Recommendations on managing assets?

Interesting that you posted this today Derek.  I was struggling with this same process. As a small agency, there are several items I want to have easy access to and don't want to have to search in tasks or have tasks left incomplete.  I was thinking it would be nice to have a folder that is available for a project that contains all the relevant client data that would carry across the entire account.  Not really an option so I created a Folder under the project (Client) and then attached the document to the folder through a task.  Not too sure if this works for others and interested in hearing what others are doing.  
Please share your thoughts. 

Russ, we've tried that as well. But we create a folder and simply drop the files into it (without creating tasks). We copy the link location of the file into a specific task. This method works, but it leads to a lot of hunting down the correct file in order to copy to the URL of the file into the task. Also, we tend to have dozens of documents per project and sorting through one big list of files can be a chore and sometimes lead to version control issues. We haven't tried using an external file management tool. If anyone else has any thoughts I'd love to hear them!

I've gone back and forth on this also.  I started to type a "solution" but became conflicted again, so I deleted it =P

Wrike sort-of works as a cloud storage solution, thanks to its file versioning, directly editing files, etc.  However, it simply isn't.  This causes the described conundrum.

Using a file storage solution (dropbox, etc) solves the problem of finding files quicker.  But then you feel like you're using 2 tools, and possibly doing redundant work by posting files in 2 places.

This explains why some wrike competitors have a dedicated "files" area that allows you to browse attachments independently of the tasks.

Just a fun fact I've found - Wrike's task search will look into the attachments' file extensions.  

So searching for ".tif" will return tasks that have a TIF file attached.

That's cool Sam. Good to know. 
I still would like to have a container that I can attach creative assets to a project.  Seems that we should have another option beyond tasks?  
It would be great to have the content at the project level.  
So, if you are developing a website, (Project) you could have all of the assets in the Content folder Just like tasks, only 'Content' 

What does Wrike Say? @wrike

Thoughts? 

Hi everyone! This is a great discussion, thank you for bringing it up and sharing all of these fantastic ideas! I'm checking in with our Customer Success Team to find out about the best practices they recommend for this use case. I'll keep you updated :)

Thanks for the update and I look forward to receiving updates.  

Another workaround idea:

Use a file storage solution (dropbox, etc) and organize it by-project.  Back in Wrike, you could:

• In the project's description, provide a link to that file storage location.

-OR-

• Create a custom field called "Asset Link" at the project-level.  Include the link there instead.  The advantage is the asset-links have a dedicated "place" in wrike, and can be referenced quickly across multiple projects (ie. in Table View or Reports). 

Hello everyone! These ideas are splendid, and depending on how you use the attachments in Wrike, all of them are great solutions. Here are the best practices our Custom Success Team pointed out:

• If you need to access the attachments quite often, it's recommended to create a separate Folder under the related Project and store the files there.
• You can use tasks within the Folder to categorize the attachments by certain criteria, for example "Images", "Docs", etc.
• Storing attachments within tasks encourages having a relevant file repository on the tasks.
• As Sam mentioned, search commands are especially useful when searching for particular files (file:keyword) or for files with a certain extension (file:*jpg). The complete list of commands can be found here. 
• Another tip is to cross tag tasks which contain attachments into the separate Folder for attachments, as opposed to manually creating tasks there. However, in this case the task name might not be indicative of its attachments.
• If you already use a cloud storage service, you can simply link a folder from it to a description or Custom Field, another great observation from Sam. This option will also save some native Wrike storage space. Please note that if you want to use the Proofing and Approvals feature, the files should be stored locally and then uploaded to Wrike.

Let me know what you think of these points! :)

I have been making an effort to review and switch to Wrike from Podio.

Frankly...I feel a bit deceived by the reviews and the pitch from Wrike.

Anything that says Podio vs Wrike is misleading. 

Proof: This use of a task as a folder for assets is similar to horrible way iTunes manages applications on iPads. It's a workaround a bandaid.

So is this! I have 9 days left to make a decision. I'm glad I'm running into Wrike limitations right away.

Hi Steven,

I'm sorry to hear about your experience.We can't control third-party reviews or collateral, but I want to make sure that you have the right information about what Wrike does and how the solution works. I've asked your Account Executive to reach out and he's a great resource clarify what Wrike can and cannot do and help through the process of figuring out if Wrike is (or isn't) the right fit for your team. 

While Wrike isn't an asset management or file storage tool, we do offer some storage and attachment features to help you keep related information in one place so that you can work quickly and efficiently. Please let me know if there's a specific use-case you want to discuss, happy to talk more about it. 

Just a thought, 

What would be helpful, at least in our situation, would be for the attachments to link through dependent tasks. I like the detail and reporting for dependent tasks, but the next person up has to hunt for files in previous tasks, which isn't ideal. For instance, our dependent task process could be something like :

Send Copy-->Edit Copy-->Design-->Internal Proof-->External Proof-->Complete

I like having those separate tasks because each of those steps is executed by a different person/department.  We can have one task with a custom workflow, but we don't get us a forward looking workload view that way. That view is critical to us in planning. 

If the files could automatically cross link to the dependent tasks then the files would follow the project as needed, well for me anyway.  Or if the attachments in a task could be seen on sub-tasks that would work too.

just some thoughts.

Hi Larry, thank you for sharing this information about your use case and your thoughts on this - we submitted your feedback to our product team. That said, there are a few things I can recommend based on what you described:

We've decided to use a a version of the second bullet. When we have a set of tasks that are related to editing, designing and approving the same files, we set-up the Main task and add everyone to that task.  Then we set up Sub tasks for the stages. For instance:

• January Classroom Poster (all assets and comments go here and everyone involved assigned)

1. Gather assets (Bill)
2. Edit Copy (Julie)
3. Design Poster (Dimitri)
4. Internal Review (Bill/Julie)
5. External Review (Collaborator)
6. Final Edits (Dimitri)
7. Final Review (all)

The sub tasks are dependencies so we don't lose the automated alerts when the task in front of you is completed and we don't lose the timeline view for planning. The sub tasks still allow us to see individual workload for planning purposes.

Then we use a simple workflow for the main task (Gathering Assets-->In Editing-->In Design-->In Review-->Approved-->Delivered) which gives us good higher level reporting for where our various tasks sit.

Don't know if it's right for anyone else but us, but combining workflow and dependent tasks in this way has helped us.

@larry That's a fantastic breakdown (I may have reread it because I liked it so much). Thank you for sharing!

GOAL: To have a searchable data base for all content searching by keywords / tags.

PROBLEM:  Searching in Wrike doesn't provide what we need.  (We use Custom Fields but we have over 65 keywords/tags, searching and report is clunky.)

Backstory: We have a client who is a membership platform, blog, app, and magazine.  We use assets across all platforms and need to search to locate all content (audios, videos, articles, advertisers) with say, tag/keyword 'vehicle' or 'where used' or 'member experience level' several at a time.  One asset may have 7-10 tags.  AODocs (Google) is a wonderful place to keep the content and the search and reporting options are great. But we love Wrike and use it for all our other clients. 

Here's a typical search view from AODocs.  This can be totally customized.

Because the search capability in AODocs is so much better, we create the asset in both Wrike and AODocs adding the AODoc/google link in Wrike and the Wrike link in AODocs/Google.  Ideally, we'd like to be able to create the asset in Wrike or AODocs/Google and have an automated process to populate one or the other.

We can use Request Forms in Wrike.  We use the same feature in AODocs.   So we could start the process in either platform.

The process now for a searchable database is:

1. Use template in AODocs to create intake.
2. Copy Properties into New Wrike Task description to begin workflow.
   1. Optional: Put Wrike link in AODocs.
3. Use Attachment option in Wrike to download doc from Google Drive.
4. Continue versioning, editing and proofing in Wrike.

Back to the original question:  Any other options for a searchable database while still using Wrike?