Influencers - User Generated Content (UGC) Library

Approval Flow, Digital Rights Management (DRM), Archive Database

Background: Our team launched a community campaign and invited a group of popular influencers in the area to attend the company’s very first B2C direct-to-consumers on-site activation launch party in a metropolitan city. On-site activation was nothing new for the company, which had been done many times at industry tradeshows. This was the first time launching an experiential type of campaign directly to consumers. One of our team managers, who was responsible for Community-related campaigns, asked me for an operational solution to help his team to keep track of the expiration dates of the licensing rights of the user-generated digital assets (photos) provided by the influencers who attended the launch event. I was given a set of requirements, and I had done some research and proposed a couple of solutions that were available in the market. However, I received feedback that the team preferred a solution without incurring any additional cost. After that, I knew I had to be creative, so I looked at what type of digital rights information that the Community team need to manage, evaluated the set of collaboration applications available, and decided to custom build a tool as the solution using Microsoft SharePoint.

Requirements
  1. Ability to add multiple tags to files
       (e.g. Company Logo, Infinity Wall, etc.)
  2. Tile View
  3. Digital Rights Management (DRM)
  4. Internal Approval Process
Additional Requirements
  1. Lean Management (I added after 1st review)
  2. Must be Scalable (Requirement from Leadership)

Benefits of Utilizing SharePoint Online:

  • SharePoint Online enables users to share and manage content, and empower teamwork, quickly find information, and seamlessly collaborate across the organization
  • Dolby users already have access to SharePoint Online as part of Office 365; therefore,
    • No extra costs to use this new tool, and no recurring costs
  • Permission-based access control
    • Private Group settings allow the DCCM Community Team to share and manage digital assets and have control over how asset distribution
  • Custom-built solution meets all requirements and more
    • Although SharePoint has its limitations, the document library offers customizable features beyond what the other file-sharing application offers, and Office 365 includes apps integration
  • Z100% User Adoption

REQUIREMENT 1: ABILITY TO ADD MULTIPLE TAGS FOR EASY SEARCH

Delivered:

  • The tool enables owners to apply multiple tags for each file

Beyond Expectation:

  • Custom Metadata
    • Offers the ability to add various types of information within the metadata of each file, for example:
      • Campaign Name
      • Location
      • Influencer Type
      • Notes
  • Easy editing using side information panel to edit metadata information or do bulk editing for multiple files
  • A table view that display metadata in columns, which allows users to filter and sort content files and narrow down searches beyond using the search box

REQUIREMENT 2: TILE VIEW FOR EASY VIEWING

Delivered:

  • Tile view – allow users to view the content in tile format

 Beyond Expectation:

  • The tool also has Compact List and List views that allow users to view metadata information in a table format
  • Custom views can be saved for different purposes, for example:
    • A view for owners to manage assets
    • A different view for other members to find assets
    • No folders view, etc.

Custom views are shareable, which allows customization of the user experience for team members

REQUIREMENT 3: DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT (DRM)

Delivered:

  • Custom metadata to store digital rights information:
    • Types of Digital Usage Rights
    • Usage End Date
    • Digital Advertising Usage – Yes/No

 Beyond Expectation:

  • Customized formatting for making decisions quickly
  • Applied background colors automatically based on information: 
    • Colors for Yes/No
    • Colors to distinguish the influencer type
    • Colors for Usage End Date:
      • Before today (Red – Do not use)
      • Today (Orange – warning)
      • After today (Green – Go to use)

REQUIREMENT 4: INTERNAL APPROVAL PROCESS (PART 1)

image of approval flow
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Internal Approval Process (Part 1)

UCG-Picture6a

Delivered:

  • Applied approval process that enables DCCM team members to select a file, and send an approval request to DCCM Community team for file usage 

 Beyond Expectation:

  • Microsoft Flow integration facilitates and automates the approval process:
    1. Requestor initiates the approval process by clicking on a button of a selected file in SharePoint 
    2. Grabs metadata information of selected file and the request’s information
    3. Updates Status column of the selected file to “Pending” in SharePoint
☚ Click on the image to view full size

The approval process continues in the next section below ↓

 

REQUIREMENT 4: INTERNAL APPROVAL PROCESS (PART 2)

Beyond Expectation: (continues)

  1. Microsoft Flow then facilitates the approval process:
    1. Sends email notifications to the approver along with required metadata information of selected file 
    2. Brings the approver to the approval hub to add notes and approve or reject the request
    3. Based on the approval decision, it sends an “Approved” or “Not Approved” email back to the requestor
  2. Updates Status column of the selected file to “Approved” or “Rejected” 
  3. Sends an email to notify other approvers that the request has been processed by another owner, so no action needed

ADDITIONAL SCREENSHOTS

National Sojourners is a non-profit fraternal Masonic military society promoting Americanism and Patriotism through educational presentations and ceremonies. The organization provides Youth Education Programs,  scholarships to Freedom Foundation programs, sponsors annual scholarship Essay programs, and presents awards to College and High School ROTC students across the country. There are 164 active Chapters of National Sojourners across the country, plus more overseas. The National Sojourners has a long history that goes all the way back to its Origin, George Washington, a respected commander at the head of the Army. He was an honored guest in a Field Lodge. If you want to learn more about the Legacy of the American Military Mason, take a look at this deck.

dinner invitation

 

Even though this dinner event happened awhile ago, I still remember that evening vividly. Being invited as the guest of honor to this prestigious event was extraordinary. It was amazing to have a meal together with a room full of Master Masons, highly accomplished Commissioned Officers and Warrant Officers, past and present of the Uniformed Services of the United States. This dinner event was held at the Presidio's Officer Club. I attended a number of important events that took place in the Presidio during that period of my life before it turned into a National Park. This was one of them.

I was and still am humbled by the opportunity and the experience of being a Brigade Commander that year. As the top officer leading and managing the operations of a district-wide leadership training program. The U.S Army is one of the respectable leadership development institutions in the country. That year, two mentors from the Army of Instructions were coaching me and I had 10 of the brightest officers on my staff. We organized and hosted many district-wide events consecutively for our 2000+ members across eight campuses, which included a week-long training at Camp Park in Dublin.

The granted opportunity of having that C-level executive leadership experience was as rare as the shiny medal that I received that evening. The journey of getting there was triumphant. It took more than just doing hard work to be the best of the best amongst a pool of other outstanding leaders. Little did I know that spending that evening having dinner with Master Masons was a preview into my career in Operations working with the amazing leaders and top talents in the industry.

What a way to kick start my career! Thank you, National Sojourners, Inc. Golden Gate Chapter No. 18, for your support and recognition.