Digital Asset Management Maturity Model
Analysis of Current Maturity of Company X DAM Strategy
John Doe
Introduction
This is a sample essay for Lesson One of the DAM Foundation’s Introduction to DAM online
course. In this example, the company does not yet have a DAM system, so the paper focuses
on analysing the current DAM strategy and how it might be improved. Everyone and every
organization has a DAM strategy, even if it is as diffuse as storing assets on shared drives,
shared via email or Dropbox, or an informal system of passing drives with the latest assets
back and forth with co-workers.
The writer of this sample essay has chosen to break down each of the four main categories of
the DAM Maturity Model (DMM) formally, and explain how one facet of each category is
being handled without a DAM system. The comments made by the essay reviewer have been
included in this document.
Company X is a company primarily focused on editing and creating media assets. They are
hoping to implement an asset sharing platform that allows the different departments to
collaborate on the same projects simultaneously. Currently the company has a legacy CMS
that does not fulfil the needs of the company as it stands.
This essay will assess the current DAM strategy at Company X by examining one facet of
each of the four categories of the DMM: People, Information, Systems and Processes.
DAM Maturity Model Category: People
Facet: Business Expertise
Company X is currently researching which vendor to choose from to implement DAM in the
company, the main focus being on improving collaboration between users and ensuring
clients have ready access to assets that are produced. While the senior managers have been
briefed on the need for a DAM, the majority of the users will not have the knowledge of the
DAM strategy and will not understand fully how it benefits the business. The maturity for the
business expertise currently stands at an incipient level because of this reason.
There are many departments within the business that have members of staff who will use the
DAM system on a daily basis. They would serve as the primary sources of help and support
for infrequent users of the DAM. We have identified Brian, a project manager, to become the
DAM champion. He will be in charge of many of the projects and will be the first point of
contact to the users of the DAM system if they do not understand how it works or how it
helps the business. He will be able to explain the strategy of the DAM and how it impacts the
business and the user. Additionally he has been heading up the search for the most
appropriate vendor to use for the business and has an adequate level of knowledge in order to
support the fledgling DAM venture.
As the business generates a lot of media assets, a rights manager will be needed to ensure
copyright compliance is maintained, a problem that the business currently faces with the lack
of a copyright management system. The business uses freelance artists and photographers and
they have their own copyright requirements, the current system does not allow for metadata
creation and notes on what the terms of these copyrights are. The rights manager will be
working closely with a librarian in order to create appropriate automatic rights metadata tags
for various assets.
Daniel, the current archivist, will take up the role as head librarian. He is currently in the
process of updating the archives to include digital versions of vinyl records and CDs that the
company owns. He will be working closely with Brian in order to ensure the taxonomies and
schemas are appropriate for the assets that are being stored. He is also aiding Brian in
choosing the right DAM for use, one that has some MAM capabilities since the business edits
a lot of its media assets. He will be vital in ensuring that the assets are easy to find through
the DAM search engine. Currently finding assets is a tedious chore due to the assets being
stored on separate hard drives and flash drives.
DAM Maturity Model Category: People
Facet: Metadata
Although the ability to find assets is a problem, the biggest concern the business faces is with
regards to compliance and copyright infringement. Currently there are no metadata tags
assigned to assets that allow for users to know whether or not the asset has been copyrighted
for particular uses. As such it is vital that the assets have the correct metadata assigned to
them to ensure that content promoted publicly does not get repealed due to compliance
issues.
The current CMS is quite old and was not used effectively by all departments. Attempts at
using it were disorganised and usually departmentalised, for example the IT department used
it to great effect, but the marketing department didn’t use it or were using it incorrectly. With
the implementation of a DAM system and standardized training, all the departments will be
able to assign the correct metadata to the assets.
With any luck David will be able to create metadata tags that users can assign to newly
created assets. This will be particularly helpful for the infrequent users of the system as David
can assist the vendor and Brian in assisting to create metadata tags that are necessary in order
to correctly categorize and manage the asset. These tags can include the copyright status, the
name of the artists and other relevant and taxonomical info, such as date created and simple
descriptive information.
Previously the only way to know whether or not something was copyrighted for use would be
to contact the creator of the asset directly (i.e. the artist who created a particular artwork).
This contact can become problematic when the records of the asset are not stored in the same
file. It was necessary, and sometimes overlooked, to find the details of the artist on the
system and gain their permission to use their content. With the implementation of a DAM
system the appropriate rights data for each asset can be assigned easily. There will no longer
be a need to search for the names of the artists and whether the material has been copyrighted
as it will all be contained within the metadata of the asset itself. Even if the copyright
metadata is not assigned, the ability to find the artist in the metadata will help reduce the
search time to approve assets for publication.
There has been a call by freelance artists to be able to link their own data, an idea that is
supported by Brian. The artists will be able to create their own folders and create
relationships between their own assets which can be easily searched for. This would allow for
easier usage of approved assets that have a single artist. It would also allow editors to link
different artists creations based on whether the image is copyrighted or not.
The business is currently at an incipient level of maturity when it comes to metadata due to
the above reasons. I have no doubt that when the DAM is chosen and implemented by Brian
the maturity level will increase.
DAM Maturity Model Category: Systems
Facet: Security
The creation of media assets usually comes with the artist providing a licence user agreement
for any particular artwork. As such a system is needed where the restrictions on the assets are
recognised and adhered to. It is vitally important that items that are copyrighted are easily
recognisable and need to be authorised by the issuing artist before they are published in
whatever format the business desires.
The current system relies heavily on individual users gaining authorisation from the
management to use assets through the company e-mail system. There is no way for editors to
tell if assets that are being worked on are copyrighted.
The DAM system needs to be simple enough to use by infrequent users with commands that
allow the users to maintain compliance with the assets they are using. The issues right now
include the fact that access to copyrighted content is companywide and largely unregulated
and reproduction of copyrighted content occurs. The rights management team can be left out
of the approval of edited copyrighted with the current system that is in place. This has created
issues with content that is published to media websites such as YouTube. As a result, the
published content has been removed from the web due to infringement. The ability for
freelance artists to obtain and edit other artist’s copyrighted material is also an issue. The
necessity for a DAM that regulates assets, based on their copyright expiry date for example,
that require authorisation from the rights manager and his department is something of a
necessity in Company X.
With the amount of freelance artists being used by the business there is a debate as to have a
hybrid DAM as opposed to a fully implemented, on site DAM or SaaS DAM. The advantage
with having a hybrid DAM would include the ability to keep particularly sensitive assets on
the business servers and therefore more secure. This is particularly relevant to the video files
captured by artists that include a copyright governed image. The level of control that the
business has will be significantly higher on the content stored on its own servers. This content
can subsequently be uploaded to the cloud after it has been checked by the rights
management team.
As such the current level of security within the business is ad hoc.
DAM Maturity Model Category: Processes
Facet: Workflow
The ability for corroboration between the departments in creating assets is vital to the
efficiency of the business. Currently the system in use involves the marketing team sending
assets to the web publishing team for editing. This creates numerous issues regarding the
effectiveness of the workflow. The assets are not stored on the cloud and edited assets are
stored on individual drives in their own folders.
When the DAM is implemented the assets will be easily accessible by all the departments
working on any given project. This will cut out the need to resend edited versions of the asset
back and forth between departments. Additionally, this will reduce copies of the same edited
asset on individual drives, and reduce the likelihood that one department is working an asset
that is not up to date.
With the implementation of a production workflow system all parties can be notified
simultaneously of updates to assets and they can collaborate on assets in real time without
having to be in the same department. This will ensure that time is spent more efficiently and
the departments are able to communicate their ideas more easily.
As security is an issue at the start of any project, the question about the licensing of content
can be asked to the original creator of the content before the editing process begins when a
new workflow is implemented. The rights management team can also be involved in the
process providing the metadata requires the team to be involved in the project and needs
approval. By eliminating e-mails between departments clarifying rights, workflows will
create efficiencies for Company X.
Conclusion
Ideally, an essay for this lesson would include one page of analysis for each category of the
Digital Asset Management Maturity Model. If, as in this essay, you find that analysing one
facet provides you with less of a page of material, it is more than acceptable to pick another
facet in that same category to help you fill your page. See the other sample essay for lesson
one to see how this may be done.
In your conclusion, try to sum up the overall level of maturity of the strategy or system being
assessed. Everyone has a DAM strategy, even if it is as diffuse as storing assets on shared
drives. The path to DAM enlightenment begins with self-examination.