Situation:
As our product line innovated with upgrades and new versions, we faced significant challenges in maintaining up-to-date marketing documentation. While the website update process was well-structured—with staging environments, approval rounds, and a controlled production push—the specification sheets and user guides lagged behind. The source files for these PDFs were stored on a single employee’s local hard drive, and there was confusion over which version was current and severely limiting accessibility.
Task:
The goal was to revamp our product marketing documentation process to ensure consistency, accessibility, and accuracy across all assets—particularly the product pages and downloadable spec sheets. We needed a system that would scale with future product changes and be easy for multiple team members to manage.
Action:
We created a new documentation system with shared ownership and clear version control. First, we migrated all 42 specification sheet templates to Google Slides, enabling cloud-based editing and access control. This eliminated the single-point-of-failure risk from local storage. Next, we moved all existing PDFs and source files to Google Drive and implemented a clear folder structure. To avoid future version confusion, we introduced a standardized naming convention that included the last updated date in each file name (e.g., ProductName_SpecSheet_2025-03-31.pdf). Finally, we developed and documented a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) outlining step-by-step actions for updating both the website and spec sheets in sync with any product changes.
Result:
This new system improved collaboration, reduced turnaround time for updates, and eliminated version control issues. When the next product update was released, we followed the new SOP and successfully updated all documentation—website and spec sheets—quickly and without errors. The new process has since become the standard for all product marketing documentation updates.
Sample Product - Large IP Display
Product Page
Spec Sheet
