Running screens across several venues from one account

One account works well for several venues if you set up the structure before the screens multiply. That means a folder and a display group for each venue, a group that holds all of them, and screen names that tell you where each screen is. With that in place you can schedule a promotion to every site in one go, let each manager look after their own screens, and check every screen in the business from one list.

Name screens so you can find them

The examples here use two venues from the Casty demo account: The Crown, a pub in Bristol, and Northgate Store in York.

It sounds dull, but naming is far easier to get right now than to fix later. "Living Room TV" and "Screen 2" are fine with one venue. With five venues and twenty screens, you're guessing.

Use the venue and the position: The Crown Bar, The Crown Garden Room, Northgate Window, Northgate Till. That's the name you'll see in the schedule, the Displays list and every report, so it's worth getting right. Each screen also has a Description for notes (where it's mounted, who installed it), and Reference boxes for things like an asset number.

Tags are the other half. Give each screen the venue and the job it does, such as crown and bar, or northgate and window. Tags are what dynamic display groups use to pick their screens, which comes up below. Name and tags are both on the General tab of the screen's settings.

A folder for each venue, and one that's shared

Folders keep the layouts, media, playlists, datasets and screens for each venue together. Make one per venue, plus a Shared folder for content every venue uses, such as group-wide promotions, logos and templates. Sub-folders are fine too (The Crown, then Christmas inside it).

Folders also decide what people can see. When we give a manager access to a folder, they see what's in it, including any folders inside it, and nothing else. Other folders show as private. So a tidy folder structure now saves untangling permissions later. The folders and sharing guide has the details.

Display groups do most of the work

A display group is a set of screens you schedule to in one go. Make a group per venue, so scheduling something at The Crown means ticking one box for all of The Crown's screens.

Then make a group that contains the venue groups. Groups can sit inside other groups, so an All venues group holding each venue's group means anything scheduled to All venues plays on every screen in every venue. Add a new venue's group to it and that venue picks up everything already scheduled.

Dynamic groups take this further. Instead of adding screens by hand, you give the group a tag, and every screen with that tag joins it. A Window screens group built on the tag window collects every window screen across all your sites, and a new window screen joins as soon as it's tagged. The Casty demo account is set up this way, with a group for each venue, an All venues group and a dynamic Window screens group. The display groups guide walks through all three.

Scheduling across sites

With groups in place, scheduling follows a simple pattern. Group-wide content (the national promotion, the new menu launch) is scheduled to All venues or a dynamic group. Each venue's own content (the quiz night at The Crown, the late opening in York) is scheduled to that venue's group. Where the two overlap on a screen, they both play, in turn.

When something has to win everywhere for a set time, like a big match or a safety notice, give that event a priority of 1. It takes over the screens it's scheduled to, then hands back when it ends. Use it sparingly, because it covers every venue's local content too.

Dayparts are set up once and can be picked in any event, so a Breakfast daypart means the same hours at every site. If one venue keeps different hours, schedule its events with custom times. And if any venue is outside the UK, each display keeps its own time zone, so 09:00 means 09:00 where the screen is.

Let each manager run their own screens

Head office shouldn't have to approve every quiz night poster. We set up logins for your managers and staff, with access that fits the job. A venue manager can have access to one venue, so they see that venue's screens, content and schedule and none of the others. Someone who books content but shouldn't change designs can have scheduling only. A bar supervisor who just updates tonight's offers can have one playlist, from a simple page. Adding people to your account lists the options, and staff access and permissions talks through how to decide.

Ask everyone to switch on two-factor authentication, because every extra login is another way in.

Keeping an eye on every screen

The Displays list shows every screen in the account, with its status, when it last checked in, what it's playing and its latest screenshot. With lots of screens, the filters earn their keep. Set Logged In to No and you see only the screens that have stopped checking in. Filter by Display Group to look at one venue.

If you add a latitude and longitude to each screen, the map view shows every screen as a pin coloured by its status, which is a quick way to spot that all of one venue's screens have dropped (which usually points to that venue's internet connection). Managing screens remotely covers screenshots and commands, and Collect Now on a display group asks every screen in that venue to check in at once.

Give every screen a default layout too, such as the venue's logo and opening hours. If a schedule has a gap, the screen falls back to it, so no site ends up showing something odd.

Reporting across sites

Proof of play reports can add up plays by display, display group or tag, so you can show a supplier how often their promotion played in each venue, or across all of them, and download the figures as a CSV. The proof of play post explains how to set it up before a campaign starts.