Cornell University wins a CASE Circle of Excellence Award with NetXposure's DAM + Ecommerce Technology.
Cornell University wins a 2009 CASE Circle of Excellence Award by using NetXposure’s DAM + Ecommerce technology to promote the university, connect with the Cornell community, and provide a revenue generating service from previously under-utilized digital assets.
As one the largest Ivy League universities (19,800 enrollment, over 255,000 living alumni) Cornell University has an exceptionally diverse community of students, faculty, and alumni. Among the challenges for the Division of University Communications at Cornell is to maintain connections to this vast network of "Cornellians". In addition, this division serves as the university's link to national and international media organizations, as well as the campus resource for marketing, digital and print media, graphic design, video, and photography.
Housed in University Communications is Cornell University Photography, a commercial photography studio offering a full range of photographic services in support of the university's communication efforts. University Photography produces original photography for the marketing needs of Cornell and shoots for the Cornell Chronicle, the university's newspaper. Each year the department shoots about 45,000 high-resolution photos of academics and research, campus life, special exhibits and events, and maintains an extensive library of over 25,000 historical images.
With Cornell's library of digital images growing at an astounding rate, University Photography realized the need for a cost effective, easy-to-use solution to create and manage a centralized, web-based photo library. Additionally, they needed a way to simplify the system for internal photo requests, create an efficient way for the Cornell community at large to access images, and reduce the costs and resources associated with fulfillment of those requests.
To meet these criteria, Cornell chose NetXposure’s Digital Asset Management (DAM) solution with the EC Kit option – a robust Ecommerce add on module that seamlessly syncs with the DAM. The result was the “Cornell University Image library”, a customized, publicly accessible website managed through an internally accessible DAM. It allows users to search a large (and rapidly growing) archive of images either by keyword search, or by navigating a well organized category structure. Once users find the image(s) they want they can order digital or print versions in a variety of sizes, and then pay online with a secure transaction. In essence, Cornell has used NetXposure technology to create a revenue generating service from previously under-utilized digital assets, which also serves as a tool for connecting with the university community.
“NetXposure's solution has opened up our photo archives and day-to-day business in a way that wasn’t possible before. It allows us to take our digital assets and better promote and distribute them to the public, which in some cases before just languished in file cabinets.”
Corey Chimko, Digital Resources Coordinator, Cornell University Photography
The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) is an international professional association serving educational institutions and the advancement professionals who work on their behalf in alumni relations, communications, development, marketing and allied areas. With nearly 3,400 colleges and universities, primary and secondary schools, and independent schools, CASE has nearly 22,000 members in 59 different countries.
In 2009, CASE awarded Cornell University a “Circle of Excellence Award” for the Cornell University Image Library. This award program recognizes outstanding work in communications and marketing, alumni relations, advancement services, and fundraising as judged by peer professionals at schools, colleges and universities as well as by professionals from outside education. For more information on this organization and award program, visit the CASE website at www.case.org
DAM + EC Kit Technology
EC Kit is an optional add on module to NetXposure's Digital Asset Management (DAM) solution. It is a stand alone solution, separate from the DAM, that provides all the necessary front-end and back-end systems for selling digital goods stored in the DAM.
EC Kit runs as a separate interface with an easy to use, custom branded look and feel that non-technical users will be comfortable using. The public facing front-end provides all the standard ecommerce basics: user registration, asset browsing, searching, listing, zooming, add to cart, and secure purchase transactions.
EC Kit relies on a Services Oriented Architecture to remotely access data contained within the DAM via a Web Services API that utilizes SOAP over HTTP. All the data accessible from the EC Kit front-end (category structure, assets, metadata, etc.) comes directly from the DAM, however user roles and access permissions are entirely separate from the DAM. Therefore, DAM administrators can control and limit the categories and assets that will be accessible from the EC Kit front-end.
The EC Kit “Back Office” provides standard ecommerce functions including registered user management, order tracking, customer generated product specifications, and system activity statistics reporting. At any time administrators can use the Back Office to search for orders for critical information such as who placed the order, date and time order was placed, what product was ordered (e.g. SKU), and the purchase amount.
EC Kit can be configured to process payment transactions in real time. Common third party payment gateway technology (e.g. Paypal, etc.) is utilized to ensure that all financial transactions are secure.
About NetXposure
NetXposure delivers software solutions that reduce the time and cost of content production, maximize ROI from media assets, and streamline the workflows of managing large libraries of digital files.With a history as an industry pioneer in developing Rich Internet Applications (RIAs), NetXposure has become a leader in delivering Digital Asset Management (DAM) solutions to organizations of all sizes across a wide range of industries.
Founded in 1995, NetXposure is headquartered in Portland, Oregon with an offices in London, England and Tokyo, Japan. For more information visit www.netx.net or call 503.499.4342.