USER GUIDE FRONTROW CONDUCTOR VERSION

conductor USER GUIDE FRONTROW CONDUCTOR VERSION 1.3.3.1

YOU RE ABOUT TO IMPROVE COMMUNICATION THROUGHOUT YOUR SCHOOL AND DISTRICT. Welcome to FrontRow Conductor v1.3.3.1 FrontRow is the teacher- and tech-friendly way to improve the learning environment in every classroom. The FrontRow Conductor is a powerful, integrated schooland district-wide communication platform. Conductor allows you to communicate with anyone, or any device, from anywhere in your buildings. To fully understand the power of Conductor, we recommend that you first review this User Guide. This User Guide will walk you step-by-step through the Conductor interface, providing instruction and how-to for the most common uses. Please remember that Conductor is completely customizeable and often times will be configured to your school s specifications. If you don t find what you re looking for within this Guide, please refer to www.gofrontrow.com for more information or contact your System Administrator. Thank you for choosing FrontRow! You're just steps away from a more productive classroom.

CONTENTS Introduction....1 Before You Begin Getting Started.... 2-3 Logging into the system from the touch computer Public Announcement (PA)...4-5 Making a PA from the push-to-talk microphone Zones...6 Understanding and managing zones Intercom...7-8 Initiate and receive an intercom Scheduler...9-10 Managing schedules Emergency Alerts...11-12 Bells and Tones....13 Telephone Interface (CMP500)...14 Backing up Conductor....15 GUI...16-17 Appendix A. Adding, Deleting or Editing a Zone...18 B. Creating Scheduler Templates...20 C. Creating Emergency Alerts...21 D. Creating Bells & Tones....22 dd. Managing Audio Files...23 E. Managing Users, Permissions and Security...27

Introduction: Before you begin Welcome to the Frontrow Conductor System! Conductor is a remarkably versatile and easy-to-use school communication platform, used for paging, bells, intercom and emergency communications. Depending upon its needs, your school may be using some or all of the system. This User Guide is designed to provide you with the basic information needed to use Conductor Admin Software, running on a dedicated computer, on a day-to-day basis. Note that this is not a set-up guide or configuration manual. Rather, it assumes that Conductor is ready to go and has been configured by your school or district IT staff, most likely working with Frontrow and a local integrator. IMPORTANT Remember Conductor is an essential part of your school s emergency communication system. It is very important that you read this guide and familiarize yourself with the system s various features and functions. If you have questions, please contact your district IT staff or System Administrator. Conductor Admin Station Touch screen user interface Gooseneck Microphone Intercom Speakers 1

Getting Started: Logging into the system from the touch computer If the touch computer has been turned off, turn it on by pressing the top button on the upper left side of the display. Power The system is typically set up to automatically log-on when the power button is pressed on the touch computer, but it may be set to where a login and password is required. If a login and password are required you must get this information from your System Administrator. By default the system is setup with a login of admin and a password of calypso. Conductor Log-in Screen NOTE: If you see the error below click on OK and you will then see the screen above. 2

NOTE: From this point forward the document reflects the view of Conductor when logged in as an admin user. It is possible that some of the sections are not present on your screen due to less than admin privileges. When successfully logged in you will see a screen similar to this, but your system will have buttons and devices already configured. 3

Public Announcement: Making a PA from the push-to-talk microphone Push-to-talk button 1. From the user interface select the P.A. tab Select where you want the page to be heard. Click here to begin page. 4

2. Click the radio button next to the desired paging selection. All Zones which will allow for a page to everybody. Selected Zones which allows you to page to a specific zone (or zones). Note that you can make a page to a group of zones by clicking on a zone while holding down the Ctrl button on the keyboard. Advanced Selection allows you to page to a single room (devices), by assigned attributes, etc. 3. Press the right side button labeled Speak Using. You will now see a dialog box that lets you know that your page is now active. No audio will be played until the microphone button is pressed. 4. To make your page press down on the microphone button and speak into the microphone. When your page is finished release the button and click on the FINISH button. Remember to click on the FINISH button, otherwise the system is still in the paging mode waiting for your next announcement. 5. To page an ad hoc group of zones select the first zone and then while holding down the Shift or Ctrl button on your keyboard add the additional zones that you like to add to the PA announcement. 6. Paging to Favorites: Sometimes there are groups of zones that get paged to often. To make it easier for the user Conductor allows you to add these zones to a Favorite category. 7. To create a Favorite: Select PA from the main interface. Select Advanced Selection. Select Zones. Highlight the zones that you want to be part of this Favorite (you can easily add zones by holding down the Shift or Ctrl buttons on your keyboard). Give this Favorite a name and the select OK. You will now see this Favorite zone group within the Favorites tab selection. Selected Zones which allows you to page to a specific zone (or zones). Note that you can make a page to a group of zones by clicking on a zone while holding down the Ctrl button on the keyboard. Advanced Selection allows you to page to a single room (devices), by assigned attributes, etc. 5

Zones: Understanding and managing zones A zone is a logical group of classrooms, hallways, etc. The Conductor system allows the user to page everyone at once (all call), select a particular group (such as 8th grade), a single location or an ad hoc combination of zones. The zone grouping is defined by your school and can be easily adjusted as the school s requirements change. Click on the ZONES tab on the left hand side of the interface to see the zones that are available. This is a list of the zones that have been created for your system. More zones can be easily added, renamed, reorganized or removed. (See Appendix A) 6

Intercom: Initiate and receive an intercom The Conductor system allows for two-way intercom sessions from the admin station to a classroom. This is an optional component to Conductor system so your system may or may not have this capability. Calling a room: 1. Select Intercom from the Conductor menu and then choose the room/location that you wish to speak. 2. Press the right side button labeled Speak Using. You will now see a dialog box that lets you know that your intercom is now active. The room/locations will be notified by a pre-tone (if set up that way). 3. To make your intercom press down on the microphone button and speak into the microphone. When your intercom is finished release the button and click on the FINISH button. Remember to click on the FINISH button, otherwise the system is still in the intercom mode waiting for your next announcement. 4. Once an intercom session starts (regardless of who initiated the call) the admin station is in control of the dialog and is responsible for ending the intercom session. Click here to begin intercom. Select location. 7

Receiving a call: 1. When the admin station is called from a room you will hear a ding ding chime in addition to a pop up window on the user interface letting you know who is making the call. Room 200 initiates a call. Answer by clicking Answer button. Click here to end call. 8

Scheduler: Managing schedules The Conductor system makes creating and managing schedules easy for schools. To understand the scheduler you need to learn the two portions of the scheduler: 1. Templates these are the basically a list of things to do on a given day, such as playing bells. Conductor allows for creating as many templates as you need. (See Appendix B). 2. Scheduler the scheduler simply runs the assigned template. These templates can be easily changed on the schedule as needed. Below is an example of several templates with the one named In Service Day being selected. 9

Monthly View of Scheduler: 1. Click on the Scheduler tab and then select Month View. You will now see a month s view of what templates (if any have been assigned) are currently running in the schedule. This is an example of a month view with the templates assigned. Note that in this example two days will run different templates. To assign or change a template to a specific day, highlight the template, highlight the day and then click on assign (near the bottom left side). You can also select the Range option to add a template to a block of days and months. This is very useful at the start of the year! Range example: 10

Emergency Alerts One of the most important components of the Conductor system is how easily emergency alerts can be triggered. By clicking on the Emergency Alerts tab on the main interface you will be presented with a selection of pre-programmed alerts, based on the needs of the school. By simply clicking on one of these buttons a sequence of actions will be initiated. These actions can range from pre-recorded audible emergency alerts, to triggering automatic locking systems, to forcing projectors to show evacuation routes. The screen below show an example of how an Emergency Alert screen may appear. Conductor allows schools to set up a multitude of alert buttons and configurations. (See Appendix A) 11

In addition to Conductors ability to trigger alerts the system can also receive alerts from specific locations. This screen image is an alert from a specific classroom. This alert is accompanied by a loud alarm set of tones to ensure that the alarm is not missed. When this alarm is received you must follow the procedures developed by your school. To cancel the alarm click on the X on the right side of the RED alarm banner. After canceling the alarm you can click on HIDE to remove the notification from the screen. NOTE: Conductor main interface does not have to be open for Conductor to receive an alarm signal. Click here to cancel alarm. 12

Bells & Tones In this section Conductor allows for the addition of buttons that play pre-recorded (non-emergency) audio files. This is useful for testing zones, playing bells that are not scheduled, pre-recorded announcements, etc. These buttons are set up very much like the Emergency Buttons in the previous section. As with the alerts, Conductor provides an interface to create and manage customized bells and tones. (See Appendix A). 13

Telephone Interface (optional) Conductor supports the addition of an option (CMP500) that allows paging from any telephone. Using the telephone for paging: 1. Dial the extension of the CMP500 assigned by the school and wait for the CMP500 to answer. 2. The CMP500 will answer and play a prompt asking for the security code or it will play a single beep, depending on how the interface has been setup. When prompted (or after the beep) enter the password given to you by your System Administrator followed by the # key. The default password is 1 2 3 4 followed by the # key. 3. After the welcome message prompt or a beep enter # # on the telephone keypad to start an All Call page. Once the # # has been entered speak your page and either hang up the telephone or enter * to terminate the call. Check with your System Administrator to determine the proper method of ending a call. Paging to specific zones may be set up on the system; please check with your System Administrator for the three digit zone locations. Example: 0 0 2 # could be a zone page to the bus loading area It is possible that your CMP500 has special commands programmed beyond paging, please refer to your System Administrator for instructions. To Change the voice message: 1. Dial the extension of the CMP500 assigned by the school and wait for the CMP500 to answer. 2. NOTE: in order for the CMP500 to allow for a change in voice messages the security code feature must be turned on. 3. After the CMP500 answers and plays the security code prompt enter the default password 4 3 2 1 # on the telephone keypad (note, this password can be changed and the code prompt disabled). 4. After the recording prompt enter a 1 on the telephone keypad to record a welcome message. 5. After the beep start recording the welcome message, the message must be less than 7.5 seconds. The message will automatically be played back. 6. If you re happy with the recorded message hang-up or enter a * on the telephone keypad. If the recorded message is not correct simply enter a 1 on the telephone keypad to start over. 14

Backing up Conductor It is important to keep a backup of your Conductor system as you make changes. Creating a backup is very simple, but discuss with your System Administrator about how often a backup should be created. When Conductor creates a backup a new folder with a date is added to the specified location. To create a backup: 1. Click on Tools 2. Select Backup Database 3. Choose a location to save the backup folder 4. Click on Backup NOTE: in the event that a Conductor backup needs to be restored contact your System Administrator. 15

Remaining GUI items This section gives an overview of GUI items that have not been previously explained. 1. Activity This section displays a list of current activities being performed by Conductor. To stop an activity click on the X under the upper right side of the GUI labeled Stop. This can be convenient if you need to force a song to stop before it has completed. 2. Options Under Tools > Options is where you can change some of the screen attributes as well as add/remove devices that can act as Master PA and Intercom stations. Note that this is an administration area and should only be altered by someone with administration privileges. 3. File In this area you can log out of the system, close Conductor and change passwords. Note that this is an administration area and should only be altered by someone with administration privileges. 4. Editing symbols Throughout Conductor interface editing symbols can be found in the lower bar, they are used to ADD/DUPLICATE/EDIT/DELETE in the sections where editing is taking place. 5. Control This is an area where special commands can be added that fall outside of audio files. 6. Map Icon Conductor allows images to be imported that can be used as reference documents. For example, a JPG image of the school s layout can be quickly accessed from this section. 7. Notes Icon The Notes Icon allows you to add special notes such as instructions on what to do in an emergency. 16

8. Diagnostics Conductor keeps a log of activities which can be very useful in the event of a technical problem. A log of activities can be sent to Frontrow for advanced troubleshooting. 9. Bottom Banner reading from left to right: User - display the current user. Bells/Tones: displays the number of activities active; in this case no activities (0) are active. Intercom displays current Intercom sessions. Actions display current Actions that are being executed. Speaker Symbol displays the number of devices (rooms, etc) that are online and managed by Conductor, and the total number of devices controlled by Conductor, even those that are offline or otherwise inaccessible. If these numbers don t match, your System Administrator will be able to tell you why. 17

Appendix A. Adding, deleting or editing a Zone Highlighting a zone and double clicking on it will bring you into the edit screen. Select the Zone tab on the left hand side of the screen Click on the + button to add a new zone Click on the button to delete a zone Click on the edit button (pencil image) to edit an existing zone 18

When the + button is clicked you will see this screen: Provide a logical name for a zone; such as hallway or K-3 classrooms. Option to place zones in groups. Add or delete locations (also referred to as devices.) Clicking on the + symbol brings up the screen in which you can see all the available locations, also known as devices. Click on the room (or rooms) that you want to add to the zone. You can select multiple rooms at once by holding down the Shift button. Select OK and these rooms will now be added to your zone. You can easily remove rooms from you zone by highlighting the room and selecting the symbol. 19

B. Creating Scheduler Templates To create a new template follow these steps: 1. From the Template section click on the + button to add a new template. 2. Give the template a name and assign it a color. Assigning a color makes it easier when viewing the monthly schedule to know at-a-glance what template is running for each day. 3. Add the event name (such as Begin School Day ) and time to for this to occur. 4. Choose the appropriate audio sequence to be played at the given time. Conductor organizes audio files into audio sequences. 5. Add more timed events as needed to this template; remember that each template refers to a type of day, and can include multiple events defined in a day. 6. Note that Conductor can play different audio sequences for different zones at the same time! 7. Select the zone or zones in which this timed audio will play (trigger script is optional and out of the scope of this document). 8. Select OK to save this new template. 20

C. Creating Emergency Alerts Creating an emergency button: 1. Click on Systems Options (accessing this section requires admin privileges). 2. Select Buttons and Triggers > Emergency Alert Buttons. 3. Click on the + button to add an emergency alert button. 4. Fill in the caption that will be displayed on the button, an optional description, choose an Icon for the button. Also choose the size of the button and if this button will display the associated Icon. 5. Select a category for the button. This is mandatory and is a way to separate your buttons into groups as displayed by the blue banner in the emergency alert button area. 6. Add an audio sequence to be played when this alert is initiated. 7. Optionally, depending on your permissions, you can choose to have an email sent and a defined trigger event. A trigger event can be something like lock all outside doors. 8. Choose if this alert will ask for an are you sure? confirmation when pressed. 9. Choose if this alert will be sent to all devices (zones). 21

D. Creating Bells & Tones Creating a Bell/Tone button: 1. Click on Systems Options (accessing this section requires admin privileges). 2. Select Buttons and Triggers > Bell/Tone Buttons. 3. Click on the + button to add a button. 4. Fill in the caption that will be displayed on the button, an optional description, choose an Icon for the button. 5. Select a category for the button. This is mandatory and is a way to separate your buttons into groups as displayed by the blue banner in the emergency alert button area. 6. Add an audio sequence to be played when this button is initiated. 7. Optionally, depending on your permissions, you can choose to have an email sent and a defined trigger event. 8. Choose if this alert will ask for an are you sure? confirmation when pressed. 9. Choose if this alert will be sent to all devices (zones). 10. Choose the size of the button and if this button will display the associated Icon. 22

dd. Managing Audio Files Conductor system works by playing digital audio files across the network. These files can be live, as is necessary for a PA announcement, or they can be prerecorded and organized by name. This section explains how to manage and get the most out of your audio files. The first step is to understand how Conductor works with audio files. Conductor does not play a single audio file, but rather a named audio sequence. Even if the desire is to play a single audio file, it still needs to be named as an audio sequence. An audio sequence is necessary for Conductor as sometimes multiple audio files are added together with slight pauses in between them. For example, an emergency announcement followed by a short pause then followed by a loud alarm. This sequence can be set up to repeat as well. Adding an audio file to Conductor system: Conductor system uses the WAV file digital audio format when encoding and playing files. But, there is a built in conversion tool that allows other file formats to be used in the system. The supported file formats are.mp3,.wma, and.wav. Even though Conductor uses the WAV file format there can be WAV files that still need to go through a conversion. Importing an audio file: For user convenience there are two paths to Conductor Audio Tools, both lead to the same location. 1. Navigate to Conductor Audio Tools (see picture below) 23

2. To import an audio file from your desktop (or other location) select Convert Audio. 3. Choose Select File To Convert. 4. Navigate to where your audio file is located. 5. Select your file and then click on Convert. 6. Give your file a name, avoid special characters ($, %, etc.) in the name as this could cause audio issues! 7. Select Save and your file will get converted and saved on your computer, click on Upload to Server and now this file will be available to be used in Conductor system. Recording an audio file: 1. Navigate to Conductor Audio Tools. 2. Select the Set Output File Location, give the file a name and a location to be saved. 3. Select a recording device. This can be the computer s internal microphone or an external type. 4. Select Record to start the recording, select Stop to end the recording. 5. Select Upload to Server to add this new audio file to the server s audio list. NOTE: the quality of the recoding depends very much on the equipment being used, the speaker s experience and the environment. For the best results you may want to record the audio in a location equipped with audio products dedicated to high-quality voice recordings. 24

Audio Files and Audio Sequences: This is the area in which you will manage your audio files and create the audio sequences to be used by Conductor. 1. Click on Systems Options (accessing this section requires admin privileges). 2. Select Audio > Audio Files. 3. From here you will see the list of audio files that can be used as part of Conductor system. 4. Select + to add a file from a specified location (remember that this files needs to be in the proper format) or select to remove an audio file from the list. 25

Creating an Audio Sequence: 1. Click on Audio Sequences 2. Select + to create a new sequence 3. Name the sequence, add an optional description, set the priority (see note below), determine if this sequence should keep playing until stopped, determine if this sequence plays for x number of times. Select + to add the file to the list. 4. Note on priorities: Conductor can keep track of which audio files are more important than the others. This does not get used often as the PA and Emergency audio files are set to always have the highest priorities. 5. Under the Add Audio screen you can choose to add an audio file, test the file (will be heard on your local computer), determine a specific duration to play or optionally you can choose a delay amount that can be inserted between audio files within your sequence. 26

E. Managing Users, Permissions and Security. Your school may assign responsibility for communications to multiple people, each accessing Conductor for the same or different purposes. Whether there are multiple computers running Conductor or just one, each user should have his/ her own login and password, and each should have a set of permissions to do only what s/he needs to do. This section shows how to set up multiple users. Users and User Groups: 1. Click on Systems Options (accessing this section requires admin privileges) 2. Select Security from the options menu 3. Select on Users and User Groups to add a user. A user group is a collection of users with similar privileges. 4. Under Group Permissions check the boxes of the items that this new user has access. 5. Select the + button and give the new user a User Name, Full Name, Description (optional), Password and select from the check boxes items to define the users login rules. 6. Click on OK to save the new user. 7. When this user logs into a Conductor system they will now be presented with only the items that they have permission to access. User Password select this if you wish the user password to expire after the defined amount of days. After the date expires the user will be asked to enter their password and forced to enter a new password. Caution must be exercised here as it is not uncommon for users to forget their new passwords. Enable API Security ignore this setting as it is no longer supported. 27

Installer Assistance: www.gofrontrow.com USA/Global FrontRow Corporate Headquarters 1690 Corporate Circle Petaluma, CA 94954-6712 toll-free: 800.227.0735 tel: 707.769.1110 fax: 707.769.9624 web: www.gofrontrow.com Australia Phonic Ear 629 Nudgee Road Nundah QLD 4012 Australia freecall: 1 800 PHONIC fax: 1300 737 983 web: www.gofrontrow.com.au Canada FrontRow 6950 Creditview Road, Unit 1 Mississauga, ON L5N 0A6 toll-free: 800.340.9894 tel: 905.461.5300 fax: 905.677.7760 web: www.gofrontrow.com Scandinavia Phonic Ear A/S Kongebakken 9 2765 Smørum Denmark tel: +45 3917 7101 fax: +45 3927 7900 web: www.gofrontrow.com www.phonicear.com New Zealand Oticon New Zealand Ltd. 142 Lambton Quay P.O. Box 9128 Te Aro. Wellington toll-free: 800 OTICON toll-free fax: 00800 FAX OTICON web: www.oticon.co.nz United Kingdom PC Werth Limited Audiology House 45 Nightingale Lane London SW12 8SP tel: 020 8772 2700 web: www.soundfield.info 2014 FrontRow Calypso LLC Phonic Ear, FrontRow, Calypso and the names of Phonic Ear, Calypso, and FrontRow products are trademarks or registered trademarks of FrontRow Calypso LLC in the U.S. and other countries. 821-2000-018/RevA 0214