Getting started on instance governance and documentation

Last update: August 19, 2024

CREATED FOR:

  • Beginner
  • Admin

Good documentation can be nearly as important as the actual instance implementation itself. A governance guide is a crucial resource that outlines your Marketo Engage instance setup details, covering topics such as program/folder structures, communication limits, and more. This living document is a reference for your Marketo Engage admin or power users, showcasing specific best practices and governing standards tailored to your Marketo Engage instance and organization.

But it doesn’t stop there. Your team may require supplemental enablement documents or training materials to enhance their proficiency with Marketo Engage. These resources could include interactive exercises, quizzes for access, or guidelines on permissible actions within Marketo Engage, benefiting all Marketo Engage users within your organization. Whether creating a comprehensive governance guide or documenting key setup aspects initially, recording decisions made during onboarding is key to ensuring success with Marketo Engage for your current team and future generations of new hires.

By understanding the importance of documentation and governance, this tutorial delves into the best practices sourced from expert peers Getting Started on Your Marketo Engage Governance and Training Documentation and How do you document your instance? to help you put a process in place and keep the documentation relevant to your internal users.

Why Documenting changes and decisions during instance implementation is essential

Approach your Marketo Engage documentation as if you’re guiding a new employee unfamiliar with the technology to onboard to the instance. It’s easy to overlook fundamental knowledge once you gained experience with Marketo Engage. As an administrator, you should ensure your enablement and governance documents cater to beginners. To facilitate new users’ learning, a practical method is incorporating definitions and best practices directly into your training materials.

Creating instance documentation during instance setup offers several benefits:

  • Streamline the training process for new users in a scalable manner.
  • Facilitate long-term program development in Marketo Engage by building on a solid documentation foundation.
  • Maintain the health and organization of your instance over time.
  • Smooth the transition for new Marketo Engage administrators in case of team turnover.

Ultimately, writing down the decisions you make during implementation will help you and your team be successful with Marketo Engage without depending on one or a handful of people to enforce the processes.

How to build your Marketo Engage instance governance and documentation

Step 1 - Outline key topics in your instance documentation

Define a setup of standards of what should be documented and what is not necessary to be documented. This will enable the organization to adopt the process. As you expand the document, it is important to document the why behind the setup. This helps other administrators as much as yourself to avoid wasting time on decisions that did not yield results.

Guide your governance and documentation plan by starting with the sample outline below:

  1. The purpose of Marketo Engage for our organization

  2. Purpose of this Documentation

  3. The Process to Maintain/Make Changes to the Governance Guide

  4. Administrative Setup

    • Subscription(s)
    • Workspaces and Partitions (if apply)
    • Technical Setup (DKIM/SPF/Munchkin)
    • Roles and Responsibilities*
    • Users*
    • Smart Campaign/Email/Program Settings
    • Communication Limits
    • Security
    • Channels*
    • Tags

  5. Data Structure

    • Field Structure
    • Custom Objects

  6. Operational Programs

    • Person Scoring
    • Person Lifecycle
    • Data Management

  7. Building In Marketo Engage Instance

    • Center of Excellence (COE)
    • Folder Structure
    • Naming Conventions
    • Program Organization
    • Program Templates*
    • Design Studio Assets (email templates, landing page templates, snippets, forms)
    • Standardized Processes
    • Checklists
    • Segmentations
    • Archiving policies
    • Subscription Center

  8. CRM Integration

    • How does the sync work
    • Campaign Sync
    • Data Dictionary

  9. Other Integrations

  10. GDPR & Compliance

* At minimum, your documentation should include the details of users and roles, program templates, and channels once the setup has been finished.