Photographer

This image was taken by a photographer using a digital camera.

Fig.1. An image of a red flower is taken by the photographer

This created a high-resolution digital file that contains the image of the flower, plus some embedded metadata that was inserted by the camera itself including:

• Date & time created – (2009:03:27 21:36:31)
• Orientation – Horizontal (landscape)
• Dimensions (2816 x 1584 pixels)

Adding metadata into the image itself

The photographer then downloaded the image to his desktop and opened it up in Adobe Lightroom, Apple Aperture or an equivalent piece of software. Here he added an additional set of metadata including:

• Keywords (ruby red succulent, flower, purple)
• Photographer (Jim Smith)

Sale of the image – licensed for one year

Uploading into a Digital Asset Management System

After purchase, a member of staff at Red Flower Ltd, uploads the image into their Digital Asset Management System.

Metadata extraction at upload

Their chosen Digital Asset Management (DAM) system should facilitate metadata extraction at point of upload. This ensures that the data that already exists inside the image is populated into relevant fields such as keyword, date created or photographer name. This saves time as it avoids re-keying of information and it ensures that all of this can be utilised for searching.

Optimised preview images generated

Once the image has been uploaded, the DAM system should generate previews that will be seen when users are browsing or searching. These have to be optimised for the web as the DAM system typically sits on a web server to allow access to all relevant parties (e.g. staff and partner organisations).

Fig. 2. Thumbnail, medium and large web optimised preview images are created

Recording the agreed terms of usage & setting an expiry date

The details of the license are then recorded in an attribute related to the image and and an expiry date is set.

Fig.3. Usage rights and an expiry date are set

The system will automatically deal with the expiry when the date is reached (explained in the last paragraph below).

The assets life within the DAM system

Finding the asset

Now that the asset is in a DAM system, it can be found using one of the many search and browse mechanisms including:

• Auto-complete, which suggests possible matches against metadata already in the system as you start to type

Fig.4. Auto-complete makes finding assets easier and helps prevent typos

• An in-built Porter Stemming algorithm will enable a degree of fuzzy matching, so searching on ‘flowers’ will match with ‘flower’ for example
• Multiple browse locations (an asset in a DAM can be in multiple categories)
• Filters that can be linked to specific attributes, e.g. Usage Rights, to help narrow down possible options prior to a selection

Fig.5. Filters can help you find things

Downloading the asset

Once found the user will want to receive a copy of the image that fits their purpose. To help them they should be able to either choose from a list of pre-sets, e.g. ‘Print – Original’.

Fig.6. Selecting an option from a list of pre-sets

Or re-size, crop or convert to a different format themselves.

Fig.7. Advanced download options

Expiry date is reached (auto-archive)

A year has passed and the expiry date that we set at point of upload is about to be reached. One week before this date the DAM system automatically emailed all users who had previously downloaded the asset, letting them know that it is about to expire. On the expiry date the assets itself is no longer visible to anyone except admin users. The asset has now been archived.

To find out more please contact the Asset Bank Support Team: support@assetbank.co.uk , +44 (0) 1273 923 152

Thanks, Paul.

How it works

Your developers would insert a button into your CMS that will call Asset Bank in CMS mode (see Fig. 1.). This mode will show Asset Bank with the permissions of a specified user group (to ensure only relevant assets are shown) and will have the ‘Download’ button replaced with a ‘Select for CMS’ button instead.

Fig.1. A button is added to your CMS

In this example a sales coordinator is writing an article about a forthcoming incentive. He now wants to add an image to improve the article. He clicks on the Asset Bank button and Asset Bank is launched in CMS mode. He then searches for ‘sailing’ (see Fig. 2.).

Fig. 2. The user searches for an image for this article

He now selects the image he wants, chooses the size (e.g. Web 400 x 400), clicks ‘Select for CMS’ and the image is returned (see Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. The selected image is automatically returned to the CMS

He can now complete his article and post it to his intranet homepage.

This illustrates how Asset Bank can be integrated into existing systems to increase business efficiency and to make the most of the assets you already own. We also have an API (Application Programmers Interface) that can also be used to integrate with existing systems.

More details

To try a demo of this in action, please visit our CMS Integration Prototype

Other resources:

• Overview
• Technical

To find out more please contact the Asset Bank Support Team: support@assetbank.co.uk , +44 (0) 1273 923 150

Thanks, Paul.

• Buy or rent a DAM application that works out-of-the-box but that can be configured or customised to meet your particular requirements. The DAM vendor should able to provide consultancy to analyse your requirements and then propose a good fit solution. Take out free trials so you can properly evaluate the options.
• Manage the DAM application internally i.e. don’t outsource its administration.
• Have at least one employee who is a champion for the library, i.e. who is responsible for administrating it and maintaining its on-going quality. In a large, global organisation this could be a full-time job.
• Understand that the successful implementation of a DAM application requires much more than just choosing the right software. Processes and policies need to be in place, for example: what are the work-flows for uploading, tagging, approving uploads, approving downloads? Would you benefit from a structured taxonomy, or is a ‘free for all’ approach to key-wording OK? These may require big changes to the way people work.
• Make sure users want to use it. A DAM application will solve a lot of problems that brand guardians know exist without it – however, these problems might not be immediately apparent to an employee (unless they previously got into trouble!). The end users need to see the benefits themselves – for example: 24×7 access to a wealth of previously unfindable material, clear usage rights that are therefore easy to adhere to, collaboration and sharing with other employees and useful tools (e.g. a PowerPoint presentation builder).
• Ensure that the application is more than just a repository of assets. It should be a ‘brand hub’ – the place to come to find brand materials, obviously, but also to read guidelines and rules on how these should be used, to see examples of best practice and success stories, to have discussions, add comments and ratings to assets, etc. The more engaged your users feel with the library the more they will use it.
• Make it easy for users to use it. Choose an intuitive DAM application that was designed with usability in mind. For example the end-users should be able to find and download assets without the need for training. It should support SSO (Single Sign-On) so that your users don’t need to keep signing in.
• Make sure users have to use it – close down other routes for them to find digital assets. Find all those images scattered across network drives, migrate them into your DAM application and then delete them from the network.
• Ensure that the solution you choose can be branded so that it fits seamlessly with your Intranet or website. This will be your brand hub, so it needs to look the part.
• Consider the interoperability of the DAM application, to ensure it can be used with existing and future applications used in your organisation. For example, seamless integration with your Content Management System is obvious, but what about other internal applications that may want to use digital assets? Does the DAM software provide an API (Application Programming Interface)?
• Keep the library up-to-date and relevant. Too many organisations run a successful project to implement a DAM application but then lose focus once that project has finished. The library’s content needs to be continually updated, and you should choose a DAM application that will evolve as technology and ideas do.

If you have any feedback or questions then please get in touch: feedback@bright-interactive.co.uk. If you have any other tips, please post these in the comments section below.

Thanks, Martin Wilson.

1/ You can find out where an image was taken by clicking ‘View on map’

If the GIS module is configured in Asset Bank, you will see a ‘View on map’ link next to each asset that has location information stored within it. This information is typically extracted from the embedded metadata in the file at point of upload (assuming it was taken with a camera that records GPS information). See Fig. 1. below.

If this information is not within the images you have, then you can edit your assets and add it in using Google maps (you point to a location and Google returns co-ordinates back into the relevant Asset Bank attributes).

2/ You can search for assets within a geographical area

3/ You can ‘Find nearby items’

Summary

If you have assets with GPS information stored within them, then you can now configure Asset Bank to make use of this. It allows you to view an assets location on a map, search over a geographical area to locate assets, or find other items that are physically near to the asset you are currently looking at.

• Instructions for configuring GIS in Asset Bank

Please contact the support team should you have any questions or need help configuring this option.

We hope this list has been useful. If you have any feedback or questions then please get in touch: feedback@bright-interactive.co.uk.

As companies grow in size however, they start to amass much more digital content including:

• Various company and product logos
• Images they have purchased as part of a marketing campaign (e.g. elements used for a brochure or web banner)
• Product images
• Portraits of key staff
• PowerPoint presentations from Sales and Technical conferences
• Video and audio footage
• Key documentation
• Photos of company social events

Benefits of DAM over a network storage solution

Browser based DAM systems allow your users to log in from anywhere at any-time, to find the materials they need. A permissions based self-service model saves users time whilst saving you money.

Unlike a network folder, a single asset can exist in multiple folder locations. Users can then browse to the resource they need in the way that is most natural to them. They can also browse by keyword or even apply a filter prior to browsing (e.g. reducing the browse folder structure to only show video files). In addition, searching across all the assets you have is suddenly viable and produces good results due to metadata being attached to each asset (e.g. title, description and keywords). Advanced searching allows users to search on specific attributes including date ranges, and search builder allows complex searches to be constructed.

You can choose which assets are safe for everyone to download directly, without the need for additional human intervention. Other assets you can set to ‘require approval’ first (on a group by group basis), with the reason for use being passed to the relevant team for the OK before download. The same logic can be configured for uploads (trusted groups can upload directly, others need approval before the content goes live) and for editing existing assets.

As well as making it easy for people to find what they need, DAM systems also allow administrators to draw attention to new or featured content. Helping raise awareness of certain materials that will benefit the user base (e.g. elements of a campaign that can now be re-used by other marketing offices), and keeping users informed with any news or announcements.

Users may want the assets they find to be converted to the right filetype and dimensions to suit their task. Good DAM systems have image and video manipulation software integrated within them, allowing users to convert the files at point of download, for example converting a print resolution CMYK gif image to a smaller web ready RGB jpg.

As well as being the most efficient way to share, DAM systems also add extra levels of control and management over network storage including:

Summary

Small organisations tend to have less need for DAM systems. As they grow larger though, and as the number of assets they have and the number of people requiring access increases, Digital Asset Management becomes a logical next step. As well as being the best way to manage such materials, Digital Asset Management can also save money that would have been wasted through manual management of such assets, or through lack of awareness and re-use of materials that have already been paid for.

We hope this list has been useful. If you have any feedback or questions then please get in touch: feedback@bright-interactive.co.uk.

Thanks, Paul.

Every image I upload is tagged with the relevant country it was taken in, however around half of our users are only interested in viewing assets related to specific continents (e.g. Africa). Is there a way to present this information in categories so that every image appears both in its country specific folder (e.g. Ethiopia), plus the level above this (e.g. Africa)?

Assets can be in multiple categories

When you upload an asset into Asset Bank you can already choose for it to reside in multiple locations within the category structure. See Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. Here we have added an asset into both 'Images' and 'Logos' folders.

So the client could create an Africa folder with an Ethiopia sub-folder and then just ensure that every asset is put into both locations. However, this does add a small burden as the uploader would always have to remember to do this. This could start off fine, but later when more people are given upload rights or when key staff change this could cause issues.

Automatically showing assets in their descendant categories

Another way to achieve the same result is to configure Asset Bank to always show assets in their descendant categories. That is, if I upload an asset into the Ethiopia sub-folder, then it will also automatically be displayed in the parent ‘Africa’ folder.

Here is what browsing into the ‘Africa’ category would look like before and after I make this configuration change (Fig. 2 & 3 below).

BEFORE:

Fig. 2. Browsing into the Africa folder before making the config change

AFTER:

Fig. 3. After the change, assets now automatically show in the parent category too

Now if a user is interested just in images of Africa, they can browse into the relevant category and see everything that exists there. If the user is interested in a specific country in Africa, then they can click into one of the sub-folders to see only these assets.

This configuration option effectively changes the category structure from a potentially sparse tree with all assets generally appearing in leaf nodes, to one that is a filter based structure, showing the user all of the assets at the top level, but allowing them to refine this set by stepping into sub-categories.

How to configure this behaviour

Please follow the instructions fund here: http://www.assetbank.co.uk/go/knowledgebase/show-assets-from-descendant-cats

We hope this list has been useful. If you have any feedback or questions then please get in touch: feedback@bright-interactive.co.uk.

Thanks, Paul.

Fig. 1. Selecting multiple images and quickly applying keywords in Lightroom

Once key-wording has been completed the user can then save the metadata into the actual files themselves (Metadata > Save Metadata to Files). This writes all of the keywords (with a comma separator) into the ‘IPTC: Keywords’ field. (Read more about the IPTC Information Interchange Model.)

Extracting this information into Asset Bank

Asset Bank can be configured to extract embedded metadata information (such as IPTC: Keywords) from images at point of upload, and write this into attribute fields. Let’s look at an example.

Step 1: Add keywords to assets in Lightroom as shown above.

Step 2: Log into your Asset Bank as an admin user and navigate to:

Admin > Attributes > Embedded Data Mappings

Step 3: From here, set-up a mapping to happen on upload, reading the IPTC: Keyword information from the image and writing this into the existing Asset Bank ‘keywords’ attribute. See Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. Setting up an embedded metadata mapping

In the example shown above, we are mapping the IPTC:Keywords field into the Asset Bank ‘Keywords’ attribute on upload. (If you visit this area of Asset Bank you will see that ‘Date Created’ and ‘Orientation’ information is already configured to be extracted at point of upload.)

Step 4: Now try uploading an image that has keywords in it. You should see that the relevant information appears in the keywords field.

Summary

Adobe Lightroom can be used to quickly add keywords to images (photographers often do this as metadata for searching has become much more important). This information is embedded into the actual file itself, and Asset Bank can easily be configured via the admin interface to extract this information at point of upload. These keywords will then reside in an attribute that is searchable.

If you have any feedback or questions then please get in touch: feedback@bright-interactive.co.uk.

Thanks, Paul.

So, for example, say you sold products on-line and for each item you had a unique product code. Also imagine that for each product that your web team requires a small, medium and large web ready image for use on the site.

Solutions

There are two solutions for this:

1. Asset Bank Publishing Functionality. This allows you to specify a set of assets in Asset Bank and choose to have these output to a publish location (via simple copy, FTP or SCP transfer methods). In addition, Asset Bank can be set up to generate a sensible folder structure (e.g. based on the product code) and automatically generate all of the sizes required. Your web team can then use this as a basis to automatically populate the product pages on your website.
   
2. The Asset Bank API (Application Programmers Interface). This would allow your web development team to write code that would interface with your Asset Bank, find the relevant images (e.g. via the ‘product code’ attribute) and retrieve the different sized versions they need. More on the API.

In this article we will take a look at using the Publishing Functionality to solve this problem.

Step 1:

The first thing to do is ensure you have an attribute set up that contains each items product code via the ‘Admin > Attributes‘ area.

Step 2:

You would then go to ‘Admin > Download Options‘. Here you would create a new download usage type which will generate all of the image sizes requested by your web team, e.g.

• large 1,200 x 1,200 RGB JPG
• meduim 800 x 800 RGB JPG
• small 400 x 400 RGB JPG

Step 3:

Finally, you would set up the Publishing Action that would output versions of the these images to the location of your choice. Fig 1. below shows you the options available.

Fig 1. Setting up a Publishing Action in Asset Bank

Taking you through these options:

1/ Search Criteria: this allows you to specify the set of assets you want published. E.g. all assets marked with a specific ‘product’ access level tag.

2/ Publishing Options: here you can give your action a name, choose the transfer method (simple copy, ftp or scp <secure copy protocol>), specify the location you would like the files to end up in, choose the usage type from Step 2 to ensure the files you need are converted to the different sizes you require, select the attribute you would like to use for the folder names (here I would use the product code), select whether or not you would like this to run automatically each day or manually, and finally choose whether or not you would like any deletions in Asset Bank to be reflected when next you publish this set of assets (the Unpublish option).

The Result

Once completed and published, you will then have a folder structure that looks something like Fig. 2 below.

Fig 2. A folder structure created after an Asset Bank publish action

Here you will see that the product code is used as the folder name to group the images (’1234′ is my example code), additional sub-folders have been created to match the size options set up in Step 2, and the product images themselves have been automatically converted, resized and placed into the relevant folders. This is now ready for your web team to use.

Summary

Centralising and managing your digital assets in a DAM system is only part of the story. Ensuring different sets of users can interact with these resources in the most efficient way possible is also another aspect. Here we have introduced two additional methods (Publish and API) and shown how the publishing mechanism can work to automatically generate a folder structure of assets ready for use on a website.

If you have any feedback or questions then please get in touch: feedback@bright-interactive.co.uk.

Thanks, Paul.

Admin > Reports > Search Reports

You have a few options here, but one of the most interesting is a grouped report of search terms that have failed to elicit a match. See Fig 1.

Fig 1. Generating a report that will highlight search terms that resulted in no matches

Once generated you can easily download it and open it in Excel, allowing you to re-order it to show the search terms that are most frequent.

What next?

Let’s imagine that the results showed that over the last six months 50 users searched on the term ‘Head Office’, but no results where returned. Yet as an admin user I know I have photos of my head office building in Asset Bank, but the term ‘head office’ is not in any of the metadata fields for these assets. The solution would be to add this additional metadata in, as we have found out that people often search on this term.

Of course, users may just be searching for items that simply do not exist in the Asset Bank in question. In these cases the admin user can decide whether or not it is useful to get hold of such material and upload it.

If you have any feedback or questions then please get in touch: feedback@bright-interactive.co.uk.

Thanks, Paul.

First a quick summary of how Asset Bank makes use of image manipulation tools on upload to create previews of files that users see when browsing the Asset Bank site. Here we will concentrate on image files.

On upload:

You upload original image files to Asset Bank (e.g. a PSD or high quality Tiff) and it automatically generates three JPG versions of these that are seen when you browse around the site. These are:

• thumbnail (you see this when browsing or in search results)
• medium sized image (the default on the individual asset page, and also the pop-up you see when hovering over the thumbnail)
• large image (seen when browsing in large image view or after clicking ‘large image pop-up’)

These previews make it easy to identify the file you need prior to downloading it in the format and dimensions you require. So upload is all handled by Asset Bank automatically.

On download:

Admin users can set up different download pre-sets. E.g. ‘Original for Print’ or ‘Web 800 x 800′. The first of these allows the user to download the original file (e.g. a PDF, AI or high resolution Tiff). The second would proportionally re-size the image to fit within an 800 x 800 box and convert it to an RGB JPG for use on the web.

Admin users can create as many different download pre-sets as they’d like. They should take into consideration what users may need to use the assets for when coming up with this list, creating pre-sets for any commonly required sizes.

Scenario – setting up a download option for an Intranet News article size

Say that a company has a news panel on their Intranet homepage that requires a 400 x 400 pixel image to be uploaded for each news item. If this was a common size needed, then this could be set up as a pre-set in Asset Bank to allow staff to quickly find and then download an image of their choice and have it converted to match these requirements.

To achieve this an admin user would log in and go to:

Admin > Download Options

They would then set up a new usage type called, for example, ‘Intranet News Item’ for media type ‘Image’.

They would then specify details as shown in Fig 1. below.

Fig 1. Creating a usage type for an Intranet News Item

Here you can see that the width and height are set to 400 x 400 pixels. Additionally I  have selected ‘Crop to fit’ to ensure that the image is exactly 400 x 400 (rather than have an image scaled down proportionally to fit this bounding box). Finally, I’ve asked for it to be converted to a JPG with an RGB color space as I know it will be used on the web.

Now that this has been set up, let’s see it in action.

Step 1: The user finds an image to go along with their news article, clicks ‘download’ and choose this new download option (see Fig 2.).

Fig 2. Selecting an image and choosing the new download option

Step 2: The user is now asked to select a crop area from the image. This area can be scaled, but will remain proportional to ensure the resultant image is exactly 400 x 400 pixels in size. See Fig 3.

Fig 3. Selecting a crop area to be converted to a 400 x 400 pixel image

Step 3: After clicking ‘Crop & Close’ and then ‘Download Now’ the user ends up with the required file with 400 x 400 pixel dimensions on their desktop, ready to be used in their news article. See Fig 4.

Fig 4. The resultant 400 x 400 pixel image for use on the Intranet news article

Top tips for setting up download options:

1/ Find out what pre-sets would be helpful for your users – e.g. are there any special requirements as described above?

2/ Make the options as meaningful as possible so that users can quickly understand what they might end up with. E.g.

• Web – large  (1200 x 1200 pixels)
• Web – medium  (800 x 800 pixels)
• Web – small (400 x 400 pixels)

3/ Order the list so that the most frequently used options are at the top to make it more convenient for your users.

4/ Ensure a ‘Download Original’ option is present via quick download as this is a common need (e.g. for Print).

If you have any feedback or questions then please get in touch: feedback@bright-interactive.co.uk.

Thanks, Paul.