Uploading large sets of data over HTTP/HTPPS to your web-based
DAM system can pose a couple of challenges:
1.
Lack of support for large uploads.
2.
Folder structures are not maintained.
3.
They can be cumbersome and time-consuming, as
files might have to be dragged into an upload dialog one by one.
4.
Certain file formats might not be supported.
5.
Interrupted uploads have to be restarted from
the beginning and it might not be clear what files might have already been
uploaded.
6.
Detailed upload reports might not be available
for later analysis.
7.
Upload dialogs written in Flash or Java might
not be supported in all browsers and/or on all platforms or devices.
One of our recent customers was faced with the following
challenges:
·
Multiple external agencies spread all over the
U.S. and Canada provide the content for our customer’s marketing operations
(packaged InDesign projects and output PDFs).
·
Complex folder structures have to be maintained
during uploads.
·
Uploaded projects can routinely be more than 2
GB in size.
·
Uploaded projects need to be auto-cataloged into
the DAM system without agency users having the ability/permission to catalog.
·
Folder structures need to be mirrored into the taxonomy’s
category tree.
·
Detailed reporting and notification on uploads
is required.
·
Access to the system is restricted to HTTPS/443
and SFTP/22.
·
All access has to be controlled centrally
through a dedicated Active Directory.
·
The solution has to be 100% cloud-based.
·
Agencies need to be able to provide
project-specific, custom metadata through a web-based interface.
Based on these needs and built around Canto Cumulus,
Nextware implemented a sophisticated and automated upload workflow solution
using WS_FTP Corporate Server, one of the leading FTP Server solutions, as well
as Canto’s “RoboFlow” add-on. Our customer can now ask their agencies’ users to
simply upload their packaged projects and PDFs via an FTP client. In some
cases, this may be all an agency user has to do. In addition and if required by
our customer, agencies can also add custom metadata to their uploaded jobs.
1.
Designers create InDesign jobs, package and zip
them and combine them with the corresponding output PDFs into complex project
folder structures. Often, one project can consist of 20 to 30 packaged InDesign
jobs and 50-100 PDFs.
2.
They then connect to the DAM system via FTP.
Access is controlled via an Active Directory. These users are maintained by
administrators on our customer’s team, so that agency users can be added,
deactivated or even deleted at any time.
3.
Server-side, WS_FTP organizes the uploaded
projects into subfolders for each user inside a DropBox folder. The projects’
subfolder structure is maintained at all times.
4.
Canto RoboFlow monitors this DropBox in a
1-minute interval. New projects are automatically moved into the Cumulus Vault
(= central asset repository) server-side. At the same time, RoboFlow creates
corresponding record entries in the respective catalog and reflects the folder
and subfolder structure in the category tree. No user interaction whatsoever is
required.
5.
From that point on, either uploading users at
the external agency side or the marketing users on the customer side can log
into Cumulus via Web Client and further categorize and tag the projects’
records. User access is controlled through the same Active Directory as the FTP
access. In other words: agency users use one and the same user name and
password for all system access.
6.
Furthermore, our customer’s marketing users can
approve or reject projects, delete them, find existing projects based on custom
metadata searches, download partial or complete projects or share them via URL.
This workflow is extremely flexible and can be adapted to
fit many other requirements. If you are interested in this or other DAM or
workflow solutions, please get in touch with Nextware Professional Services at contact@nextwaretech.com today.
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