4 Key Concepts
Here are some key concepts that can help you understand how to manage assets with Oracle Content Management:
Repositories
A repository is basically a big "bucket" used to store all the assets needed for a project or a group or a campaign. Repository administrators can set up as many repositories as needed for different asset management projects.
There are two types of repositories: business repositories and asset repositories. Business asset repositories store business documents (such as invoices, contracts, engineering drawings, or reports) and structured content in the form of a content item, such as an employee record or supplier data. Digital asset repositories store digital assets (such as images, videos, and files) and content items (structured content such as blogs or press releases) that need to be published for use within digital experiences (websites and other channels) or translated into multiple languages.
Consider different departments in your company, such as sales, finance, and marketing. All these departments have their own teams of people working on content. Content from the finance department may not be relevant (and sometimes not even accessible) to people in the sales department, at least during part of the content life cycle. Content used by the marketing department can be accessible to teams working for other departments, but restricted only to review and not to modify or to publish. Your sales and finance departments don't need to publish or translate their content, so they use business asset repositories; while your marketing department uses a digital asset repository so they can publish their translated content.
Your organization could create separate repositories for each department or context and assign their respective teams as users of that repository with specific rights. When users sign in to Oracle Content Management, they are assigned to relevant repositories, and access privileges are granted to them for repositories to allow for contribution, review, or approval. Some users might be involved with more than one department and may need access to content in multiple repositories.
If you have the appropriate privileges, you can create repositories in the Oracle Content Management web interface under Administration > Content.
All aspects of the content life cycle—including management, workflow, and revision tracking—are available in the context of repositories that assets are part of. To that end, each repository has asset types, taxonomies, content connectors, and workflows associated with it. In addition, digital asset repositories have associated publishing channels, localization policies, and translation connectors.
Repositories are silos, which means that assets from one repository can’t be seen or referenced by another repository. It must be copied into another repository. However assets from multiple digital asset repositories can be published to the same channel, meaning that even though the assets are managed in different silos, they can be consumed together in clients.
Asset Types
Asset types define what information is needed for your assets. The asset information is saved separately from the layout (the way the asset is presented). That way, the assets users create can be used wherever they might be needed, appearing in a way that fits the situation.
There are two main asset types: digital asset types and content types.
A digital asset type defines what information is included with a digital asset or business document such as an image, a video, or a file. For example, an image might include EXIF information from the camera (date, time, location, resolution, and such), system settings (asset creation date, last updated, status, version, and such), and custom metadata. That custom metadata is where the digital asset type comes in. You might want to collect copyright, permitted use, and contact information for each of your images. Oracle Content Management includes several out-of-the-box digital asset types: file, image, and video.
A content type is a framework used to specify what information is included in a content item. The image below shows a content type (1) and two associated layouts (2), which determine how the content appears and what information is used in that particular layout. For example, you may only want a subset of information to appear on an employee contact list, but you might want an employee picture, location, and job title appear in another location in a manager's view. When you create a content item using a content type, you can preview how it will look with different layouts.
If you have the appropriate privileges, you can define asset types in the Oracle Content Management web interface under Administration > Content.
Each asset type consists of a set of field definitions. In the preceding example, four fields have been defined for a content type named 'Article': title, body, author, and picture. These fields show in the data entry form users fill out when they create an asset based on the asset type.
Once an asset type is defined, it needs to be added to a repository and users must be given contributor access so that they can create assets of that type in the repository.
Digital Assets
You use a lot of digital assets in your organization—images, videos, and files—that are used in different ways, in different contexts: websites, marketing materials, email campaigns, online stores, blogs. Text-based digital assets (such as PDFs and Microsoft Word documents) are mostly used for content modeling and publishing—as such, they differ from business documents, which are back-office documents needed to manage and run a business, and "regular" documents, which are intended more for content collaboration, sharing, and syncing.
Oracle Content Management provides a central location for all your digital assets, where you can organize them into repositories and collections, and create rules to define how they can be used and where. It also offers extensive management and workflow features to guide assets through their creation and approval process and to ensure that only authorized versions are available for use.
Digital assets are based on digital asset types, which define what information is needed for the associated assets. This includes information such as the supported file formats, asset attributes, content layouts, and associated rendition policies (which enable you to automatically generate image renditions for use in your various channels).
To create a digital asset, you can upload or drag and drop a new file into the assets view in the Oracle Content Management web interface. You can also select an existing file in Oracle Content Management and add it to a repository as an asset (which is completely separate from the original file).
Digital assets are stored in a digital asset repository, which allows you to group assets and control how they can be used. Once an asset has been added to a digital asset repository, you can manage its image renditions, categorize it with taxonomies, review it through workflows, translate it following the localization policies, and publish it to a channel.
Digital assets can also be accessed programmatically through REST API calls, for example in a 'headless' environment.
Business Documents
Your organization works with a lot of business documents—invoices, contracts, engineering drawings, reports—that are needed for different reasons—reference, retention, record keeping. Business documents are back-office documents used to manage and run a business—as such, they differ from digital asset documents, which are mostly used for content modeling and publishing, and "regular" documents, which are intended more for content collaboration, sharing, and syncing.
Oracle Content Management provides a central location for all your business documents, where you can organize them into repositories and collections, and create rules to define how they can be used and where. It also offers extensive management and workflow features to guide documents through their creation and approval process and to ensure that only authorized versions are available for use. Business documents are associated with asset types, which define any additional information needed for the asset. To create a business document, you can upload or drag and drop a new file into the assets view in the Oracle Content Management web interface. You can also select an existing file in Oracle Content Management and add it to a repository as an asset (which is completely separate from the original file).
Business documents are stored in a business asset repository, which allows you to group assets and control how they can be used. Once an asset has been added to a business asset repository, it can be categorized with taxonomies and reviewed through workflows.
Business documents can also be accessed programmatically through REST API calls, for example in a 'headless' environment.
Structured Content
Structured content in the form of content items are pieces content that are treated as assets and managed in a repository. This kind of content exists separately from any file or layout. Content items are essentially individual instances of a content type, which defines what this structured content consists of. Say you have an content type called 'Article' consisting of a title, a body, an author, and a picture. Each article is captured in a content item, which consists of a specific combination of title, body, author, and picture. Each of these elements may exist in Oracle Content Management as an asset of its own, but the article as a whole will also be managed as a separate asset. The elements of the content item can all be used wherever they’re needed, either as one cohesive group or separately in different layouts and formats.
Content items can be stored in a digital asset repository or a business asset repository, which allows you to group assets and control how they can be used. Once an asset has been added to a repository, it can be categorized with taxonomies and reviewed through workflows. For content items stored in digital asset repositories, they can also be translated following the localization policies and published to a channel.
Content items can also be accessed programmatically through REST API calls, for example in a 'headless' environment.
Smart Content
Smart content makes it easy for creators and authors to discover content.
The Problem
Companies have thousands of digital assets and business documents (images, HTML pages, videos, PDFs, text, and such) in Oracle Content Management. These assets are valuable only when content creators, authors, and consumers can discover the content when they need it.
In order for content to be discovered, it must be tagged and classified. The content needs to be tagged with metadata describing the content and its meaning. Then the tagged content needs to be organized so that it can be found and delivered in the right context at the right time.
Until now this tagging and classification has been a manual process. A median enterprise might spend hundreds of hours to tag and classify content, plus additional time to maintain accuracy. Failing to keep up with content tagging and classification leads to content discovery problems.
Oracle wanted to find a way to make content discoverable without the need for manual tagging and classification, and take it a step further and recommend the right assets without the user even needing to search.
The Solution
Smart content is Oracle Content Management's answer. We use artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze content, improving content discovery. Smart content includes the following features:
- Smart search, which analyzes images for color and content and automatically creates tags for them. This improves the discoverability of images, providing relevant search results to users, without having to painstakingly tag images.
- Smart video transcription, which processes English language .mp4 and .mkv videos and automatically creates transcripts for them. Again, this improves discoverability and enables users to find a particular spot in a video. It provides accessibility support through closed captioning. It eases the task of supporting multilingual videos because the transcripts make video translation more efficient and cost-effective.
- Smart authoring, which recommends the right images during the authoring process. Users don't need to tag or search for images; images will be recommended based on the intent expressed in the current article.
Note:
If you're using Oracle Content Management Starter Edition, smart authoring isn't supported. To take advantage of the full feature set, upgrade to the Premium Edition.
How Smart Content Works
The backbone of smart content primarily consists of two types of AI models:
- Computer vision models that are trained on millions of images to detect the relevant objects and parameters in new images. As new images are uploaded into repositories, they're automatically tagged to improve discoverability. When a user performs a search, the most relevant results are returned based on those automatic tags and any manual tags you may have applied. Oracle Content Management also shows smart keywords (recommended keywords) to help users further refine their search.
- As new English language .mp4 and .mkv videos are uploaded into repositories, they're automatically processed to create transcripts. The transcript is automatically evaluated to assure it's of sufficient quality and automatically tagged to improve discoverability. A user can then view and search the transcript. When a user performs a search, the most relevant results are returned based on the transcript, the automatic tags, and any manual tags you may have applied.
- Natural language processing (NLP) models that can derive the main intent from an article. This intent is used to recommend relevant images by matching the article intent to the automatic tags generated using the above computer vision models.
Note:
The AI models were trained using data provided by third parties and are constantly evolving. As a result, search results may vary and may not be complete or accurate. Users have the option of manually tagging content as discussed in the FAQ below. Oracle makes no claim or representation regarding the completeness and accuracy of the results of the search services and is not responsible for the results.The Process
Smart content is enabled by default for any new repositories you create. For existing repositories, your repository administrator needs to manually enable smart content.
Note:
To take advantage of smart video transcription, your administrator might have to enable OCI services content sharing for your instance.-
Smart search
When a user searches for assets, Oracle Content Management will recommend search keywords.
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Smart video transcription
When a user uploads an English language .mp4 or .mkv video, the video is processed and a transcript is automatically created. Then the user can view and search the transcript.
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Smart authoring
When a user creates a content item and wants to include an image, Oracle Content Management will determine the intent of the article and suggest relevant images.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is there a way to turn off smart content and undo any related changes?
- How do I improve search behavior when smart search doesn't find the asset I'm looking for?
If smart search doesn’t return the complete and accurate results for a search keyword, you can manually tag assets with the specific search terms you're looking for.
- Why are smart content tags on images read-only?
When you view the tags for an image, the tags shown under Smart Content Tags are the highest ranked machine tags. Machine tags are read-only because they aren't meant to be manually curated. Oracle Content Management analyzes images based on as many parameters and attributes as possible, leading to dozens of machine tags. In addition, our AI models are constantly improving, so machine tagging gets better as new images are added. If you're not able to find what you're looking for, you can always add manual tags. Oracle Content Management gives the highest importance to manual tags when returning results.
- Does data leave Oracle servers?
No.
- Is any of our usage data being logged?
Oracle Content Management does non anonymous logging to understand usage of the functionality in an effort to improve the service.
Taxonomies
A taxonomy is a hierarchy of categories used to organize your assets and to help users find assets by drilling down into the area they're working on.
Let's have a closer look by taking a computer hardware taxonomy as an example:
Computers
Desktop
Laptop
All-in-One
Server
Tablets
iPad
Android
Printers
Inkjet
LaserIn this example, the Hardware taxonomy has three top categories (Computers, Tablets, and Printers), and these categories in turn have several children. Those child categories can each have their own child categories, and so on. Such a structure of logical entities essentially represents a hierarchical set of categories.
If you have the appropriate privileges, you can define taxonomies in the Oracle Content Management web interface under Administration > Content.
You can assign a taxonomy to more than one asset repository, and you can assign multiple taxonomies to a repository. For example, you could create different taxonomies for each department and for each product or initiative in your business. Then you could apply 'Marketing Department' and 'Products' taxonomies to your Marketing repository, and 'Sales Department' and 'Products' taxonomies to your Sales repository.
Once a taxonomy and categories are defined and assigned to an asset repository, content authors can classify content into categories of that taxonomy. Unlike storing something in a folder, taxonomies allow you to associate assets with one or more categories. A category is merely a logical placeholder for content that belongs to a specific concept.
Collections
A collection is a way to group a subset of assets within a repository. For example, you may have a repository with content pertaining to sports cars. You could use a collection to group together all digital assets for American sports cars, one for French sports cars, and one for Italian sports cars. The assets for all sports cars will be managed in the repository, but you can manage a subset (American sports cars) separately. Assets can be put into the appropriate collection, making it easy to quickly sort through and find exactly what you want.
Assets can be associated with multiple collections within a repository. However, unlike taxonomies, collections are specific to an individual repository. If you create a collection in one repository, you won't have access to it when viewing another repository.
Tags
A tag is a keyword that lets you find an asset quickly. Unlike categories, tags don't have a hierarchical structure.
If your repository administrator enabled smart content on the repository, images are automatically tagged based on the content and colors in the image, but you can also manually add tags to any kind of asset when you create or upload it, or you can edit the tags at a later time.
You can search for assets by using a tag as a search term, helping you find assets quickly.
Workflows
If your service administrator has integrated Oracle Content Management with Oracle Integration, and your content administrator has registered Oracle Integration workflows, you may have additional workflow options available to you.
Workflows streamline asset validation and approval. Workflows combine business processes and content services to support a variety of requirements, including document verification, process approvals, and complex case management. You can submit your digital assets or captured documents and their associated metadata for review and approval without leaving the web console, easily assigning workflows to content by type and repository. You can even initiate a business process by uploading a document to your hub. Easily set up different document types to initiate different business processes.
Note:
Workflows aren't supported in Oracle Content Management Starter Edition, you're limited to only basic out-of-the-box approve/reject review functionality. To use workflows and take advantage of the full feature set, upgrade to the Premium Edition.Localization Policies
Any digital asset or content item stored in a digital asset repository can be translated into multiple languages. Localization policies are the translation rules applied to assets in a repository. They define if a translation will be required and if so, what the required and optional languages (if any) are and what the default language is. This is particularly helpful if you need to work with multilingual content.
Note:
Localization policies aren't used in business repositories.If you have the appropriate privileges, you can define localization policies in the Oracle Content Management web interface under Administration > Content.
After a localization policy is created, you associate it with a publishing channel.
Publishing Channels
A publishing channel is a specific context in which a digital asset or content item stored in a digital asset repository can be used. It determines the release rules that are applied to the asset. A channel can be applied to one or more repositories and one repository may use multiple channels. Specific assets in a repository can use different channels, letting you fine-tune the policies to be applied in individual cases. When you create a website in Oracle Content Management, a publishing channel is created automatically using the site name as the channel name. You can also define publishing channels for other contexts.
Note:
Publishing channels aren't used in business repositories.If you have the appropriate privileges, you can define publishing channels in the Oracle Content Management web interface under Administration > Content.
Once an asset is published, it's available to the publishing channels associated with it. When an asset is set to be published, it’s evaluated against the policies that were defined for the targeted channel, for example the localization policies. If the asset doesn't meet the policy criteria, then it can’t be published. This ensures that only those assets are published that have been validated against the policies that were created.
Ranking Policies
Oracle Content Management uses an out-of-the-box ranking policy by default to sort search results of published items by relevance (provided there are no orderBy clauses on the search request). However, you can create custom ranking policies to better control the relevance score of indexed items returned by a search request.
Note:
Ranking policies can't be applied to business repositories as the assets in business repositories aren't published.Once you create a ranking policy, you can test it before you publish it, making it available to use as a global default, a publishing channel default, or in a search query.
Recommendations
Recommendations are a way to provide personalized experiences for website visitors by showing assets based on audience attributes such as location or areas of interest.
Note:
Recommendations can't be associated with business repositories.Recommendations are associated with a repository and a specific content type, and the recommendation rules compare values in a content type field with values from audience attributes. Attributes can be unique to a session, such as location information based on the IP address of a site visitor, unique to a system, such as the current date, or other custom attributes defined by an administrator, such as what product interests a site visitor. For example, site visitors with European IP addresses may first see event announcements for Europe on the site home page, while site visitors from North America will see events in the U.S. and Canada.
When used in a site, a recommendation selects and displays assets available in a repository that satisfy all the rules defined in the recommendation, helping you easily provide a personalized experience to the site visitor.
Video Plus
Take a guided tour (English only)
Video asset management and delivery in today's visual world are more and more important. Your audiences expect rich online experiences in websites and other contexts, and videos play a large part in that.
- Standard video, which provides the same management and delivery capabilities as for any other assets, providing tagging, categorization, review, workflows, conversation, basic playback, and so on.
- Video Plus, which provides a rich video management and delivery experience, including all the standard features plus advanced capabilities for optimized streaming, automatic transcoding and conversion, and more responsive playback options.
Note:
- If you're using Oracle Content Management Starter Edition, Video Plus isn't supported. To take advantage of the full feature set, upgrade to the Premium Edition.
- Video plus isn't supported in business repositories.
Video Plus is an optional feature for Oracle Content Management that must be enabled for your instance by your service administrator. Once that’s done, repository managers can associate a Video Plus asset type to a repository. Oracle Content Management includes an out-of-the-box Video Plus asset type, or you can create a custom digital asset type and enable Video Plus support in it. Users can then select a Video Plus asset type for their assets to take advantage of the Video Plus capabilities.
Standard Video Features
While standard video assets can be used on a site, there are limitations in how they're delivered. For example, standard video assets rely on the web browser for playback. As such, it's recommended that a standard video be in MP4 format, because that's common to all supported browsers. Since different devices save video in different formats, this means you may need to manually convert your video asset before uploading it to Oracle Content Management.
Also, because you're relying on the web browser for delivery, video controls are often limited to simple functionality like play, pause, and volume. Additionally, a standard video asset must be downloaded in its entirety before it begins to play, which may cause a lag in delivery if the video file is large or there are any network buffering issues.
Video Plus Features
Video Plus assets are streamed using adaptive bitrate streaming, which means that playback begins right away without waiting for the full video to download. The stream adapts to your network conditions even while they change, to optimize the stream so your audience will have a good experience viewing the video, regardless of what device, web browser, or network they use.
With Video Plus you can upload videos of any format, and Oracle Content Management makes sure that they are transcoded and converted to the right formats for optimal delivery. Hover over a Video Plus video to see an animated preview of the video, and take advantage of additional playback features such as specifying video quality and varying the playback speed from half speed to double speed. Plus, you can easily skip ahead or go back in a video, or drop anywhere onto the video timeline with a click without waiting for the video to reload.
Here's a side-by-side comparison of the standard video and Video Plus features offered by Oracle Content Management:
| Feature | Standard Video | Video Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Asset tagging |  |
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| Workflow review | |
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| Conversations | |
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| Automatic thumbnail in grid view | |
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| Animated preview | |
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| Automatic format conversion | |
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| Adaptive streaming | |
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| Video Editing | |
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| Immediate playback | |
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| Automatic resizing to fit page | |
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| Quick navigation within videos | |
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| Variable playback speed | |
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| Adjustable video quality | |