Architectural Considerations in Digital Asset Management

What is the proper foundation for an enterprise-scale Digital Asset Management (DAM) system? How much of that system should be part of an organizations shared infrastructure and how much should be tailor-made to a specific application? There is no single answer to these questions, but changes in the technology industry are forcing everyonevendors and customers aliketo change their assumptions about how DAM systems will be built. This paper explains how the content-management infrastructure is changing, why that matters to DAM, and what benefits can be derived from leveraging a content infrastructure for DAM. Examples from an enterprise implementation at the University of Michigan illustrate the types of architectural issues and requirements that affect platform choices when selecting a digital asset management system.

Walter, Mark. Gilbane Report (2004). Articles>Content Management>Multimedia

Component Content Management in Practice

This white paper looks at the requirements of component content management in some industries and vertical markets. It compares the requirements of component content management with the capabilities of more general content management technologies, notably web content management and document management. It then looks at the technology behind CCMS in depth, and concludes with example applications where CCMS can have the most impact on an enterprise.

Trippe, Bill. Gilbane Report (2004). Articles>Content Management

Delivering Content That Makes a Difference  

Local control facilitates informed decision-making by giving users access to highly relevant and timely information.

Trippe, Bill. Gilbane Report (2004). Articles>Content Management

On-Demand Access to Rich Media Assets

The maturation of digital asset management technology and products has enabled on-demand DAM services to emerge as an attractive alternative to on-premises installation. Organizations facing a variety of problems and constraints, such as speed to market and scalability, are finding software services models to be the most cost effective approach to digital asset management. This paper identifies the four key factors in making the decision between a services model and on-premises installation. It also argues that the decision should be analyzed in terms of discounted cash flows and presents examples of such calculations.

Zoellick, Bill. Gilbane Report (2004). Design>Web Design>Multimedia>Flash

Rich Media Management and Business Agility

Understanding how rich media assets are used by the enterprise, of course, remains the central prerequisite for the enterprise’s ability to capitalize on the deployment of a rich media content management platform. The keys to a successful platform for rich media management include an approach to development based on service-oriented architectures (SOA) and a rich underlying content repository that exposes both the content and its metadata.

Trippe, Bill. Gilbane Report (2004). Articles>Content Management>Multimedia

Topic-Oriented Information Development and Its Role in Globalization

For all of its upside, XML-based single-source publishing has proven to be expensive and complicated to implement. XML-based single sourcing requires significant tool development, data conversion, and system integration prior to realizing the benefits of repurposing and reuse. To mitigate this, some vertical industries have developed their own XML tag sets. While successful on their own, these vertical industry efforts have not been extensible to other industries. A new XML-based approach to information development is the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA).

Trippe, Bill. Gilbane Report (2004). Articles>Information Design>Metadata>XML

Total Cost of Adoption: A Framework for Evaluating Content Management Solutions  

Total Cost of Adoption is the missing link to forecasting and maximizing return on investment.

Holst, Sebastian. Gilbane Report (2004). Articles>Content Management>Assessment

The Trend Towards Distributed Content Management

There continues to be a lot of discussion about the difference between, and relative merits of, individual content management applications, especially web content management (WCM), and enterprise content management (ECM). Sometimes the debate focuses on a difference of breadth of content types, or of reach across an organization, and sometimes the discussion looks more at the depth of content complexity or reach into content supply applications.

Waldt, Dale. Gilbane Report (2004). Articles>Content Management

Using XML in Databases

Today, we can find many applications to manage XML content that demonstrate the power and flexibility that can only be achieved through XML-native databases. Information intensive companies such as the airline and manufacturer described in this paper have achieved significant technical and business benefits from their use of XML standards and database technology over alternative approaches.

Waldt, Dale. Gilbane Report (2004). Articles>Content Management>Databases>XML

XML Repositories: An Idea Whose Time has Finally Come

This white paper discusses the role of an XML repository into today’s enterprise infrastructure. Virtually every database and repository provide some degree of XML support; however, there are important distinctions between support for XML as a data type and the role of a repository whose architecture and operations are optimized to support the broad family of XML recommendations and standards. Specifically, this white paper will explore: The nature and extent of XML use across the enterprise, cost and quality of service implications of an infrastructure with, and without, an XML repository, the evolution of XML repositories from both a technology and a market segment perspective, criteria to determine when an XML repository would add significant value to an existing infrastructure, and capability and packaging recommendations for XML repository functionality that can be used to evaluate specific offerings.

Holst, Sebastian. Gilbane Report (2004). Articles>Content Management>Information Design>XML

XrML and Emerging Models of Content Development and Distribution  

With the publication of XrML 2.0, ContentGuard provides an open, flexible, and extensible means of expressing digital rights that not only addresses copy protection, but, as importantly, offers a much broader and powerful means for publishers to experiment with and deploy new business models.

Trippe, Bill. Gilbane Report (2005). Articles>Content Management>Standards>XML