War Memorial deployment to accommodate growth in digital content

The Australian War Memorial in Canberra is deploying a document management system to accommodate the growth in digital content, which has replaced paper-based records.

Around four million people used the War Memorial's Web site last year to research their family military history, seek expert information and view images from the national collection and purchase copies.

In parallel with the document management system, the War Memorial will also streamline the site's content, consolidate museum collection digital assets and improve record keeping.

Interwoven in partnerwhip with ICT services provider, Alphawest, have been selected to undertake the project.

The War Memorial will implement Interwoven's TeamSite for Web content management, MediaBin for digital asset management and MetaTagger for content categorisation as well as OpenDeploy, a content distribution engine.

Additionally, the War Memorial will also rollout Interwoven RecordsManager for records retention across a variety of electronic and physical records, content, and media and WorkSite for collaborative document management. With the support of Alphawest, the project includes the replacement of a number of inhouse developed systems which were unable to scale, meet storage needs and accommodate the increased application of digital video and sound.

The Memorial's head of information technology, Daryl Winterbottom, said the organisation will need up to 100 Terabytes of storage for digital media over the next three to five years. The organisation reviewed five vendors prior to selecting Interwoven. "We were impressed with Interwoven's demonstrated breadth of solutions are its partnership with Alphawest will provide the technical expertise to ensure a successful implementation," he said.

Records Manager will be integrated with WorkSite managing paper, electronic documents and e-mail in a single solution.

Winterbottom said this will allow the organisation to control records consistently across its employee base and media types and reduce risk associated with the inconsistent application of records policies.

"It will also improve search and workflow capabilities and provide for collaborative use of information contained within documents for our 300 staff based in Canberra," he said. "We wanted to avoid the risks associated with managing any major software development internally so we looked for an off-the-shelf solution which could integrate with our existing applications.

"These include museum collection management systems used for cataloguing acquisitions, loans and conservation purposes. This solution will also seamlessly integrate with the War Memorial's various library management packages and in-house databases which help tell the story of Australians' involvement in war." Winterbottom also set out to minimise the number of products and interfaces users utilize.

"With a small IT team, we didn't want to support and manage multiple applications and handle major customisation," he said.

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