The Potomac is an electronic current event/message board system that runs on a Linux®
operating system and is secured by a 128 bit SSL encryption. The system runs on our unique “Push Technology” which enables users to send or edit content to the Potomac Appliance over IP. Managing the Potomac’s database is very simple. If you are familiar with how to use a PC, then using the Potomac will be a breeze.

Accessing the System:

• To access the system a user must be given administrative privileges along with a username and password
  
• Once inside the system the user is able to add, edit, remove, and preview content within the database
  
• There are 5 different ways to view the Potomac's database
  
  • Current - Contains all the messages in the Potomac's current rotation
    
  • Future - Contains messages that have been created for future use. Messages can be created months, even years in advance.
    
  • Weekly - Contains messages that only run on certain days of the week
    
  • Expired - Contains messages that have already been used in the system. Just because a slide is expired does not mean it cannot be used again. All a user has to do is go back and assign a new start and stop time for that particular slide
    
  • All - Contains every message in the system

Adding Content:

• Adding content is a quick and easy task
  
• There are 5 types of slides users can add to the system
  
  • External File with Caption - A slide that contains a picture along with text. The user must save an image to their hard drive and then import it into the system. Once the picture has been imported the user can then add a caption to the slide.
    
  • External File - A slide that only contains an image. The user would have to import a picture from their hard drive into the system.
    
  • Text Only - A slide that only contains text. Text only slides are created by using the tools within the Potomac system. For the slide, users can pick either a solid colored background or one of Potomac's pre-made backgrounds. Users may also create their own backgrounds and import them into the system as an image file. Once the background is selected text may be added to the slide.
    
  • Videos - A slide that contains a video file. Potomac supports vairous video files such as MPEG, AVI, QuickTime®, Real Media®, and Windows Media®.
    
  • HTML/Web - A slide that contains web content. Users are able to bring in pages from the web and use them as slides in the system.

Scheduling Content:

• Once it is determined what type of slide is going to be added, the user must then name the slide and assign it a schedule.
  
• The most important part of the creation process is assigning a schedule for the message that has been created.
  
  • First, a start and stop date must be assigned: These dates represent when you want your slide to jump into rotation and when you want it to jump out of rotation. For example, a user can schedule their slide to start on March 1, 2007 and expire on July 1, 2009.
  • Second, a start and stop time must be assigned: Allows users to pinpoint the exact time to start and stop each slide. For example, a slide can began at 7AM and expire at 5PM on their respective days.
    
  • Finally, it must be determine how long each slide will be displayed on screen: A slide can be displayed on screen anywhere from 1 second to 10 minutes. Slides cannot be displayed longer than 10 minutes because it poses a threat of burning that image into the Plasma or LCD screen.
• By assigning each slide its own schedule makes every slide in the system independent from one another.
  

When the creation process is finished, simply add the slide to the system and you are done. To see a demo of how to manage the Potomac database presentation please check out the page below.