1.
Washington,
DC
|
Brussels
|
London
|
Los
Angeles
|
New
York
|
Zurich
1100
Glendon
Avenue,
Suite
925
|
Los
Angeles,
CA
90024
|
310.954.2980
www.optimityadvisors.com
Don’t
Cut
the
DAM
Check
Yet!
Content
and
Metadata
Analysis
are
Fundamental
Requirements
Before
Selecting
a
DAM
By
Julia
Goodwin
There
are
a
wide
array
of
DAM
vendors
from
on
prem
to
cloud
to
hybrid
that
can
provide
a
variety
of
asset
management
capabilities
for
your
organization.
They
have
a
wide
range
of
features
and
prices.
Most
are
extremely
slick
looking
and
it’s
easy
to
fall
in
love.
Many
times,
companies
go
straight
to
the
chase
and
purchase
the
DAM
system
they’re
interested
in.
Worse,
they
make
their
decision
with
a
list
of
requirements
that
may
not
adequately
consider
file
formats,
workflow,
and
logical
and
“physical”
asset
metadata.
Before
choosing
a
DAM
system,
don’t
make
the
mistake
of
leaving
holistic
content
and
metadata
analysis
out
of
your
requirements.
Thorough
analyses
of
content
and
metadata
are
important
for
defining
DAM
system
requirements
that
capture
a
complete
picture
of
an
organization’s
needs.
Here
are
some
important
analyses
to
conduct
when
defining
requirements
for
evaluating
DAM
systems.
Without
performing
these,
you
may
end
up
with
a
solution
that
does
not
fit
your
organization
and
may
require
costly
enhancement
charges.
I
have
worked
with
companies
in
the
past
that
bought
a
DAM
system
only
to
find
out
later
that
it
could
not
accommodate
their
content
relationships
or
their
metadata
requirements
in
the
way
their
business
needed.
Content
Analysis
–
This
is
best
performed
through
a
content
audit
addressing
the
considerations
below
and
integrating
the
findings
to
your
requirements
list
to
make
sure
the
DAM
can
handle
it.
• Which
of
your
assets
are
essential
to
store
in
the
DAM?
Can
you
phase
their
addition
to
the
DAM
system?
• Where
are
all
the
asset
types
currently
stored?
Flesh
out
and
document
file
directories,
personal
hard
drives,
Cloud
drives
like
Box
or
Dropbox,
other
repositories
such
as
CMS,
MAM’s
or
PAM’s.
This
list
is
something
you
will
use
again
and
again.
It
will
also
help
you
prioritize
what
goes
into
the
DAM,
who
creates
it,
who
approves
it
and
where
it
needs
to
go.
It
will
also
tell
you
how
much
information
(metadata)
is
known
about
that
asset.
• Do
the
assets
have
relationships
(Parent-­‐Child,
or
Child-­‐Cousin)
that
you
need
to
maintain
and
track
in
the
new
DAM?
• Will
you
include
asset
versions
or
only
final
assets
in
the
DAM?
If
you
include
versions,
how
will
the
system
manage
this?
• Do
your
assets
have
a
Unique
Identifier
that
you
need
to
import?
Or
do
you
have
to
create
one
and
have
the
DAM
or
staff
link
any
asset
relationships?
Does
this
UID
need
to
conform
to
an
industry
standard
like
EIDR?

2.
Washington,
DC
|
Brussels
|
London
|
Los
Angeles
|
New
York
|
Zurich
1100
Glendon
Avenue,
Suite
925
|
Los
Angeles,
CA
90024
|
310.954.2980
www.optimityadvisors.com
Add
the
findings
from
the
analysis
above
to
your
DAM
System
Requirements
List.
Metadata
Analysis
–
One
common
failing
when
a
DAM
system
goes
live
is
that
the
information
users
need
is
not
where
they
need
it
or
further
investigation
outside
the
DAM
is
required
of
users
to
determine
if
they
have
found
the
right
assets.
This
is
how
Search
may
breakdown
in
a
beautiful
new
system.
Here
are
some
questions
to
ask
yourself
about
your
organization’s
metadata
needs
to
mitigate
this
outcome:
• For
each
asset
type
you
have
determined
to
bring
into
your
DAM,
what
metadata
currently
exists?
File
name
only?
More
than
that?
Is
additional
metadata
needed,
if
so,
what?
Is
the
metadata
consistent
with
what
others
in
the
organization
use?
If
not,
you
may
need
to
collaborate
across
teams
to
accept
a
common
Taxonomy
and
Metadata
Model,
especially
if
you
are
planning
on
integrating
your
DAM
to
other
systems.
Don’t
forget
any
technical
metadata
(format,
resolution,
file
format,
file
size,
etc.)
or
administrative
data
(created
by,
last
changed
by,
last
updated
by,
etc.)
• If
metadata
is
the
fields
of
information
you
will
use
to
describe
your
asset,
you
also
have
to
consider
if
those
fields
should
have
restricted
choices
on
data
entry
to
reduce
errors.
For
each
field,
list
these
restricted
values
and
get
approval
from
your
stakeholders.
• Note
that
some
asset
types
may
have
different
metadata
fields
and
values.
Can
the
DAM
support
this
by
only
displaying
needed
fields
by
asset
type?
Can
the
system
accomodate
dropdown
lists
for
specific
fields?
• Do
you
need
to
have
the
ability
to
select
one
value
from
a
field,
that
in
turn
determines
what
appears
in
the
next
field,
and
so
on?
This
is
called
cascading
metadata
and
when
it
exists,
it
greatly
reduces
input
errors.
If
so,
carefully
document
those
scenarios
that
exist.
• Will
metadata
templates
be
needed?
For
some
assets,
data
entry
can
be
minimized
when
certain
fields
are
default-­‐entered
by
the
system
based
on
asset
type,
some
other
user
selection,
or
when
the
assets
are
coming
from
another
system.
Determine
if
this
is
needed
and
that
the
DAM
can
accommodate
it.
• Where
do
the
assets
need
to
go
and
what
metadata
needs
to
go
with
them?
This
is
a
final
check
to
make
sure
you’re
not
forgetting
anyone
downstream
that
requires
certain
assets
and
their
metadata
for
specific
purposes.
Workflow
Maps
While
not
always
required,
I’m
a
huge
fan
of
swim
lane
workflows
so
that
end
users
can
see
visually
the
interplay
of
assets
and
data
as
they
move
through
their
processes.
These
visual
workflows
may
also
tease
out
additional
requirements
or
“ah
ha!”
moments
and
also
confirm
that
your
understanding
of
their
asset
processes
are
accurate.
These
workflows
will
also
be
a
huge
help
to
your
selected
DAM
vendor,
along
with
the
analysis
described
above,
and
can
be
retooled
for
DAM
training
later.

3.
Washington,
DC
|
Brussels
|
London
|
Los
Angeles
|
New
York
|
Zurich
1100
Glendon
Avenue,
Suite
925
|
Los
Angeles,
CA
90024
|
310.954.2980
www.optimityadvisors.com
Define
demo
scenarios
around
your
DAM
system
requirements
Finally,
when
it
comes
to
DAM
selection
time,
be
strict
about
asking
your
final
vendor
selections
to
demonstrate
YOUR
workflows
with
YOUR
data.
Give
them
enough
notice
to
do
this
properly.
If
the
vendor
tries
to
sidestep
this,
it
should
tell
you
something:
they’re
interested
in
selling
their
product,
not
demonstrating
that
their
product
will
be
a
success
for
YOU.
Julia
Goodwin
is
a
Senior
Manager
within
the
Information
Management
practice
at
Optimity
Advisors.