RSG's recommended approach to selecting technology is always focused on deploying narrative scenarios to test a potential vendor or integrator's fit to your unique needs. We often get asked for examples of what a scenario looks like. Here you go.

Example Narrative Scenario

"Martha Marketing logs into the DAM system. It includes a folder hierarchy, organized by product line; each product line contains sub-folders with appropriate images or collateral. Each day, she uploads any new product shots and puts them into the appropriate directory. The system adds basic metadata to each, describing when it was uploaded, along with other basic file information. When Martha works on an image, she adds a description to each image, and from the set of drop-down menus she: selects different available resolutions for renditioning; describes what it can be used for; and makes multiple selections to indicate in which product groups it belongs. The file naming convention they’ve adopted describes whether the image is a print or web image.

Don Distributor has a credentials in the DAM system. Once he logs on to the DAM system via a web browser, he can see only those folders for the product line that he sells and only the photos and collateral within those folders. The DAM system bases these permissions on Don's role and his associated access controls — perhaps the permissions assigned to the assets. Dan can select and drag or move all the product images and collateral he needs to a collection cart. When ready, he can download all of them in a system-created ZIP file.

If there is a need for a special image, Don can run a query to see if the system has such an image. If he has permissions to access the image and download it, the system allows it. He may be allowed to create new images using the built-in transformation tool. If so, he selects the proper parameters or image name from a list, and the system generates a new image of that size, which can be downloaded to the desktop. If it’s not available, Don can send a request through the system to Martha for a special rendition of the image.

Martha runs a weekly report to see which images have been used most, as well as to see which distributors are using the system and which are not. This report helps her to work better with the distributors and tells her which products the distributors are promoting most frequently. These reports also help Martha tell her management about system usage and her department’s own increased productivity with the DAM system."

What You've Communicated

With this use case, you have communicated several key points to the DAM vendor:

• You want to be more efficient in serving your distributors’ marketing needs
• You want to empower the distributors with a self-service collateral distribution system
• You care about security and want the system to help control access to images
• You want to free up Amy’s time so she can work more effectively with the distributors
• You want reporting that gives you more tactical and possibly strategic insight into asset use, product promotion, and distributor use of your marketing information
• You want to get the distributors to spend less time requesting and more time promoting and selling
• You want to assign a spectrum of very specific rights, with different content deployment routines based on those rights and/or content types
• You want to eliminate cost (e.g., Becky’s time) for modifying images; it should be automated by the system, wherever possible
• You want to know what kind of reporting is supported by the system

But best of all, instead of listing all those as line-item "requirements," you get to see them in action by simulating real live actors in any future system.

Each of RSG's research streams includes further sample scenarios for that particular technology. For more selection tips and hard-hitting evaluations designed to help you select the right technology, start by checking out a vendor evaluation from one of our seven coverage areas.