Digital Signage and Wayfinding

Even as mobility grows in importance, digital signage is arising as a
fourth screen for communicating on campus. Four institutions will discuss
their deployments including their business case, applications and
benefits, total costs, administration, integration with enterprise
information systems, content control, security, emergency messaging,
wayfinding, advertising, and technology.

Presentation Content 1. Statement of the problem or issue:
Digital signs are popping up on our campuses, but often in an
uncoordinated and costly fashion. The focus is often on local content
without a view for the cost savings and value that can be obtained by a
cooperative approach and enterprise-wide view. As a result, different or
duplicate software licenses may be obtained, design work may vary in
quality, labor can be multiplied many times over, institutional branding
may be missing or damaged, campus-wide information is ignored, and
opportunities for group buys on hardware and maintenance are lost.

Local messages remain local and the business cases and multiple uses for
digital signage are not apparent with individual deployments. Initial
investments may be wasted because labor to develop fresh content is
woefully underestimated. Locally deployed screens may go dark and remain
so for lack of content. Waste can also occur when software, servers,
monitors and hardware purchased separately prove inadequate for broader
applications later on.

Presentation Content 2. Description of activity, project, or solution:
Collaboration and cooperation from the beginning, planning for the total
costs of deployment and integration with existing systems and services are
keys to gaining the most value from digital signage deployments. Costs
extend well beyond initial hardware, software and screens and include
staffing for content creation, system management and maintenance. Broad
participation across an institution produces a core of expertise, more
robust solutions, added funding sources and more local and institutional
value for the funds invested. Two of our institutions began by pulling
together multiple departments to develop joint solutions. Two others
worked somewhat differently, starting with a small number of departments,
setting a university standard, and then selling that standard and service
to other departments as they expressed need.

Presentation Content 3. Outcome:
The University of Illinois, the University of Michigan, the University of
Minnesota and Wayne State University are in various stages of deploying
digital signage. The University of Illinois has deployed in five
departments including 22 signs in the new Illinois Conference Center. The
University of Minnesota has installed 40 signs and is in the process of
installing 40 more. The University of Michigan is currently in its pilot
phase, deploying a total of 87 digital signs including a large number of
interactive panels. Wayne State University is planning an enterprise-wide
solution integrated with its enterprise information system (Banner) for
wayfinding with initial coverage in six departments and several public
spaces.

Each institution has dealt with the issues and challenges cited in the
problem statement and formulated a solution tailored to their institution
and culture. Some are providing signage to departments as a charge-back
service. Others have formed cooperative ventures combining central and
departmental funds. All have some level of institutional collaboration
and integration with emergency messaging at a minimum. And all have
learned valuable lessons on what works and what doesn't.

Standardization is still difficult as some departments opt to work
independently in an attempt to save money. The business case is not
always well thought out ahead of time nor is the effort required to
support signage after it is installed. Quality content creation is a
challenge for operations without sufficient staff to absorb designing for
this new medium and existing staff can become overloaded. These are
strong lessons that argue for fuller understanding and planning prior to
jumping into a technology deployment.

Presentation Content 4. Importance or relevance to other institutions:
Digital signage projects can be very complex on several levels. This
session will look at the reasons for deploying digital signage at the
enterprise level and the importance of including executives at the
enterprise level in the planning process. University Relations, Marketing
and Communications, General Counsel, athletics, bookstores, conference
centers are some of the key participants. We'll look at how each of the
institutions has dealt with planning, funding, staffing, local vs. central
control, advertising (yes or no) and yes, technology. Much of the focus
for this session will be more on the business plan, the policies and
workflow processes necessary to make digital signage work. More detailed
information on particular technologies can be shared outside of the
session.

In some senses, the technology may be the easiest part to deal with as
long as the architecture supports the institutions needs. However, given
the myriad number of software offerings, displays and integrators, it is
helpful to learn from institutions that have traveled this path already.