A missing project file can delay a campaign even when the finished video is still on a phone. Treat the business’s approved photographs, logos, scripts and exports as working assets. Give them a location, an owner and a recovery plan. The structure below is an original DDS workflow recommendation that you can adapt to the size and sensitivity of your work.

Give every project a predictable home

Use a consistent folder structure such as brief, originals, project files, review exports and approved delivery. Name the client, campaign and date clearly. Keep a small readme explaining the current status and the person who can approve changes. Separate customer-provided originals from files you have edited. The aim is not a complicated filing system. It is that another authorised worker can find the correct material without searching a private chat history.

Make approval and version names unambiguous

Use meaningful version numbers and reserve an approved folder for the signed-off delivery. Record the approval date and the scope of that approval. If a price or telephone number changes, create a new version instead of silently replacing a file used by another worker. For a hypothetical travel agency, keep the valid travel offer separate from an expired promotion. Mark old exports as archived so they cannot be mistaken for a ready-to-publish campaign.

Create a recovery copy and test it

NIST recommends backing up data, protecting the backups and testing them. For your content workflow, define what must be recoverable, how often copies are made and who checks completion. Avoid depending on a single device or a single copy that everyone can overwrite. Choose storage appropriate to the project’s confidentiality. Restore a sample project into a separate folder and open it in the relevant software. A backup report alone does not show that the needed media and fonts were included.

Agree access, handover and retention

Share folders only with the people who need them, and review links when a contract ends. Agree which originals and editable project files the client will receive. Write down how long your studio retains the remaining material and how deletion requests are handled. Keep permission records with the associated assets. Finish each project with a small delivery index listing the final files, formats and any known restrictions. Clean organisation reduces avoidable confusion without claiming that storage alone guarantees uninterrupted business.

READ THE ORIGINAL SOURCES

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