How much time have you wasted looking for a digital media file? If you or your team has ever had trouble finding what you’re looking for on the company server, this one’s for you.
I have been part of several different teams, each with varying degrees of organization to their digital file management. In some cases, their organizational method was used because no one on the team had been exposed to anything else. This is an exciting place to be. 9 times out of 10 there will be room for improvement. It will not be without challenges though. Resistance to change might look like “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” or similar attitudes. If that’s the case, you’ve got bigger fish to fry than digital file organization, but both are important.
At ATCP, we do video. Period. Therefore this post is focused on video files and other related digital media files, though I’m sure much of this could be applied more broadly to organizing other digital files. With the tips outlined below, our aim is to share what we’ve learned to help save you and your team time.
File Structure
Step One: Identify the drive where you will save your media files. Odds are your team has a server or some sort of cloud storage space. If not, I strongly recommend at the very least investing in a 1 – 2 terabyte external SSD or HDD. SSD is faster and less fragile because it has no moving parts, but it also tends to be more expensive.
Step 2: Identify a file structure that suits your workflow. Let’s use an example. You have a piece of video content (media) you would like to use for your client’s website, YouTube page, and trade shows. It’s something multiple members of your team need access to. If you already have a folder for this client, the next level might be a project folder, campaign folder, or a year folder. The file path might look something like one of the following.
Root > Client > Year > Project > Media > Media File (Recommended)
Root > Client > Media > Year > Project > Media File
Root > Client > Project > Year > Media File
Root > Media > Year > Client > Project > Media File
Root > Year > Client > Project > Media File
Is this a recurring project with quarterly or annual updates? Are we constantly getting new footage quick turnaround short form content? Depending on your industry, perhaps this is a one off or infrequent client project. There are numerous ways to organize for any scenario. Some might work better than others and it may take some trial and error initially. If you don’t regularly access the files, get input from the person on your team who does. They may already have some ideas for improvement. The goal of this is to make life easier for you and your team so anytime a media file is needed, it can be found quickly and not become a bottleneck in your workflow.
Step 3: Document this organization method with clear instructions. Save the document in a place where the whole team can access it for reference and communicate to the team where they can find it. Adding this communication to your onboarding process will help set new hires up for success.
Backups
Among the first lessons I learned in this career in Digital Media was if you don’t have your file saved in two locations, it doesn’t exist. The number I go by now is 3, which is also what I recommend our smart readers use. Where are these locations? Local, off site, and in the cloud. If you’re a client of ATCP, one of those locations is with us. We backup all of our client work.
Many businesses have servers or a NAS (network attached storage) on site to store their files, and often that server already has some redundancy (see RAID redundancy). With local redundant RAID storage, that’s 2 locations. The cloud is another great option, though it can get expensive (previously we used Backblaze). If you have multiple brick and mortar locations, each could have a backup of the others which is helpful if a natural disaster strikes and takes out a building with the servers in it.
Train to Sustain
You getting organized now, is great. Helping your team stay organized is even better. How do you do this? Send them this article. Start a conversation. Listen to their ideas and concerns, then build your organizational method together. Screen recording the process of opening file paths can be very helpful for onboarding, and making this a low stress easily repeatable lesson you can use for the foreseeable future.
Now, where is that file saved? Is it backed up? Does your team know how to find it? Following these tips should make those questions easier for anyone regularly working with digital media files. If you have any questions, suggestions, or interest in further discussion, please feel free to reach out. We enjoy learning, growing, and collaborating with our clients and industry partners.