Role Descriptions and Governance for DAM

In my prior posts I had spoken about the need to look beyond technology in defining strategies for successful larger DAM implementations. One such area of focus should be the team that implements and ultimately maintains and manages the DAM application and system. In large systems a model of governances should be defined just as in other areas of business.

In smaller departmental DAM projects the maintenance of the system (database, application and web server) is often handled by the IT team (or person) or it is left untouched other than for updates by the vendor. The application administration (creating users, groups, and security) is commonly managed by one or two people that may or may not have volunteered for the job. The key task of maintaining accurate and complete metadata records and suggestions for changes to the metadata model or taxonomy are left to individual users and quite often there is no process for managing “enhancement requests”.

This organic approach to governess has surprisingly worked somehow for many organizations with smaller DAM systems. However, when a larger DAM system is shared across multiple user groups or business divisions a more structured approach is required.

The common roles are

System administrator(s) (sys admin)

Sys admins maintain the servers, database and interface with the vendor for upgrades and system configuration changes. This may not be a full time job but it requires special skills. In some cases the work around the database and the server/network is  broken down between two teams or people with specialized skill in that area.

Skills:

• Database and basic network knowledge for the applicable technology is required
• Understanding of web applications and authentication systems is very helpful

Application Administrator(s) (app admin)

App admins maintain user records and user groups, set up security polices and support end users with basic application questions. He or she will interface with sys admin and vendor for configuration changes and bug fixes. Often the app admin also fills the role of project manager for enhancement requests or integration projects. It is the app admin role that will need to understand the application functions and features most deeply.

Skills:

• Background in any area of digital content management is helpful
• A full vendor training program on application administration is highly recommended
• Project Management skills can become critical in very large systems
• Understanding of the content creation process can be important but may be supported by super users (see below)
  

Librarian

In systems with extensive metadata models and taxonomies it may become a full time job to maintain the structure and provide user support in areas of classification and sometimes search. The librarian role is critical when a larger system adds user groups or new departments. Ensuring that all content can be tagged and found intuitively by all users is the core to any DAM system. The librarian is “in charge of” the data structure that builds the very core of the DAM system.

Skills:

• Experience with taxonomies and usability concepts is critical
• Some universities have dedicated classes for “cybrarians”
• The ability to strike a balance between academic correctness and intuitive user friendliness

Super User

The Super Users are those users that utilize the application to create and collaborate in the creation process or they are the key stakeholder in the review cycles and they may also drive the distribution aspects. In that they are Subject Matter Experts in the business and creative processes that touch the DAM. They will be very important stakeholders and they should be deeply involved in the system configuration and set up as well as in the steering committee to provide their input in enhancements and expansions.

In some cases the super user role can overlap with the app admin role.(See above) However, in enterprise scale systems the app admin is a full time job.

Skills:

• Super Users usually have skills in content creation or business processes that will utilize the DAM system.

Steering Committee

The key stake holders and users should regularly meet with the app admin and the sys admin to discuss issues, questions, changes or enhancement requests. In almost all larger projects there are continues changes to the categories, collections, projects and asset metadata and relationships that should be thought through by the team to ensure the system stays easy to use and administration tasks remain reasonable. Other topics for the steering committee are naming conventions and changes thereof as well as definition of file standards. 

Governance Models

As systems grow the roles will get more and more refined and in very large systems we can expect an entire group of people to maintain the systems, application, standards and processes.  Figure 1 breaks down the areas that require dedicated attention.

A governance model for a large scale system that addresses each of these areas would include multiple levels from senior management to user support. Figure 2 below is a view of such a model.

To define the right mix of roles and responsibilities is key to the success of any operation. In DAM projects that process is often not fully thought through because technology decision dominate the early project phases. I hope that this post can help to correct the issue. I have highlighted this topic in various chapters also in my book Expanding a Digital Content Management System for the Growing Digital Media Enterprise .

Comments

[George Lamptey]

I agree with this and glad to see this is highlighted. I particularly like the Senior, Mid and Operational level governance model. I believe that what must be highlighted at the mid level is business process management. Maybe this is covered in people management but it is useful to make this explicit. too often this is overlooked or pursued with blinkers. As DAM matures the business need to take more ownership of the DAM implmentation and the effect it will have on business at many levels.