RFP: CTC-2013-BMB-01 Digital Asset Management (DAM) and/or Brand Web-to-Print Template Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) System Amendment No. 1 Questions and Answers Question 1: What is the existing SaaS solution in place? Answer: You can view our current DAM at http://www.brandcanadalibrary.ca and our Web to Print solution at http://www.automat.canada.travel Question 2: Is this solution being evaluated within this RFP process? Answer: The incumbent service provider has been invited to participate in the RFP process. Question 3: If not, what are the reasons for not extending this solution? Answer: Current contract is expiring and Canadian Tourism Commission policy is to issue a new RFP. Question 4: What are the current pain points facing the organization, with respect to DAM & brand management? Answer: We are conducting this RFP due to current contract expiration and as a market check to learn what SaaS solutions are available. We intend to find a solution that best meets our needs as defined in the statement of work and provides best value for our organization. Question 5: Is there anyway to get the Appendix templates in an easy to answer format, like Excel? Answer: See the attached Appendix templates in word format.
Appendix A CTC DIGITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT (Brand Canada Library) DAM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS The Brand Canada Library is the Canadian Tourism Commission s DAM system for our photography, video, and graphic files. The site is our tool for managing and sharing content internally and externally. The site supports Canada s Tourism Brand and is a key means of aiding in the promotion of travel to Canada through distribution of vibrant and compelling imagery. Access Users of the Brand Canada Library should have accounts. These profiles are used to remember user preferences and for administrative auditing and reporting. The goal is to keep the registration/account management process simple and easy. Users should be able to create an account and login to the system within 5 minutes. Resetting password should be simple and easy without any cumbersome security roadblocks. Permissions The permission controls should be both comprehensive and easy to manage. Our preference is for role based groups wherein users are assigned to various access and administrative roles. Search The search functionality must be easy to use and fast. It must also be tailored to search for visual materials wherein precision is favoured over recall. Display of search results should allow end user to quickly identify useful materials. Download Users should find it easy to download one or multiple assets. Depending on their permission levels they may require review and approval from CTC. In many ways this part of the site operates similar to an online retail site. Track Site information and events should be easy to report on and offer details analysis. Share/collaborate The Brand Canada Library is a tool that is used to collaboratively select and share materials for various projects. The tool should have the ability to create mini collections that can be shared among users. Language The site is in English and French and should have clear workflows for updating and editing content.
must respond by identifying whether the detailed requirement is included as part of standard service offering; or requires customization to provide the requirement. The vendor is to identify the associated expected cost in either of lump sum or incremental subscription for all customizations. These additional expected costs must be detailed in the Pricing response. Requirement Mandatory Desired MANAGE MEDIA REPOSITORY & CATALOGUE UPLOAD MEDIA ASSET Upload content to DAM via Web User Interface Upload content to DAM via file transfer service such as FTP or DropBox style application Capability to allow upload of assets by non-administrators through url or other means managed by CTC Admin Ability to upload a custom thumbnail for an asset Ability to keep a record of media files that are stored offline from the CTC DAM DELETE MEDIA ASSET Ability to delete a single media asset from DAM DAM Admin should be able to upload content to DAM. Preferred upload quantity up to 100 assets in queue. DAM Admin can upload assets via web interface or FTP. Up to a thousand assets in a queue. Preferred method is by FTP or server uploading. Direct upload link can be made available by DAM Admin. IE, to a photographer so that he/she can upload directly into the system. Upload would be to a non-publicly available section of DAM. When assets are ingested and a preview thumbnail is created the resulting thumbnail is not always a good representation of original asset. Ability for CTC Admin to upload a custom thumbnail used only for preview/search. A method of creating a placeholder asset that refers to an offline location. Could be used to create searchable archive of assets stored offsite at post production company. Ability for CTC Admin to easily remove content from DAM is required to remove under-used assets or assets with expired usage rights. Estimated rate of change is 20% per year, 50% over a 5 year timespan.
Ability to delete multiple media assets as a batch from DAM Ability to find and delete media assets in the DAM by their usage history PUBLISH MEDIA ASSET Ability for CTC Admin to select multiple assets within a folder or search results and deletes them all in one action. Ability for CTC Admin to use reporting functionality to identify under used assets and either delete them through automated process or manually. Publish (content) CTC Admin can publish and unpublish/disable assets. Can be done at time of upload or after cataloguing is completed. Un-Publish/Hide (any content) CTC Admin can withdraw assets, i.e. "unpublish/archive" content. Identify Withdrawn assets CTC Admin can identify withdrawn/disabled assets. Deleted/ unpublished assets are Asset that has been deleted/unpublished should be replaced removed from main search as well as with error message or similar functionality. any lightbox or download cart. Ability to publish video and images directly from the DAM to social media sites. EDIT METADATA Single asset editing tool capability for cataloguing assets Bulk asset editing tool capability for cataloguing assets Ease of multi-language metadata assignment to image Easy/average/complex Ability to use plug-in or an API to share images or videos with popular social media sites. Ability for CTC Admin to edit an asset s metadata via asset detail page or similar option. Ability for CTC Admin to select multiple assets within a folder or search results and bulk edit metadata for all assets. Can be achieved via a web UI or export/import via excel or CSV. Ideal situation is that all cataloguing is done in English and automatically assigned in other languages based on standardized metadata set. English & French are mandatory. Other languages are ideal and in order to add additional languages the CTC would need to know implications of time and cost. Supported metadata types: hierarchical, value list, date, free text Will use date field to set image expiration dates.
Sorting of metadata fields by alphabetical or custom ordered list CTC Admin can arrange metadata fields in order by name. This is particularly useful for Provinces wherein we sort them East to West or West to East. ORGANIZE CONTENT via MANAGE FOLDERS or METADATA The basic concept expressed in this section is that it should be easy for the CTC Admin to organize content into relevant groups based on accessibility and content types. This can be accomplished by a traditional folder structure or through use of metatags that are designed to meet the CTC s needs. The end product should be easy to access/modify/change. CTC Admin can set permissions on all folders/content before Set permissions (content) Move (any content) Edit folder/metadata structure (Create/Change/Move/Delete) Manage collections available for end users to search within. IE, a collection of our Photos and Videos; EQ materials, SEC materials, Brand; etc. MANAGE WORKLFOWS Automated task capability (e.g. move expired images to archive folder(s)) and after publishing them. CTC Admin can move/change all assets between the different folder/category structures. CTC Admin can modify the folder / category structure. It should be possible for the admin to easily create new categories or rename them, move them, delete them. Users should be able to see only those collections to which they have access. Options range from simple notification to CTC Admin to workflow that notifies all users who have downloaded asset N- months before expiry and asks them to stop using the asset.
ADMINSTRATION Admin roles: super admin, user management, permission management, translation, download format management, cataloging, adding/editing assets, reporting, and approving usage requests Access & Permissions; user and role based Cataloguing Adding/editing assets Permission management. Translation management (*The details of this role may vary depending on how the vendor will handle multilingual site) Download format management. Reporting Approving usage requests There are approximately 4 or 5 user roles that have been identified, however this number is an indication only and is not to be used definitively. End user groups should be controlled by access to a folder (ability to modify folder) and access to assets within said folder (ability to see/edit/download/request/modify). Ability to edit asset metadata and edit metadata sets. Ability to add assets to DAM and edit/modify assets either directly in system or by updating to a new version of asset. Ability to create and edit permission roles by defining access to sections of site, and workflows therein. Workflows include ability to view assets. Whether or not permission is required to download materials. And available download formats for users. Ability to translate metadata sets and site content. Ability to edit/create/delete download format options. Ability to access reporting section of site. Ability to receive and edit, approve/deny usage requests. Ideally multiple admin can be assigned to different groups.
User management MANAGE USERS Consumer Portal enables user to create personal profile Ability to view and search for users through Admin UI. Ability to edit, delete, and create users. Ability to assign users to one or more users groups. Users who visit DAM registers for account or logs in with existing account info. Consumer account creation includes: user name creation (use email as username is preference), password creation, and "Hint" or password reset capability (e.g. email based reset) User registration process should be simple and take less than five minutes to complete. User should be able to receive reminder for password and/or username. Unlimited user accounts CTC does not want to a cap or charge associated with number of users holding accounts. After registration, new user is immediately assigned to a base Completely automated process for user group and logged into system. This use case stems from registration of new users frequent media requests for instant access to meet deadlines. CTC Admin should be able to create/modify or delete a user Ability to create an account on behalf account. of a user All information provided on the registration form is saved by the system Create time restricted account CTC Admin can create an account with time-restricted access. Ability for system to automatically When a new user completes the account creation form they assign new users to an appropriate are assigned to a specific group based on the information they user group based on information they provide. IE, all travel media users are given advanced access provide in the registration form from other users who receive base access levels. Accounts for repository and catalogue management/access - integrated into DAM suite or separate to web portal access Integrated/Separate IE, application uses one interface for user access and admin access or has dedicated repository for DAM management and another separate UI for user access. If separate, what are the implications for CTC?
Integrated workflow engine to advise consumer where request is in system (e.g. account awaiting approval, account approved, download pending, download approved and ready in your cart" SEARCH FOR ASSETS Search interface displays after login automatically features search for images and videos collection Ability for photograph geographic location to be displayed alongside/below the thumbnail in search results Ability to match exact phrase in keyword search Ability to flag assets that are being promoted by CTC Find Content via free text search (this should be main search option using a keyword search box) (Intuitive search capability (e.g. Google type filtering)) (ability to match exact phrases like New Brunswick) Most pertinent for users who have submitted a request to download assets. Ideal situation they can login and see the status of their request as: submitted, under review, approved or denied. CTC breaks down repository by collections: Images and Video, SEC, EQ, etc. Many places in Canada have more than one word in the name. When a user enters the search terms New Brunswick images or videos tagged as New Brunswick should be matched, but not just the single word New. An error would be considered if assets tagged as Newfoundland were matched in the search. IE, CTC can identify assets that should be featured in search results. Could be some sort of rating tool or similar. DAM User should be able to find/search among the assets via a free text search tool. The search tool should be able to handle one or more words. The following search capabilities are required: Exact phrase, e.g. New Brunswick All keywords and phrases listed, i.e. functioning as an AND between search terms
Find Content via Categories (this should be a secondary option wherein users can browse through search options based on CTC metadata) Advanced search for content within specific metadata fields Filter results via filetype View content (Thumbnail view) Configure Views (No of thumbnails per page) View content metadata (asset detail page) Asset thumbnail magnification Search runs against all metadata for assets (not limited in any way or limitations are controlled by CTC Admin) LIGHTBO DAM User should be able to find/search among the assets via categories or folders. CTC Admin or expert user should be able to perform advanced queries for specific parameters, IE, BC within credit information field only. A search for assets in Photos and Videos collection can be filtered for just images or videos. All content (hits) should be visible in the result. (Could be in a long scroll list or via pages). DAM user should be able to configure search result (content view). The number of thumbnails in the view /list should be editable. DAM user should be able to View important meta data related to each specific asset. File size, tags, description, Copyright info, Usage restriction, etc. Hovering mouse over image thumbnail should show larger version of asset preview Image file name becomes display name when asset is uploaded Lightbox capability for all registered users of site Users should start with one empty lightbox Create new lightbox User should be able to create new lightboxes Add content to lightbox DAM user should be able to add content to a lightbox. Remove content from a lightbox
Consumer able to save image/media searches in "lightbox" groups with recall and multi-user share ability Send lightbox to another user Assets are saved to lightboxes; if the original asset is deleted, it is also deleted from an lightbox containing the expired/deleted asset DAM users can send assets to other DAM users and nonusers using the lightbox functionality. Recipient(s) will receive an email with a link to access the lightbox and the lightbox will be added to their collection of lightboxes. Lightboxes require explicit deletion (kept in perpetuity) DAM users can delete their own lightboxes. Lightbox functionality to be reduced for guest users Guest users cannot have, create, modify, or share lightboxes. Lightbox searches kept for account holders DAM users can save multiple lightboxes. DOWNLOAD/SHOPPING CART NOTE: currently the CTC DAM uses an integrated approach where the lightbox can become the download cart based on the users permissions. IE, if the user does not have permission to download assets then they must go through request process. We would consider an integrated or separate approach equal. DAM user shall be able to select a format from a list of pre-set formats for each media type for download File delivery: done on the fly or ahead of times and stored on server. Ability for CTC Admin to manually edit/manage the formats and resolution selected for download Ability for system to automatically send an email with file information to the user when an asset is downloaded Shopping cart flows intuitively response. IE, images are available in high, medium, and low resolution and videos are available in HD, SD, web. For images this could be done on the fly, but for videos we would like to see this handled in a way that does not take a long period of time and maintains a high level of quality for converted product. IE, the option of Medium Res Jpeg may be edited from 1500 pixels wide to 1200 pixels wide or similar. When a user downloads an entire lightbox or a selection of assets therein they should receive, by email or other method, a txt file or similar containing asset filename / location information / credit information. There are generally two workflows that the CTC needs to accomplish and we are open to any solution that addresses
Consumer request form has customizable areas (e.g. type of media requested; proposed use of requested media; sector requested by requestor (e.g. journalist, reporter, travel agency) Download content, (single or batch from lightbox) FINANCIAL TRANSACTION CAPABILITY Ability to collect payment for licensing of assets. REPORTING Strong query capability against user information, search information, asset information, and download information these scenarios. Or other solutions that provide us with a robust means of rights management. 1) user must request permission to download; in this scenario they complete the download request form, which is then sent to an admin assigned that role for evaluation, the admin can remove assets from lightbox/cart and then send back to user with messaging as needed, user received cart and is able to download. 2) user does not require permission to download and must complete form and then is taken to download page. CTC to provide form fields. DAM user should be able to download content from DAM. Both directly from low res- or high-res via the lightbox, downloading several assets in one batch. When both images and videos (or other combinations of assets) are downloaded together, system should present download options in an easy to select manner. CTC does not want users to have to select format for each individual asset. Would rather see this done by type of asset. Integrated commerce functionality with secure transaction software for collecting payment from credit cards for usage of CTC assets. Payment would need to be integrated into site workflow for download requests and approvals.
Ability for CTC Admin to create and save queries/ad hoc reports Ad hoc report design outputs in Excel friendly file format Export user list Report on downloads by user account Report on download history of an asset Report on most popular assets to download Report on downloads by group, country and time period CTC Admin can create/save statistics reports. Strong preference for Excel (LS of CSV). To answer question: what assets are the most popular, who is using them, and why Report on total downloads for a time span Report on total logins for a time span Report on most frequent users Report on logins by country Report on identified uses in download form Report on most popular search terms Download performance metrics Refer to Performance Requirements section Site metrics Ability to report on basic site metrics such as average time on site. Common drop off points. Page visits. Etc. LEGAL REQUIREMENTS DAM users shall agree to site terms and conditions CTC User shall agree to terms of use. Can be done at time or registration or when downloading.
STANDARDS REQUIREMENTS The system shall work with most standard digital formats Photography in tiff (25 to 100mb) and jpeg (5 to 20mb) formats. Video files HD broll (100 to 300mb) and SD + HD vignettes Quicktime video and other standard formats (250MB to 3GB) Logos tiff, png, gif, jpeg, ai, eps, design, psd Text documents pdfs and word files Graphical files Flash 5 VIDEO Capability for HD NTSC format Video conversion tool. Ability to create, upload and display a clip of a video, or portion of a video, and display information about the original video details (not the clip). Out Of Scope 3D video (will not be hosted in DAM) CTC will upload highest resolution for DAM and system should create medium res presentation suitable format and low res web suitable format. This can be done as part of ingestion process (preferred) or on the fly (less preferred) USABILITY REQUIREMENTS The system should be easy and intuitive to use, and require minimal learning 90% of multiple image requests will be made by the user using a single lightbox to request the multiple images. 90% of registrations and image requests are completed without the user having to approach CTC staff for assistance.
User guide or help section. Ability for user to send message to CTC s DAM Admin for support Customer Survey Capability CTC Privacy Policy and About the CTC User guide/help can be managed by either the vendor or CTC. Ideal situation has site offering specific help at point of need rather than generic help section. DAM user should be able to find contact information in the interface to a support function. Help can be requested via form or email link Built in tool for creating custom surveys sent to users via email or via login pop-up feature All CTC websites must have ability to link to CTC Privacy Policy and About CTC sections of our corporate website. Links should be displayed in footer bar across the site. LOOK AND FEEL REQUIREMENTS Web interface must have same look and feel as CTC s design system SECURITY REQUIREMENTS Web UI must have customizable design that can be integrated into the CTC s design system. CTC s in-house creative services department will lead design. SaaS 70 IT Compliance report Require third party audit of system PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS Consumer access to system after beginning registration less than five minutes. The system shall have high download speeds to provide download speed metrics for CTC markets Uptime SLAs to provide. Page load time SLA to provide.
OPERATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL REQUIREMENTS Web based access Browser support: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari supported at least two most recent stable releases Capability to pull images from multiple storage sites Ability to interface with Drupal or an available API Ability to integrate with Limelight Networks or other content delivery networks Ability to deliver content in the countries in which CTC operates to provide DRBC (disaster recovery and business continuity) plan UK, France, Germany, Australia, Brazil, China, Japan, Korea, India, Mexico Delivered as Software-as-a-Service STORAGE Image storage allocation type (per use or fixed ceiling limits) (currently 1000GB used, 3TB capacity) Current Asset count (db conversion purposes) Images = 8593 Video = 3453 to provide competitive pricing schedule for storage and bandwidth usage. Graphic and logo files = >100
MAINTAINABILITY AND SUPPORT REQUIREMENTS to provide supports SLAs PERSONALISATION Multi lingual interface All front-end interface pages, terms, and metadata presented to user in his/her preferred language (English or French) Web interface editing Ability for CTC to manage and edit translations on site. Ability for user to establish preferred language to view site Ability for user to select a local language (other than EN or FR) as the language used in the user interface and metadata tags Users who have not previously expressed a site language preference will be asked to choose between English and French; subsequent visits to site to default to user's preferred language; user can change preferred language in the masthead Language choices: Mandarin, Japanese, Korean (first three are most important), German, Portuguese, Spanish
Appendix A CTC BRAND WEB-TO-PRINT TEMPLATE APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS The Brand Automat (WEB-TO-PRINT) is a tool that allows CTC staff and agencies to quickly and efficiently execute brand-aligned print materials. Users are able to edit brand-approved templates and customize collateral to their local needs, and download printready files in real time. must respond by identifying whether the detailed requirement is included as part of standard service offering; or requires customization to provide the requirement. The vendor is to identify the associated expected cost in either of lump sum or incremental subscription for all customizations. These additional expected costs must be detailed in the Pricing response. Requirement Mandatory Desired FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS Capable of producing high quality print and web ready artwork. Capable of allowing end users to customize defined editable sections with text, imagery and graphic selections from predetermined assets or within defined rules. Wizard based interface that allows for easily adding/modifying/deleting content. Final product should be ready to send to media outlets for printing in a variety of publications, including newspapers and magazines, or to website administrators for posting. The templates that are available in the system are global marketing campaign ad layouts (3 categories), corporate materials (business cards, letterhead, envelopes, thank you cards, etc.), point of sale materials (posters, agent business cards, etc.) Level of template customization varies within each product category.
Smart auto-completion for Brand Ad templates and other templates as required. Online template library that can be accessed by CTC employees and select partners. Ability to output high resolution PDF, EPS and Adobe InDesign files. Support for market specific template selections. Chat, support and suggestion communications capabilities. Multi-language interface support. Media outlet / CRM database support, or a send To: link. Campaign ad templates have the ability to auto complete secondary image requirements when a specific primary image is selected. Basically a simple automation so that if image A is selected then sub-images P, Q & R are inserted if image B is selected then sub-images, Y & Z are inserted. The web application should be readily accessed globally. The application should have the capability to deliver file types that suit the requirements of a variety of end users, including, global agencies and media outlets. File formats should be updated regularly to current application versions (IE, CS6 upgraded from CS5) This item identifies the need for the tool to serve market specific templates in individual store fronts. For instance, when the CTC Japan office logs in, they will have access to templates that are specific to the Japanese market. Ideally this will be handled by roles based permissions. This item identifies a requirement to allow users to communicate with one another and administrators from within the tool, request support or make suggestions. This item identifies functionality in support of the user experience. Users can choose to use the tool via an interface that is available in their local language or in English. Languages of interest to the CTC include: French, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, German, Spanish, and Portuguese. This item would allow users to easily select and deliver their customized products from within a contact database that they have the ability to build themselves. For instance, if a core market colleague creates an ad for the London Times, they can select that newspaper outlet from within the database and send it immediately from within the system instead of having to download the image and find other means to deliver it. Alternately, the system should contain a send to: link to
streamline the delivery process. TEMPLATE MANAGEMENT Ability for CTC administrators and other users (internal and external) delegated by CTC Admin to upload and test templates and make them available online without vendor involvement. Ability for vendor to create, modify and test templates as requested by CTC. Ability to manage template workflows through creation, approval and final use. SEARCH Users should be able to search for templates by keyword/filters Users should be able to browse for templates by storefront or various categories as defined by CTC. Templates should be displayed in visual manner using thumbnails. MANAGE USERS Detailed user permissions capabilities. The tool should allow the CTC to maintain the products available in the tool without having to rely on the vendor. offers services related to management of system. See section on maintenance and support requirement for more detailed information. This item identifies the requirement for administrators to be capable of monitoring the use of the tool remotely and to have the ability to review any customized templates that have been created by end users. This item identifies the need for administrators to be able set detailed permission levels that dictate rights and privileges on all end users of the application. Ideally this should be handled by user groups that users are assigned to.
User registration, ability for users to create account based on CTC form and reset password/get login help. New user account can be assigned to group by CTC Admin. Unlimited number of registered users. Any cap on usage should be for CPU and not for user base. REPORTING Strong query capability against user information, search information, template information, and download information Ability for CTC Admin to create and save queries/ad hoc reports CTC Admin can create/save statistics reports. Excel based ad hoc report design Strong preference for Excel. Export user list Site metrics OPERATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL REQUIREMENTS Ability to pull images from the CTC s existing digital asset management database through system integration or API. Ability to report on basic site metrics such as average time on site. Common drop off points. Page visits. Etc. Allows for system integration with existing CTC technical systems that support the distribution of CTC brand assets Delivered as Software-as-a-Service. Storage services. Currently using 20GB of storage. Web browser compatibility. As the web to print system is essentially a library of templates, it will grow over time requiring storage capacity to house the products used within the tool. The application must be compatible with the last two stable releases of Safari, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome.
MAINTAINABILITY AND SUPPORT REQUIREMENTS New template production. Template testing. will respond to CTC requests for support within 24 hours (excluding weekends). 24/5 global support service. A predetermined number of new templates will be included in the annual services provided by the vendor, as agreed upon by both parties. Any additional templates required outside of the predetermined number will be subject to set fees, per template. Expected up to approximately 75 templates per year or provide us with hourly rate. As part of the services agreement, the vendor will test all templates as part of the annual maintenance agreement. Product / software updates. LEGAL REQUIREMENTS CTC s existing agreements and services with printers must not be affected STANDARDS REQUIREMENTS All patches and upgrades will be applied to the CTC web to print services in a timely fashion and free of charge. The CTC expects updates twice a year. In the RFP we will ask for proven past results. The system shall work with all standard digital formats Photography in tiff (25 to 100mb) and jpeg (5 to 20mb) formats. Logos tiff, png, gif, jpeg, ai, eps, design, psd Text documents.pdf s and Word files Graphical files
LOOK AND FEEL REQUIREMENTS System has white label capabilities. USABILITY REQUIREMENTS The system should be easy and intuitive to use, and require minimal learning. Workflows should be clear and simple. User guide with user training support. Support contacts. SECURITY REQUIREMENTS SaaS 70 IT Compliance report or equivalent PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS Concurrent users should not slow down system. Provides fast response time for end users 24/7 Global accessibility with 99% up time As an external user of the application I should be able to find help in a detailed User Guide (in English and French). Training plan must be agreed upon and at no extra cost. As a user of the application I should be able to find contact information in the interface to a support function. Require third party audit of system CTC expects up to ten users at any given time. These users should not experience a slower site than usual. Over broadband connection page response time should be measured in seconds rather than minutes.