CASE STUDY – Digital Signage – Underdale High School

the initial problem/need

The teaching faculty and administrative team of Underdale High School wanted to be able to communicate more effectively and in real time with their students. They wanted a way to be able to maximise the effectiveness of their internal communications to students, and wanted to use a medium that was going to ensure the students were going to take notice. Static pinboards are not attractive at the best of time, and so Mr. Alan Janes (Business Manager) approched A-COM Solutions to assist.

A-COM Solutions managing director Brenton Kelly recommended a PADS digital signage system utilising a 50″ flat panel display.

the challenges

Some of the major challenges were;

• long-term security of the monitor
• long-term security of the computer
• no power supply was available in the immediate area
• no data communications outlets were available in the immediate area
• installation logistics in a busy foyer area

the solution

The solution proposed was a proprietry PADS Digital Signage system which allowed the school administrators to create comprehensive digital signage content which when set, needed no manual input. Any necessary changes can be made to the conent and sent to the ‘viewer’ immediately or at a pre-determined time. Scheduling of the digital signage content was carried out using simple calendars and the creation of the content was achieved using the PADS ‘Designer’ application – a Windows based application not too disimilar to MS Word.

• The PADS Digital Signage system is a client-server architecture, thus the ‘server’ was placed into a secure area. The ‘Designer’ application was installed onto the school administrators PC used by the staff member responsible for the upkeep of the digital signage content.
• Included in the solution was a wall mounted 50″ commercial grade plama display into the busy foyer area of the school. The display incorporated a fully integrated Windows embedded PC which ran the client ‘viewer’ software. The display’s on-board power management took care of auto power up and power down of the monitor and PC.
• The thing that impressed the school’s management was that the solution is completely scalable allowing for hundreds of ‘viewers’ across the campus. The designer and server architechure did not need to change, simply add the viewers onto the corporate network and we’re off!
• The solution consisted of the following;
• Panasonic commercial grade plasma display with integrated Windows Embedded XP PC
• Wall mount bracket
• Clear acrylic security cover for display
• Electrical/power requirements
• Data communications requirements
• PADS SR1 Digital Signage Software
• Server PC with Windows XP Pro (Windows server license is not required)

how the solution was implemented

A-COM Solutions technicians carried out the installation during the day, maximising the before school and after school time slots to minimise disruption to the students and staff.
A comprehensive training session was held for the necessary staff in order to ensure that they fully understood the design and management elements to the system. They found the system quite easy to operate after only a few minutes of tuition.

the outcomes

The students commented on how much better they thought the digital signage system was when compared to static pin boards. They said “they actually read it!”

customers’ feedback

A verbal reference is available upon request.