The project

Before a device is chosen, six questions need answering — in writing, on one page, by the person who decides.

What is the goal? Not "digital signage", but: make the wait feel shorter, show the dish of the day, guide visitors through the building. Anyone who cannot state their goal in one sentence buys the wrong equipment.

Who is the audience? Customers, staff, passers-by? Each group needs different content and different locations.

Where exactly? Walk through the building and mark the spots with tape on the floor. It takes twenty minutes and prevents the most expensive mistakes.

What content already exists? Photos, logos, menus, opening hours, a till or booking system — whatever exists in structured form can later be displayed automatically.

Who runs it day to day? A person with a name, not "marketing".

And which systems are already there? Network and firewall, merchandise management, intranet, perhaps a screen from an earlier attempt. All of it influences what makes sense.

Now the answers become a plan the electrician can read too.

The location plan records for every position: place, size, format, mounting type, viewing direction, ambient brightness. A floor plan with numbered points is enough; the numbers stay with the project through to handover.

The content plan says what runs on each surface, how often it changes and where it comes from. It is the one projects skip most often and add back most expensively.

The choice of technology follows from both: size and brightness to suit the surroundings, 16/7 or 24/7 operation, separate player or built-in SoC, IP rating for outdoor positions. The basics are in the chapter on hardware.

Network and power are the underestimated half. Every position comes with the question of where the power comes from and whether the network can be reached by cable, PoE or radio. Radio is the fallback, not the choice.

Add a schedule with milestones and a list of everyone involved with phone numbers: electrician, building management, IT, marketing, and for outdoor surfaces the municipality. Whoever is missing here will be missing at the wrong moment.

Between the order and the installation lies the phase in which a project either becomes calm or stays restless.

Delivery times set the hard rhythm. Standard screens are usually available quickly; special mounts, kiosks, outdoor housings and LED modules far less so. Order the slowest item first and build the schedule around it.

Pre-configuration happens in our workshop, not on the ladder. Players are set up, named, entered into the management system and loaded with a first piece of content; every box carries the number from the location plan. What remains on site is fixing, connecting, aligning.

A test build pays off from three similar positions onwards: one device on the table, all content played through, type sizes checked from the real distance.

In parallel, templates and first content take shape. An installation with nothing to show on installation day starts on a still image and is never properly started again. And schedule the training now, with a date.

Installation day is the day when all the preparation pays off or takes its revenge. Settled beforehand must be:

At the end comes handover with a protocol: every position by number, picture running, alignment straight, cable routed, device visible in the management system, timer checked. Two signatures underneath — that sheet will later be the basis for any warranty question.

An installation does not go into service when it lights up, but when someone in the building can run it.

First establish who learns what. Usually three levels are needed: one person who designs and plans content; two or three who swap something day to day or report a fault; and one person with full rights who assigns access. The third is missing surprisingly often, and then everything stops as soon as someone leaves the company.

Training belongs at the devices, not in the meeting room, and rarely takes longer than two hours. Afterwards the trained person makes the first change themselves while we stand beside them. Nobody learns by watching.

To that belong a short manual with the five actions that are really needed, and an access list: who has which account, who deputises, where fault reports go.

We stay close through the first week. That is when the typical questions come: why is the picture cut off on the right, why does the weekly programme run on Sunday, why does the photo from the phone look blurred.

Operation is the longest phase and the only one that never finishes. Three things keep an installation alive.

First, the editorial plan. One sheet recording what changes when: the daily offer every day, the promotion weekly, seasonal images four times a year, contact details checked twice a year. A fixed date in the calendar is worth more than any concept. Installations do not die of technology, they die of indifference.

Second, service: remote monitoring that reports when a device stops responding, an agreed route for fault reports, a replacement device for critical positions and an annual visual check — dust in the fan, mount secure, picture straight, cables undamaged.

Third, extension. Every installation that works sparks ideas: another screen at the second entrance, a menu board, an outdoor surface. Extend with the same devices and the same software. An estate of five brands and three systems is the surest route to a standstill.

The most common cause of a stalled project is not technology but an empty line in this table.

A typical timeline, if nobody puts the brakes on:

Allow several extra weeks for special constructions and signage requiring a permit. And never set the go-live for opening day, but before it.

What delays projects is remarkably uniform: no power at the desired spot; a lease that ties structural work to the landlord's consent; heritage protection or a missing signage permit for surfaces facing outwards; delivery times for special parts; nobody who feels responsible for the content; IT approvals that sit for weeks. Almost all of it can be settled in the first week if you ask about it.

Ask a supplier before you sign:

And prepare for these questions in return:

Anyone who brings these answers shortens the first phase from weeks to an afternoon.