Managing pipelines in the CMS

Pipeline permissions

Access to pipelines in the CMS will be dependent on the following new permissions:

• View pipelines: read-only mode, can see all pipelines within event but will not be able to edit. 

• Manage pipelines: create, edit pipelines.

• Organization pipelines: Access to the global pipelines table with list of all pipelines in the organization.

Open

• Access to VOD cutting tool: has access to the VOD cutting tool to cut and save recordings directly from the pipeline.

Open

Managing pipelines

Creating a pipeline

When a pipeline is created, the following information is filled out:

1. Event - A pipeline MUST be assigned to an event, and cannot be assigned to multiple events.

2. Pipeline name - Required

3. Director location - Required. 

4. Viewers location - Required. This should reflect the location for the predominant number of viewers.

5. Dial-in - The dial-in line allows Showtime visitors to listen to an audio-only feed of the live stream. This feature may not be available pending resources.

6. Live CC/Subtitles - Optional. You can assign up to six captions for live streams, with English included by default. Make sure you enable or this setting BEFORE the pipeline starts. When it's running you will not be able to edit this setting.

7. Use automatic schedule (checked by default. If unchecked, the pipeline will not be starting and stopping according to schedule).

8. Track assignment - Optional. Once assigned the pipeline schedule is formed based on sessions on the track.

Assigning a pipeline to a track  (new)

Since track assignment is optional when a pipeline is first created, it’s possible that a pipeline will be assigned to a track closer to the live event and not immediately. It can be done on track edit or pipeline edit (explained in the next section).

When you edit a track, look for the “Streaming via” field, open the dropdown and select the pipeline:

When you save your selection, the system will automatically populate all the required fields so that the player shows live content streamed to the pipeline’s rtmp endpoint (Livestream URL, Livestream ID, etc.)

You can then enable/disable emoji, Q&A and other settings manually.

Alternatively, if you don’t need to use live streaming at all, you can opt for Simulated Live in the Streaming via dropdown. In this case you need to upload video files to play at designated times (sessions) and simulate live experience. Pipelines are not needed for this, but you do need to upload a video loop that is at least 15 minutes long - it will be run in the player before the actual sessions start, and after they are over.

Editing a pipeline

The following fields can be edited if the pipeline status is Idle:

• Pipeline name

• Track assignment

• Dial-in

• CC/Subtitles

• Languages for CC/Subtitles

Automated starting of the pipeline

Pipeline will start automatically 2 hours before the first session in the run of the show.

If the first session starts less than 1 hour from now, the pipeline will start within about 10 minutes.

Automated stopping of the pipeline

The pipeline will stop automatically 1 hour after the last session in the run of the show for the day, per the Tracks Agenda in the CMS.

The pipeline will also stop if there is a gap larger than 3 hours between sessions. An example of a pipeline schedule might look like this:

Archiving pipelines

A pipeline will automatically be archived if it has not been used for 90 days. Users with the relevant permissions can also archive the pipeline, or delete it, manually. You can find archived pipelines in the Archive tab within the Pipelines panel.

Pipeline statuses

Please refer to the following screenshots for examples of the different pipeline statuses.

Allocating

Idle

Starting

Running

Stopping

Deallocating

Testing a pipeline

If access to the event page has not been shared with external attendees, you can test a pipeline by creating a session for the time of the test. The pipeline will start running as usual (i.e. 2 hours before the session start time as determined by the Tracks Agenda in the CMS, and will stop 1 hour after the last session is scheduled to end), and be viewable in the player on the Showtime page.

If attendees can already access the event page when you would like to perform your test, the Test agenda function can be used. Session marked as Test agenda will only be seen by users added to the field that appears when this option is selected in the Tracks Agenda editor.

Manual mode

If a pipeline not is set to use automatic schedule, then this pipeline will be marked as Manual and should not be expected to start and stop according to the run of show.

If a Manual pipeline needs to be started or stopped, this would have to be done manually by someone with access to the Superadmin (only Touchcast staff has access to this).

Once a pipeline that was Manual is set to use automatic schedule and assigned to a Track, it will start using the track run of show and rules for starting and stopping pipelines automatically will apply.

Limitations

Number of pipelines within organization

By default, you will be able to have up to 10 pipelines created across all events in your CMS. If you need to create more than this number, please send a request to your Touchcast contact for a permissions exception. A limit can be increased on a per organization basis, and does not require a platform release. 

You will see a message like this if you have reached the limit of pipelines for your organization.

Number of running pipelines in the organization

By default, organizations can have up to 4 pipelines running concurrently across all events in the CMS. 

If you need to have more running pipelines, this limit can be lifted by sending a request to Touchcast. This limit is in place to avoid potential scheduling conflicts. 

Number of AI-generated languages added to the pipeline (AI CC/Subtitles)

The total number of languages that can be added as closed captioning and subtitles for live streamed content is limited to 7 total, including English. English is added by default, and must be one of the closed captioning options if you are providing any subtitles in translation.

Please note that live automatically generated subtitles will only work if the source (spoken) language of the presentation is English.

Best practices

1. Only create the pipeline when you need to set up live streaming. This will prevent reaching a pipeline limit prematurely. 

2. Assign the pipeline to a track only when you are ready with the agenda. Pipeline running times are directly dependent on sessions added to the track that is assigned to the pipeline.

3. Double-check that sessions on the pipeline are not running for unnecessarily long times.

4. Archive or delete the pipeline as soon as you no longer need it. IMPORTANT: download all emoji and Q&A analytics from the CMS before the pipeline is archived or deleted.

5. Don’t leave pipelines running for more than 12 hours. This will help ensure optimal streaming functionality, especially when AI-generated captioning is involved.