Team asset management

Unveiling team asset management – a comprehensive guide to practical implementation

From interfacing with upstream requirements, completing design, to delivering development for release.

Every requirement in each product iteration update is equivalent to a problem, requiring a corresponding solution, which is the design file.

As the project progresses forward, a large number of files with different versions and different functional requirements will accumulate. How should team managers manage these ever-increasing design assets effectively?

Traditional file management methods often use local folders to categorize and organize design assets, providing a relatively systematic way of managing design assets. However, this approach is not conducive to collaborative work among teams:

Local accumulation of a large number of files, and transferring them to a new computer can be cumbersome.
Difficulties in collaborative management within the team, and file transfers can lead to version confusion.

By using Creatie to manage design files online, design teams can break free from the limitations of devices and hard drives. Additionally, Creatie possesses multi-level file management capabilities, meeting the team's need for refined asset management.

Creatie file classification and management capabilities

In Creatie, managing design assets is primarily achieved through a combination of team projects, file groups, and page management functions to implement multi-level classification management:

First-level classification method - team projects

Design files and individuals in Creatie are managed based on the dimension of Team-Project. A person can create or join multiple teams, and within each team, multiple projects can be created. These projects serve as the first-level classification folders in team file management.

💡 Recommended classification method

Create teams based on organizational departments and differentiate projects according to business/product lines.

This approach can effectively prevent the confusion of files between different teams and business lines. It also cleverly avoids the need to set individual project permissions for each team member.

🌟 Recommended team library management tips

Given the unique nature of team libraries, we recommend maintaining design assets within the team library through independent management.

That is, turning the team library into a separate project within the team ensures that the maintenance and management of design assets in the team library are not affected by other project files.

The above constitutes the first-level classification method for team design assets and serves as the foundation for file management. With this framework in place, you can implement more refined management settings for your files.

Second-level classification method - file grouping

Under each project, multiple files can be created and organized into groups.

Compared to the first-level team project classification, the management approach of file Grouping requires more precision. This ensures quick and efficient collaboration within the team, allowing easy access to the necessary files.

There are two main categories of file management methods commonly used by many teams:

💡 Recommended classification method 1

Starting from the perspective of product line, perform detailed classification based on factors such as functional modules, team members, project progress, device compatibility, etc.

Grouping by functional modules: Suitable for projects with large and numerous functional modules.
Grouping by team members: Suitable when each designer is responsible for independent modules, and the group files encompass all the work of that designer.
Grouping by project progress: Suitable for teams emphasizing the classification of files at different stages of progress.
Grouping by device compatibility: Suitable for teams working on projects that involve multiple system devices.

💡 Recommended classification method 2

Starting from the perspective of iterative versions, group and manage files based on version numbers.

This method is suitable for projects with frequent version iterations. Whether it's for product management, design, or development, team members can easily find the relevant files by focusing on a specific version record in their daily workflow.

Third-level classification method - page management

In addition to the team projects and file grouping methods, Creatie also supports the use of the page hierarchy management feature within each file to create classifications for pages. This enables the third-level classification and management of pages within a file, catering to the classification needs of complex design projects.

Flexible application of three-level classification

Best practices for file management

After gaining a comprehensive understanding of Creatie's capabilities for detailed file management and commonly used category management methods, let's explore some real-world-tested practices for team file management.

Best Practice 01 | Organizational structure > Product line > Product module management

This team and project management approach has chosen to organize its management structure by creating teams based on the organizational hierarchy, where each team represents a large department to avoid confusion between files from different teams or product lines.
Projects are primarily categorized based on product lines, and files are further grouped according to product modules. Larger files are divided into multiple smaller files, each assigned a sequential number for easy retrieval through name sorting.

Best Practice 02 | Business line > Product line > Feature module management

This team has opted to create teams based on major business lines. To facilitate component library management, they have created a separate project within the team specifically for maintaining the component library.
The team's projects are primarily distinguished by different product lines, and files are categorized based on functional modules under each product line. Additionally, they use covers to differentiate project files from various stages of product development.

Best Practice 03 | Organizational structure > Product line > Iterative version management

This team primarily organizes teams by department, and projects are categorized based on the product modules each department is responsible for.
What makes their approach unique is their choice to manage files using version numbers, such as v1.0, v2.0, v2.1, and so on. This hierarchical versioning method helps neatly organize and classify files. It enables team members to quickly locate the desired files in a fast-paced iterative environment, making collaboration more efficient throughout the development process.

File management doesn't have a fixed formula. As demonstrated by the three best practices above, each approach is tailored to the collaboration characteristics of its respective team.

Therefore, to find the most suitable management method, we recommend team managers carefully analyze their specific business circumstances and collaboration requirements.

File management tips

1. Effective reduction of file quantity through important version labeling

As products undergo continuous iterations, each project may accumulate an increasing number of files from different versions, making file management and retrieval challenging.

Therefore, when choosing to categorize files based on functional modules, personnel, project progress, device adaptation, etc., it's essential to consider the context of version iterations.

⭐ Recommended version management technique

Here, we recommend utilizing the Tag history version feature within files.

All modifications are documented and saved within the same file. By swiftly creating tags for crucial versions, there's no need to create separate files for each version. This approach effectively reduces the quantity of files within the groups.

2. How to enhance fine-grained management using covers?

Given that files are in different progress status, in addition to utilizing file groups for differentiation, you can also use covers for identification.

For example, when setting covers, add statuses such as in design, completed, in development, and so on. This provides visual cues to quickly identify the status of each file.

🌟 Steps to add a cover

Create a page in the document and name as "Cover".
Draw a frame with dimensions 160px x 900px, and add design elements such as a logo, icon, and requirement status to make the cover easily recognizable.
Right-click on the frame and select set as file cover.

3. How to use Creatie for project requirements management?

It is recommended to create a project dashboard on the homepage of your file. Use a visual approach to establish weekly iteration requirements, requirement statuses, file links, etc., for effective project requirements management.

4. How to change the sorting of the file group?

Files can be sorted by update time or creation time.

5. How to move files to other groups?

In addition to moving file to other groups by dragging and dropping, we also recommend right-clicking on selected individual or multiple files to move them to other groups. This method is more convenient.

6. Can the original group name be retained when moving group files to another project?

If you want to move a group to another project or another team's project, simply select the files in the group and drag them to the desired project.

If you move group files to another project within the current team, the system will automatically recognize and record the group name.
If you move group files to another team's project, a pop-up window will appear asking whether to retain the original group name. Check the option, and the original group name will be preserved in the other team's project.

7. How to expand/collapse groups with one click?

When you have too many group files or want to view all groups, click on the group name and right-click to select to expand or collapse the group.

At the end

Effective file management is crucial for efficient team collaboration. We hope that the above-shared common file management methods used by teams in Creatie provide many team leaders and managers with valuable insights. These insights can help teams manage design assets more efficiently and rationally, fostering efficient collaboration between teams.

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