Dashboard Overview

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Copyright

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The objective of this lesson is to provide information on how to access Printer
Dashboard, use it to affect printer performance, view printer information, test
the printer’s motors and sensors, produce test cards, and to run cleaning
cards. Printer Dashboard is currently only used with Sigma printers with
options of having an Embosser, Impresser, or a Laminator attached. Not all
settings discussed will apply to your system. However, many settings apply to
all systems. The adjustments themselves, are covered in separate lessons in
the course that applies to your system. For example, embossing adjustments
are covered in the CE870 course, while laminator adjustments are covered in
the CLM/SLM course.

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Overview

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Printer Dashboard is a browser-based interface that displays information about your

printer. Operator level users can perform basic printer status reviews and tasks, while

Admin level users can use Printer Dashboard to fine-tune card appearance, set

advanced options, and troubleshoot printing problems. Service level users are able

to use Printer Dashboard to make adjustments prior to, or after the printer has been

serviced or repaired. Features of Printer Dashboard include options for performing

printer maintenance and ordering supplies, the ability to easily set up a printer or

fleet of printers, the tools to maintain and change printers to meet individual user

needs and complete day-to-day operations.

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Printer Dashboard is the Sigma hardware interface terminal for the printer for
the purpose of running diagnostics and making adjustments. A web browser is
used to access Dashboard. The supported browsers are shown here. These
will be updated in the future. Within Dashboard there are three levels of
access which offer different capabilities.

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There are some terms which you need to be familiar with. DPCL is the
Datacard Printer Control Language that is used to communicate with the
printer. There is also an extended range of these commands called DPCL2. The
protocol that DPCL and DPCL2 uses to communicate with the printer is called
SOAP.

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As previously mentioned, there are 3 levels of access. The Operator level has the
least amount of access. The Admin and Service levels have a higher level of access,
but in different ways. The Admin level access is focused on administrative tasks, while
the service level focuses on servicing the printer.

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The Operator Level is set up for the everyday user. They have access to
viewing the Printer Dashboard, Device Details, and Supply Details. They can
make minor adjustments in the settings, such as enabling or disabling the
speakers. If there is an embosser or laminator attached, additional settings
will be included. Cleaning cards can also be run from Printer Dashboard at this
level. The options under troubleshooting are more in line for helping the
operator assist a support representative when the operator calls for
assistance. There are no out-of-the-box users at this level. Operator accounts
need to be created and set up by an Admin user.

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The Admin user is set up as an in between user. They have all of the Operator
level access plus access to administrative settings. The Admin Level user
manages the users who have access to Printer Dashboard. Their initial
responsibility is to create and set up Operator Level users or other Admin
Level users. They can make adjustments to the printer that affects card production,
and can configure a variety of other options on and off. An admin user can print basic
test cards, and has access to limited diagnostics to troubleshoot the printer for non-
service type issues. If there is an embosser or laminator attached, additional settings
will be included. The Admin User also has access to OpenCard.

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The Service Level user is the only user that comes set up out-of-the-box. The login
name is “service,” and the password is comprised of the generic password 926918
with a suffix of the last 6 characters of the Device ID (also known as the AuthKey).
The device ID can be found under status on the front panel display. In the example
above, the last 6 characters of the Device ID are 48b0c0, which is then added to the
end of the generic password 926918. The complete password would be
92691848b0c0

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The Service Level has access to adjustments that are needed when a field replicable
unit (FRU) fails or needs replacement. For instance, adjustments to the printer’s
offsets may be required when sensors or motors are replaced. The Service Level also
allows for printing advanced test cards. An example of an advanced test card would
be a test card with encoding on the mag stripe. The Service Level user is also able to
reset an Admin User’s password. This level, however, is not meant to manage users.

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Connecting

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Communicating with the printer using a browser is easy. If you are using an
Ethernet or WiFi connection, simply type https:// and the IP address of the
printer into the address bar of the browser. When a USB connection is used,
the situation is slightly different. The printer uses a USBNET port. This enables
the printer to essentially use an Ethernet over USB connection. After the USB
driver has been installed, the printer will be given a USB IP address. There are
some advantages to using a USB connection. They are shown here.

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For this training, the screen shots were taken using the Chrome browser.
1. If an Ethernet connection is being used, launch a web browser, and enter
https:// followed by the IP address of the printer. You must enter the “s”
after http as the system uses a secure connection. After typing in the
address similar to what is shown here, press “Enter.”

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2. After pressing “Enter,” a warning will appear stating that your connection
is not private. This is normal. The security certificate is unknown to your
computer. It is, however, still a secure connection. Click “Advanced” to
continue.

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3. After clicking “Advanced,” a link will appear giving you the option to
“Proceed to the IP address (unsafe).” Go ahead and click the link
“Proceed to....”

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If you use a different browser, the look may be different, but the wording
means the same. The previous slides used Chrome. The 2 examples on this
slide shows the differences between Firefox and Internet Explorer 11. Again, it
is perfectly safe to continue. The reason why you see this, is because the
printer’s security certificate is not known to the computer.

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If a USB connection is being used, obtain the USB IP Address of the printer
using the front panel display after the printer driver has been installed. To
obtain the USB IP address from the front panel display, press the down arrow 2 times.
On the 3rd line, the address will be displayed. The U shows it is a USB address. The U
is for informational purposes only, and should not be included when the address is
entered in the browser’s address bar.

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Launch a browser, and enter the USB IP Address of the printer just as you
would enter an Ethernet IP Address. You will see the same security warnings
as you would with an Ethernet or Wifi connection.

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After a few seconds the login screen appears. Regardless of how you accessed
Printer Dashboard, there are no differences in the operation from this point
on.
The log in screen is very different compared to Printer Manager. There is no
longer a drop down list of users. To sign in, each Operator or Admin User will
need to enter their own personal User ID and Password into their respective
fields. Once both the username and password have been entered you will
click “SIGN IN.” To log in as the Service Account user you will need to click the
purple icon to the right of ‘Sign In.” Towards the bottom of the window, you will
find a drop down menu allowing you to change the language that Dashboard is
presented in.

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If there are no users set up in Dashboard, besides the out-of-the-box ‘Service’ user,
the opening login screen will look like what you see here. You can create an Admin
level user by filling in the ‘Enter User ID,’ ‘Enter Password,’ ‘Confirm Password,’ ‘Enter
First Name,’ and ‘Enter Last Name’ fields. Your other option would be to log in as the
Service Account User. Click on the Service Level Access icon as shown above.

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Being able to log into the service account will always be an option even after
users have been created. When you click on the Service Level Access icon, the
service user login will appear. All that is needed is the password. Unless it has
been changed, the password for the service account is comprised of the
generic password 926918 with a suffix of the last 6 characters of the
Device ID (also known as the AuthKey). Clicking the purple icon again will
bring you back to the regular log in window.

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The Dashboard

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After logging in, you will see the Dashboard. The ‘Service Level’ user has the greatest
number of privileges, so it will be used for this training. The Dashboard is broken up
in to six panels: Summary, Supplies, Cleaning Card, Device Activity, Hoppers, and
Firmware. It’s an overall snapshot of the printer.

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The ‘Summary’ panel will show the current state of the printer. Idle, busy, or paused
are some examples of what you may see here. The network information will show
how your printer is connected to the network. Icons for Ethernet, USB, WiFi and the
Cloud are shown.

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Hovering your mouse over each with show the current status of each network
connection. If you are not using a connection it will show “Not Enabled.” Since WiFi
is being used the hover bubble shows the IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.

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In this example, the WiFi icon is green and the others are greyed out. This means
that WiFi is active and being used. The other network icons are disabled, or just not
being used. Also listed is the model of the printer, its serial number, and the number
of cards printed. Clicking on the ‘Device Details’ button will bring you to the ‘Device
Details’ page. The ‘Device Details’ page will be discussed later in this course.

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The Sigma printer has an LED light bar as part of its enclosure. The color of the light
bar is adjustable. Clicking on the LED COLOR PICKER button will display the color
picker.

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Select the color by sliding the slider to the color you would like the light bar to be.
After picking the color click, on the bottom bar to select the intensity of the color.
Click ‘SAVE’ when finished.

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The Supplies panel will show a symbol representing each type of supply installed in
the printer and attached device. A bar representing the amount of supply remaining
for each supply will also be displayed. When the supply starts running low, the green
bar will turn to red. Clicking on ‘Supply Details’ will bring you to the supply details
page in Dashboard. Clicking on ‘Order Supplies’ will open a new browser window
and take you to Entrust’s webpage for ordering supplies.

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If an embosser, laminator, or impresser is attached to the printer, the supplies for
those will be listed as well. In this example, a laminator is attached to the printer.

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In this example, an embosser is connected. The topping foil will be shown along with
the print ribbon. Clicking on the ‘Supply Details’ button will bring you to the supplies
page. The supplies page will be discussed later in this course.

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The ‘Cleaning Card’ panel shows the number of cards until it’s recommended that the
printer is cleaned. This is also represented by a green bar. The bar will change to red
as the printer gets closer to needing to be cleaned. The ‘Cleaning Card’ button takes
you directly to the cleaning page. The cleaning page will be discussed later in the
course.

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The ‘Device Activity’ panel will list any activity since the printer was last powered on.
Each Job that is listed can be expanded to see the details of what was done to the
card. This example shows 3 cards that were successfully printed. If you click on the
down arrow, it will expand the job, and you will see additional information. No
personal information from the card being produced will be displayed. The following
slide will show a few examples of what you may see in the ‘Device Activity’ panel.

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1. Shows the collapsed view of the Device Activity panel. You can see that 2 cards
have been successfully printed, one card is currently being printed, another card
is being staged, and the last card prepped.
2. Shows an expanded view of a card in the process of being printed. The card has
been picked and a color image is being printed on the front of the card.
3. Shows a completed card that had monochrome printed on the front and the back.
The 2nd card on the list was a simplex job; it was only printed on one side.
4. Shows a successfully printed card with the magstripe encoded. The second
example shows a mag stripe card that failed to print.
5. Shows an embosser handoff error.

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The ‘Hoppers’ panel will display each hopper and will show whether or not there is
card stock loaded. If you have the multi-hopper attached, all 6 hoppers will be
displayed.

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If your hopper is empty it will be displayed as shown here.

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The ‘Firmware’ panel will show the current version of the firmware installed. If the
firmware is out of date it will show that as well.

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Shown here are examples of what you may see in the firmware panel.

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If there is a new version of the firmware available, an ‘Update” button will be
displayed. Clicking the ‘Update’ button will begin the update process.

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After clicking on ‘Update’ a confirmation window will appear. Click ‘Update’ to
continue. As the update progresses, the different stages will be displayed. When
each stage reaches 100% it proceeds to the next stage. The update begins with
downloading the firmware. When the download is complete, the firmware is
extracted. Initialization begins and the firmware is then transferred. After the
transfer is complete, the process is finalized. The printer applies the firmware and
reboots completing the upgrade.

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In the upper right corner of Printer Dashboard is the user options menu. The current
logged in user will be listed, along with a menu prompt. When you click on the
prompt you have the option to change the current user’s password, or log out of
Printer Dashboard. Selecting “Sign Out” will bring you back to the login screen.

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When you select “Change Password,” a pop-up window appears. Enter your current
password, enter your new password, re-enter your new password, and then click
“SAVE” when you are finished.

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In the upper left corner of the Dashboard is access to the Main Menu.

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If you viewed this lesson as a part of printer training, and would like the full
Dashboard training, register for and complete TE1178: Printer Dashboard Self
Study Training Course.

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