Develop an instance governance guide with documentation
As you step into a legacy Marketo Engage instance, it often comes with the challenge of lacking up-to-date functional and technical documentation. As an administrator, establishing guidelines to ensure proper instance governance is a core responsibility that you cannot overlook. It is one of the critical strategies to drive efficiency as you work in an established Marketo Engage instance.
This step-by-step tutorial sourced from Adobe Marketo Champion (2018), Nick Hajdin, will guide you through this process to outline your instance setup, document your primary operational programs, and maintain a changelog to enforce a strict governance policy.
Why develop an instance governance guide & documentation for your inherited instance?
Detailed documentation and a changelog are vital for efficient management and knowledge transfer within your Marketo Engage instance. Keeping track of changes and decisions you’ve made during your instance setup can help you:
- Train internal users more easily in a scalable way.
- Build more efficiently in Marketo Engage in the long-term.
- Maintain the health and hygiene of your instance moving forward to save you from spending hours digging into emails, audit trail, and activity log to get context.
- Save time on transferring Marketo Engage knowledge to a new Marketo Engage administrator if your team experiences any turnover.
Marketo Engage governance guide 101
A governance guide serves as the source of truth of the instance setup and system design requirements. Key information that are recommended to include in this document are:
- Program/folder structures
- User & role permission
- Communication limits
- Governance standards
- Internal user training before granting them access to the platform
How to develop and maintain a governance guide for your Marketo Engage instance
Step 1: Identify your current state of governance guide and documentation
- I cannot locate any documentation for my inherited instance: If you recently started a new role and cannot locate any documentation for your inherited instance, go to step 2 and get started with a downloadable template that we provided.
- I have documentation on file: Congratulations, this is a good sign! Make sure to review their relevancy to see when the last change is being made. If it is not being actively maintained by your team members, it is recommended to refresh them and educate your internal users on how to keep it up to date.
Step 2: Identify the elements to be included in your Marketo Engage Documentation & Changelogs
The format varies from a cloud-based platform to a shared document. You can design the format that caters to your organization’s needs. Here’s a simple documentation & changelog excel template covering the important elements that you can get started with. These include:
-
Documentation
- Program Template Name
- Channel
- Date Created
- Created By
- Purpose of Program
- Status
- Link to Program Template
- Note
-
Changelog
- Program Template Name
- Date of Change
- Updated By
- Purpose for Update
- Experience before change (include links/screenshots)
- Experience after change (include links/screenshots)
- URL to Program
Step 3: Identify and document the current state of the primary operational programs
Begin by identifying the key operational programs with impacts at the subscription level. Examples include Data Management Campaigns, Lead Lifecycle, Lead Scoring, CRM Sync, and Deliverability.
For each identified operational program, document its current state. This includes details about the program’s purpose, setup, associated smart campaigns, and integration with other tools (if applicable).
Step 4: Enforce Changelog Maintenance
The next step is to establish a strict governance policy for your Marketo Engage instance that mandates “Changelog maintenance.” This policy ensures that any updates made to operational programs across the instance are thoroughly documented.
Educate your team on the importance of these documents and how to access and update them properly. It could be helpful to assign responsibilities for maintaining the changelog, so a few designated Marketing Operation team members or administrators are consistently recording changes and provide signoffs.
Step 5: Centralize Documentation
Establish a central location or repository for storing all documentation related to your Marketo Engage instance. This could be a shared drive, a dedicated folder, or a cloud-based system.
Step 6: Regularly Review and Update
Schedule regular reviews of your documentation to ensure it remains accurate and up to date. It can be overlooked easily during busy times. Proactively set up reminders on your calendar to ensure your team is regularly making updates to reflect any changes or optimizations in your operational programs.
What’s Next?
Get Started by downloading this simple template.
Follow the steps above to develop your governance guide and documentation. As you work through the process, keep these rules of thumb in mind:
Update your existing documentation:
It is crucial to keep your documentation up to date. If it has not been modified for the past 3 years, commit time to revise your documentation as you audit your instance.
Share and train:
Share your documentation and changelog with relevant team members and educate them on how to update these records.
Periodic Review: preschedule time to review and maintain them throughout the year to include any new changes, optimizations, or adjustments as they occur.
Maintaining comprehensive and up-to-date documentation for your Marketo Engage instance will save you time and effort in the long run and facilitate effective instance management.
Authors
Nick Hajdin
Adobe Marketo Champion (2018)
Digital Technology Senior Manager at Accenture
Amy Chiu
Adoption & Retention Marketing Manager, Adobe
