FOSPO capitalises on media asset management for image search in record time

More than 46,000 titles in German, French, Italian and English: In Magglingen, the FOSPO (Federal Office for Sport) holds the biggest sports media library in Switzerland. All media is available to the interested public, as well as students at the Swiss Federal Institute of Sports Magglingen SFISM.

The SFISM specialist department Media Library and Learning Media operates the media library. The staff teaches bachelor’s and master’s degree courses, designs and realises cross-media teaching and learning materials, and supports sports science research with audio-visual recordings and measurements. 

The problem

The wealth of image material must be easy to access for a variety of users

“We have an image inventory of around 25,000”, says Daniel Käsermann, Head of the specialist department Media Library and Learning Media. While metadata based on the IPTC standard was consistently added to the photographs, the image files were only organised in a directory structure on a server and therefore not quickly available.

That had to change. The media pre-press, the communications department, the team of web editors, the individuals responsible for the learning platform mobilesport.ch, as well as the lecturers – they all needed user-friendly access to the image material.

The solution

Elvis DAM for professional media management

The entire image archive of the specialist department is now organised with Elvis DAM, the digital asset management software by WoodWing. Integrating the solution into the existing IT environment (Apple client-server system) was relatively easy.

In the next stage, the competent specialist department wants to extend the DAM system. “We want to integrate graphics for media pre-press, the print media archive (PDF), lecturers’ presentations (PTT) and videos into the system”, explains Käsermann.

Support for various assets and role administration

This is where Elvis DAM scored. The MAM product is scalable and supports an extensive range of asset formats – including photographs, video, PDF and PPT.

«We were equally impressed by the scalability of the solution and the range of supported asset formats Elvis DAM offers, as by its user-friendliness and the intuitive, modern user-interface.»

Daniel Käsermann, Head of the SFISM specialist department Media Library and Learning Media

Role administration helps define the workflow when processing assets. The creator saves their files – e.g. a photographer saves their photographs – and adds initial keywords. In the end, a media library employee refines the material with metadata.

Elvis DAM thus acts as an internal production network closed off from external action.