Digital Asset Management (DAM):

What to Know Before You Go!

Authored by John Horodyski - Principal, DAM Education,a DAM consulting agency

focusing on DAM education & training. | www.DAMeducation.com

Brought to you by Widen Enteprises | www.Widen.com

© 2011 Widen Enterprises, Inc.

 Digital Asset Management (DAM): What to Know Before You Go!

The decision to implement a Digital Asset Management (DAM) system is a positive step in the right direction
to gaining operational and intellectual control of your digital assets and is not one to be taken lightly. It brings
with it great responsibility as to how the organization’s assets will be efficiently and effectively managed in
its daily operations. It is more than a sum total of its parts; it must include a detailed review and analysis of
all those contributing factors to DAM; digital assets, organization, workflow, security, etc. And yet, the deci-
sion itself to go with a DAM system enacts a chain of questions to be carefully considered before proceeding
down the path to DAM. This white paper dissects the question of “What to know before you go?” and details
the best questions to ask yourself, your team, your department, and your organization before you go with
Digital Asset Management!

DAM: Are You Ready?

What is the goal of the DAM system?

• Is this for marketing operations? Web content? Long-term digital preser vation?

• Is it a singular installation or more expansive for a global audience?

• If you can get your goal right, then you can achieve DAM success

There may be many good reasons to implement a DAM system within your organization; not the least of which
is identifying, centralizing, and making accessible valuable assets for use and reuse within an organization.
And while that is a worthy and most formidable goal to assume, there must be an opportunity to stand back
and ensure the problems are being solved with this DAM solution. Knowing your problem to solve will be your
greatest starting point on your DAM journey, and from there more questions may then be formed. First and
foremost, the problem of who is your audience and what are their problems to be solved is paramount to
success. Take the time to understand the usage scenarios; who will be using the DAM and what procedures /
output do they need?

There is no need to work in isolation here and it is encouraged to seek out input from others within your
organization. This is a great way to make friends, form alliances, and create strong internal partners that will
ultimately help drive your DAM solution.

DAM is not a project; a temporary assignment to IT or Marketing whereby temporary resources and monies
are assigned to try and fix something. DAM is more than this. It is a product to be financed, resourced, and
managed as any other product and/or service found in any organization.

What are your digital assets?

• Content analysis, rights, standards

• Images, graphics, videos, 3D models, text, etc.

• Similar, but different and all deser ving specific attention

Do you really know what you have? This is not necessarily a “left no rock unturned” siege upon the orga-
nization, but if you are to invest time in this, then it is advised to look far and wide for assets for they may
well reside in both the familiar and unfamiliar of places. Shared folders, desktops, external drives are usual
suspects in this exercise. This is a perfect opportunity to reach out to your users and/or customers and ask
them what assets they have and better yet, where those assets are. And ask your users where the assets are
going and how are they to be used?

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 Digital Asset Management (DAM): What to Know Before You Go!

Knowing what those assets are and how many you have (and will be creating on a regular basis) will help
determine what type of DAM implementation you will need. This may be as small as a single installation with a
few users or an enterprise level solution with many things to do.

In addition, knowing more about your assets will ultimately help you in your preliminary discussions with your
software vendor(s). In most situations, the DAM vendors will be able to do what you want your DAM solution
to do, but there are situations where you may have “unique” assets such as 3D models and their associated
information that may not be as easy for your DAM vendor to solve. This may well need customization work
which is both timely and costly. Yet, that needs to be at the back of your mind at all times and working with a
good DAM vendor will make this process all the more profitable for you. Engage and build a strong relation-
ship with your DAM vendor during the “courting” stage for it will be one of your greatest assets going forward.

What is your metadata model(s)?

• How do you identify and define your assets?

• Are you able to achieve the “sweet sixteen”?

• How impor tant is search to you?

Do you know what assets you have and how to identify, organize, and describe them? This is not an exercise
to be rushed as this is critical to the entire DAM operation. If you get this part wrong, then the entire DAM
is damned! Specifically, metadata will be your greatest “asset”; it will provide the structure and information
needed to make your assets more meaningful and not just assets. When metadata is present, your assets
become “smart” assets; meaningful and valuable. Time and time again people feel the need, and right-
fully so, to describe their assets in multiple ways from the perspective of multiple users. More often than
not these exercises can lead to well over 50–75 metadata fields where assets may be described. In some
circumstances, this number might rise north of 100; well beyond reach of control and in a state of information
overload. Your goal is to have a manageable set of fields upon which you are able to discern the most critical
elements of your assets to be described in terms of administrative, descriptive and technical metadata. There
is no “magic number” because every organization will be different, though, the number you may wish to aspire
is the “sweet sixteen”; the sixteen elements that you need to identify, organize, and describe your assets; and
ultimately, let your users search against.

What is your taxonomy?

• The better question is “Do you know what this is?”

• How are your assets organized?

• Why do I need one and can the DAM help me with that?

Indeed, if this word strikes imagery of various alpine and bucolic animals stuffed in their most glorious of
poses, then this is a good time to use the dictionary and figure this out; better yet, hire a librarian or archivist
to help you out. Now that you have identified your assets, and believe you have a metadata model of manage-
able means, it is time to consider how this will be organized within the DAM both from a backend perspective
as well as the front end. Out of the box, DAM systems have existing functionality for the visual display of
information for the user; the “how” part of DAM. How to search for these DAM assets? This could be through a
variety and a combination of means:

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 Digital Asset Management (DAM): What to Know Before You Go!

◆ ◆ A faceted classification system

◆ ◆ Well defined folder browsing

◆ ◆ Perhaps a structured vocabulary from the corporate system feeding the DAM

Think of your users and think of how they will want to play with the DAM and search for assets. There may well
not be a simple one-size-fits-all solution, and may involve different views depending upon your users.

What if this to “replace” an existing DAM? / What if this is a new venture altogether … A new DAM?

• Migration requirements

• Change management

Either way, these “what if” scenarios are worthy of attention for understanding how to implement a successful
DAM. As previously mentioned, this is not just a simple project to be executed, but rather a product, a
significant investment in time, money and resources to solve a specific problem within your organization. If
this is a replacement DAM, then most obvious of concerns are that of legacy development code and migra-
tion of assets and technology systems, connections with existing systems part of a larger CMS or MAM; the
entire technology infrastructure. If this is a new DAM, then there are other pressing issues to consider, most
notably resources. Do you have the right team in place to implement this? Better yet, do you have a change
management process in place to manage the change to a DAM system? This includes everything from
communications to product evangelism, to metadata management, and beyond. Take the time to consider how
this will be rolled out and who will be a part of that process.

Consideration of possible workflow issues?

• Workflow modeling & production tool requirements

• Is there a solid workflow process in place?

• Optimization of marketing operations

Digital Asset Management may be understood as a workflow device to assist in the marketing operations or
other operational management critical to your organization’s needs. Some have invested in DAM solutions to
speed up workflow, and potentially create bigger profits and again, the opportunity exists to take a step back
and receive as much of an overview as possible. Now is the time to identify and map out the workflow process
of your department, and/or organization. If there were to be any “holes” in the process, this would be the time
to find them both in current terms as well as future needs for the organization. In many situations, companies
tell the vendor, “here is our process, automate it,” and not looking at the integrity of the process. If the process
is flawed and cumbersome, you do not want that to be automated for the end result will be messy. In addition,
documenting the workflow is another great opportunity to build better relationships with internal teams and
partners. The result of this documentation serves as the blueprint for your DAM solution and the people, and
processes connected along the way.

Consideration for digital preservation of assets.

• Are some of your assets wor th preser ving beyond the workflow cycles you have established?

• More to consider than just metadata … What about formats and standards?

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 Digital Asset Management (DAM): What to Know Before You Go!

This is critical in terms of looking ahead with the view from behind. There may well be sound reasons to iden-
tify, organize, and centralize your brand assets in one location for digital preservation of some kind, whether
that is short to mid term or a much longer term vision. If indeed a “preservation” problem needs to be solved,
then talk to your DAM vendor about this and discern what may be done. In some instances, there are many
good examples of using archival assets as a means of procuring new monetization and revenue streams. It is
worth the effort to explore new ways of repurposing assets as well as the long tail usage of assets for poten-
tial repurposing in the future.

Consideration of any licensing / legal issues.

• Do you need a DRM as well … And why?

• Permissions, roles, and security … How well do you know your assets, your users and their needs?

• In the cloud or out of the cloud and what does that really mean?

This might be the time where “metadata” comes to the rescue for you and your assets for a comprehensive
metadata model with fields specific to rights usage and management will be critical for your users’ interest in
use and reuse. Yet to get there, demands an understanding of what your assets are and knowledge of how
they may be used. No technology will solve that issue for that is pure human processing. On the other side of
the rights issue is the construction of permissions, users’ roles and security for the DAM that will guide and
direct your users to a more successful DAM experience.

Consideration of possible DAM systems / vendors to use.

• Evaluation, RFP, proof of concept, test drives & sand boxes

• Selection and procurement

This is where the fun begins; the review and selection of DAM vendors to solve your DAM problems. Do not
rush this process. Take the time to interview your DAM vendors for the job, ask them questions about existing
clients, technical roadmaps, and professional services. The good DAM vendors will be found with ease;
they will stand out and provide service from the beginning. A good scan of a vendor’s website will show you
what they are doing and who they are working with. Be mindful of white papers and case studies as that will
provide insight into their design and ability to solve problems. Furthermore, a strong social media presence
will let you know how current they are and plugged into the marketing operations issues affecting DAM. This
is your time to effectively perform due diligence. Look past the software and determine what is going on with
training, implementation support, help desk, upgrades and new releases. It’s not just what comes “out of the
box” that is important; the vendor you choose will become your partner in this development initiative – and you
will need a good partner.

Management issues?
• Operations planning & program roadmap

• Do you have a leader / a champion / an evangelist?

• ● Do you have a team in place to manage day-to-day operations?

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 Digital Asset Management (DAM): What to Know Before You Go!

DAM is neither a silver bullet, nor is it a Catherine wheel. It is the best way in which to manage your rich media
assets for use and reuse within your organization; a beacon of hope and power to advance your organiza-
tion to the next level. In order to harness that potential power, there needs to be the right people there to
be empowered and make change and align DAM with the strategic goals of the organization. A champion
is needed to argue on your behalf and advocate for budget spending. And then champions are needed to
manage the day-to-day operations of a DAM solution from Digital Asset Managers, Business Analysts, and
Technical Engineers.

Is it for you? DAM may well be the art of organization only so far as it may provide a structure of order
amongst the information chaos of a modern media organization. DAM can do many things so long as you are
willing to drive DAM well and let it solve the problems you have identified. Businesses can increase profits with
digital asset management in two ways:

1. Organizing your assets in a central location will make them searchable using enterprise search and
will allow your organization to save time which equals money. Access to information will allow for
quick and easy search and no more lost time looking for assets. Shorter search times lead to quicker
response times.

2. The available assets in your DAM are now available for use and reuse to create new assets and new
products. In the current “real-time” world, a quick and accurate response is priceless.

Do you have the right team in place to do this? DAM is not a project; it is a corporate product; by every sense
of the definition of product. It is a long term investment that needs people, processes to power its potential.
This is about you, and the choices you will make. Take the time to arm yourself with the right information and
you will have a much easier time in making the right decisions.

About the Author

John Horodyski is Principal, DAM Education (http://www.DAMeducation.com), a DAM consulting agency
focusing on DAM education & training. John is also the Manager, Digital Programming, Product Development
at the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). John also serves as Director of Marketing & Business
Development for Wrinkled Pants, an educational software studio focused on the development of education and
literacy based apps for the iPad.

John teaches a graduate course at San José State University, School of Library & Information Science in
Digital Asset Management. John spent many years at Electronic Arts where he managed their global digital
asset management system as well as being a producer within the EA Sports and online divisions. He has
published professional articles and presented at numerous conferences on digital media, metadata in video
games and taxonomy design and continues to offer DAM training & consulting.

John holds a Masters Archival Studies and Masters Library and Information Science from the University of
British Columbia and is the Managing Editor to the Journal of Digital Asset Management.

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