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What media does your DAM support?


Many DAM systems are able to store multiple types of assets. One of the many factors you should consider when selecting your DAM is what media does the DAM support.

  • What type of media does your organization have now?
  • What type of assets will be added to the DAM?
  • What else will you add to your DAM going forward?
  • What file formats are you exploring to use in the future?
  • Do you plan to only store one type of media in the DAM? If so, why? Are you forgetting (or ignoring):
    • Audio
    • Graphics (for the web, print, television, etc.)
    • Photographs (created internally and/or acquired externally)
    • Text (MS Word, MS Excel, PDF, XML, etc.)
    • Video (for internal and/or external purposes)
  • Do you really need multiple, centralized repositories to store all this media and make it searchable vs. using one DAM? (in some cases, probably not)

Your organization spent a lot of money creating and/or acquiring these assets, so why not have a centralized system which enables the organization to find them again, reuse them and even re-purpose assets (re-purpose any part of the asset for a different project). As long as you account for any rights or permissions needed, having one DAM for your media is possible within any organization, no matter how big or small, regardless of how long the organization has been in business.

Any asset  with a file name and a file extension should be able to be in a DAM (NO, this does not mean the DAM should be a dumping ground for whatever assets you happen to find somewhere). With versions and  file formats aside, an asset is an asset is an asset. Therefore, any DAM should be able to store any asset and have metadata associated to it (not necessarily embedded metadata though), but the DAM will not necessarily be able to preview any file format you want. A preview to an asset is often a need (not a want) even if you have great metadata.  If you have assets in a DAM, you should be able to find it using metadata, but you will often want to be able to see the asset before downloading (exporting) it from the DAM.

Check with the DAM vendor on what file formats are supported before choosing the DAM you know you will need to use. If you are uploading new file formats to a DAM, check with DAM vendor to minimize surprises and see what workaround they have to offer in case the file format is not supported for whatever reason. The DAM vendor will often have a list of file formats they support and this list may evolve as the DAM vendor upgrades their system over time. Be sure to check on the versions of the file formats which they support because sometimes the version of file format may evolve quickly depending on the software vendor. Some DAM vendors try their best to keep up with the latest file formats and new versions  (at least the common file formats) within a reasonable time frame (sometimes within months of the new release).  The DAM vendor may support new file formats (and new versions) based on their clients’ needs and/or even client requests to support a ‘necessary’ file format.

Many people realize Adobe comes out with a new version of their software every 18 months. We all hope that the latest version of the file formats will be backwards compatible, but sometimes versions are not fully compatible and some features don’t work from one version to another. Therefore, keeping track of what version of a file format was used to create the asset can sometimes be quite important in order to make sure all the component assets work well together. This can be part of your metadata, if necessary. Using software which created the asset is sometimes the only way to see all the relevant metadata, such as the version of the file format. Some file formats which fall in this category are PDF and SWF. Many vendors have this issue with file format though. If you aren’t sure about compatibility, contact the vendor directly.

Knowing the version of a file format may be important whether the assets in the DAM are components for a ‘final’ version of an asset and/or the ‘final’ version of the asset itself. The DAM could a stand-alone, searchable repository for assets and/or the DAM may be closely tied to other systems which work together in a workflow. Either way, file format (and its version) may be one factor to interoperability in your workflow.

In a perfect world, everything would work perfectly all the time, as we imagined it should. This is the real world and experts may be needed in order to make things work the way they need to. When you aren’t sure or if you don’t know, ASK.

What media does your DAM support?


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Who should upload assets to a DAM?


When implementing a DAM, one of the questions that will come up is who will upload (aka import) assets to the DAM with the metadata. Often, the case is uploading to the DAM will be a regular process with a stream of new assets. That is unless the organization stops producing new assets, limits the total number of assets in the DAM or is not using the DAM (aka another shelf baby).

The answer to who should do this depends on the following:

  • How complex or easy is the process to upload assets and metadata to the DAM?
  • Is the uploading process clearly defined?
  • Who will be trained to perform the upload task regularly?
  • Who is the best fit for consistent and methodical uploading of assets and metadata to the DAM?
  • What is the volume of assets to be uploaded regularly? (Will you need more than one person to upload assets to the DAM?)
  • How long does uploading assets and metadata take per asset? (Develop an average metric to use for scheduling purposes)
  • How often will the organization need to upload assets? (daily, weekly, monthly?)
  • How quickly will you need to upload these assets for your business needs? (Is this tied to any production needs or deadlines?)
    • Who is faster at uploading, better at uploading and/or cheaper for uploading (pick two)?
      • Someone within your organization?
      • Someone outside your organization?
      • The DAM vendor, if they offer this service?
  • Who has the time to do the uploading? What other job duties  do they have? Will their schedule permit them to upload to the DAM in a timely fashion?
  • Who will communicate when assets and metadata are ready for uploading to the DAM?
  • Who supplies the assets? Who creates the metadata?
  • Is there a quality control check for uploads? Do you need one?
  • Who is responsible for linking the metadata with assets?
  • What happens after assets are uploaded to the DAM? Do people need to be notified when newly uploaded assets are available in the DAM? Is the DAM used as a centralized distribution point for assets?

Like any position in an organization, find the people with the qualifications necessary and the willingness to do the work. Typically, this position involves:

  • Data entry skills.
  • A mindset for working with data.
  • Positive attitude and ability to think constructively (no, you don’t want a robot).
  • Willingness to learn new things.
  • Technical savviness is a big plus.

Be sure the individuals working on the DAM understand:

  • What the job/tasks involve and what it does not.
  • The process or workflow.
  • This is not creative position, but rather a creative problem solving position involving data entry.
  • Communicate regularly. Listen to them when they have questions or suggestions since they be able to improve the process or even streamline it for all.

A few words of caution when picking the individuals who will do the uploading to the DAM: Do NOT randomly pick a person from your staff to do this task. If you don’t pick the ‘right person’ to do this task, not only do you risk the task not being done correctly (because they don’t get it or can’t wrap their head around it after training), but you also risk having a high rate of attrition and frustration until you find the ‘right person’ to do this task regularly. If the person did not intent to do this type of work (which often resembles data entry), they may be quite reluctant (particularly at first) to do this. Remember, no one is born with this knowledge nor mindset. Training is a must.

In order to get consistent results in uploading assets to a DAM, the easiest way is to have a finite group of trained and practiced individuals to upload all assets and metadata to the DAM. This will help:

  • Focus the accountability for all uploaded assets.
  • Limits the scope of issues that could occur.
  • Make it easier to resolve any issue before it becomes rampant or repetitive.

The smaller the group, the better trained the group can be (if all trained at the same time) and the more consistent the results will be in the DAM (if they all practice this regularly).  If you do keep all the uploading within your organization, train a finite group rather than one individual in order to have a backup in case that one person is sick, on vacation or leaves the organization for any reason, particularly in today’s job market.  I would not recommend giving every DAM user access to upload freely to the DAM, otherwise you risk correcting issues more frequently and this is often a recipe for a growing disaster of inconsistency. This task should be left to a select few DAM power users.

Who uploads assets to the DAM in your organization?


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Have I heard all the DAM jokes yet?

DAM. As soon as you start thinking about getting a Digital Asset Management (DAM) solution for your organization, you will hear the jokes coming.

Having a DAM day? Is this the hour of the DAM? Having a DAM moment?

What if you were:

  • the DAMM (Digital Asset Management Manager)
  • the DAMD (Digital Asset Management Director)
  • the DAM VP (Digital Asset Management Vice President)

(It is just a title)

  • Do you have DAM-IT (Digital Asset Management and Information Technology) group meetings?

You can imagine the DAM conversations:

  • Do you have DAM access?
  • You need a DAM account.
  • Here is the DAM URL.
  • Got a DAM login?
  • What about a DAM password?
  • Having DAM problems? What is your DAM problem?
  • What about DAM permissions?
  • What is your DAM role?

When you have a DAM, there are often:

  • DAM assets
  • DAM budget
  • DAM consultants
  • DAM department
  • DAM downloads
  • DAM groups
  • DAM meetings
  • DAM metadata
  • DAM people
  • DAM reports
  • DAM ROI (Return On Investment)
  • DAM strategy
  • DAM support
  • DAM TOC (Total Cost of Ownership)
  • DAM training
  • DAM uploads
  • DAM vendors

All DAM, all the time.

Been there. Done that. Got the DAM t-shirt. (Yes, there are some DAM t-shirts available. Really. Google it.)

Learn DAM. Live DAM. Love DAM. (Keep up the enthusiasm.)

Don’t give a DAM? Well, of course not. You don’t give a DAM.  DAM is not free (even when it is open source, it still requires time to implement).  Instead share a DAM within your organization and save money.

Let everyone make the DAM jokes and do not take it personally. DAM humor is a good thing.

Do you have any good, clean DAM jokes?


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How do you research the best DAM for your organization?


There are plenty of ways to research the best Digital Asset Management (DAM) solution for your organization’s business needs. Which of these did/do you use?