Defining the Who, What, and How of DAM Governance

Now that you asked the who, what, and how of DAM governance, let’s break down those questions into understanding what they mean and why they are important. As I mentioned in my previous article 3 Questions You Need To Start Your DAM Governance, although this process seems daunting, it is necessary.

DAM Governance Board

Your governance board is the individuals behind defining the requirements set for your DAM. This group can be the digital asset management core team, a cross-functional team, and even a mixture of both. More than likely, your DAM will house content from multiple departments within your organization. Having input for other departments can be beneficial in making sure that contact is being delivered to your users the correct way. 

For example, think of urgent news briefs, having someone with public relations experience would be useful in understanding press embargoes and how this information should be presented to the public. 

DAM User Community

Your user community is just that. Who are your users? There should always be defined roles and responsibilities behind all your users. It will not make sense to provide admin rights to anyone outside your department or to not allow some end users outside your department to upload to the system.

This is also true for your external users. You will need to determine if your external users will have the same access across the board or will there be specific permissions given depending on needs.

DAM Content

Your content is the heart of your system. Deciding what should and should not be in the DAM is the start in determining the roles and responsibilities, user accounts, and your team’s own administrative tasks. As mentioned earlier, your DAM will house content from multiple departments within your organization and each of these departments will have its own standards on how their content should be viewed and distributed

This could be due to the usage rights regarding an image or the licensing requirements for use of your company’s logo by a third party. 

Having a set of defined rules or your content will help prevent confusion or disagreements when assets are submitted for ingestion.

DAM Policies and Processes

Like the previous topics, policies and processes can cover many aspects concerning your DAM. From training schedules to asset lifecycle management. Site analytics to naming conventions. My advice here is to create a set of guidelines that can be communicated to your team and shared with your end-users.

It will help in answering questions like “How long does it take to publish a new asset?” or “How can external users gain access?”. Having these policies and processes written out and agreed upon by your governance board will lead to having an organized and well-maintained DAM. 

Although I’ve only hit the surface of DAM governance, I hope this information was helpful in providing a starting point for your DAM journey. As your DAM expands, user adoption grows, and people leave your organization, you will find how some practices were a lifesaver and others not so much. A good thing to remember is that your DAM governance is not set in stone. Yes, it is the foundation, but cracks can always be fixed.