Implementing a digital asset management or DAM governance plan can improve searchability, future-proof your DAM against mismanagement, and enable a consistent user experience. As DAM usage grows in your organization, your governance policies and procedures will serve as the framework that keeps your DAM organized and contributes to sustainable scalability.
When putting together a DAM governance plan for your organization, there are key areas to consider. In this post, we highlight these key areas and considerations to help build a DAM governance plan for your organization.
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The 4 Pillars of DAM Governance
When building a governance plan, there are 4 key areas to consider: users and user groups, metadata, assets, and upload workflow. We call these areas the pillars of DAM governance.
Below we break down each pillar and highlight questions to consider for each respective area of your DAM governance plan.
1. Users & User Groups
Establishing governance around users and user groups is key to ensuring a positive user experience and maintaining a secure DAM. When evaluating users and user groups, make sure to consider permissions for both functionality (downloading, uploading, etc.), as well as category access. Questions to address include:
- How will we determine the level of access and permissions each user requires?
- Who will be responsible for creating, deleting, and suspending user accounts?
- Who will be responsible for training new users?
- How many DAM admins do we need? Who has the capability and capacity to be a DAM admin?
- Will we provide DAM access to external users, such as partners, vendors, agencies?
2. Assets
Establishing asset governance will ensure your DAM stays organized and reinstates the purpose of the DAM to your users: acting as a single source of truth. Placing restrictions and guidelines around assets can also help maintain the scope of your DAM. Questions to address include:
- Will the DAM be used for both WIP and final files?
- Will the DAM store all historic files or only files from a certain date onward?
- Who will be responsible for archiving and expiring files?
3. Metadata
Evaluating your organization’s metadata is key to a strong governance plan. Providing guidelines around metadata will enhance asset discoverability, remove user uncertainty, and improve asset ROI. Questions to address include:
- What type of values and information should be added to keywords, categories, and attributes?
- Will we use acronyms? Which acronyms will be acceptable?
- Who will be permitted to add and edit tagged metadata?
- Do we have a file naming convention?
4. Upload Workflow
Determining workflow governance is a great way to bring clarity to users on the upload process of the DAM, ultimately aiding in an organized DAM and reducing admin maintenance. Questions to address include:
- Will assets be uploaded through the DAM, via an integration, or both?
- Will assets need to go through an approval workflow?
- Who will be responsible for uploading assets and approving new asset uploads?
- If assets are uploaded incorrectly, who is responsible for correcting this – the admin or the uploader?
Implementing your DAM Governance
When you have finalized your DAM governance plan you should socialize it across your organization. This can help to maximize it's efficiency. The socialization process may differ for each user group or stakeholder group. Customize it based on their involvement in the DAM. For additional tips on how to successfully communicate and implement your plan, be sure to check out our webinar “How to Increase Your ROI with a DAM Governance Plan”.
MediaValet is a leader in cloud-based digital asset management that helps organizations manage, organize and share their digital assets, improving productivity and increasing ROI. See MediaValet in action today.
