DBC: Digital Asset Management

Work With Assets

The Asset Library can be accessed from the distributor admin or customer admin sites. From either site, click on the "Work With Asset Library" link in the Control Panel. If selecting this from the distributor admin site, you will need to specify which company you will be working with. In this section, you will see three main options linked across the top:

1. Asset List – Allows you to select a catalog, which will bring up a listing of all assets that are available for that catalog. You may also enter all or part of an asset code to search for that asset within the catalog. If you did not select a catalog, but did enter search criteria, the system will retrieve a list of assets that match, regardless of which catalog they belong to.
2. Add a New Asset – Allows you to add a new asset and define its properties.
3. Classes & Properties – Allows you to view the current asset classes that are setup and edit them as needed. From here you also can create new classes.

Create a New Asset Class

From the "Work With Asset Library" section, click on the "Classes & Properties" link. This will bring up a listing of your currently available asset classes and give you the ability to edit them as needed.

In the bottom right corner, there is a link to "Add A New Class." Click on this link to bring up a new page where you will enter the name and description for this new asset class.

Note: You must define at least one asset class to begin uploading files. It is recommended that you have a unique asset class for each “type” of file that you wish to store. For example, if you intend to use your asset library to store sales support files along with employee photos, you will want to have a class for each.

This is not because they might be separate file types (extensions), but rather because you will want to capture and search on different kinds of data.

Once you Save this information, you will click on the "Back to Asset Class List" button. This will return you to the "Classes & Properties" page. Here you will see that your new class has been added to the list of available classes.

Defining Class Properties

Under the Actions column, you will want to click on the View Properties link to setup additional information for this class. The following screen will appear:

Each class will have a minimum of four data values to capture. They are as follows:

1. Asset Code – (required) This must be ten characters or less and will be used as the filename when the asset is downloaded.
2. Brief Description – (required) This can be up to 250 characters and will be visible while browsing the assets.
3. Detailed Description – (optional) This can hold up to 4000 characters and is shown on the asset detail page.
4. Keywords – (optional) This can hold a comma separated list of keywords that are searchable to help users find the asset if it is not clear what catalog it is in.

You may add as many other properties as needed. You can control the name, the maximum length for data entered in that field, whether the field will be mandatory, and whether it is active. To add a new property, simply click on the "Add A New Property" link at the bottom of the page and then enter the information as needed.

Each time an asset is loaded into the system, the admin must specify a value for all required fields, including the asset code, brief description, and any required properties that correspond with the selected class. Any active properties will show to users as they browse asset detail views.

Note: You may choose to deactivate a field that is no longer relevant.

You may alter the display order of the properties you have created by changing the value in that column and clicking the Reorder button.

Note: The four standard properties will always appear first.

Add/Edit an Asset

From the "Work With Asset Library" section, click on the Add a new asset link. You will be brought to the following screen:

You will need to supply the following information:

1. Asset Class – Select which asset class this new asset item should belong to, from the list of available classes.
2. Asset Code – Enter in a code for this asset, up to ten characters.
3. Brief Description – Enter in a simple description for this asset, up to 250 characters.
4. Detailed Description – Optionally, enter in a more detailed description of the asset, up to 4,000 characters.
5. Info Headline – This is a headline to appear on the “info view” tab when viewing an assets detail.
6. Comp Headline – This is a headline to appear on the “comp view” tab when viewing an assets detail.
7. Keywords – Enter in keywords that you would like to associate with this asset. Separate the keywords with a comma

The additional fields will vary based upon the asset class that you have chosen, and if that class has specific values that it will ask for. Any required fields will be designated with an asterisk. Press the Update button once you are finished entering in your information.

You may upload one or more source files for any given asset. The system will automatically generate thumbnails for image-based files. It will default to a basic thumbnail for others, and in either case, you may choose to upload your own thumbnails.

Note: It is recommended that you use thumbnails that are 100 pixels of the larger dimension (width/height), and composite images that are 400 pixels of the larger dimension.

Work With Asset Catalogs

The "Work With Asset Catalogs" section can be found on the main Control Panel of the customer admin site. This area acts much like the normal "Work With Catalogs" area from the distributor admin site, only this one limit itself to only catalogs assigned the type of Asset, and only asset items will be available for placement within the catalogs.

In the top section, you can select any asset item from the drop-down list to see which catalog(s), if any, the asset item is currently assigned to. In the bottom section, you can add a new asset catalog, reorder the display of the existing catalogs, or select any of the catalogs to be modified or deleted.

If adding or modifying a catalog, you will be taken to the following screen:

If adding a new catalog, you will need to enter a Catalog Name, Catalog Title, and, if needed, a "Catalog Text Trailer." If adding or modifying, you will have the ability to include/exclude asset items from the catalog and determine which groups should have access to this catalog.

Browsing the Asset Library

For users to access the asset files, they will click on the Assets tab on the navigation panel. This will bring up a listing of the available asset libraries on the left, and an area to search for assets in the middle. Upon clicking on one of the asset libraries, its contents will be displayed, as seen in the following image:

This main content area will show up to twelve assets at a time. The assets will be paginated for libraries with more than twelve assets. Each item has a check box below it. You can select multiple items by clicking on these check boxes.

Once you have selected items, you can use the links to either download the selected items, or to add them to a designated asset folder (these topics are discussed in further detail later in the chapter). On any individual item, clicking on the Info link or the Name link of the asset will take you to the asset detail Info view. Clicking on the Comp link or the image itself will take you to the asset detail Comp view.

The Info view will let you see the thumbnail, the info header (in bold at the top), the detailed description (at right), and each property/metadata field and value (in the bottom left). The user can also see what file types of the asset is available in and how large each file is (in the bottom right).

The Comp view will allow you to view a larger/composite version of the image and the full detailed description. You may toggle between info/comp view with the links in the top left, or by using the tabs.

On both the Info and Comp views, you will also see the option to "View/Add Keywords." Any user can use this link to view the keywords for a particular asset and can add to the list. This enhances the search ability for that user and all other users. The admin can monitor/update the values at any time.

Downloading and Emailing Assets

While in the Info or Comp view of any asset, you can download that asset. You can choose to save it directly from the site, or you can choose to have it emailed to yourself. If selecting the email option, you will also be able to enter additional addresses to send the asset to and add comments for the e-mail body.

If you are at the main asset library page, you have the option of selecting multiple assets to download at once. From here, you will have the option of saving each asset individually from the site or emailing them. If emailing, each asset will be sent as its own email.

Bulk Load Assets

When adding more than a handful of assets to the system, it may be preferable to use the bulk load capability. You will need to work with DB/c Help to transfer the files to the server. This option is accessible only to distributor admins from the "Work With Asset Library" section, after selecting a company, and then using the "Add a List of Assets" link.

You will be prompted to choose the class the assets will belong to so that a customized template can be generated with the appropriate fields for that class. This is a CSV template that will be filled out (in Excel) and then uploaded for the import of files.