Project Management

DAM implementations have a unique set of risks that can be quite different to other enterprise software.  As well as metadata schema and integrations, media transcoding, storage planning, user permissions, workflow and other wider governance issues all come into play.

We have experience of managing hundreds of unique DAM projects since our formation in 1995.  We work with organisations of all kinds from commercial enterprises through to museums, sports organisations and not for profit institutions.

We have a robust and fully road-tested method of managing DAM implementation projects with a particular emphasis on risk management, maximising user adoption and ensuring that the ROI opportunity from your expenditure on a DAM solution is maximised to the fullest extent possible. 

Read our case studies to find out how we have assisted other organisations.

The metadata schema is like the DNA of your DAM solution.  Your ability to find digital assets, the effort required to catalogue or tag them  and carry out meaningful analytics depends on the metadata schema (and associated taxonomies) being both comprehensive and efficient.  Balancing both of these requirements is complex and necessitates some careful analysis, testing and a lot of liaison with all the stakeholders.

In addition, most organisations are now implementing a replacement DAM system, which means there is legacy data which has to be supported.  Further, many enterprises are now actively using solutions like Master Data Management and enterprise taxonomies to ensure that vocabularies, branding product names etc. are standardised across the business.

We can help devise a metadata schema which addresses all of the aspects discussed above, including resolving conflicts where one set of metadata requirements may be at odds with another,  Further, we can assist you to sensitively rationalise legacy metadata so the value of your existing digital assets is preserved without including extraneous detail that is no longer relevant.

Dealing with the technical complexity posed by enterprise DAM implementations can be demanding for many organisations, especially where the solution is being commissioned by a purchasing authority who may not have readily available access to in-house technical expertise.  This can be particularly the case if the required implementation involves more sophisticated configuration, third party systems integration or is relatively large-scale in terms of either users or digital assets.

Daydream have in-depth technical expertise and comprehensive knowledge of the fine detail of DAM implementations from a technical perspective.  We can translate your business objectives into written specifications which engineers, developers and other hands-on personnel can utilise to implement a DAM solution which will help you achieve the goals for your DAM initiative.

Integration is an integral aspect of all Digital Asset Management implementations and a core concept of Digital Asset Supply Chains.  Depending on the commercial arrangements with your DAM vendor, they may not necessarily be prepared to assist you to integrate the DAM with other technologies you use.  Alternatively, even if they do, they may not be willing to carry out any analysis or planning work until/unless they are appointed.

In either case, we can step in and conduct analysis and specification of the integration requirements.  This includes assessing each vendor’s API (along with any connectors, if they have them) and identifying practical issues such as firewall restrictions if the counterparty system is behind your corporate firewall and your preferred DAM is a Cloud-based system. 

We can discuss proposed methods of integration with the owners of these other applications and help devise credible and practical methods for integrating with them.  Our analysis also includes consideration of any integration risks and methods of mitigating them.

The majority of enterprises are on at least their second major DAM iteration.  This means that they will almost inevitably be required to migrate their digital assets from a legacy solution to a new platform.

The complexity and risks associated with migration are frequently underestimated by both end users and  vendors.  The key risk with migration is the loss of potentially useful data which the organisation has already spent potentially substantial amounts of money to collect and store.  Legacy data therefore represents a form of stored value which needs to be preserved.

Counterbalancing the need to preserve digital asset metadata is a requirement to avoid unnecessary or no longer relevant data from overwhelming or interfering users of the new DAM.  We have a proven migration strategy that ensures no legacy metadata is lost while at the same time, filtering out anything that might be irrelevant.  We work with vendors to utilise the metadata management capabilities of their system to achieve this objective.  In addition, we can also implement custom legacy data viewers so the existing data can still be viewed in the same condition as it was before it was migrated.

Depending on the vendors own professional services capabilities we can develop scripts to extract and convert data from a legacy DAM and automatically ingest it into the new DAM, either using its built-in import capabilities or via an API.  We have dealt with a wide range of sources and destinations from legacy preservation platforms that might be decades old through to SaaS/Cloud applications.

Our migration service is described in more detail in our dedicated service page.

Irrespective of what level of configuration or customisation has been necessary for a DAM implementation, it is still essential to carry out formal User Acceptance Tests (UATs) to verify that what has been delivered by the vendor and/or their professional services partners meets your objectives and is in accordance with what you have agreed wit them.

This stage involves writing a series of procedures which take users through each of the key tasks or activities which they need to carry out with the DAM.  The reality of what has been delivered then needs to be compared against what was promised by the vendor during both the selection  stage (pre-appointment) and any subsequent specifications given to them during the project planning stage (post-appointment).

We can take your business objectives and functional priorities for the DAM and transform these into a series of acceptance test scripts which your users can carry out.  We have custom in-house software we have developed to facilitate the process of carrying out UATs, along with follow-up verification to ensure that the vendor rectifies any issues that might be identified during UAT.

User adoption is considered one of the most demanding challenges of rolling out a DAM solution across an organisation and is the key variable which will determine whether your DAM initiative generates positive ROI or does not.  The process has many similarities with a sales and marketing exercise because it is open-ended and cannot be directly controlled.

Successful user adoption requires a combination of training programmes, internal communications, change impact analysis and the collation of user feedback to direct future modifications.

We have extensive experience and expertise in managing user adoption and change management programmes.  As well as developing training materials in collaboration with your vendor, we can both advise on and implement internal communications campaigns both during the launch period and on-going during the full lifetime of the system.

We work with clients to analyse how the introduction of DAM might affect staff and related stakeholders such as customers or suppliers. As well as close liaison with software developers to deliver systems training, we also provide a range of educational and learning materials about subjects such as metadata and findability.