This page provides information about how to do an audit and cleanup of your DAM assets.

Exporting your asset data

Many tools and techniques are available for data analysis. The following are the proven steps to build Insights reports and use spreadsheet functions to analyze asset usage:

1. Open your DAM instance.

2. Do an all asset export:

   1. Click the magnifying glass in the search bar of your DAM without entering any search terms.

      The system displays the results for all of the assets in your DAM.

   2. Click Export at the top right of the page, and select CSV.

      If you do not regularly review and clean up your assets, your DAM may have hundreds of thousands of assets. Limits to the number of cells in Excel and Google Sheets may require multiple asset exports. If you encounter these limits, use the Advanced Search function to search for assets by specific time frames, asset groups, or metadata fields to segment your exports. For more information, visit How do I search for assets?.

   For more information, visit How do I export search results?.

3. Create and export an Assets Downloads report:

   1. Navigate to Insights.

   2. Adjust the date range according to your asset retention policy and create an Assets Downloads report.

      Acquia recommends that you start with a report of downloads from the previous 12 months when you analyze active asset usage.

      

   3. Click Export on the top right of the report view to export all download data from your selected date range.

      The export is in .csv format.

   For more information, visit How do I create an Insights report?.

4. Create and export an Asset Views report:

   1. Navigate to Insights.

   2. Adjust the date range according to your asset retention policy and create an Asset Views report.

      

   3. Click Export on the top right of the report view to export all asset views data from your selected date range.

      The export is in .csv format.

   For more information, visit How do I create an Insights report?.

Using spreadsheets for analysis

Collate data from all your asset export, Assets Downloads report, and Assets Views report into a single spreadsheet. In your workbook, you must have three worksheets, each named for the three exports.

1. In the All Asset Export worksheet, add two columns to the right of Column A (Filename).
2. Rename Column B as Downloads - 12 months and Column C as Views - 12 months.
3. Identify assets that have not been used in the past 12 months.
4. Use a COUNTIF formula to add the number of downloads and views recorded on the other two worksheets to the worksheet containing all of your assets.
5. In Cell B2, enter =COUNTIF('Downloads - 12 months'!A:A, A2).
6. In Cell C2, enter =COUNTIF('Views - 12 months'!A:A, A2).
7. Copy the formulas in Cells B2 and C2 down, applying to all of the rows on the worksheet, all of the assets in your DAM.
8. Analyze asset usage.  

Analyzing asset usage

Identify the assets that are interacted with the most, and determine how to prioritize your efforts after the audit. Look for trends between asset types and groups. Ask the following questions:

• Which assets are downloaded the most? 
• Which assets are downloaded the least? Turn on filters and filter the Downloads column to assets with zero downloads in the past 12 months.

To identify problematic assets:

1. Filter to view assets with zero views in the past 12 months. 

   These are assets that are most likely not used in the past year.

2. Ask the following questions:
   • Do you have asset group and metadata field redundancies? How do those redundancies help you achieve your DAM outcomes?
   • Are there large volumes of assets with Date Updated values that are years old? What asset groups are they in? Should those assets remain active, expire, or be deleted?

   • How many assets have many blank metadata fields? Is that a reflection of unneeded assets or metadata refinement?

     For more information, visit Metadata, dashboards, and automation for search optimization.

• How do asset groups match any usage rights and restrictions metadata fields? Are those assets protected with an adequate level of security and usage detail?

Applying your asset retention policy

1. Turn off the Downloads and Views filters in the spreadsheet. 
2. Analyze the dates when your assets were added, released, and expired. Are old assets, as defined by your asset retention policy, being used? Should they be used?
3. Decide if assets that were uploaded or released years ago should be archived, expired, or deleted. 
4. Decide if expired assets should be deleted or retained.

Using your filter views to move from asset audit to asset cleanup

1. Add a new column to your spreadsheet to document necessary actions for assets: 
   • Active
   • Edit
   • Expire
   • Archive
   • Delete
2. Use the classifications to organize batch asset updates in the DAM.

3. DAM + Spreadsheets: You can use the multiple asset search feature in the DAM to increase the speed of your asset updates.

   For more information, visit What's the multiple asset search?.

   1. Select More next to the DAM’s quick search bar.

   2. Select Multiple Asset Search.

      For example, to delete all assets that are not downloaded or viewed in the previous year, copy those filenames from your spreadsheet and paste them in the Multiple Asset Search text box and then click Search.

   3. Click Select All on the top left of your search results and use the selection pane in the top right corner to update the assets in bulk. 
   4. To delete all assets, expand the kebab menu and select Delete all.
      

FAQs

What should I do if my company does not have a data retention policy?

You may not be ready to make a definitive decision about the fate of your old and unused assets. If you are unsure about whether to delete or archive assets, create a new asset group, provide a friendly name such as Archived Assets, and restrict its access to users in the DAM Global Admin role. Collaborate with your DAM admin team and other DAM stakeholders to decide what to do with old assets. 

For more information, visit What are asset groups and how do I create them?.

How can the Admin Dashboard help me clean up my assets?

In the Admin app, the Admin Dashboard provides links to pending deleted assets, conflicted assets, assets that do not have required metadata, and more. 

For more information, visit What asset-related tasks are on the Admin dashboard?.

How do I delete assets from my DAM?

Assets that are deleted with the DAM’s UI move to the Pending Delete queue on the Admin Dashboard. Acquia recommends that you review the Pending Delete queue at least once per quarter because the assets continue to count towards your storage limit until you delete them from the queue.

For more information, visit How do I delete assets?.

What does it mean when my assets are conflicted?

Conflicted assets means that there are two files with the same name. Acquia DAM does not support duplicate filenames. Assets in the Conflicted Assets section of the Admin Dashboard are invisible to users in search results until conflicts are resolved. A file may have been accidentally uploaded twice, or there might be two different files assigned the same name.

For more information, visit What are conflicted assets?.

Follow these steps to resolve asset conflicts:

1. Navigate to the Admin Dashboard.
2. Click Conflicted Asset Uploads.
3. Choose an asset group to work on.

4. Select a resolution option.

   To resolve files one-by-one, click the red exclamation point to the right. Alternatively, select the check box at the top of the list of filenames and select the option to do them in batches of 200.

   • When you select one-by-one edits, you see a preview of each asset and the specs (size and resolution). If the images are the same, delete either the first image on the left side or the new image on the right side.

   • If you use the DAM’s versioning feature and want to make the new image the updated version of the old asset, click Add file as version.

     This allows the system to retain the metadata. For more information, visit How do I create asset versions?.

   • To make the new asset the updated version and update the metadata that was entered with the new file, click Add File and Info as Version.
   • If the new image is a totally different asset, rename the file on one of the duplicates. Type a new filename in the box and then click Rename Conflicting.
     
     Note

Next steps

Determine where other assets are saved at your organization (network drives, outdated systems, or elsewhere) and create a plan to migrate the assets into your DAM.

For more information, visit the Expanding your DAM recorded tutorial.

Before you begin uploading those assets, examine the other sections of this DAM optimization guide to ensure that your asset security, user, and search configurations are ready to support effective asset upload, search, and distribution:

• User audit, roles, and asset security
• User engagement and asset lifecycle
• Metadata, dashboards, and automation for search optimization

Additional resources

This section provides alternate links to the resources mentioned in this article:

• How do I search for assets?
• How do I create an Insights report?
• How do I export search results?
• What's the multiple asset search?
• What are asset groups and how do I create them?
• What asset-related tasks are on the Admin dashboard?
• How do I delete assets?
• What are conflicted assets?
• How do I create asset versions?

Asset audit and cleanup

Conflicted assets can be renamed only if you resolve conflicts one by one. This cannot be done in bulk edit mode through the DAM’s UI. 

Conflicted assets can be renamed only if you resolve conflicts one by one. This cannot be done in bulk edit mode through the DAM’s UI.