when each image changes.
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5 Home page
Your login will give access to the main areas of the CMS to allow you to add new images
through the gallery as well as creating and editing tailored playlists for your screen/s.
CMS home page
The top level navigation takes to you each area for different tasks.
The following tabs are only visible to Department Administrators:
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Manage DMP
Manage Accounts
Crisis
These are covered in sections later in the guide.
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6 Gallery
All images have to be initially uploaded into the gallery before adding to playlists for
scheduling.
The Gallery captures key information about the image to make it accessible for other users.
Upload new image
To upload a new image to the gallery, select the ‘Upload New Image’ button, choose your
file by browsing the image saved location and complete the fields:
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Category (this should be department or business area)
Sub category (image specific title)
Valid From (date and time)
Valid To (date and time)
The valid to and from dates/times are the overall dates an image can be published.
The scheduled time an image appears on a playlist is managed within ‘Manage Screens’.
What happens if I upload an image in error?
Images can only be removed by adminstrators. If you upload an image and spot an error /
duplication or an issue with the image, please use the following process:
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Update the valid to / from dates to make the image ‘expired’.
Change the category to: DELETE
Change the sub category to: rejected image
This will allow us to monitor and remove images from time to time and prevent other users
selecting them.
Images are stored with a unique identifier so duplicate images would not be detected.
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Search images
Images can be searched through a number of different fields. By default, local images will
display but this can be changed by selecting the ‘Global only’ tickbox. The most recently
uploaded images will appear first in the list.
Images can be searched for on the following criteria:
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Group – this is the department or group of screens
Category
Sub-Category
These are both currently free text fields. As the system is developed, we will look to
standardise the category terms.
If you start typing, any words already used will appear to help search
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Uploader – the user who has uploaded the images
Uploaded between dates - specify dates to search images uploaded within a set
timeframe
Valid From
Valid To
You can enter one or both fields within this search field. Entering only a ‘Valid From’ date
will deliver all images valid from the set date; ie entering 12 October will display all
images that have a valid date on and after 12 October.
NB If you only wish to search for images that are valid on a particular date, Enter the
same date in both fields.
Hovering over the image will give additional image information.
To view the thumbnail image at the full size, click on the image. Clicking again will return
to the gallery.
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The uploader can change details of the image including the category, sub-category and
valid to/from dates. ie you can change the details of your own image, but not those of
other users.
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Colour coding
The images have a coloured border to signify the image status:
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Green – currently available
Yellow – 48 hours before expires
Red – expired
Blue – coming soon
This colour coding is used throughout the CMS so that playlist content can be identified
easily.
7 Tailor playlists
Central content will be ‘pushed’ to the DMP on a regular basis so that there is a supply of
‘fresh’ content.
This content can be used as supplied or used in conjunction with other local content.
The content can be reordered and edited to fit your schedule and requirements.
8 Global content
‘Global content’ will be created centrally on a regular basis and have fixed dates for them to
appear within playlists.
Global content cannot be edited by any users other than the system administrator.
Global content can be viewed by all users within the gallery but not edited or selected for
playlists. If you have a query about a particular image, please contact the system
administrator who has uploaded the image.
These will appear in the playlist by default but can be reordered and selected in conjunction
with specific local content.
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The Global content tab will display the central content that is currently available. This will
automatically be ‘pushed’ to your DMP where you can reorder or remove images.
If you require a global image to be included within a local playlist that has previously been
removed, you can tick the box in the ‘select to push’ column and publish content to one or
more DMPs within your group.
Hovering over the more detail button will provide more information about the image.
9 General content
Images that are valid for a number of months that could be of interest university-wide will be
added to the gallery centrally.
These will display in the gallery as ‘local’ images but will all be entered under the category:
general. The colour coding and valid dates will still apply.
10 Local content
What is local content?
Local content is content that has been created by different departments which can be
selected to appear on any screens within the valid to and from dates.
Content can be tailored for specific days as well as publish to and from dates and times.
11 Manage Screens
Within this section you can tailor scheduled playlists for individual screens or groups.
The Manage Screens tab will display all DMPs linked to your access; this may include one or
more screens.
UPDATE: Where you have access to more than one group of screens, the CMS has been
updated to allow you to change groups using the same login. The groups are still separated
to avoid confusion when managing different groups of screens.
The IP and MAC address display to identify the DMP – if you have an issue with a screen,
this information helps us to identify the screen and resolve the problem.
The DMP department name is the group the screen has been assigned to. This also drives
the welcome message on the screens so your group name may be linked to a building
name.
The DMP name allows you to easily identify the screen you wish to edit.
This information will be set up for your department centrally. Further information about this is
covered within ‘Centrally Managed Administration Features’.
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To change groups, if you have been set up with access to multiple groups, you will see a
dropdown box in the navigation bar (highlighted above). To view screens within different
groups, select the group you wish to work with from the drop down.
Select the DMP you wish to update by clicking the relevant update button.
Manage screen playlists
The screen will display the current contents of your playlist; a thumbnail image, position in
running order, running time, start and end dates (highlighted in colour as well) and the
content type (local or global). For more details on any image, hover over the query button.
You can view different pages by clicking on the numbers at the bottom of the list.
Content best practice: no more than 8-10 slides should be visible in a playlist
at any one time.
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Because you can schedule the playlists, multiple images can appear but will only be
published when they are valid. This will allow you to set up different playlists for a number of
weeks in advance.
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Adding images to the playlist
To add images to the playlist, select ADD from the Manage Screens tab.
Following the instructions on the Add New Content section, you can select a new image by
clicking on the default image shown. The valid from and to dates will update with the image
selected.
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A pop-up, scrollable window will display the gallery images. You can change the number of
items to view and use the search criteria to select an image.
The colour coding also indicates which images are valid.
1. Click ‘Choose Image’ to upload the required image. A message will confirm that the
image has been uploaded.
2. Close Window
3. Select the running time – this is how long the image will appear in the carousel for.
Generally 20 seconds is the average but consider the message on your image, how
long that will take to read when viewed with the other newsfeed elements.
4. Show Days – you can select specific days and times for an image to appear. If note
edited, the default setting is 7 days a week, 24 hours per day within the valid to/from
dates.
5. Submit the image to add to the playlist.
The image will appear at the bottom of the playlist by default. You can use the Edit and
Order buttons to change the playlist.
Ordering images
The images can be reordered and removed from the playlist by selecting the ‘Order’ button.
The screen display will change to allow you to remove and reorder images.
Reorder images using the hand tool.
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Images will removed from the playlist will initially appear in the second table (Available
Slides) where they are suspended from the playlist. They will only be removed once they are
deleted.
NB Images will not be removed from the gallery, just the playlist.
Content best practice: images are most effective when they stand out.
Reorder the playlist to ensure images contrast each other.
Images shown as local content can be edited to select different running times, and days.
Click on the image line to make changes (this will appear as red as you hover over an
image). NB You cannot change any global images in this way.
Publishing playlists
Playlists within local content and pushed global content will automatically be published on
the selected DMP/s once the image is valid. It will automatically be removed once the expiry
date is reached.
You can see the current playlist that appears on the DMP/s by selecting the preview button.
Managing playlists
Playlists can be scheduled in advance so you can add images for a number of weeks at a
time.
It is easier to manage the scheduling of this by ordering your playlists by week and removing
the expired items.
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12 Department admin features
Department administrators can access additional functionality:
Manage DMPs
DMP will be set up for groups prior to training. Should any further information need to be
added to the DMP, this can be added through the Manage DMP tab.
The page will display all DMPs assigned to a particular group.
From this page you can also send incidents and restart the content after an incident has
been resolved.
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Manage Accounts
Manage Accounts allows you to view accounts for users that have been set up within your
group and add content creator users as required.
You can also view user names and password details.
If you require additional Department Administrators to be added to your group, please
contact the system administrators: digitalsignage@warwick.ac.uk.
You will need to supply the full name and user code for any new users. New users will be set
up with access to one relevant department unless otherwise advised, subsequent groups
can be added to access at any time.
13 Centrally Managed Administration Features
The system administrator manages the following features:
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Setting up of new DMPs
Setting up groups for different departments
Creation of global images and playlists
Deletion of redundant images
University wide crisis alerts
14 Contact details
If you have any queries regarding the Digital Signage scheme regarding any aspect of
content, CMS features and training, please contact:
Sarah Wall
digitalsignage@warwick.ac.uk
Tel: 51581
If your query relates to the provision of new screens or DMP players, please contact AV
services at:
audio.visual@warwick.ac.uk
Tel: 024 765 (22463)
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