Configure Pro: The Next Generation of Configuration

Configure Pro is a next-generation configuration platform designed to streamline and simplify the setup of Crestron Home systems. It’s the culmination of Crestron’s 50-year experience with smart home and automation platforms, designed to meet the evolving needs of professional integrators. Dealers familiar with the Crestron Home OS backend — and Pyng before it — will notice some key features and benefits immediately. We’ll dig into the details in a moment, but the headlines include:

• The introduction of our most intuitive configuration interface.
• A totally reimagined and streamlined workflow that improves how you build the ome, add rooms, and search for devices within the project.
• The leveraging of Crestron Home OS features like copy/paste, shortcuts, and window resizing, and allowing multiple simultaneous user connections on a project — even to different processors.
• Enhanced navigation with hyperlinks for easy flow within the app and to device web UIs, as well as universal text filters for quick searching in large projects.
• A clear, redesigned layout for keypad configurations, including quick actions, engraving, and behavior, as well as handy checkmarks to indicate configuration status on buttons and in the project tree.
• Simplified sequences with a visual Sequence Editor for the creation and understanding of complex logic, including delays and conditionals.
• Improved audio/video connection configuration with clear input/output labeling and hyperlinks for easy navigation.

John Yohanna, Crestron’s residential VP, explains the philosophy that drove creating the backend for the Crestron Home OS: “There was a period of time where the manufacturers in our industry produced what we wanted to produce, gave it to the dealers, and said, ‘Here, figure out a way to sell it.’ And Crestron has taken a fundamental shift in that approach. Yes, we still know a lot about what’s good for the industry, but we’re spending more time that ever listening to our customers, bringing their feedback in, and really honoring that with our actions.”

Designed for the Pro Community

From a 30,000-foot view, we’re trying to achieve three things: First, we want to provide a tool that empowers dealers to get the system reliably programmed — quickly,” says Yohanna. “that efficiency obviously helps their profit margins.”

“Secondly, ease of deployment means that it’s simpler to have more people on staff with the ability to deploy Crestron systems. You no longer need a custom programmer for every job.

“And third, it enables the end user, our ‘customer’s customer,’ to have control over certain parts of the system that they might want to have some influence over, such as creating their own lighting scenes and scheduled events — without having to call the dealer.”

“All of these elements ultimately benefit the professional integrator — and that community is necessary for our success. These folks are the most important thing to us — we don’t sell our products any other way but through these pros.”

Jason Oster, director of product management (software applications), echoes that sentiment: “Our focus is always to solve problems for our dealers. That’s why we build Configure Pro on top of a solid foundation of modern tools that are optimized for speed, flexibility, and multiplatform integration. Crestron is a long-term partners to our dealers, and we think strategically to build long-lasting products, and software is certainly no exception to that.”

Features Built for Efficiency

“We really wanted to give dealers even more speed and visibility into even the largest of systems,” he adds, The success and speed of Crestron Home OS deployments have opened up the possibility for massive, residential integrations. Oster continues: “For example, if you like to work on a large-screen monitor, Configure Pro can be sized up to make it easier to see more of your project at a glance. You can also connect to multiple processors from a single machine.

“If you are collaborating with a colleague on an installation, Configure Pro will allow both of you to connect and modify the system at the same time, so you can ‘divide and conquer’ to be more efficient on-site,” says Oster. “For example, you can have your lighting expert use Configure Pro to finish their tasks, while at the same time, your AV expert can modify those parts of the system that they specialize in.”

Oster illustrates another excellent example of the efficiencies of Configure Pro. “With lighting scenes, you can still make changes live as you walk around the house, tweaking settings to perfection. If the homeowners is still in a room while you are finishing your work, and you don’t want lights going on and off as you build scenes, simply switch real-time mode to off temporarily, and finish your scene edits without impacting the real lights.”

The Feedback Continues

“Crestron didn’t stray from our first principle in the Crestron Home OS: Everything is live as edits happen, so dealers can quickly make additions or changes and test the results right there on the spot,” says Oster. “With Configure Pro, that’s even faster now,” he adds. “We reimagined the sequence editor so you can easily see more steps — you can visualize complex logic, including delays and conditionals, at a glance. You can test each step or the entire sequence with one click on the real devices to ensure it works as you intended right away.”

Third-party driver integration is another place where Configure Pro shines. “With all the modern filtering and searching tools, it’s super-fast to find and add any third-party driver,” says Oster. “Previously, a dealer needed to hunt by type, manufacturer, and model, and scroll through lists. Now, in Configure Pro, start typing, and it shows up quickly in the search results.”

“Plus, if it’s a third-party AV device you’re searching for, the routing page is much more efficient,” he notes. “You can see much more at once and quickly make audio and video connections to other AV devices in your system.”

“This isn't an update so much as it’s a complete transformation of the dealer experience for the Crestron Home OS,” says Michael Short, VP of marketing operations and residential at Crestron. To help ease the switch, the current Crestron Home Setup app will remain operational alongside Configure Pro, allowing dealers to seamlessly transition and test both platforms.

“Configure Pro represents the distillation of years of feedback from our Crestron dealers in the field,” says Short. “And, of course, we’ll continue to refine it as the Crestron Home OS evolves.”

Creston dealers can find our Early Access Program here. The program provides an exclusive opportunity to experience Configure Pro before its official release, offering invaluable feedback to shape the platform's final development. Dealers can download the Configure Pro app for Mac or PC and begin exploring its enhanced features.