Looking for a DAM software, but do not know much about it.

[RegisM]

Hi There,

This is my first post here, and I am new to the stuff, so please be understanding of my total lack of knowledge on the issue at hand.

I am looking to purchase and implement a good DAM program for a medium size museum.
( http://www.nt.gov.au/nreta/museums )
We produce an average of 80 000 new images a year.
 
I was told about Fotoware, Cumulus, Vernon, Piction, Ex Libris and Imagefolio.
Do you have any opinion about these?
Is there any thing else that you would recommend to have a look at?
 
To be frankly honest with you, I do not really know what too look for in a DAM program.
 
We want to make the image searchable in an easy and convenient way.
We want other staff than me to be able to use it when I am away.
We would like it to work on Mac and PC.
 
So far we worked with Iview media Pro, but are not entirely satisfied with it.
A few years ago for another organisation, I used to work with Fotostation, but stoped when I was unable to read the caption entered in Fotostation in the newer version of Photoshop. (I do not know if this is still the case)
 
Any help that you could give us would be much appreciated.
 
Thank you for your help and time,
Régis

[peterkrogh]

Regis,
Have you been in touch with Robert Edwards from Sydney?  You would probably benefit from some kind of consulting relationship.  There are a lot of factors to consider here, including the phased rollout of any solution, and coming changes to the technical and software landscape.

Before you consider what software to by, you need to outline the capabilities necessary, including number and kind of users, state of the current archive, long term goals, available budget and IT expertise and more.  It's very important, first of all, to create a strategy, and to implement policies.  After you've got that taken care of, you can start to look at individual software solutions.
Peter

[RegisM]

Hi Peter,

Thank you for the reply.

We are also discussing the issue with the registrar of the museum, to try to understand which road to follow.
Number of users, photo, jpg, tiff, raw, video, text? what kind of end result is expected from the software? Connection to actual database?
But at the moment all disscutions are in there infancy.

Your advice to really try to understand what is it that we need before looking at software is sound. (it make sens)

No I do not know of Robert Edwards.

Thank you for your time,
Regards,
Regis

[peterkrogh]

Regis,
Try robert at damsimple.com.  (He's here a lot as well).

I suggest that getting someone like Robert is very helpful.  He knows the landscape well, and can help you understand the processes and work order involved in getting this together.

I also think it's helpful to have someone be your advocate as you look at outside solutions.  It can be difficult to sort out the the claims of the integrators (who are not being paid to tell you the drawbacks of their systems).  And often in-house IT staff does not have a good grasp on the issues associated with image management. 

Many institutions, for instance, have purchased systems that do not support XMP metadata.  Without a doubt, this will trigger the need for expensive revisions to the system, or scrapping it altogether.

Peter

[RegisM]

Hi Peter,

Thank you for the lead, it will be followed.

Have a nice day,

Regis