SF Media Data Systems is operated by SF MEDIA (SW) LTD, a company formed to solve a problem we kept meeting: media collections that had grown faster than the records describing them. Tapes arrived with handwritten labels, drives held folders named by date, and spreadsheets drifted out of step with the material they were meant to describe. We built this business to put that right in a measured, documented way.
Our work begins with an audit. We examine the records you hold, the systems that store them and the ways your staff actually search. Only then do we propose a schema, a vocabulary and a set of rules. This order matters. A metadata system designed before the audit tends to fit the consultant's habits rather than the client's catalogue.
We are deliberately small and deliberately technical. The people who scope your project are the people who carry it out, so nothing is lost between the sales conversation and the work itself. We hold no proprietary platform and earn nothing from pushing one. Our recommendations follow from your material and your obligations, whether those are broadcast compliance, archive preservation or licensing reporting.
Much of our time goes into migration and enrichment: mapping legacy fields, resolving duplicates, filling gaps from accompanying documentation, and checking the result against a sample you approve. We report progress in plain terms, with counts and exceptions rather than vague assurances, and we hand over the mapping documents at the end so your team can maintain the system without us.
Data protection shapes how we work. We handle records under written instruction, keep access limited to the staff assigned to your project, and return or delete working copies when the engagement closes. Where material is sensitive or commercially restricted, we agree handling rules before any file is touched.
If your catalogue has outgrown its records, the sensible first step is a conversation about scope. We will tell you honestly whether the work is worth doing, what it would involve, and where the risks lie.
