Looking to provide company-wide access to digitized book content, graphics and all manner of publishing data, Simon & Schuster has developed an in-house digital asset management system that has the potential to transform how the house does business. Originally launched to assist the production and editorial departments, the S&S sales and marketing departments have also latched onto the system and dramatically sped up their ability to get marketing material out to clients, booksellers and the media.

The system, called the Digital Asset Bank, is a Web-based database application that currently provides access to more than 100,000 unique assets across more than 40 different content categories, according to Ann Mander, S&S chief information officer. The DAB stores author essays, book jackets, catalogue content, tip sheets, Quark files, PDF files, full manuscripts and excerpts, metadata on every book and even the digital file needed for POD editions or to create an e-book. Title data is updated automatically (price changes, catalogue entries, new titles) daily, electronically from S&S's title management system, so the latest version of a book manuscript, jacket or tip sheet is always available.

All S&S employees have password access to DAB and can download materials to their hard drives or log on through the Web from any where in the world. "It's a self-service supermarket of content," said Steve Kotrch, director of S&S publishing technology. Work on the system began in 1999, when S&S needed to create a central database for digital content. "In many cases, only our printer had an electronic copy of the book," Mander said. Kotrch created an electronic archive that stored the digital files of finished books, but the early database was limited. Kotrch said, "It had a few bells and whistles and a lot of drawbacks. It was Mac only; could only store finished book products; and was created out of department software. It was very inadequate. There weren't too many document management systems available at the time, and none for book publishers."

Kotrch approached Artesia Technologies, a firm specializing in digital asset management, which had a system that was adapted to S&S's needs. (The new post—S&S version is being marketed by Artesia to other publishers.) Next, Accenture, a management and technology consultant firm, was brought in to manage how the technology was implemented to staff. Said Kotrch: "We didn't want IT to drive the project. We wanted it to be user-friendly." Accenture canvassed S&S executives and solicited input from tech-savvy staffers to create a system driven by staff needs rather the S&S IT department's ability to create cool applications "that no one would use," said Joe Bulger, director of business process development.

Applications

Once logged on DAB, an employee sees a search engine interface that can be used to find data. The sales and marketing staff can "put together targeted documents quickly," said Bulger. Sales reps planning to visit African-American specialty stores, for example, quickly put together a graphics-laden sales document that lists every forthcoming black-oriented S&S title. The subsidiary rights department was just as enthusiastic about a database that lists available rights for every title.

Tracy Von Straaten, director of publicity for S&S children's publishing, told PW, "If one person scans something or produces a useful document, it can be stored and everyone will have access to it." Von Straaten said that her staff "checks DAB first. We can access graphics without bothering the art directors or duplicating efforts. And we're still learning ways to use it."

Kotrch calls the DAB "a digital swap meet," where each department can add its own ad hoc digital productions and PowerPoint presentations. Despite all this access, no one seems to have any serious security concerns. Embargoed books can be restricted, said Kotrch, and manuscripts are available only in the latest edited version. Data can be locked down if necessary but, he said, "most of this stuff is meant to be shared with the public anyway."

And the DAB team emphasizes that they're just beginning to explore how staff will use it. Employee training continues, and as editorial staff becomes more comfortable, Kotrch and Bulger expect to add more functionality to the system.

So how much does all this technological innovation cost? Mander declined to provide specific figures, but said the software represents about one-third of the cost of the entire system, while using Accenture and staff training represents "the rest of the cost. And we don't regret spending any of it."