How to Set Up and Display Your Digital Signage Dashboards

Digital Signage by Haystack allows you to turn any screen in your office into a dynamic hub of information. By broadcasting real-time updates, celebrating milestones, and sharing essential news, you can ensure your deskless and on-site employees stay connected to the heartbeat of your organization. Whether it’s a lobby display or a breakroom monitor, Haystack makes it easy to bridge the gap between your digital workspace and your physical office.

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Step One: Create Your TV Dashboard

The first step in your signage journey is building the content. Navigate to the Digital Signage section of your admin console and follow these steps:

1. In the TV Dashboards section, click Create New Dashboard. 

2. On the empty dashboard click the +Add a Card button to add cards to your digital signage. This works just like the main dashboard in your workspace.
3. Drag-and-drop the cards into the order or your preference
4. Use the 3-dot button to customize cards as needed with embeds, static text, etc. 

📌 NOTE: As you're building, keep in mind that in our next section, we'll select the Groups your dashboard has access to. This means that for cards that ingest content from multiple groups, like Recent Posts, the display will show content from all groups as you're building. We'll adjust access in just a moment to only display content from specific groups as needed. 

For the best viewer experience, we recommend choosing a mix of the following:

• Evergreen Static Cards: Permanent announcements, company values, or office wayfinding.

• Auto-Updating Cards: Dynamic content that refreshes itself, such as the Posts Feed, Upcoming Birthdays, or Work Anniversaries.

• Get Creative: Many teams like to generate QR codes that link to certain areas of their workspace—or to download the mobile apps! You can house these in the Static Image card. 

Once built, your the dashboard cards on your digital sign will pull content directly from your existing Haystack Workspace, ensuring your signage is always synced with your latest internal communications. Don't worry about filtering specific content yet—you will define which groups or departments the dashboard has access to in the next step.

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Step Two: Assign and Localize via TV Link

Once your dashboard is designed, it’s time to go live. Scroll down to the TV Links section to connect your digital dashboards to the physical hardware in your workspace.

First, let's set up your TV Link and assign the dashboard:

1. Click the Create New TV Link button
2. In the TV Link Name box, add a name for the screen you're connecting to. We suggest using a clear but detailed name to help keep your links organized. 
3. Then, select the TV Dashboard that you'd like to display on the screen you've named. 
4. Then, choose the timezone where the screen is located, this helps with the times listed on posts, events, etc. 
5. Lastly, choose the language you'd like to use for the static text on the dashboard (card titles, etc.)
6. Click Save

Next, let's select which groups are used to source the content for your dashboard. By default, your dashboard has access to all groups in your Workspace. To customize, you'll want to select the group(s) that are directly related to where your TV screen is located. 

• For example, if you were creating a screen for your San Francisco office kitchen, we'd suggest granting the dashboard access to the All Hands group and the SF Office group. 
• For example, if you were creating a screen for your your Vancouver factory floor, we'd suggesting granting the dashboard access to the All Hands group, Front Line Team Members group, and the Canada group. 

Let's customize your TV Link's groups: 

1. To the right of the TV Link you're configuring, click the three-dot button and select Manage Group Access.
2. Then, use the search bar to select the group(s) from which you want your TV Linked dashboard to source content.
   
   In this screenshot, we'd use these groups to create a TV link for a TV in the Sales Pod desk area in the Los Angeles office. 
3. Click Save to confirm your preferences. 

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Step Three: Display Your Dashboard on a TV Screen

To display your dashboard on a screen, you'll need one of the following hardware setups: 

• Minimum Requirement: A Smart TV capable of running third-party applications.
• Recommended Requirement: A TV with Google TV (or a compatible device running Google TV), which allows you to download the Haystack: Digital Signage App directly from the Google Play Store for the best experience.

Identify which of the above aligns with your hardware and follow the steps below to display your dashboard on-screen. 

Displaying Digital Signage on a TV with Google TV (or a compatible device running Google TV)

1. Download Haystack: Digital Signage app on your TV
2. Open the app and enter your workspace name
3. The app will then display a login code that needs to be entered in the admin console (note the code for the next step)
   
4. Back in your Admin Console, return the the TV Link you've set up, click the three dot menu, and select Verify TV Link
5. Enter the code displayed on the TV app and click verify.
   
6. The TV will take a minute to sync and then display the TV Link you just verified! Your digital signage dashboard is live! 

Displaying Digital Signage on a Smart TV Browser

1. On your TV's browser, navigate to https://workspacename.haystack.so/tv/ — replace the bold text with your Haystack workspace's URL.
2. The TV will then display a login code that needs to be entered in the admin console (note the code for the next step)
   
   
3. Back in your Admin Console, return the the TV Link you've set up, click the three dot menu, and select Verify TV Link
4. Enter the code displayed on the TV app and click verify.
   
5. The TV will take a minute to sync and then display the TV Link you just verified! Your digital signage dashboard is live!