How To Create a Digital Asset Management Workflow

You’re working on a critical client presentation and need high-quality images of your products to make your pitch shine.

But your image folder is full of random digital files with no descriptions, categories, or tags. 😞

This is exactly when you need a Digital Asset Management (DAM) workflow. It provides a clear, structured process for uploading, organizing, and accessing digital assets efficiently.

In this blog post, we’ll discuss what a digital asset management workflow is and how to create one for your organization. Let’s get started!

What Is Digital Asset Management Workflow?

A digital asset management workflow is a sequence of steps that move an asset through its lifecycle—from conception to completion. It involves asset management activities such as creation, categorization, organization, review, approval, storage, retrieval, and distribution.

Think of Digital Asset Management workflows as a list of action items to manage digital assets. It outlines a structure to complete your projects successfully. Here’s an example:

Let’s say your marketing team needs graphics for a new campaign. This is what their digital asset management workflow can look like👇

• Asset creation: Graphic designers create images for the product campaign
• Upload: The team uploads raw files to the digital asset management system
• Metadata creation: The team adds relevant image tags and descriptions like product and campaign names and uses (social media, print, etc.)
• Organization: The assets are sorted based on predefined criteria—campaign, product line, or content type
• Approval: The marketing team reviews the content, edits, and approves the design
• Distribution: The design team shares the final files with the marketing team
• Archiving: Once the campaign’s over, the images are removed from active searches and archived into the company’s marketing database

What is the purpose of a DAM workflow?

DAM workflows make managing digital assets easier.

They define clear responsibilities and timelines for asset managers and a quick retrieval process for relevant teams like sales or marketing that work with assets. Digital asset management also improves communication among teams and ensures that all the team members involved in a project are on the same page.

Here are a few reasons why creating a digital asset management workflow is important for your organization.

Structured asset management

Digital asset management workflows provide a structured process for managing your company’s digital assets. They focus on storing assets and keeping them organized so they’re easily accessible.

Quick access

An efficient digital asset management workflow helps you quickly locate the correct file. Instead of wasting time scrolling through random, unlabelled files, you can easily navigate the latest files by following each stage of the DAM workflow.

A DAM is an active workplace, which means that, when assets go there, you’re always gonna be able to search through them, reuse them, repurpose them.

Elizabeth Keathley, Digital Asset Management: Content Architectures, Project Management, and Creating Order out of Media Chaos

Security for digital assets

DAM workflows include granular-level access controls that let you set permissions for each asset. This ensures that only authorized users can access the assets. A digital asset management workflow also ensures compliance with security and data privacy laws, as the assets are tracked and reviewed before publishing. Plus, you can track any edits or changes to the files with version control.

The 5 Stages of a Digital Asset Management Workflow

The stages of your DAM workflow depend on the scope and complexity of the project at hand. For example, a marketing campaign on accessibility might have different workflow stages than brand asset management .

For an accessibility marketing campaign, the workflow would involve asset creation (adding alt text for images and captions for videos), compliance with accessibility guidelines, and running accessibility tests.

On the contrary, the DAM workflow for brand asset management focuses on simple asset creation, adding metadata for easy search and categorization, and access control.

5 common stages of digital asset management

1. Asset creation: The first step is to create an asset. This stage involves ideation, drafting, or acquiring assets such as documents, audio, and videos. Generally, brands set clear guidelines at this stage to ensure consistency in asset creation
2. Asset organization: At this stage, the existing assets are categorized based on type, project, or department and moved into appropriate folders within the digital asset management system
3. Asset storage: This stage involves storing assets in a way that they are easily accessible. For instance, using relevant tags, descriptions, and metadata can be helpful to filter or sort the assets
4. Asset distribution: This stage involves distributing the asset to relevant stakeholders for approval and project use
5. Asset archive: At this stage, the asset is removed from the active system. Once the digital asset lifecycle is over, the asset must be archived so you can preserve and reuse it, making the DAM workflow more efficient

The Types of DAM Workflows

By now, it’s clear how a digital asset management workflow works. So, let’s discuss the different types of DAM workflows. You can select the type of workflow based on what you’re working on, the asset type, and the lifecycle stage you’re in.

Project-based workflow

Project-based workflows are best for project management. They involve managing multiple assets for a single project. For instance, using a project-based workflow for a product launch will help you manage multiple assets such as product images, demo videos, ads, landing page images, and other digital content.

You can categorize the assets based on project type, name of the client, or project-related keywords.

💡Pro Tip: ClickUp’s Project Management Solution can help you enhance project-based workflows. You can plan your project, schedule tasks, track timelines, manage assets and resources, and improve collaboration.

_Plan and manage projects, assign tasks, and track progress with ClickUp’s Project Management Solution

Collaborative workflow

As the name suggests, this DAM workflow is for projects that require team collaboration . It enables teams to work on the same asset in real time, communicating and modifying the asset.

Let’s say you’re working on creating a marketing playbook. You’ll need the product, marketing, sales, customer success, and creative teams to collaborate and add their insights. This will require collaborative workflows for the teams to review and edit the assets.

In this workflow:

• The product team will upload technical specifications and product images
• Marketing members will add brand guidelines, promotional content, and copy
• Sales can contribute case studies and sales decks
• Customer success team shares customer feedback and best practices

💡Pro Tip: You can use ClickUp Docs to create the perfect playbook by brainstorming ideas, collaborating with team in real time, and assigning tasks.

Collaborate in real time and execute ideas with ClickUp Docs

Asset-based workflow

Asset-based workflows focus on the tasks involved in managing the asset—blogs, landing pages, videos, and other media assets. For instance, you want to create a new product launch. The workflow can include:

• Uploading the product launch video to the DAM system with the product name
• Tagging the video as ‘Product Launch Video’ 2024 and categorizing it as a marketing video
• The marketing team will approve the assets’ style, whereas the legal team will review it for compliance

Transactional workflow

Transactional workflows are used to manage the sale of digital assets. For instance, you can use this workflow to manage the licensing of stock photos or music tracks. This includes tracking usage rights and maintaining compliance with licensing agreements.

Approval workflow

Approval workflows, as it sounds, are for approving assets before distribution. A common use of approval workflow is the content review process. Before publishing digital content (blog, social post, or campaign image), the asset passes through several review stages and quality checks to ensure it aligns with the brand goals and guidelines.

Archival workflow

This DAM workflow preserves assets when they’re no longer in use. You can store the assets in appropriate places where they’re easily accessible. Building a recovery process is also essential to ensure seamless asset retrieval.

For instance, companies in regulated industries like banking and healthcare might use archival workflows and document management software to store digital asset records.

The Components of DAM Workflow

A digital asset management workflow keeps assets organized, so your team finds what they need at the right time. However, regardless of the workflow type you choose, the following components are a must for building a ‘DAM(N)-good’ workflow. 😉

Media library

Think of a media library as a data warehouse —a central repository for storing assets. Store all your assets in the media library, ensure they’re organized, and maintain access controls. Once you move your assets to the library, you can audit the library, do asset updates, and remove assets, and reorganize them as required.

Metadata

Taxonomy and asset metadata tagging are important aspects of DAM workflows to increase searchability. Taxonomy is like sorting your files into labeled folders, while metadata tagging is like adding sticky notes to those files with extra details.

A continued challenge for us is tagging image assets. While auto-tagging works well for text content, captions and other manually added metadata is important for image assets.

Heather Hedden,, Author of The Accidental Taxonomist

Asset approval

Create a standard review and approval process before distributing digital assets. To track where your assets are in the approval process, you can create tags like ‘under review,’ ‘pending approval,’ ‘hold,’ and ‘approved.’

💡Pro Tip: ClickUp’s Custom Statuses lets you customize statuses based on the project you’re working on. For example, you can use statuses like ‘in-progress,’ ‘pending,’ ‘review,’ ‘hold, etc. when working with assets like images or blogs.

Set custom statuses to track assets throughout their lifecycle with ClickUp Custom Statuses

DAM software

Choose a digital asset management software that meets your brand’s specific needs. Look for a DAM solution with the following features:

• Serves as a single source of truth for all digital assets
• Has auto-tagging features and custom statuses
• Offers asset tracking and usage analytics
• Integrates with other business platforms

Role-based access control

This component is crucial for ensuring the security of your digital assets. It limits access and prevents potential data breaches. When implementing access controls, understand different roles in your organization and their requirements. Plus, review and update access regularly to maintain security while ensuring easy accessibility.

💡Pro Tip: Use the ClickUp Role-Based Access Control Matrix Template to ensure appropriate access easily. Assign roles with organizational permission levels, control user activities, and track who can access what assets.

Download This Template

ClickUp Role-Based Access Control Matrix Template

Developing and Maintaining a DAM Workflow

Think of a restaurant kitchen where chefs are busy preparing multiple dishes. 🍜

What happens if the ingredients aren’t properly labeled and organized? Delayed deliveries, salt in crème brulé, sugar in spaghetti, and endless customer complaints!

Similarly, without proper DAM workflows, you may end up in chaos—lost images, more time spent on searches, and delayed project deliveries.

Key steps in creating a DAM workflow system

Let’s discuss the steps to building a solid digital asset management workflow system.

Step 1: Assess digital asset requirements

Understand the type of digital assets you have—images, videos, documents, and other multimedia resources. Prioritize the management of the assets based on their usage and importance.

Step 2: Identify needs

Collaborate with other team members and gain insights into the existing asset management processes. Find out the need for creating a DAM workflow, such as improving asset organization and retrieval process, enhancing team collaboration, and ensuring an efficient approval process.

Document the scope of your DAM workflow project and outline objectives using ClickUp Docs

Step 3: Set goal(s)

Determine the goals for creating a DAM workflow. It could be speeding up content creation, reducing search time, or faster review process.

You can use ClickUp Goals to set goals with clear timelines. It helps track automatic goal progress and manage all your goals in one central location for better efficiency.

Use ClickUp Goals to set and track goals for digital asset management workflow

Step 4: Create a DAM workflow

Create a DAM workflow design and plan to integrate it. Detail specific tasks, responsibilities, and timelines for each implementation stage.

You can easily create DAM workflows using ClickUp Whiteboards. It lets you draw workflow diagrams , build process flows, and map stakeholder responsibilities. Plus, you can brainstorm effective workflow processes with your team members and assign action items to enhance accountability.

Plan and customize digital asset workflows with ClickUp Whiteboards

Step 5: Get the right tool

The most crucial decision is integrating a digital asset management workflow solution that meets your needs. When weighing options, consider business needs, adaptability, scalability, pricing, and integration capabilities.

You can try ClickUp to create a digital asset management workflow. The ClickUp for Marketing solution provides a centralized location for all your creative processes. You can create a dedicated space to store all digital assets in one place, execute campaigns and content projects, and create roadmaps and predefined workflows.

_Use ClickUp’s Marketing Solution to manage all digital assets

Step 6: Define stakeholder roles and responsibilities

Mention stakeholder responsibilities at each stage of the workflow to ensure accountability and smooth operations.

For example, content creators, such as designers and writers, can take ownership of the asset creation stage. The marketing manager or project manager can give the first approval for the asset, the senior manager can further share their feedback, and the marketing coordinator can be responsible for distributing content on social media and other platforms.

Step 7: Use automation tools

Automate repetitive tasks like changing the status of the brand assets as they move along the workflow. Additionally, automate processes such as approval.

ClickUp offers 100+ custom workflow automations . You can use ClickUp Automation to automate routine tasks and approval processes. For instance, you can set up approval process automation to move an asset automatically from the ‘review’ stage to ‘quality check’ after meeting specific conditions.

_Automate workflows and repetitive tasks with ClickUp Automations

Step 8: Implement the DAM workflow

Implement the workflow and track usage. Gain valuable insights into what’s working and what’s not.

Step 9: Work on improvement and optimization

Track the DAM workflow, take feedback, and discuss with internal and external teams to spot loopholes. Act on the feedback and ensure continuous workflow optimization .

An excellent way to optimize your DAM workflow is to use ClickUp Gantt Charts . They help track priorities and due dates for completing each workflow stage and manage bottlenecks to keep things moving.

Streamline DAM workflows using ClickUp Gantt Charts

Workflow tools and features for DAM systems

Without proper workflow tools, it is impossible to sustain DAM workflows. This is where you need tools like ClickUp.

ClickUp is an all-in-one productivity, collaboration, and workflow management platform that can help you set and optimize digital asset management processes easily. Let’s see how ClickUp helps manage DAM workflow.

Track workflow

ClickUp offers 15+ customizable views , such as Board, List, and Calendar, that help you track workflow in the best way possible. For instance, ClickUp Board View provides you with a bird’ s-eye view of all your workflow stages and tasks. You can view tasks in custom columns, drag and drop assets through the workflow stages, and track them easily.

_Visualize DAM workflow stages and tasks with ClickUp Board View

Use workflow templates

ClickUp also makes your work easier with its customizable, ready-to-use workflow templates . For instance, you can use ClickUp’s Process Flow Template to visualize your digital asset management workflow from start to end. Plus, you can collaborate better, track progress to ensure that everything’s going as planned, and easily identify potential roadblocks.

Download This Template

ClickUp Process Flow Template

The role of project management in maintaining a DAM workflow

Integrating project management with DAM platforms streamlines your workflows.

Whatever your goals may be—easily access digital assets, manage workflow stages efficiently, or reduce the time spent on admin and repetitive tasks—project management in DAM ensures that everyone stays on the same page.

In a broader sense, project management in DAM can:

• Provide a centralized platform for teams to communicate, share assets, and track progress
• Maintain a structured and organized approach to asset management
• Enable better workflows by adding elements like task automation, time tracking, and resource allocation
• Track the lifecycle of assets better, ensuring that they are properly managed, stored, and maintained, reducing the risk of loss or damage

What Are the Benefits of a DAM Workflow?

Now that we know what a DAM workflow is and how to create one, let’s examine its benefits.

Boosts productivity

DAM workflows define processes and steps, eliminating bottlenecks. For example, by defining the approval process, DAM workflows remove ad hoc review meetings that disrupt workflows. As a result, more tasks are accomplished in less time.

Maintains brand consistency

A solid brand image comes from consistency, and DAM workflows ensure that assets comply with brand guidelines. This helps maintain a consistent brand image across channels.

Increases ROI

In addition to improving productivity and the use of assets, DAM workflows also reduce licensing costs. They increase visibility into available assets, general asset usage, reusable assets, and licensing agreements, which helps cut down unnecessary asset expenses and allocate resources effectively.

What Are the Challenges of a DAM Workflow?

DAM workflows are beneficial, but only when they are implemented and followed step-by-step. While a digital asset management workflow is immensely beneficial, you might encounter the following challenges.

• Ownership: Misunderstanding tasks or responsibilities can stall the entire workflow. So, ensure defining roles and responsibilities of stakeholders at the start of creating the workflow
• Siloed workflow: If teams think that the workflow is only for marketing or product management, the workflow will become siloed. To overcome this challenge, integrate DAM workflows with other tools like project management, digital workplace software !