Running head: DATA ASSET MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (DAMS)

Data Assest Management System (DAMS)

Datacenter Application
Final Term Project
Greg Wiedeman
MSCT620
Regis University

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Abstract

The following paper contains information for supporting a Data Asset Management
System (DAMS) located in a data center with a focus an infrastructure of modles that are used to
capture, catalog, store and manage digital assets which will be print media and advertising art
work. The process of design for the DAMS will consist of the network architecture and
supporting infrastructure used to create an efficient system, which is scalable, flexible, and
resilient. The system is going to reside in one or more of the server farm topologies, which
include internet, intranet and extranet and the topology boundaries of the system will help to
determine security, including data integrity, assurance, and secure access without causing a
hindrance to end-users or affecting the applications performance. The network design will
consist of a layer 2 network design including STP, a layer 3 design with routing protocols
defined, SSL/TLS, load balancing, server monitoring, and caching with a final DNS mapping.
This information should be enough for an installation team to develop a full cost estimate,
configuration guides, and construction plans.

Introduction

DATA ASSET MANAGEMENT (DAM)

The world today is becoming more about ones and zeros as books are converted to digital
media, medical records are forced to go digital, documents are scanned into computer systems,
pictures, music, movies, and the list continues on what is getting digitized. Brand (1998)
speculates that starting in the 1950s to the present recorded information increasingly disappears
into a digital gap. Historians will consider this a dark age. The management of all the digital
assets becomes a necessity but difficulties arise as formats change and become obsolete, tapes
and disks lose integrity, systems become more complicated, new methods of access become
available, such as smart phones and tablets, and as more data is transferred to digital media
storage increases and a storage life cycle plan becomes ever more important to develop in an
organization to move data around easier for fast and efficient access.
The purpose then, for Digital Asset Management (DAM), is to develop the concept into
the data center as a Digital Asset Management System, (DAMS), which according to McCord
(2002) contains an infrastructure of modules that are used to capture, catalog, store, and manage
digital assets. He also points out that those assets should be expanded to use in tools that can
produce videos, audio, web content, and print media. The digital content must also contain ways
to identify the asset, group individual assets forming a collection, the ability to protect the
original asset as it is used to in these collections, define rights, determine permissions, develop
process rules, and finally administer and control the flow of assets.
A company called Media River LLC will attempt to from a business requirement to easily
share print media and advertising artwork internally, with satellite offices, and to external clients.
The company digital objects consist of low resolution images of print ads, advertisng mockups,
digital photographs, campaigns, and company logos. The front end access is a web interface,
similar to SharePoint, a login page will control security access, auditing, and user sessions while

DATA ASSET MANAGEMENT (DAM)

providing a search function to enter metadata information to pull up certain images. By using a
checkout method, similar to a library, users are able to gather images to use as references for now
or later but after a 48 hour period the assets will go back on the shelf for another user to look use.
Although items are checked out this does not mean they can not still be viewed but it just means
that they can not be checked for further processes such as ordering high resolution prints or other
hard copy media. There will be certain access controls so that only certain indivduals and groups
will be able to view certain digital media. For example a team member working on a Kelloggs
product could not see any digital media from Post who is a competitor.

DATA ASSET MANAGEMENT (DAM)

References
Brand, S (1998, November). Written on the Wind. Civilization Magazine. retrieved March 6
2013, from http://longnow.org/essays/written-wind/
Kaplan D (2009). Choosing a Digital Asset Management System That's Right for You. Journal
of Archival Organizations. 7, 33-40.
McCord, A (2002, September, 6). Overview of Digital Asset Management Systems. retrieved
March 6 2013, from Educause Web Site:
http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/dec0203.pdf