Digital Asset Management Best Practice: Public sector

17th July 2025

Public sector organisations, such as local authorities and government agencies, face a number of unique challenges that require tailored solutions.

Compliance is a priority for every industry, but the legal obligations for the public sector are particularly strict, and this means that following Digital Asset Management best practice is even more important.

4 DAM best practices for the public sector

There are four best practices that all public sector organisations should follow:

1. Find a vendor on G-Cloud 14
2. Take usage permissions and consent seriously
3. Ensure assets are securely backed up
4. Maintain detailed audit trails

Read on to find out more about each one.

Find a vendor on G-Cloud 14

The procurement process can be long and complicated in the public sector.

This is why the G-Cloud framework was set up by the UK government, with organisations able to quickly and easily purchase cloud-based services through the G-Cloud portal. The G-Cloud portal is available for central government, charities, education, health, local authority, blue light (police, fire, ambulance, search and rescue), devolved administrations and British overseas territories.

G-Cloud 14 is the latest version of the framework, and will run until April 2026. Montala (the company behind ResourceSpace) is an accredited partner—as we have been since 2019.

READ MORE: ResourceSpace is now on G-Cloud 14

Take usage permissions and consent seriously

Public sector organisations have a responsibility to handle digital content with care, especially when it involves images, video or personal data. Whether it’s a photo taken at a public event or content supplied by a third party, it's essential to have the correct usage permissions and consent in place before it’s published or shared.

Failing to secure the right licences can lead to copyright breaches and legal disputes, and the same applies to consent, particularly under UK GDPR, where the rules around storing and using personal data are strict. If consent has not been clearly given or has expired, the content should no longer be used, but you need to have processes or automated workflows in place that can support these efforts. Every asset should be tagged with its relevant permission, linked to the correct licence documentation and stored securely in a central system. There should also be reminders or workflows in place to remove, review or archive assets once their usage terms come to an end.

A well-structured Digital Asset Management system makes all of this easier, helping public sector teams stay compliant, avoid unnecessary risks and demonstrate that they’re handling content in a responsible and lawful way.

Ensure assets are securely backed up

Public sector organisations manage a wide range of digital assets, including official records, campaign materials, historical archives and public information, and these files often play a vital role in day-to-day operations, long-term planning and public engagement. That’s why it’s so important to ensure everything stored in the DAM is backed up securely, with robust disaster recovery processes in place to minimise the risk of data loss.

A robust DAM system should include reliable backup functionality, ideally with version control and automatic recovery options, while it should also be hosted in a secure environment that protects data against unauthorised access or data corruption. ResourceSpace ensures all of your assets are stored securely, with automatic backups and disaster recovery, while our G-Cloud 14 accreditation also confirms that we:

• agree to the latest G-Cloud framework agreement or Digital Outcomes and Specialists framework agreement;
• will take full responsibility for the work we do for our customers;
• haven't broken any laws that could lead to a mandatory exclusion from the application process.

Maintain detailed audit trails

A big part of ensuring your digital assets aren’t used beyond the length of time permitted by the license, or subject to unauthorised access, is maintaining detailed audit trails. Your DAM should make it easy to maintain a detailed record of all the activity associated with digital assets, providing the transparency and accountability that’s so important for public sector organisations.

The DAM Manager should keep a close eye on digital asset analytics and reporting, and a robust DAM system should capture this information automatically, helping public bodies to meet legal obligations, avoid misuse and demonstrate that digital content is being handled responsibly and securely at all times.

ResourceSpace’s detailed reporting functionality can provide insights into everything that happens with your digital assets, including detailed resource logs which provides visibility of who’s doing what with specific assets, making it easy to report into key stakeholders and prove compliance with relevant legislation.

ResouceSpace is trusted by public sector organisations around the world

From the NHS and HM Revenue & Customs, to the city of Edmonton and Spruce Grove, ResourceSpace is the DAM system of choice for public sector organisations all over the world.

“ResourceSpace has simplified managing and searching for our digital assets.”
JANICE SINCLAIR, DAM Manager, City of Spruce Grove

CASE STUDY: ResourceSpace + the European Commission

To find out more about the features that make ResourceSpace the perfect solution for your public sector body, book your free 30-minute DAM demo below. Alternatively, get started for free and select the Public Sector template from the form drop-down.