Digital Signage CMS Maintenance Tips

Your digital signage system is dynamic, which means it’s always on the move – your content is frequently changing as new events as messages get added or removed, the software is always being improved and updated, you might be expanding your deployment to add locations or include interactive screens and wayfinding, and your audience might even change over time so you’ll be reconfiguring your offering to accommodate their interests. With all of this going on, there’s regular maintenance that you should be doing in your digital signage CMS to keep your system clean and running smoothly.

Software

You should always have the newest version of any software you’re using. This is such a widespread truth that we often don’t notice it and forget to update. Software is a constantly evolving product, and getting the latest updates will ensure that you have the current best version of your CMS:

  • Improvements to performance
  • New functionalities and features
  • Improved interfaces
  • Additional support for using other software
  • Security enhancements

Even if you don’t need any of the new things the latest version offers, there are always bug fixes that will certainly make things run smoother for you and your users. And updating our software is easy – just go to our Software Updates page to see what the newest version offers, click “Request the Latest Update” and fill out the form. If you have a Software Support & Management Subscription or Service Level Subscription, the updates are free.

Windows updates can sometimes interfere with software that uses a Windows infrastructure. Keeping your software up to date ensures that you won’t have any compatibility issues. This has been especially important since Microsoft stopped supporting Windows XP.

Hardware

Things wear out. Servers and media players have a pretty good shelf life, but eventually they’ll start to age and need to be replaced. The same goes for your displays and other hardware you use. Visix has a hardware trade-in program that lets you easily upgrade your infrastructure when the time comes. All your content can be uploaded to the new content manager, IP addresses transitioned easily, and whatever you’ve named your computers will still be reflected on the new machines. And all this can be done in a simple web session. Support subscription holders also receive a huge discount on this service. See our digital signage hardware trade-in program for more information, or contact your local account manager.

People

There’s always going to be some employee turnover in your organization. When people leave, don’t forget to remove their accounts from the system. You might also want to change logins and passwords – not because you don’t trust people, but it’s certainly better to be safe than sorry, and it never hurts to be as secure as possible.

Content

Messages on your displays are often for events with a fixed date, which then drop off the playlists once that date has passed. But they are still hanging around on your system. Clean these up at least once a month.

Go to the My Content tab under Manage, and delete all past content. You can either delete individual messages, or clean out all unscheduled content with one click. One way to make the process easier is to add an expiration date to the message name in the system, so you know when you added it and when it is no longer valid. Cleaning house takes very little time, and makes things much simpler when managing large amounts of content.

Keeping you software and hardware current, and getting rid of outdated information on the system, helps make your digital signage CMS run more smoothly and reduces the workload on your staff.