From Complexity to Simplicity: AutoStore’s Journey to Streamlined Technical Documentation with Paligo

October 7, 2024
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this is an on-brand graphic from AutoStore, a Paligo customer

AutoStore company overview

Founded in 1996, AutoStore is a technology company that develops order-fulfillment solutions to help businesses achieve efficiency gains in storing and retrieving goods. The company offers hardware and software capabilities that help companies reduce their storage footprint by up to 75% while making operations faster and incredibly reliable.

AutoStore was originally part of the Hatteland Group, but currently belongs to the Japanese investment group Softbank. AutoStore became a publicly listed company in 2022. As of today, it has 1,500 sites in 50+ countries, and 50,000 robots in various models and provides extensive documentation to support them. Currently, this documentation is provided in PDF format, and each document has, on average, thousands of views.

The Challenges of Managing Technical Documentation

Initially, AutoStore used the same technical documentation tool as its parent company. However, Hatteland switched to the Paligo CCMS after deciding that the current tool was too much for its needs.

AutoStore, however, continued to use the original tool because it supported its translation requirements. However, this tool required direct access to the on-premises installation, which IT deemed a security concern. Plus, being on-premise, it would be difficult to scale at a later time. The solution also had a very challenging publishing process, which included a heavily customized portal. For example, the team had two pages of instructions on how to publish documentation to the portal. There was also no preview of what was being published, so they had to publish the entire PDF to see if the layout was proper. And that translation support? It was more complex and expensive than it needed to be.

Selecting a New Authoring & Publishing Tool

The documentation team’s workload has increased dramatically over two years. As a result, the team grew from two to four technical writers, including AutoStore’s technical documentation team lead Haakon Bjerkenes, Wulf Mathias Bröning, Olav Andreas Frenning, and Vincent Bartley. In September 2021, Bjerkenes was assigned to find a new solution to support their technical documentation.

The team wanted to drive greater efficiency in their authoring and publishing process to help deliver the documentation backlog faster. They also needed the ability to publish on-demand and through different channels. AutoStore is bound by the EU Machinery Directive, which requires the company to publish technical documentation for machinery products in PDF format. However, they also wanted the ability to publish all manuals to HTML to support upcoming changes to regulations.

They looked at three solutions: Paligo CCMS, MadCap Flare, and DoX CMS, examining each in depth to see which one could support their requirements. When they started their Paligo Trial, they were able to import content and start working right away (as opposed to installing and working with the others).

Ultimately, the team decided to go with Paligo CCMS for a number of reasons:

  • Translation Management: AutoStore manuals are published in multiple languages, and the Paligo translation process was straightforward.
  • Multiple Publishing Channels: AutoStore publishes its manuals in PDF format but will also move to online publication by 2027, so it needed a tool that would allow the team to publish to multiple channels from one location.
  • Support for Rich Media: The team works with a lot of rich media, such as video and animations, and Paligo makes it easier to include and update rich media in the documentation.
  • Publishing Preview: The team can now preview documentation and see how it will look without publishing the entire PDF.
  • Collaboration: Many contributors and reviewers need access to the documentation, and the process for these team members needs to be easy.
  • Support: The team values strong support, including access to a support team and self-service support options. During the trial period, Paligo support was very responsive, and the built-in Help sections enabled them to find answers on their own quickly.
  • Cloud-based and secure: They wanted a tool that would quickly scale and support working with people outside the writing team. At the same time, security was important, especially when working with a cloud-based solution.

Working with the Paligo CCMS

The technical documentation team spent three to four months migrating 50 existing manuals into the Paligo CCMS. Learning how to work with the Paligo XML editor took a bit, but this was mainly due to working in a completely different way with their previous authoring tool. The team’s understanding of structured content, XML schemas, and reuse helped.

They started working on new manuals while the migration process was ongoing, and within a week of completing the migration, the team was hands-on in the CMS. The authoring interface is now one of their favorite features. When they need help, they know Paligo’s support team is there for them through ad hoc requests and regular check-ins.

The team loves the flexible output Paligo offers. In their old tool, they had to ask someone to adapt a publishing layout. With the Paligo Layout Editor, they can make the changes themselves and publish documentation to multiple channels.

We don’t have to change the authoring platform to change the channel. Single sourcing our documentation is very significant.
Olav Andreas Frenning, Tech Writer at Autostore

The translation process was also streamlined with the Paligo CCMS. What was a significant effort in the old system is now a five-minute process and “feels like a no-brainer.”

Image management is another key feature they use. The team manages localized images to support manuals in different languages. Uploading and assigning an image to the correct language is simple, and image replacement is smooth.

The team’s work comes in waves: new releases, new products, and changes to existing documentation. Paligo has reduced their stress and enabled them to focus on the content. The team has received positive feedback on their documentation, which they believe is due to their ability to get updates and changes out faster.

All the pain of dealing with a lethargic system is gone. Paligo makes tech writers live longer.
​​Vincent Bartley, Tech Writer at AutoStore

Paligo CCMS has helped the AutoStore technical documentation team drive efficiencies in its publishing process. The team has achieved a 50% reduction in backlog, and that two-page publishing process they had with their old tool? It now takes four clicks in Paligo.

Management methods have also changed around the team. Using Paligo, bringing in new contributors, and having people review documentation is easier. The team feels they have built respect among their peers.

Publishing documentation is no longer an uphill battle, and the result is higher-quality documentation. Paligo has enabled the team to be technical writers.

Paligo lets me work the way I want. It doesn’t force me into a structured workflow that doesn’t suit me.
– Mathias Bröning, Tech Writer at AutoStore

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