Concepts
OTS Signs is built around a small number of objects that compose into bigger ones. This page defines each one and shows how they relate. If you have not yet read Getting Started or taken the Quick Tour, start there.
The big picture
Section titled “The big picture”Content flows downward:
Media ──► Playlists ──► Layouts ──► Schedules ──► Displays └──► Campaigns ──┘A piece of media sits in a layout (optionally inside a playlist). One or more layouts make up a campaign. A schedule assigns either a layout or a campaign to a display (or a display group / sync group) for a specific time window.
Access to all of this is governed by folders, groups, and roles.
Content building blocks
Section titled “Content building blocks”A single file: an image (JPG, PNG, GIF), a video (MP4), a document (PDF), or audio. Media lives in the Library, is owned by a folder, and can be tagged.
Media on its own does not play on a screen — it has to be placed inside a layout.
Layout
Section titled “Layout”A screen design. A layout has a resolution, a background, and one or more regions. Each region holds content (media, text, a clock, an RSS feed, a webpage, a dataset view, etc.) that plays for a configurable duration. Layouts have a draft / published state — only the published version is delivered to displays. See Layouts.
Playlist
Section titled “Playlist”An ordered sequence of media. A playlist is reusable: you can drop the same playlist into many layouts, change it once, and have all those layouts update. See Playlists.
Campaign
Section titled “Campaign”A named group of layouts that play in sequence. Campaigns make it easier to schedule a multi-part show — schedule the campaign once, swap layouts in and out without touching the schedule. See Campaigns.
A free-form label applied to media, layouts, displays, and other objects. Tags are used to filter views, target schedules (“everything tagged winter-2026”), and organize content across folders. See Tags.
Menu Board
Section titled “Menu Board”A specialized layout for restaurants and cafes. Menu boards model categories, products, and product options as data, then render them through a layout template. Update the products and every screen using that menu board updates automatically. See Menu Boards.
Dataset
Section titled “Dataset”A small, editable data table you can pull into layouts via a dataset widget. Use datasets for things like store hours, daily specials, sports scores, room occupancy, or anything that changes more often than the layout itself. See Datasets.
Display building blocks
Section titled “Display building blocks”Display
Section titled “Display”A single physical screen, paired with a player device that talks to OTS Signs. The display row shows the player’s last check-in time, currently playing layout, IP, version, license status, and resolution. See Displays.
Display Group
Section titled “Display Group”A reusable group of displays. Schedule once to a group and the schedule applies to every display in it. Add a new display to the group later and it picks up the existing schedule on its next sync. See Display Groups.
Sync Group
Section titled “Sync Group”A set of displays that play in lock-step. Use this for video walls or any case where multiple screens must show the same frame at the same time. See Sync Groups.
Scheduling building blocks
Section titled “Scheduling building blocks”Schedule
Section titled “Schedule”The link between what plays and where / when. A schedule references a layout or campaign, picks one or more displays / groups, sets a start and end (optionally indefinite), restricts to days of the week, optionally uses a time window, and has a Priority toggle plus a Display Order value to break ties when schedules overlap. See Schedules.
Time Window (Daypart)
Section titled “Time Window (Daypart)”A reusable time-of-day window such as Breakfast, Lunch, Evening. Saves you from typing the same hours into many schedules. See Time Windows.
Override
Section titled “Override”A short-lived schedule that takes priority over normal programming. Use it for emergency messages, surprise promotions, or one-off events. See Overrides.
Action
Section titled “Action”An interactive trigger attached to a layout — for example, “press a button to skip to the next layout” or “jump to layout X when a connected device sends a signal”. Actions enable touch-screen flows and event-driven content. See Actions.
Organization & access
Section titled “Organization & access”Folder
Section titled “Folder”A container for content. Every layout, playlist, dataset, media file, etc. lives in exactly one folder. Folders are how you control who can see and edit what: permissions are set on the folder as grants, and sub-folders inherit. A grant specifies a subject (user, group, or All Users), a content role (Viewer, Editor, or Manager), and optionally which asset types it applies to. Folders can nest. See Folders.
A named collection of users. Permissions are usually granted to groups rather than individuals. A user can belong to many groups; their effective access is the union of all grants from their groups plus their personal grants. See Access Management — Groups.
A bundle of capabilities. Roles come in two types:
- Content roles (Viewer, Editor, Manager) — assigned via folder grants; govern what a user can do with content inside a specific folder.
- Admin roles (Operator, Admin) — assigned directly to users or groups; govern system-wide capabilities like managing users, viewing the audit log, or changing display profiles.
Roles can be assigned to users directly or through groups. See Access Management — Roles.
Permission
Section titled “Permission”A single fine-grained capability — for example, “manage users”, “view audit log”, or “edit layouts”. Permissions are bundled into roles. Most administrators only deal with roles; the full permission model is explained on Access Management and Folders.
Reporting building blocks
Section titled “Reporting building blocks”Audit Trail
Section titled “Audit Trail”A continuous log of every change made in the system: who did what, to which object, and when. The audit trail is read-only and cannot be edited. See Audit Trail.
Proof of Play
Section titled “Proof of Play”A record of every layout / media play event recorded by a display. Used for billing, compliance, and confirming that scheduled content actually ran. See Reports.
How it all fits together
Section titled “How it all fits together”A typical question-answer flow:
| Question | Where to look |
|---|---|
| ”Why did this content play on that display at that time?” | Audit Trail and Proof of Play |
| ”Why is this person locked out of editing this layout?” | The layout’s folder permissions, plus the user’s groups |
| ”Why is the wrong layout showing right now?” | Schedule Priority toggle and Display Order — a Priority schedule beats a non-Priority one for the same window; among ties, the lower Display Order plays first |
| ”Why hasn’t my new layout reached the screen yet?” | Player sync interval — typically 60–300 seconds. Confirm the layout is published, not draft |
Where to next
Section titled “Where to next”- Quick Tour — see all of these working together in one task.
- Reference / Search & Command Palette — fastest way to jump between objects.
- Troubleshooting — common problems and what to check.