As an admin, you can guide your Acquia DAM into the future as it grows and changes by defining purpose and vision statements then creating a governance document.

Your purpose and vision statements will define your governance document, so it’s best to get those down first. The governance document guides, directs, and controls how your digital asset management (DAM) site is managed and used.

Define your purpose statement

The purpose statement, also known as a mission statement, should answer the question of why the DAM site exists. The goal of the purpose statement is to be clear, concise, and specific in as few words as possible.

Some questions you can ask when creating a purpose statement include:

• What is the core focus of the DAM?
• Who does the DAM serve?
• What is important and what is not for the DAM to house?

After you’ve defined the purpose statement, you’ll define a vision statement. The vision statement is the guide for the future of the site. It answers the question of how you are going to get where you intend to go. The vision statement is the chance to dream about what your DAM can become.

Some questions you can ask when creating a vision statement include:

• What is the direction for the future of the site?
• What will the DAM achieve?

Create a governance document

After purpose and vision statements are defined, you should create a governance document. Governance is the guidebook for your DAM system. It outlines administration, maintenance, and support of the DAM system, defines who is responsible for what areas of the system, and establishes rules for proper usage. It’s important to have so admins all handle items in the same way.

The governance document should cover, but is not limited to, the following:

• How to handle users
• Defining your filenaming convention, if you have one
• Indicating procedures for handling rights management and licensing issues
• Metadata best practices
• Rules for creation of categories and collections
• Defining your expiration and archiving expectations

It also covers your auditing plans, including what tasks you'll handle and when they will be handled (monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, annually). For a quick list of example tasks you can complete to keep your DAM site maintained, refer to our article on DAM site maintenance. For more detailed guidelines on maintaining your DAM, see the Maintaining Your DAM Checklist.

You can also complete the Governance template, which walks you through areas of site governance that you can include in your governance document.