Software & Management
A content management system (CMS) for digital signage is the software your team uses to decide what appears on each screen and when. At its simplest it replaces walking round with a USB stick. At its most developed it lets a head office schedule campaigns across many screens while a store manager changes a single price.
What you need depends on how many screens you have, who changes content, how often, and how much it matters if a screen shows the wrong thing. We scope those requirements first. Whether the project then uses a configured third-party CMS or a bespoke build is decided during scoping.
A library for images, video and templates with folders, tags, expiry dates and clear naming, so that out-of-date artwork does not find its way back on screen.
Ordered sets of content with durations and transitions, reusable across screens, with rules for what plays if an item is missing.
Content by time of day, day of week and date range: breakfast and lunch menus, weekday and weekend offers, campaign start and end dates.
Dividing a screen into areas, such as a main promotion, a price panel and a ticker, designed for the actual resolution and orientation of your displays.
Grouping screens by site, region, department or type, so that one change reaches every screen it should and none it should not.
Local prices, opening hours, languages or offers layered over national content, with rules for which takes priority.
Roles that match your organisation: who can upload, who can schedule, who can publish, and which screens each person can see.
A review step before content goes live, a record of who approved what, and an agreed way to pull content quickly if something is wrong.
Users, permissions and approval
Who may upload, arrange, schedule and approve content.
Media library
Images, video and templates.
Playlists and layouts
Sequences and screen zones.
Schedules
What plays, where and when.
Screen groups and locations
Sites, areas and groups of screens.
Players and displays
Media players or built-in players.
Platform and deployment are decided during scoping.
| Requirement | What we need to know |
|---|---|
| Players and platform | Which device drives each screen: a built-in Android or Windows player, an external media player or an HDMI input from another source. The CMS must support the platform and version actually in use. |
| Connectivity | Wired, Wi-Fi or mobile data at each screen position, who provides it, and any firewall or proxy rules. Networks that carry a lot of video need a realistic view of bandwidth. |
| Offline playback | Whether players store content locally and keep playing to schedule if the connection is lost, and how long they can run before they need to reconnect. |
| Proof of play | Whether you need a record of what played, where and when, for example to report to advertisers. This is a scoping item: not every CMS or player provides it, and it affects the choice of both. |
| Hosting and access | Whether the CMS is hosted as a cloud service or on your own infrastructure, who administers it and how users sign in. |
| Screen formats | The resolution and orientation of every display type in the network, including non-standard wide or tall formats and video walls, so that artwork templates are made to fit. |
| Urgent and override content | Whether you need a way to push an urgent message to some or all screens, and who is authorised to do it. |
Scroll sideways to see the whole table.
There are two honest routes. The first is to select, configure and roll out an established third-party signage CMS that fits your requirements, with set-up of screen groups, templates and user roles done for you. For many signage networks this is the sensible answer, and we will tell you when it is.
The second is a bespoke build. It makes sense when content must be driven by your own data — live prices, availability, queue numbers, room bookings — or when signage is one part of a wider system we are building for you. Many projects combine the two: a standard CMS for campaigns and playlists, with a bespoke data feed or template for the parts specific to your business. The scope sets out the options, their licence and hosting implications, and our recommendation.
For the wider project, including surveys, mounting and content production, see the digital signage rollout checklist.
What this includes — and what it does not
Kiosk Craft does not bundle a content management system or cloud service with its displays, and does not operate a proprietary signage platform. Content management is scoped for your project and delivered either by configuring a suitable third-party CMS or by bespoke development, as agreed during scoping.
CMS licences, hosting, player software, content creation and support are separate from the display hardware. Remote monitoring and control of players depend on the chosen CMS and platform. The terms that apply are set out in your quotation.
Freestanding advertising displays
Freestanding digital posters and totems for indoor promotion, from 21.5 to 96 inch, on fixed or wheeled stands, with USB playback or Android and Windows options.
Shop window displays
Window-facing displays from 32 to 98 inch at 1,000 to 2,500 nits, single or double-sided, hung from the ceiling or on a floor stand behind the glass.
Wall-mounted advertising displays
Slim wall-mounted advertising screens in sixteen sizes from 10.1 to 98 inch, with Full HD as standard, an optional 4K panel and USB, Android or Windows playback.
Digital menu boards
Single or multi-screen digital menu boards for counters and collection points, built from our display families and paired with content management scoped to you.
Video walls
Narrow-bezel LCD panels from 46 to 75 inch, tiled into video walls with wall, cabinet, floor-stand or pop-out mounting and a processor matched to your sources.
Digital signage media players
Android or PC-based media players that connect to a compatible display over HDMI, with Wi-Fi and mobile-data options. Software is scoped separately.
Displays are supplied as configured hardware, and content management is scoped separately. Some display ranges offer USB media playback, which can suit a single screen whose content rarely changes. For anything networked, we scope the CMS with you and set out licence and hosting terms in your quotation.
Possibly. It depends on whether your CMS supports the player platform in the displays you are considering. Tell us which CMS you use and we will check its published player requirements against the hardware configuration before you order.
That depends on the player and the CMS. Many signage set-ups store content on the player and carry on playing to schedule, then pick up changes when the connection returns. We treat offline playback as a requirement to be specified and tested, not an assumption.
This can be scoped as a bespoke data feed or template, subject to an agreed integration with the system that holds the data. See integrations for what we need from your other suppliers.
That can be set up. It is what permissions and screen groups are for. During scoping we map your organisation — head office, regions, sites, departments, agencies — to roles, and decide who may upload, schedule, approve and publish for each group.
Tell us how many screens you have or plan, who will change the content and how often. We will reply by email with questions and a recommended approach.
