Identifying input workflows and metadata tagging
One of the first areas you should focus on as you plan the launch of your new Digital Asset Management system is your basic input workflow – where is your data coming from?
Start by identifying all the sources of incoming content. Once you’ve identified your sources, there are a few things to consider and to discuss with your vendor.
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- How are your users going to move the content to the DAM?
◊ Is there a module within the user interface that allows for uploads?
◊ Are users expected to send files into the system outside of the user interface?
◊ If they are, what tools will they need?
- How are your users going to move the content to the DAM?
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- How much content are your users going to be loading on a daily or weekly basis? This may change the best practice for loading data – for example, if a user is regularly uploading hundreds or thousands of files a week, it may be preferable to use an FTP transfer methodology.
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- How large are the files your users are going to be loading? As with the number of files, if your user is loading large video files, an FTP transfer may be preferable. If users are going to be loading multi-gigabyte video files, does your vendor support high speed file transfer?
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- What is their recommended practice for bulk loading data, and what are the guidelines for when you should use that method instead of user loading of data?
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- How do you control the metadata that is applied to the uploaded content?
◊ Will the system read the embedded metadata, when it is present?
◊ Can the mappings of data to fields be modified?
◊ Can users apply metadata in the user interface? If they can, how can you control their access?
- How do you control the metadata that is applied to the uploaded content?
This last point about applying metadata to uploaded content is an important one, since DAM systems use metadata for searching and many use it for controlling access to content. We’ll discuss metadata tagging questions in our next installment.
Jennifer Cox
MerlinOne Customer Service Team Manager
Email: jcox@MerlinOne.com
Phone: 617-328-6645
Please see related blog:So, you just bought DAM Software. Now what? Part 1
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