Information Systems:Digital signage players (formerly uniTV)

All digital signage responsibilities (for the players at the pharmacies) have been handed off to Alttek (Rob Hoyer) as of 2018. uniPHARM is using Rise Vision for its own internal digital signage, which is documented here

Overview

This is the main page for uniTV, and will cover, amongst other things, administration and history/background of the project.

A note on terminology: firmCHANNEL is the platform used for digital signage at uniPHARM. uniTV refers generally to the uniPHARM signange project and program as a whole. As of 2015, use of the term 'uniTV' was discontinued/discouraged. Players are now referred to merely as digital signage players, while 'firmCHANNEL' still correctly refers to the software/ signage platform. However, for the purpose of this article, uniTV will still be used interchangeably with 'digital signage'.

History

uniTV was a program with a controversial history. Someone else can elaborate on this section if they feel it to be necessary.

Current philosophy and future direction

It is all but official that uniTV has been declared a legacy program and is practically being left to self-expire. There is no interest in generating new content or exploring additional capabilities of the platform. The reality is that the original intent and vision was not realized, and all activity thereafter has been from the perspective of salvaging the program i.e. providing whatever return possible on the initial investment made by participating stores. It is easier (and the cost arguably low enough) for stores to continue with having their players continue to run and display somewhat dynamic content (weather and news from RSS feeds), than to consider alternative strategies involving a different platform altogether, or even shutting the entire program down. These possibilites have been explored:

• Digitalsignage.com - A signage platform alternative with features similar to firmCHANNEL. Would require new computers, good content is subscription-based/paid.
• RiseVision - Another signage platform alternative with the same problems as above.
• Obtaining firmCHANNEL directly from Corum Digital - Whatever value there is in Alttek providing on-site IT services beyond but also including firmCHANNEL would be lost, and there would be no considerable benefit to dealing direct.

Administration

firmCHANNEL and Alttek

firmCHANNEL is offered by Corum Digital. Corum Digital operates through channels/partners rather than dealing directly with end-users, so firmCHANNEL is actually provided to us by Alttek (a.k.a Rob Hoyer), who are an official partner and reseller of firmCHANNEL. Currently, the arrangement (which admittedly, is a tad convoluted) between uniPHARM and Alttek regarding firmCHANNEL can best be described as folloows:

• firmCHANNEL players and new installations are provisioned and performed, respectively, by Alttek.
• Reporting of issues is done through the Alttek ticketing portal. We provide the courtesy of taking uniTV-related calls from shareholders to conduct preliminary troubleshooting/analysis, and generating a ticket if required.
• Players that require service are shipped back to us, and we ship them to Rob. This assumes the store does not contact Alttek Rob directly for on-site service (which some do, without any notice required to uniPHARM).
• Management of content is done by uniPHARM, but only upon the store's request. As previously mentioned, there is currently no effort to actively refresh content.
• firmCHANNEL software support (content management and usage) is provided by Alttek.
• Any new interest from currently non-participating shareholders can be entertained by us but ultimately funneled to Alttek.
• Annual renewal of the firmCHANNEL subscription is billed to uniPHARM by Alttek. uniPHARM will invoice the stores individually.

Web Management Interface

• URL: http://mctv.firmchannel.com/index.php
• Top-level administrator account is Rob Hoyer, contact for account/permissions changes.
• At uniPHARM, donnak, darrenf, and norwinu have Operator accounts.

firmCHANNEL is a robust platform with many capabilities.

firmCHANNEL players (hardware)

firmCHANNEL has shifted from custom-built hardware players to a more software-based approach called firmCHANNEL Live (FCL). In other words, FCL is now simply software that can be installed on top of an existing Windows OS running on commodity hardware (e.g. a common PC) whereas previously, firmCHANNEL hardware players were custom-built and seemed to run a customized version of Windows XP (though, really the appliance was still a PC, albeit dressed up). Installing FCL must still be done by the provider (e.g. it's not something that can be downloaded and installed).

Hotline: Documenting and tracking uniTV issues

Update: As of 2017, this process has not really clicked, mainly due to the inactivity surrounding uniTV (not enough issues and too few admins to justify a hotline system)

A new protocol was put into place in November 2015 for the documentation/logging/tracking of uniTV-related issues that are brought to the attention of the I.T. department. This protocol simply utilizes the existing ASW hotline system, with the creation of three new Problem Codes and one Resolution Code related to uniTV:

Problem Codes

• DSADMN - Administration issues
• DSCONT - Content issues
• DSTECH - Technical (i.e. player) issues

Resolution Codes

• DSRSLV - Issue resolved

Creating a hotline

Hotlines for uniTV are created the same way as a product return from a store, or a customer service inquiry. I prefer to work with hotlines on a green screen, but it does look quite nice on the ASW GUI as well. These instructions are for generating hotlines on the GUI:

1. In ASW GUI, select Sales --> Incident Handling --> Work with Incidents.
2. Hit F6 to add, or click the 'Add and with cust/po/inv' on the left menu panel.
3. Enter the customer number; F4 to search by name.
4. Enter the problem code and resolution code. Use one of the Digital Signage codes listed above. F4 to search. The resolution code has to be entered even.
5. If the problem has already been solved and this hotline is just for logging purposes, change the status to CMP (completed). Otherwise, press the green check mark to save. This sets the status of the hotline to 'NEW'. An incident number (RA number) will also be assigned at this point.
6. Once the problem is resolved, go into the incident and change the status to CMP. This removes it from the default view (so you know it's been clear). You can check to see past hotlines with the CMP status by changing 'Lvl' to '0'. Default is '1' for active hotlines.
7. Notify Teresa of the new hotline so that they may go in on Infonet or ASW to see it.

• Note: You can view hotlines in Infonet (a nicer search and nicer display). However, you can only edit/modify them on ASW.

Store notes

09:38, 23 February 2016 (PST) Delta Prescription uniTV had been offline since May, 2015. Store underwent rewiring by their own IT person (Paul Diamond), and ethernet cable from the uniTV to the switch was left unplugged. Replugging the cable brought back the connection.

Changelog

09:36, 23 February 2016 (PST) Purchased HDMI-over-Cat5 extender to replace VGA-over-Cat5 extender that was non-HD compatible. This connects to Donna's display (Viewsonic 1080p monitor).