Guide to Creatives Digital Document Management System

Digital Organisation For Creatives

Online work has become so common now that effective digital file management is important to manage their files and portfolios efficiently. While it’s understandable that you simply want to focus on making art and nothing else, a practical document management system can help increase your efficiency and efficiency.

Leveraging project management tools can streamline this process, ensuring that your creative work is well-organised, accessible, and professionally presented. This guide details how to use these tools for optimal digital organisation.

Table Of Contents

Why Creatives Need a Digital Document Management System

4 Steps to Set up Your Digital Document Management System

Start Utilising Project Management Tools to Better Manage Your Files

Curate Your Digital Portfolio To Better Organise Your Work

Digital Document Management Practices and Tips

3 Best Tools for Managing Digital Documents

Security & Access Considerations

Common Mistakes with DMS and How to Prevent Them

Key Takeaways

Author Bio

Why Creatives Need a Digital Document Management System?

By having a digital document management system of your own as a creative, it will streamline your workflows, improve organisation and boost productivity. When your documents are centralised, noting the versions of the content and with easy access to different documents, it allows creatives and artists to focus on their work rather than getting overwhelmed by scattered files and version confusion.

4 Steps to Set up Your Digital Document Management System

How to manage your digital files

Step 1: Define Your Folder Structure

A well-structured folder system helps with maintaining an orderly digital workspace. By creating a logical hierarchy, you ensure that all digital files are easily accessible and can be quickly located, which saves you time and stress while working on your creative project. Here’s how you can approach this:

• Create Main Folders: Start by creating main folders for each creative project, which could be named “Client Work,” “Personal Projects,” and “Portfolio.”

• Subfolders: Within each project folder, set up subfolders for different stages or types of files, such as “Drafts,” “Finals,” “References,” and “Contracts.”

  
  

Step 2: Implement Consistent Naming Conventions

Consistent naming conventions make it easier to identify and retrieve files. However much you want to name it at the spur of the moment, remember that it only takes a second longer to name it appropriately!

Descriptive and standardised names prevent confusion, avoid duplication, and streamline collaboration when multiple team members are involved. Therefore, we can start making standardised rules on how to name digital files.

• Develop a Naming System: Decide on a naming format that includes key information such as a project’s name, version, and date. An example would be: "ProjectName_V1_Draft_2024-08-07."

• Name Consistently: Ensure all team members or collaborators use the same naming conventions to avoid confusion. Overcommunicate this and gently remind the team about this naming convention.

• Update and Maintain: Regularly review and adjust naming conventions as needed to accommodate new types of data.

Step 3: Execute Version Naming

We’ve briefly touched on this in the section above, but here, we’ll expand further. Implementing version control in managing digital document systems is essential for managing changes and maintaining the integrity of your files. Naming files with version numbers provides clear identification of any updates made, reducing confusion and ensuring that you always work with the correct file iteration.

• Use Versioning Tools: Consider using version control software or manual methods to track changes. Project management tools like TESSR, or more specifically, its TESSR Review module > Renditions serve as different versions of a singular scene.

• Name Files with Version Numbers: Append version numbers to filenames to indicate any updates (e.g., "ProjectName_V2_Review").

• Document Changes: Keep a change log to record what changes were made in each version, like how Renditions work in the TESSR Review module. Renditions of a scene are kept neatly under a single tab, in order of upload.

  
  

Step 4: Back Up Your Digital Files Regularly

Regular backups are crucial for protecting your work from data loss; additionally, this includes all digital files. This can happen due to circumstances like hardware failures, accidental deletions, or other unforeseen issues. By choosing a combination of cloud storage and physical backups, you can secure your data and have access to it from multiple locations.

• Choose Backup Methods: Select a combination of cloud storage (e.g., Google Drive, Dropbox) and physical backups (e.g., external hard drives, paper filing).

• Schedule Regular Backups: Set up automated backups or create a routine to shield your work at regular time intervals.

Start Utilising Project Management Tools to Better Manage Your Files

Project management tools to help manage your digital files

Step 1: Choose the Right Project Management Tool for Creatives

Selecting the appropriate project management tool, which is tailored to your needs, enhances organisation and efficiency. Project management tools offer different features that can help in managing tasks, tracking progress, and improving team collaboration. However, choosing the right tool that can best fit your industry is important for enabling better workflow and management.

TESSR is project management software built specifically for creatives. While centric around animators, so long as you operate within the creative industry, TESSR can be the right management tool for artists. For instance, our Review module allows users to annotate art pieces and make playlists for their takes and scenes.

Step 2: Set Up Your Projects

Setting up projects within your chosen tool ensures that tasks and digital files are organised according to their respective projects. This structure helps with tracking project phases systematically, preventing overlaps and missed deadlines.

Project management tools are often developed to deliver clear approaches in the hierarchy/levels of each project. TESSR, for example, has six (6) levels of entities, namely:

Six (6) levels of entities in TESSR

Step 3: Organise Tasks and Manage Digital Documents

Organising tasks and digital documents within a project management tool centralises your essentials, making it easier to manage and track progress. It helps with assigning responsibilities, monitoring deadlines, and ensuring that all necessary factors are accounted for.

• Create Tickets/Tasks: For each task or file, create a ticket or task within the relevant list or section. Attach files and add details such as descriptions, due dates, and tags.

• Use Labels/Tags: Apply labels or tags to neatly categorise tasks or files by type, priority, or status. This makes it easier to filter and find specific items.

Step 4: Track Progress and Deadlines

Tracking progress and setting deadlines is essential to keep the project on schedule. Without it, you remove periodic check-ins for errors or misunderstandings.

Project management tools provide visual indicators and reminders that help manage timelines effectively, identify potential delays, and ensure the timely completion of tasks. In TESSR, users can go to the “My Work” page to view projects and their scenes with the option to sort their due dates to provide a better view of what to prioritise.

Applications like these help you stay ahead of deadlines and monitor progress—even then, it’s not all automated. Manually, you should:

• Set Due Dates: Assign due dates to tasks within a project, and track deadlines to ensure the timely completion of project milestones.

• Monitor Progress: Use project management tools’ tracking features to visualise progress, which makes identifying bottlenecks much easier.

  
  

Curate Your Digital Portfolio To Better Organise Your Creative Work

How to manage your digital portfolio as an artist and creative

Curate and Organise Your Work

This ensures that only the best and most relevant work of yours is showcased. A portfolio presents a professional image of yourself, showing potential clients and/or employers that you are serious about your work. And, needless to say, curating your portfolio to only show the work you are proudest of will increase the likelihood of attracting the right people.

1. Select Showcase Pieces: Choose pieces that display your skills, range and passion.

2. Create Portfolio Sections: Organise your portfolio into sections based on categories. An example could be “Illustrations,” “Digital Art,” and “Animations” or any other classifications relevant to your career.

Optimise for Accessibility

Ensuring your portfolio is easily accessible to increase its effectiveness. Using project management tools to track updates and regularly re-equip your portfolio ensures that it attracts and informs your audience.

1. Share and Collaborate: Use sharing features in project management tools to collaborate with clients or team members on portfolio updates and feedback.

2. Maintain a Professional Platform: Ensure your portfolio is hosted on a reputable platform to avoid seeming unprofessional.

Digital Document Management Practices and Tips

Tips on Managing Your Digital Documents

1. Regularly Review and Update

• Schedule Reviews: Periodically review your digital document management system and portfolio to ensure they are up-to-date and organised—so when you need them most, things won’t be hectic.

• Clean Up: Remove outdated or unnecessary files and projects to keep your digital workspace clutter-free. Clicking through empty or redundant files, just to look for the right one, can eat up your time and energy.

2. Secure Your Digital Files

• Backup Regularly: Use a cloud storage service alongside external drives to back up important files and project data. It’s important to have your data in several forms to prepare for unexpected circumstances.

• Implement Security Measures: Use encryption or apps with high security to protect sensitive information and avoid using websites that seem unreliable. Double-check URLs, privacy policies and the WHOIS information of said website.

3 Best Tools for Managing Digital Documents

There are a few tools that you can start with for your file management system. While there are a lot of tools out there that can help, these are our recommendations:

1. TESSR

As we mentioned previously, TESSR is a suitable tool for creatives, as it places more emphasis on visual files. Its customisable playlist makes it easy for users to form their own document management system.

2. Notion

A highly customisable file management software. It is not meant to store documents, but if you’re a fan of decorating and adding extra features to your tools, then Notion would be right up your alley.

3. DocHub

A more suitable software for documents like PDF. It comes with document-sharing features and readily available templates for you to use on the platform.

Security & Access Considerations

However, there is one feature you should mainly prioritise when you choose these tools for your document management systems. You must consider the security and access of the tools. Before committing to a tool, conduct security and access control testing. This can prevent any unwanted leaks and risks to your documents.

Common Mistakes with DMS and How to Prevent Them

As you go through this step-by-step process for an effective document management system, there are a few common mistakes our creatives make when they file their documents. So, keep these in mind while preventing them from happening.

1.      Disorganised Storage

You might find that you save or even send your documents to clients or your fellow creative peers in different locations, like shared drives, email or chat channels. You might lose track of them if you don’t properly centralise your documents with clear structures and naming.

2.      Poor Version Control

It can be tempting to name your document as ‘this is the new file’, ‘this is the last one’ or even ‘ignore everything, look at this’ every time you put in updates for your files. Creative brains do tend to be creative with their names, but it won’t work if you want proper version control with your files. Make sure your DMS tool has features that help keep track of changes, like version history.

Key Takeaways

• Digital documentation has become an essential skill to better organise your work.

• By utilising this skill, not only will you prevent future confusion, but keep track of your work progress indirectly.

• Additionally, it will enhance efficiency in your workflow through digital organisation.

Authors Bio

From Malaysia, Leia Emeera is a writer at TESSR and a published author. She has been putting pen to paper ever since she learned how to, and has an anthology to her name, titled 'Ten'. Leia loves music, games and her beloved labrador retriever, George. She aims to further her studies in English Literature and Creative Writing the moment her gap year ends. 'Till then, you will find her sitting behind a desk, writing with TESSR.

Connect with her on LinkedIn: Leia Emeera

With a background in Arts English, Adilla has been a casual writer for various hobbies, like parodies of animated shows and plots for board games. She loves to read anything and everything from fantasy stories to articles on tips and tricks. Now an advocate for mental health and effective project management for the creative industry. Currently, Adilla resides in Malaysia and is a creative writer at TESSR. To know more about her, check out her LinkedIn.