ADD2031 A Digital Asset Management (DAM) system for the GLA

City Hall uses images to illustrate its work on London.gov, in policy and strategy documents, presentations and more. Our current archive of images is 104GB – we estimate an increase of around 40GB per year.

We want staff across the organisation to increase their use of images, as this is one of the most effective ways to communicate our work to Londoners and stakeholders. However, we must ensure that these images are high quality, approved and on-brand. There is currently not an easy way to oversee this. A user-friendly, well-organised and well-catalogued library of approved images would allow this to happen. We’d also like the potential for approved external stakeholders (such as journalists) to access these assets.

This tool would also allow the library of images to grow without relying solely on City Hall’s photographer. A user-friendly interface would allow users to submit their images for approval, building up the library in a well-managed way.

It is crucial that that this library integrates smoothly with the London.gov Content Management System (CMS, the back-end system), allowing users to seamlessly select images from the new library system.

Market assessment of costs / procurement methodology

We carried out a closed procurement, receiving three quotes, which gave us a picture of costs across the market. We scored the suppliers according to the following requirements: ability to integrate with Drupal CMS; hosting; an intuitive, user-friendly interface; admin functions; user functions; costs.

Out of a total score of 60, the recommended supplier scored 55. We therefore recommend this supplier as the best use of resources.

The rejected quotes, along with reasoning, are outlined below.

Second ranked supplier: scored 46 out of 60
- £291.60/month + £750 upfront + development costs
- This is cheaper than the above two suppliers, but is an inferior tool. Some of the desired features outlined in our specification aren’t catered for and it has a much less intuitive or user-friendly interface which would likely not induce staff to make use of it.
- The supplier had experience integrating with Drupal before, but on further questioning their offering is much less adaptable than the recommended supplier, so further development work would be required to get the systems to align well.

Third ranked supplier: scored 38 out of 60
- £1,038/month + upfront development costs
- A similar product to the recommended supplier, but costing considerably more, for no extra features.
- There would also be an un-costed upfront development fee, as this supplier has not integrated with Drupal CMS before, so they would need to carry out investigations and cost separately. The recommended supplier has a module already designed to do this and included it in the monthly cost.

Termination of contract

If the contract is terminated, the GLA may request (within 6 months of the termination date) that the supplier returns the assets in an acceptable format.

- A central library of approved, high quality images which can grow in a well-organised way. It will be easy for the Creative Team to manage and curate, saving them time and resources.
- More varied and engaging images used on London.gov to illustrate the work of City Hall.
- More varied, approved and engaging images used in official documents to illustrate the work of City Hall.
- A user-friendly interface which encourages staff from across the organisation to submit images for central approval, building up the library in a well-managed way.

This will have a positive impact. A larger, broader library of images will lead to a more diverse selection of images from across London’s communities. The use of images also helps to make our work easier to understand which is beneficial to individuals with learning difficulties or where English is not an individual’s first language.

Key risks and issues
The Digital and Creative Teams will need to encourage teams across the organisation to make good use of this tool, to make the investment worthwhile.

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities
City Hall will be better able to explain and communicate the Mayor’s work with a wider selection of images.

5.1 The total cost of the proposed Digital Management System is £25,000 and includes a one-off fixed set-up fee of £8,200 and a monthly license fee of £700 per month that equates to £16,800 over the 24 month duration of the proposed contract. The contract costs of £25,000 will span 3 financial-years as follows:

5.2 The costs of £13,100 which fall in 2016-17 will be funded from the Technology Group Programme. Subsequent years expenditure will be funded from the ‘Digital Programme’ budget held within the External Affairs Directorate, subject to the Authority’s budget setting process for 2017-18 and 2018-19.

5.3 Any changes to this proposal, including budgetary implications will be subject to further approval via the Authority’s decision-making process. All appropriate budget adjustments will be made.