Frequently asked questions section 16

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Key requirements - Digital asset management; Video file management; Media management software; Image management system; Audio file library; Secure controlled access

There are 4 elements required:

  • 1. To store all digital assets on a secure host server.
  • 2. To serve as a digital assets database for encrypted, remote access by permitted users who will be working from more than one country.
  • 3. To hold digital media information assets (such as oral histories) which form part of the collection.
  • 4. To function as a content management system for interpretive materials such as gallery images and audio visual content.

These four main elements are all provided by iBase.

The system must:

  • Be easy to use, including uploading, searching for and extracting assets with minimal training for end users.
  • Have a clean, uncluttered layout.
  • Be able to be operated on both PC and MAC through a browser window.
  • Be secure. No data held on the system should be viewable by anyone who has not got permission. The system must not allow search engines such as Google scholar to search the data.
  • Require as little in house IT knowledge as possible to be fully operational.
  • Operate without the need for locally installed software or plug ins.
  • Be available remotely, in both the UK and elsewhere, to permitted users.
  • Have minimal server downtime, with advance notification where possible.
  • Allow differing levels of permissions to permit differing levels of asset access, with at least the following four user sets;
    • Administrators
    • Contributors, who can add assets and metadata
    • General Users, who can search and extract all assets, and edit pre defined metadata fields
    • External Users, who can access, search and extract only pre defined groups of assets
  • Allow administrators to set up new users, and to screen all requests for permission to access the files before user access is granted.
  • Allow controlled access. Outside contractors should be able to view areas to which they are given access.
  • Allow a minimum of 10 users to access the database concurrently, with scope to increase this figure over the length of the contract.
  • Support XMP metadata, with automatic import, and be Dublin Core compliant
  • Have a minimum of 35 configurable metadata fields.
  • Be fully searchable. Assets to be searchable based on internally agreed metadata fields and standards.
  • Have the ability to organise images into virtual 'light boxes', 'folders', 'galleries' or 'categories' to aid management and retrieval.
  • Allow different file types to be stored in the same folder e.g. images, PDFs and word files.
  • Allow information on licensing and source to be attached to assets.
  • Allow users to view thumbnails and larger preview images on screen, and previews of other assets (audio visual content, PDF files etc).
  • Allow users to download high resolution images, and smaller tif or jpeg variants as required.
  • Allow emailing of links to specific assets to contractors/suppliers for ease of download.
  • Have reporting features for assets ingested and downloaded.
  • Allow for the easy migration of all digital assets on system at end of term of agreement.
  • Applications must be designed to support the organisation with its duties under Data Protection and Freedom of Information legislation.
  • Systems must demonstrate support for copyright and other intellectual property rights legislation.

All of these essential requirements are supported by the iBase digital asset management (DAM) system.

The system should:

  • Allow the export of thumbnails and license agreement information to a database / excel spreadsheet to hand over to the client at the end of the project.
  • Be able to print contact sheets of images within a folder and individual images.
  • Allow watermarking of downloaded assets.
  • Archive vast amounts of video files (all types of formats from mpeg to HD)
  • Archive image files
  • Archive reports
  • Associate relevant videos, images and documents to a specific case or multiple cases
  • Link specific information from one case to another
  • Ability to index video frames for easy search
  • Maintain data integrity
  • Track all data manipulations

These requirements are support by the iBase media asset management system.