Governance in Digital Asset Management

Transcription

1 Governance in Digital Asset Management When was the last time you spent longer than it should have taken trying to find a specific file? Did you have to ask someone to help you? Or, has someone asked you to help them find something? The solution to eliminate all this wasted time is Digital Asset Management (DAM). Whether you have a DAM or are considering a DAM, Governance is the key to the success of your system. Governance is the structure you design and implement for your DAM. It encompasses your policy development, taxonomy, and metadata and the plan you put in place regarding the creation, use and distribution of that information. Your decision to implement a DAM is the first step in gaining control of your digital assets. That investment requires more than just the system implementation; it requires a structure or framework that will serve as the foundation for your entire digital strategy. Done correctly and with ongoing support throughout your entire organization will assure a strong ROI, increased efficiencies, and, most importantly, increases in revenue. A successfully implemented system of Governance will assure you to realize all the benefits of your DAM. Once in place DAM. Governance will establish policies and priorities through strategic leadership and accountability while being transparent to your organization. Let s Get Started A good place to begin is with the development of your organization s taxonomy, metadata standards, policies, and the management or stewardship of your DAM Governance. Every organization is different however beginning with these items will build a secure foundation and develop the standards of practice needed to ensure the continued success of your DAM.

2 Before diving in take a minute to consider your organization. Who are your users? What are their roles? How much experience do they have? Will customers be using the system? Is English their native language? You will need to find the balance between your defined audience and the methodology they will use to look for information. And you will need to instruct your content owners or taggers on the importance of this balance. Assuring they fully understand the audience and the relationship between the taxonomy and that audience. Your taggers must be engaged, they need to uphold the standards you develop and participate in the ongoing development to assure everything remains relevant for your users. Taxonomy Taxonomy is the most critical element in assuring your information is findable. Taxonomy, in our use here, is the science or practice of classification to provide a conceptual framework for information retrieval. It is different from metadata. It helps you classify or organize your content into a categorized or hierarchical relationship. This assists the user when searching by providing a broader range of topics. For example someone in operations may be looking for a file in legal having a controlled hierarchy, with a common vocabulary will create a reference point between the two systems and will provide quicker access to the needed information. Your taxonomy should be focused to ensure users can quickly find what they are looking for within just a few clicks. Best practice is to stay within 2 to 4 levels. You can become more specific on the category level and avoid user frustration at the entry level. Build a taxonomy that is easy to scan and not overly detailed. Here is an example of one that may be very familiar: 2

3 On Amazon.com, when choosing the department Books & Audible the first level navigation is simple: Books, Kindle Books, Children s Books, Textbooks and Magazines. Nothing is overly detailed on this level. If you click on Books in the second level navigation you still have a relatively easy taxonomy navigation across the top of the page. And a click on New Releases reveals a more detailed categorical taxonomy that, to someone acquainted with books and/or Amazon, is familiar and not overwhelming. This is how your users should feel about the taxonomy developed for your organization. 3

4 Metadata Metadata is data about data; it is all the information about the asset. It can include any attribute that helps define or describe the asset. Metadata is a critical because it is the key to helping you and your team find the files they are looking for by using keywords. It also assures your users will understand the content of the files through descriptions and use the files correctly via rights management. So where does it come from? Fortunately a great deal of metadata is already provided. For example your computer operating system already tracks filenames, file size, date created and date modified. Your devices automatically record metadata as well. For example your digital camera records the data taken and, via GPS, the location where the image was taken. Back to Governance Now that you have a clear understanding of what is involved let s get back to Governance. As defined earlier Governance is the structure you design and implement for your DAM. It encompasses your policy development, taxonomy, and metadata and the plan you put in place regarding the creation, use and distribution of that information. 4

5 So what are the necessary steps to assure you will meet your DAM Governance goals? Here are the basic steps to setting up a successful system to manage your digital assets, their metadata and the people that support those standards. Determine your Team by first determining a stakeholder for each department in your organization. This person will represent their department and how that department will search for assets in your DAM. They are the stewards for their department. With all the stewards now identified your Stewardship Team is ready to get to work. Step 1: Define Governance Determine the roles and responsibilities of each of your stewards. To manage the development of the taxonomy and metadata for their department Reviewing and approving metadata placement by their department Assure policies are followed, and acting when they are not Create guidelines regarding best practices that assure the tags used are standardized and that everyone is using the same values. o Naming o Acronyms o Abbreviations o For example will your organization be using: Human Resources or HR or HumRes? Step 2: Develop the Taxonomy Review and evaluate the existing structures, navigation and user experiences Start simple by defining then refining to have a strong starting foundation Leave room to accommodate new information, validate and modify regularly Keep it current through scheduled evaluations of your space. What terms are being used by your competition? Industry experts? The media in your space? 5

6 Step 3: Collect the Metadata Determine what was already cataloged with your DAM implementation Define what other source of metadata are available: o Other software your organization is using such as your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system o Data resources (i.e., purchased images, music) o Suppliers part number, unit size, weight, etc. o Current departmental information: forms, policies, procedures, sales presentations, marketing literature, contracts and legal documents, etc. o Regional information if your organization has different offices throughout the country or the world which documents used by those offices should be accessible to others in the organization. Review everything available and then decide: o What is relevant to your organization s needs o What is needed Establish the controlled vocabulary, policies and procedures that will assure everything gets tagged. Remember a file not tagged properly cannot be located. Step 4: Stewardship, On Going Review new assets to assure proper tagging Archive old assets Accept requests for taxonomy changes and discuss with Stewardship Team to determine implementation Review and approve metadata placement Assure policies are followed, and acting when they are not Provide necessary on boarding and on going training Keep it current, updating as needed to current vocabulary and to fit organizational changes You have many options for the implementation, management and on going maintenance of your DAM. You may have someone within your organization that can grow into the role however, to assure the quickest ROI, outside resources are the most beneficial. This will also allow your 6

7 internal team members to develop the skills needed, under the guidance of an expert, while still functioning in their primary role within your company. Bringing in experienced DAM content expertise will: Improve the consistency of tagging through automation Tagging all your assets, regardless of age, with current and relevant tags matching how users will search today Reduce the cycle time for content creators on the tedious tagging needed for content enrichment Improve the discoverability of content on websites and through syndication Better serve your audience with targeted content Increase syndication value by providing laser focused content and enabling you to charge more for it Create new products through discovery because all content is now related in ways unseen before tagging Implementing any new technology brings frustration and headaches. Bringing in DAM content expertise will help you avoid the stress and assure a quicker ROI and companywide adoption. Summary Your DAM is not just a system it is a program. Once implemented it will require ongoing attention and governance to continue to work properly, improve productivity and provide an ROI. Through stewardship and governance your assets will be properly tagged with relevant tags that assure quick and easy discoverability. Bringing in expertise during the development of your Governance provides an assurance that your DAM will be properly configured, integrated, and customized for your organization. Superior Media Solutions, SMS, understands more than just DAM technology; we understand your business challenges and goals because we have lived them ourselves. Our core value is to help you enrich your content to better engage your audience. Based on your specific requirements, we will work together with you to design the optimum solution to add value to what you bring your audience. SMS clients hire us for our experience and expertise in providing the right solutions that address their challenges. Using our solutions, our clients reduce their costs and increase their revenue opportunities. 7