The St. Johns River Water Management District
Helping a 7-Person Team Support 500 Employees
When the backlog hit 100,000 files, Daminion provided a practical DAM the team could afford, adopt, and use daily—reducing interruptions and support requests across the organization.
Public Sector / Environmental Management
About The St. Johns River Water Management District
The St. Johns River Water Management District is a Florida state environmental regulatory agency responsible for protecting water resources across 18 counties in northeast and east-central Florida. Its work focuses on ensuring long-term drinking water supply, restoring and protecting water bodies, and balancing human needs with nature through conservation, research, data collection, and environmental restoration.
Initial Setup
Before Daminion: A Growing Backlog and an Inefficient Legacy System
The District had been using another system for years, but it became increasingly inefficient. It required repeated rescanning to work properly, and the workflow was time-consuming. The team knew the tool wasn’t keeping up—but the problem became impossible to ignore when their backlog reached 100,000 files.
At the same time, many DAM solutions they reviewed were either too expensive or too complex for what they needed. They were looking for something powerful enough to handle scale, but practical for everyday use.
At the same time, many DAM solutions they reviewed were either too expensive or too complex for what they needed. They were looking for something powerful enough to handle scale, but practical for everyday use.
We have always had a very small team trying to do a lot. And if someone could not find an image quickly enough, they were apt to give me a ring, send me an instant message or email…
So, I had to drop what I was doing to help them find the images they needed.
So, I had to drop what I was doing to help them find the images they needed.
Mathew O’Malley
Senior Creative Services Specialist, Office of Communications
Implementation and Workflow
How Daminion Helped
Before Daminion, the District’s archive was essentially a folder system where each folder acted as a “category.” That approach caused confusion and broke down quickly at scale—especially when related files ended up scattered across multiple folders with no consistent linking.
Daminion allowed the team to shift from “where the file is stored” to “what the file is,” using metadata to organize assets in a more reliable way. With Daminion’s import tools, they can bring content into the system automatically and manage it through structured fields, rather than constantly reorganizing folder paths.
Daminion allowed the team to shift from “where the file is stored” to “what the file is,” using metadata to organize assets in a more reliable way. With Daminion’s import tools, they can bring content into the system automatically and manage it through structured fields, rather than constantly reorganizing folder paths.
"With Daminion’s import feature we can now automatically upload our files into the system and not worry about their location, because we can simply use the appropriate metadata to manage that."
Today, Daminion works as the District’s centralized repository for navigating their image library. The core team can upload files, add or update metadata, and resize images when needed. Meanwhile, hundreds of employees can access the library as guest users and find what they need for presentations and communications without waiting on the creative team.
We are a small team of seven… while others in the company, around 500 employees, have guest access.
If they need something for a presentation, they can easily find what they want… and that’s why we are very happy to have Daminion because it saves us a lot of time.
If they need something for a presentation, they can easily find what they want… and that’s why we are very happy to have Daminion because it saves us a lot of time.
Mathew O’Malley
Senior Creative Services Specialist, Office of Communications
Results
Why It Matters: Time Saved Adds Up
The District’s team found that the value of a DAM system is not just the software cost, but the staff time it saves—especially when a small communications team supports a large organization.
The cost of the actual DAM software is nothing in comparison to the cost of staff. So, by investing in Daminion we were able to save a lot of money in the long run.
Mathew O’Malley
Senior Creative Services Specialist, Office of Communications