This week, we’ve delivered two major features to address needs for teamwork and instruction organization: User Roles and Categories to classify StepAlongs.
Organizing Instructions with Categories
The StepAlong turnkey instruction center centralizes all your instructions, in every language, into an SEO-optimized, searchable, mobile-friendly site. In order to do that it’s crucial to use classification system that organizes instructions through categories. Categories are a way to help the user find content along with the QR code and search engine. This approach facilitates intuitive navigation, improves search functionality by aligning with commonly used concepts, and enhances SEO and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) by matching categories to relevant keywords.
The system allows multiple categories to be assigned to a single instruction, ensuring the discovery of the user from various approaches. Additionally, categories can be automatically translated using AI directly from the Instruction Center settings, maintaining consistency across languages.
Assigning Permissions with User Roles
Account administrators can now invite other users and assign them roles and permissions to work with product instructions. To define these roles we listened to our clients to understand what they considered appropriately:
- Administrators have full control over all account settings and content within StepAlong. They are the only ones who can invite users and assign roles.
- Editors are responsible for organizing the content and layout of Instruction Centers. They can create, edit, and delete third-party content, acting as editorial coordinators for instructions.
- Authors can create and edit their own instructions but cannot delete content, access other users’ content, or modify account settings.
- Finally, external Collaborators can review the translations of instructions, adding all the needed edit to them.
Every organization manages workflows for product instructions in unique ways. For example, one of our clients collaborates with external contributors for both the creation and review of translated instructions. In contrast, another client has hired a dedicated person to draft instructions in StepAlong, while their internal team handles content reviews.
Dashboard redesign to manage a instructions at scale
Effectively managing a large volume of instructions is crucial for organizations to maintain clarity, efficiency, and scalability. To support this, we’ve revamped the StepAlong dashboard, introducing flexible features like table and card views, filters for status or category, and sorting options based on user ratings or the number of translations. These enhancements make it easier to locate and prioritize instructions, ensuring teams can work more effectively.
Looking ahead, we’re developing bulk action controls to make large-scale updates even easier. Soon, users will be able to perform tasks like translating, categorizing, and duplicating instructions in just a few clicks. These upcoming features will further empower teams to manage their documentation workflows with speed and confidence.
