Planning is necessary when creating a new digital signage network on the EnGage platform. Most of the EnGage setup and planning can take place prior to installing any players in the field or knowing which players are going to the sites. If all of the objects are assigned prior to the installation, it will make the commissioning process much easier because the player will inherit all of the object assignments upon being assigned to a site. Also, the commissioning process will be as simple as assigning the player to the site and following the standard commission process if the objects are assigned before installation. See the Commissioning section of this knowledge base for further details about the commissioning process.
There are many items to consider during the initial set up. Some decisions must be made before the account is created, such as the site and player hierarchy structure. Other design decisions should be considered, such as naming conventions for sites, players, content, content folders, layouts, programs, and timetables. These should be decided when creating the account to keep a consistent and maintainable signage network. Using a consistent naming convention is very important when scaling large numbers of players.
Before the Network is Created
Within EnGage, the components of a digital signage network, such as screens and media players, are organized in a hierarchy. You can visualize the concept of hierarchy as a tree. The leaves of the tree, or leaf nodes, are connected by branches. Elements can be assigned to the branches, and the leaf nodes can then inherit the assigned elements.
Take for example the hierarchy of a network of retail department stores. The screens within each area of the store are organized under their respective branch. These screens are the leaf nodes. Clothing content can be published down to all screens under the Clothing branch, Shoes content can be published down to all screens under the Shoes branch, and Appliances content to the Appliances branch.
When designing your network's Site Hierarchy, plan how many levels you'll need in your hierarchy and the branches for each. You can have up to six levels. Your site hierarchy is completely customizable and branches and leaf nodes can be modified at any time, but proper planning will prevent the need for changes later on.
The example below shows a hierarchy where nodes have been grouped by screen orientation (Landscape and Portrait), then by screen type (Cashwrap, Interior, Exterior, etc), and finally the node that contains the media player for the screen and site where it is located (Store number and screen name)
The screenshot below is another example of a site hierarchy, and what it looks like when built with EnGage:
The Players tab contains the Players Hierarchy. This works the same way as the Sites hierarchy. We recommend including a level for player model number, and a level for ship date.
Once decisions have been made regarding the setup of the site and player hierarchy, work with your account manager or ComQi Product Support Specialists to develop your design into a live network.
After the Network is Created
Add screen type(s). Create the screen objects with the preferred resolution and screen settings, such as RS-232 controls, for each type of screen being used. Create the screen object in Management/Screen Settings. Once the object is created it can be assigned to sites.
Add Site Settings. Create the Site Settings objects with the required time zones, notifications settings, and video/audio output settings if required. We recommend creating a Site Settings object for every time zone where a site is to be installed. See the hive distributed downloads section of this knowledge base for more information about implementing local distributed downloads.
Configure network settings. Create the basic network settings object. If the user is planning on using standard DHCP Ethernet connected players, the Default Site Network Settings object can be used. Alternatively, users may create network objects with the desired settings. The network objects can be found in Management/Site Network. Create an object for each type of networking to be employed on network, including Ethernet, wireless, Static IP, etc. Once the objects are created, they can be assigned to players as needed.
Note that other objects under Management can be used with the default settings.
Create attribute sets. Although attribute sets can be added later, it will make deployment easier if they are set up with the account. Making decisions about what information needs to be captured for each site will help with content targeting in the future. Decide upon the attribute sets for:
Sites (Examples: Store Format, Site Demographics, etc)
Players (Examples: Player type, asset #, etc)
Content (Examples: Type, Seasonal, Ad type, etc)
Content assignments. Content can be uploaded and all the layouts, programs, timetables, and playlists can be created and assigned to the sites prior to any players being installed.
If all the objects are created and assigned as needed, the user may begin deploying the players to the field.