Numbers on a wall come from one of three places: you type them in easyCMS Studio, the screen shows a live dashboard page, or they come from a spreadsheet. Typed numbers never break; a live page is always current but needs a link that works without a login. Pick the simplest one that keeps the number right.
Three places your numbers can come from
Typed in Studio
A Target board, a list in a design, or your details in Your info. Change a number on your phone; the screen follows within a minute or two.
A live web page or dashboard
Looker Studio, Power BI or Grafana, shown as it is. Always current, but it needs the internet and a link that opens without a login.
A spreadsheet
Copy the lines into a Studio list, import a menu from Excel, or export a chart as a picture and show it in a slideshow.
| Typed in Studio | Live dashboard | From a spreadsheet | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Always up to date | When someone updates it | Yes | When someone updates it |
| Keeps playing offline | Yes | No | Yes |
| Login problem | None | Needs a share link | None |
| Charts | A progress bar | Yes | As a picture |
Most wall numbers are simple: this week’s output, this quarter’s sales. Type those in Studio and skip the rest; the spreadsheet guide shows how.
Showing a live dashboard
Studio’s templates do not show web pages; a dashboard goes on the screen through the advanced editor, as a web page in a layout. Build a separate wall version of the report first: fewer tiles, bigger type.
| Tool | What to point the screen at |
|---|---|
| Looker Studio | The report, shared as view-only for anyone with the link |
| Microsoft Power BI | A published view your company’s policy allows |
| Grafana | The dashboard in kiosk mode, read-only on your own network |
A screen cannot type a password or answer a two-factor prompt, so it needs a read-only link that opens without a login; the options and their trade-offs are in webpages and embedded content.
Never use a personal account
When that person changes a password or leaves, the wall goes blank. If you must sign in, use an account that sees one report and nothing else.
Check what a public link shows
Power BI’s publish to web makes a report readable by anyone with the link. Look at every figure before it goes on a canteen wall.
Tell your IT team early
The dashboard is a second address the screen must reach. On a locked-down network it may need its own firewall rule. See network requirements.
Refresh in minutes, not seconds
A wall gets a three-second glance. A figure that changes every ten seconds cannot be read or trusted.
| What you show | Sensible refresh |
|---|---|
| Monthly or quarterly figures | Once an hour |
| Daily sales, tickets closed, visitors | Every 5 to 15 minutes |
| Shift output, line status | Every 1 to 5 minutes |
The dashboard tool has its own refresh setting too: a one-minute screen refresh does nothing if the report updates hourly.
When the internet drops
Photos, videos and Studio designs are stored on the player and keep playing. A live dashboard does not: it goes blank while the rest of the screen looks fine, so nobody reports it.
Give the dashboard part of the screen, never all of it, and keep at least one design in the rotation that always works. Studio’s My screens shows each screen as Online or Offline. More in digital signage without internet.
Designing for a wall, not a desk
Four to six tiles
If you cannot say what the screen is for in one sentence, it has too much on it.
Big enough to read
Stand where people will stand and check. On a 1080p screen, the smallest text should be at least 40 pixels tall.
No hover, no filters
Nobody will touch the wall. Every number needs its label printed beside it.
Show the target
“142” means nothing. “142 against a target of 130” means something to everyone who walks past.
Add “last updated”
One small line turns a silently frozen board into an obviously frozen one, and gets it fixed the same day.
Want charts drawn inside the signage tool itself? Some subscription platforms with app libraries do that better than we do; easyCMS has no app marketplace.
More in digital signage for internal communication and for manufacturing.
Not sure which route fits? Email info@myeasycms.com with where the data lives and who may see it. The guides and the assistant are free; an expert hour is 25€ when you want a person on it.