In BAM!, assets stored in the library are only viewable in the DAM. To make them available outside of the DAM, they need to be published first. This involves organizing the content, choosing the endpoint, publishing the content, and approving publication. In this section we will discuss the publishing workflow, endpoints, organizing published content, and managing the approval process.
Publishing Workflow
The basic workflow for publishing assets looks like this:
In BAM!, publishing was designed to be simple and efficient, but also to include restrictions on who may request and approve publication of assets. Depending on your permissions and groups, these steps may all be performed by the same person or require more than one person. The workflow is the same either way:
An asset is created and saved in the DAM
An endpoint is selected for publication
The asset is published to the endpoint
- A user with Approver privileges is notified of the published content awaiting approval
The publishing request is approved or denied
If approved, the asset is available to the endpoint's users
This workflow provides the controls necessary to prevent accidental (or unauthorized) publishing of assets, and allows larger teams to collaborate effectively.
Endpoints
An endpoint is a repository for assets from which your users can access approved, published content. In the DAM, endpoints are identified in the left navigation bar. In the case directly below, the only endpoint is the Mobile Sales Tool:
Adding a Web Endpoint will result in that endpoint's title being displayed below the Mobile Sales Tool, with a root folder into which assets can be published for public web access. The title of the web endpoint and the name of the associated root folder are customizable and can be modified within the Web Endpoint Settings (see the documentation specific to Web Endpoints for further information):
Organize Folder Structure
Creating and organizing folders in endpoint (like the Mobile Sales Tool) works just like in the DAM. New folders may be created, permissions assigned, and assets added to them & folders can be dragged and dropped into whatever order best suits your organization. This allows the assets in the MST to be organized effectively for ease of use and access. For cases in which a complicated directory & permissions structure may not be desirable, the MST has a Resources folder, with Assets and News subfolders, into which assets and news builders may be directly published (see the Resources section below).
When creating and organizing folders in the MST, consider how the assets will be used, and whether different users or groups should have access to different content. The roles and permissions in the DAM function the same way in the MST, so users without permission to view folders will not see them.
Publishing Assets to the MST
Once the folder structure has been created on the MST, it’s time to publish assets. A user must have the Publisher role on the folder the asset is to be published from as well as on the destination folder. See the article on Roles and Permissions for more information.
To publish an asset, find it in the library, tick the selection box and then press the Publish icon in the upper-right toolbar:
Alternately, click the asset to open it, then click the Publish button in the lower-left corner of the Asset Detail page:
Select the location in the endpoint (in this case we are publishing to the MST) by navigating the folder structure, then click Publish:
The asset’s location and status information will be updated, showing a yellow status icon. This means the publish request is waiting for approval. If you browse to the folder where the asset is published, the card view also shows a yellow icon. A red notification icon appears in the root of the MST to indicate there are assets awaiting approval:
Assets are not sent to the MST until they have been approved. Once approved, the status icon will turn green and the asset will be sent to the endpoint. The publishing and approval processes can be accomplished in one click during the Publish process, by a user with the appropriate permissions. Users with the Publisher and Approver permissions can process image and video assets, whereas complex assets created with builders require you to have the Content Admin permissions enabled before they can be published or approved, due to their potentially complex relationships within your library:
NOTE: Individual assets and builders can be published in multiple folders on multiple endpoints and any user with the permissions to view those folders will be able to access the assets contained within.
Resources
The Resources folder is a special folder for publishing assets that do not appear in the MST library - for example, News assets or assets that appear on the Featured Asset carousel. Your MST users will not be able to see or navigate to the Resources folder within the library. When publishing a News asset, you can select the News folder as the destination, and the asset will appear under the News menu on the MST. Assets published to the Assets folder will be available to include in the Featured Asset carousel. Additionally, you can create subfolders within the News or Assets folder and apply permissions to your content and make different assets available to different users. Note that assets published to the Resources folder, will not be available to your MST users outside of the Featured Asset carousel, Custom Menu assets or the News menu
Approving Publication
The final stop in the BAM! publishing workflow is Approval. This provides additional control and accountability, helping to ensure that the content published to an endpoint has been reviewed and is ready for use by the end-users.
Once an asset has been published, users with the Approver role will receive a notification in the app and via email. To approve an asset for publication, locate it in the DAM and open the properties page. Under Locations and Status in the sidebar, entries with an orange icon are awaiting approval. Click the 'more options' icon next to the location of the published asset associated with an orange icon:
Click on the eye icon labeled Review. In the Review Assets for Publishing dialog box enter an appropriate comment and click the Approve button:
NOTE: Once the asset has been approved a notification email will be sent to the user who published that asset to let them know that the content was approved and is now available to users of that endpoint (with the appropriate privileges)
Rejecting a Publishing Request
If you wish to reject a publishing request, the same dialog is used. Enter an appropriate comment and click the Reject button. The user that published the asset and is requesting approval will receive a notification that their content was rejected, including whatever comments you entered into the dialog box:
Publishing Assets to a Web Endpoint
Publishing assets to a Web Endpoint copies those assets to a secure location and generates a Public URL that can be used to give outside users or customers quick & easy access to your BAM! content on the web. Publishing to a Web Endpoint is a process similar to that of publishing to the Mobile Sales Tool. Users with the same roles and permissions are responsible for approving and/or rejecting the publishing of assets, and depending on the preferences of your organization and their desired level of oversight, that process can involve multiple approval steps & multiple people with different roles, or that publishing & approval process can be undertaken in a single step, by a single user with Content Admin privileges. See the documentation particular to Web Endpoints for further information.
NOTE: Complex assets created using the DAM's powerful builder functionality cannot be published to a Web Endpoint & cannot be associated with a Public URL as those compound assets depend on components & processes that are native to BAM! which aren't accessible to users outside of the BAM! platform.