Not a company exists that doesn’t rely on words, numbers or pictures. The goal of asset management is to organize these items into electronic form—either directly or through metadata (see “What Is A Digital Asset“). Here are some of the kinds of information that more than likely exist in your organization.
| ASSET TYPE | DESCRIPTION | PRODUCERS | SOURCES |
| Business Information | The data used to run the enterprise. Usually data in its most basic sense: text, numbers | Any worker who interacts with a shared repository of information; includes those at external partners | Databases, data warehouses, structured reports and analyses |
| Knowledge | Unstructured digital data, as well as physical data, such as paper documents, statistical models or sculptural models | Any worker who creates information to be shared with another | Design files, e-mail, spreadsheets and other office documents, Web pages; artwork, faxes, manuscripts, maps, film |
| Education | Online courseware optimized for students and employees; mostly unstructured | Teachers, subject-matter experts, courseware developers | Database-backed Web pages, streaming media, digital drawings and images, group discussions such as newsgroups, chat, teleconferences |
| Media | Includes primary publications such as books, newspapers, songs and video, as well as secondary, marketing “collateral,” such as ads, brochures, and Web sites | Designers, writers, marketing and sales staff, media developers and producers | Online, broadcast and print ads; physical media sources such as cassettes or CDs; online and print documents and publications |
| Technology | Software and systems; information about hardware and software configurations | Technology staff and vendors of technology services | Applications, source code, hardware |
