How do you manage/categorize your assets in WF if you do not have a DAM?

@Skye Hansen‚ @Monique Evans‚ @Anthony Imgrund‚ @Doug Den Hoed‚ ....tagging some of our Community rockstars!

Hi Christina,

In order of simple to best, I'd suggest:

• strong project (or Task, or Issue...whatever makes sense in your environment as the right object under which to store Assets) naming conventions (e.g. Client_YYYY-MM-DD_StandardTopic_DescriptionOfAsset so an Advanced Search then brings back the Assets underneath those project(s) that match; easy to set up, and gets you in the ballpark, but then requires inspecting and sifting to find the Assets of use (i.e. often too broad)
• strong file naming conventions (e.g. Client_YYYY-MM-DD_StandardTopic_DescriptionOfAsset.png) so an Advanced Search then brings back related items; takes time, tough to enforce, and likely just as messy as your own personal system for filing images from your phone
• custom data on Project(s, etc.) and/or Assets (e.g. Client dropdown, YYYY-MM-DD, Standard Topic dropdown, Description Of Assets Tags textbox); takes a bit to set up, and even more discipline to maintain, but results in DAM like targeted searches
• same as previous, but use our Excel Updater to update the Assets Custom Data on mass, or possibly even automate, which saves time and improves data quality
• Fusion
• DAM ;-)

Regards,

Doug

If a WF project results in tangible assets destined for a DAM, the company assigns material numbers for us to use, which we then use to track the assets. However, the actual file names can be kinda loosely named while in WF because as long as they are in the project the name doesn't matter much.

If the asset is destined for the DAM, we have a custom-created tool to track project metadata (outside of WF) that is ilnked to our DAM to pull metadata at the time of upload.

The problem is a typical project is modifying multiple assets and WF does not deal well with spreadsheets or relational database lists well; we tried, it's clunky and alot of busywork.

We have a DAM as well as BOX.com but I highly second a lot of what Doug mentioned. I have several document reports that utilize prompts based on the project custom forms to help people find things within Workfront. The reports are only as good as the data surrounding it so if someone doesn't fill in the custom field than obviously that file won't be listed.