Publishing policies for your digital signage can streamline workflows and improve your content if you have more than one person creating it. Policies also make people self-sufficient, so they don’t take up your valuable time asking the same questions again and again. So, let’s go through some basic steps for creating digital signage software policies:
1. Discuss appropriate and inappropriate content: Do you have any prohibitions regarding images, language or topics? Do you have to comply with FCC or other regulations? Give some guidelines as to what is and is not an appropriate message – this will save hassle, embarrassment, and even liability.
2. Include identity guidelines for fonts, colors and logos: List any specific fonts, colors and logos you use to create a cohesive look. This is especially important when you’re created branded layouts or templates.
3. Give some basic design tips: Not everyone is a trained designer, so some helpful tips for creating messages can go a long way towards making your content look better.
4. Outline acceptable file formats: Do you prefer imported graphics to be JPEGs? Can people import audio or video files? Maybe you want content to be created in PowerPoint and then imported? Make sure you cover all file types your audience might want to use.
5. Clearly define the submission and approval process: Let people know who’s authorized to submit content, who approves that content and how long it’ll take for their message to get published. If they have to sign up for an account, how do they do that? Be sure to detail all types of users and roles in your policies.
6. Explain distribution channels and endpoints: Explain the basic publishing flow of your digital signage. Some playlists may go out to all displays, while others feed single screens. Others might send to desktops or RSS readers. Content creators need to know where their message will show up so they can design with that in mind.
7. Publish browser requirements and IT security policies: Depending on your network and software, you may need a particular version of a browser to avoid problems. Also, have your IT staff spell out any security or firewall policies that might affect your system.
8. Include user names and passwords: Now, you may not want to publish approver credentials here, but make sure to have at least your default login in your policies. The last thing you want is to have breaking news that can’t go out because someone’s forgotten their password.
9. Provide contact information for questions: Hopefully, your policies are clear enough that users won’t have a lot of questions, but things can sometimes get hectic and unpredictable. So, tell your users who they can contact, and how, if they have questions or problems.
10. Publish your policies: Put your policies somewhere that people can easily get to them, like on a website. People often remember things visually, so you may want to include screenshots of forms, templates or the software interface. The main thing is that your policies are clear and concise, but still contain all the information your users might need.