What Every College CIO Should know about Digital Signage Part #3

When deciding on Digital Signage for your school, there are a few key points every CIO should know before making decisions. Whether you have an existing Digital Signage network or not, these points will ensure you’re fully informed and help avoid any pitfalls that previous CIO’s have shared with us. After Reading Tips #1 and #2, our final part in this series is below:

CIO Tip #3

Workflow Permissions and a Security or Audit Log.

When a School takes on or upgrades Digital Signage it is usually under the guise and approval of the CIO or IT leadership team. The extreme irony of this is the amount of day to day usage the IT team actually engages in the operation of Digital Signage. Usually little or none!

After the procurement approval process is completed, the entire program shifts towards the day to day users (departments, students, groups, communications team, etc..). However, from a technical perspective it is always necessary to keep the CIO / IT team onboard as the “Super Admin” in the case everyone forgets what they’re doing or for internal troubleshooting. However, it’s also important to note that no CIO or management team wants to have a student group with full access to all areas of the software.  So creating or having permissions from the onset is a great tool in setting up structure and ensuring your school protocol is followed.

For example, there is a “Device Management” section in many Digital Signage softwares. As new devices are added or removed to the school network, your in-house graphic designer might not need to see or access the MAC addresses or worry about the Wi-Fi Keys. The same goes for creating new users or roles. Other than a small, core group of “Admin” users, the creation of new roles within an application should be left to the experts. The CIO and IT team can always keep a pulse on the Signage Program, but don’t need to be overseeing day to day operations. However if there is an issue in content being displayed that was inappropriate or concerning to School management,the CIO might be the one to get the first call. What can be done to help prevent mistakes, misunderstandings or pranks?

Many CIO’s ask: What is the best way for IT to manage a system that that doesn’t really need to be managed? Well the answer to this conundrum lies in the heart of Workflow Permissions and a back-up Security Audit Log for good measure.

Workflow Permissions and Approvals is a feature set inside Digital Signage that allows users to create a tiered, or restricted workflow process. Simply put, Workflow Permissions allow the “Super Admin” team to decide who and how much access users get. If “Amanda” is on the Student Council and does some great design work, she should have access to the Content Library to store her work. However, maybe she designs “Sensitive” or provocative style themes in her designs and to avoid any on-campus issues, it is decided that Amanda’s work cannot be scheduled until a supervisor or administrator has approved it. The same could be said for the Communications Team. The might have been given full access to uploading and approving content and schedules, but maybe that is all the access they need.

The other feature sets in Digital Signage software can include Users, Devices and Frame Layouts. But these additional features can end up being too distracting or overwhelming for basic users. So the CIO and IT Team are able to restrict the access any unique user has through several methods. One method, is by creating a user and defining their role. An example of this is being a “Content Executive” versus a “Content Manager.” Everything is the same between the roles except final approvals. The Manager gets the final say.  Another way of restricting workflow is by creating groups that can only access certain folders of content. Or another way would be in assigning certain frame layouts to only a certain group of users. A great example of this is delegating a side frame layout on your screen (say 580p wide x 720p height) to only one group, say the Student Union. The group wouldn’t be able to access any other frame on the screen. But their specific frame is large enough to hold PDF’s, Word Docs, posters or videos without having the group access other frames or other frame content.

The final back-up measure to making sure there is accountability and transparency in  your Digital Signage program is having an Audit Log. Something easy to access but reliable. The CIO should be able to login, quickly review the dashboard (online devices and utilization) and glance quickly at the audit log. Every time and User who logged in and the action they performed. Download the log if necessary, but the IT or Support team can always track the actions and help troubleshoot as required.

For more information on how Digital Signage impacts Education and improves the morale and culture on Campus please scan our blog for Education titles or contact an L Squared Rep for information.

Article Source: http://www.lsquared.com/blog/digital-signage/what-every-college-cio-should-know-about-digital-signage-part-3/

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