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Customer SOP Documentation Strategy

Background

Traditional SOPs created in Microsoft Word often depend on manually captured screenshots with arrows, boxes, and step annotations. This approach was more manageable when on-premises ERP software changed infrequently. SaaS applications change continuously, so screenshot-heavy documents can become inaccurate soon after a release.

Organizations should use a documentation process designed for frequent change rather than expecting Velosity to create and maintain customer-specific procedures.

Velosity provides product documentation and release information that applies broadly to its customers. Each organization should own its company-specific SOPs, including:

  • Authoring and approval
  • Screenshots and annotations
  • Publishing and access control
  • Training content
  • Review schedules
  • Maintenance following software or process changes

Customer-specific documentation development or automation should be performed by the customer, its documentation vendor, or a consultant. Any Velosity involvement beyond standard product capabilities should be separately scoped and funded.

Available approaches

Commercial documentation platform

A hosted documentation product is the lowest-responsibility option for Velosity and the quickest replacement for Word-based SOPs. Products in this category include ScreenSteps, Document360, Paligo, MadCap Flare, and GitBook.

These platforms commonly provide browser-based editing, search, version history, approvals, image management, and hosted publishing. The customer contracts directly with the vendor and remains responsible for its content.

ScreenSteps is particularly aligned with screenshot-heavy procedural documentation. As of October 2026, its published starting prices are:

  • Operations Standard: $6,000 per year
  • Operations AI: $9,000 per year

The published prices assume annual billing. Monthly billing is available. Implementation services are separately quoted, there is no free tier, and a 15-day trial is available.

Customer-managed docs as code

Organizations with appropriate technical resources can maintain procedures as Markdown in source control and publish them through a documentation platform. This provides reviewable changes, version history, reusable content, and the ability to align documentation with software releases.

The customer or its consultant must own the repository, publishing pipeline, image storage, and ongoing maintenance.

Automated screenshot generation

For frequently changing interfaces, a customer-managed Playwright pipeline can:

  1. Open a controlled test tenant.
  2. Load stable test data.
  3. Navigate to the required screen.
  4. Locate documented interface elements.
  5. Add highlights or callouts.
  6. Capture consistently sized screenshots.
  7. Publish the generated assets with the related Markdown.

Stable selectors such as data-doc-id attributes can make this automation less fragile than selectors based on CSS classes, visible text, or DOM position. Such attributes should be added to Velosity only when they provide general product value or are part of funded work with an agreed support boundary.

ScreenSteps automation limitations

ScreenSteps provides assisted capture and manual image management rather than a complete selector-driven documentation pipeline. It supports:

  • Screenshot capture through its editor
  • Image annotations such as arrows, boxes, and text
  • Manual replacement of existing images
  • Procedural content management and publishing
  • API-based creation of manuals, chapters, and articles
  • API-based updates to article text
  • Contextual guidance through its browser extension

Its documented API only updates text content. Images must be replaced through the ScreenSteps web or desktop application. ScreenSteps therefore does not natively provide the complete automation described above: navigating Velosity workflows, reading markup attributes, capturing screenshots with Playwright, and replacing published images through its API.

A customer could generate screenshots separately with Playwright, but someone would still need to import or replace those images in ScreenSteps.

For most customers, recommend a commercial documentation platform contracted and administered by the customer. ScreenSteps is a reasonable modernization path when the goal is to improve a primarily manual SOP process.

When full screenshot automation is required, recommend a customer-owned docs-as-code solution implemented by the customer or a consultant. Velosity should not build or operate customer-specific documentation infrastructure unless the capability has broad product value or is covered by a paid agreement that includes ongoing support.

References