How to maximize your content management strategy with Digital Asset Management MAY 22, 2015
Today s Speakers Sam Schnepf Customer Success Manager Widen Corey Chimko Digital Resources Coordinator Cornell University
Overview About Widen About Cornell University About Digital Asset Management (DAM) Characteristics of a good DAM administrator Migrating assets to a DAM system DAM Best practices (metadata, search, user governance) Maintaining a DAM system DAM Tips and Q & A
A few things to know about Widen
We re a marketing technology company that helps connect your content with everyone who needs it.
We serve hundreds of customers and hundreds of thousands of users in 179 countries around the world.
A few things to know about Cornell University
Founded in 1865 Private and Public 21,593 students 1,628 professors 526,484 digital assets in our DAM system 1,838 DAM system users
The Makings of a Good DAM Administrator
Things to ask yourself Who is familiar with the inner workings of your organization, and can also champion the technology? Can you dedicate a full-time person to DAM administration? What is the scope of the administrator s responsibility? (managing the DAM system, training users, system maintenance and adoption, etc)
I would adamantly advocate that you have a dedicated Digital Asset Manager because it is an actual separate job that takes a lot of time to be successful. Mary Kouw Widen Customer, NYU Medical Center
A diverse and wide-ranging skill set: EXCEPTIONAL... Attention to detail and accuracy Visual memory Passion for organization Writing/Editing skills Research skills KNOWLEDGE OF... Software A wide variety of computer systems Output formats and compatibilities Document, photo, and video editing applications KEEN INTEREST IN... Keeping up with technology Finding workflow efficiencies
Migrating assets to a DAM system
Things to ask yourself What are all of the places you currently store assets? Move vs. Purge: which assets are your most used or most important ones? Is there any existing metadata that can be extracted from or moved with your assets to the DAM system?
DAM Best Practices (metadata, search, user governance)
Metadata: the language of your DAM system
Metadata: the language of your DAM system Things to ask yourself What do you need to consider when creating a metadata schema or naming convention? What types of metadata fields would your stakeholders like to see? How many metadata fields do you really need?
Metadata best practices Embed metadata prior to upload and/or enable metadata embedding upon export Use a non-repeating asset naming convention Implement and share your taxonomy with users, and have a copy available or accessible on your site.
Search: the way your users find assets
Search: the way your users find assets Things to ask yourself How will you apply metadata to your assets? How do your users prefer to search? (quick search, spotlight search, categories/faceted search) How will you define your field types and values?
Search best practices Categorize and tag assets in your DAM system in a way that your users find intuitive Avoid complexity when tagging your assets Tag your assets prior to or during the upload process; if your assets have no metadata, you can t search for them
Governance: the control your users need
Governance: the control your users need Things to ask yourself Should you provide access by business group/department or allow organization-wide access? Should there be any public access to your assets? If so, which ones should be visible and how? How do you make sure that certain people only access certain digital assets?
Governance best practices Identify all user groups that will need access to your assets Work with an internal stakeholder group in advance to agree on permissioning assets organizationally Look at the needs of all stakeholders to determine what different user roles will need to do with your assets (view, download, upload, edit, share, etc.)
Maintaining a DAM system for optimal engagement
Things to ask yourself How often should you audit your DAM system? What analytics can you look at to determine if your system is being utilized? How can you engage users to make the best use of your DAM system and assets?
System maintenance Arrange weekly, monthly, and yearly maintenance tasks Review user permissions for accuracy Delete inactive users Record statistics Review naming conventions and organizational hierarchies (they change over time) Use advanced search to help you locate and fill in missing metadata
Sample Asset Lifecycle Policy: 1. All uploaded assets shall remain in the DAM system for a period of 5 years; 2. After the 5 year period, non-selected outtakes shall be removed from the system, though Cornell University Photography will retain access to the images offline. Selected images will remain in the system for another 5 years (total 10 years from date of shoot); 3. All assets 10 years or older shall be removed from the system on a yearly basis and transferred to the University Archives.
User engagement Keep system messages current and relevant Inform users of upgrades, new features, and changes to system functionality or organization Make sure your DAM is featured and linked to on company websites, letterhead, business cards, etc. Offer periodic open-ended training sessions/webinars to solicit feedback and address user concerns
DAM Tips from Corey
Tip 1: DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME. If you don t get things set up right initially, it s hard to go back and do it over
Tip 2: ASSIGN A DAM ADMIN EARLY IN THE PROCESS. Do this before you implement your DAM system, not after
Tip 3 : LOVE THY METADATA. The easier it is for users to find assets, the more they re going to use the DAM system
Tip 4: KNOW THE IMPORTANCE OF USER GOVERNANCE. Very few users need access to everything; make their lives easier by narrowing visible content
Q and A
Thanks! Contact Widen: marketing@widen.com Follow us: www.widen.com www.widen.com/blog Twitter.com/WidenEnterprise Linkedin.com/company/Widen-Enterprises YouTube.com/user/WidenDotCom Contact Corey: cjc85@cornell.edu Cornell DAM: http://photo.cornell.edu Cornell taxonomy/best practices: http://univcomm.cornell.edu/photography/ taxonomy.html