Annual Catalog Staging

Annual Catalog Staging

Each year, Clean Catalog clients have the option of staging their upcoming year’s course catalog prior to publishing it. The vast majority of our clients take advantage of this feature, and for good reason. Not only does catalog staging simplify the process of preparing your catalog for your staff, but it leads to more up-to-date, error-free catalogs. Check out what catalog staging is, and why it’s a game-changer for catalog management.

What is Catalog Staging

Catalog staging is a process that allows you to make updates to next year’s catalog, without impacting your current catalog. Staging is most frequently used when preparing for upcoming academic years, though it can also be implemented for preparing for new semesters or quarters, if major changes occur between these periods. For Clean Catalog clients, the staging process can begin whenever you’d like. We have some clients who begin staging next year’s catalog immediately after launching the current year’s catalog. This allows staff members to make edits to content on a rolling basis. Staging also offers an opportunity to upgrade to any new features that Clean Catalog software has launched. Security updates, backend improvements, and new features will all be automatically implemented in your staged catalog. Staging provides an excellent opportunity to review your existing catalog, reflect on its success over the previous year, and make adjustments as needed.

The Process

Once your team is ready to begin staging your catalog for the upcoming semester or calendar year, the Clean Catalog team will get everything started for you. We will deliver a staged catalog that looks nearly identical to your existing catalog. All of your branding, customizations, users, workflows and system preferences will carry over, though these can also be edited during the staging period. Any changes made to the new staged catalog will not impact the current year’s live catalog, so you can rest easy knowing half-completed content isn’t visible online or to students. Once you’re ready to switch over to the next year’s catalog, all you have to do is click “publish.” Your old catalog will then be archived and your new catalog will be updated universally. It’s that easy!

The Advantages

There are a variety of advantages to annual staging of your catalog, and even more for getting started early each year. Staging your catalog provides a safe space for your staff to make edits and revisions, without worrying about unfinished edits being visible or completing edits on a tight deadline. Using this tool, you can spread the legwork of preparing next year’s catalog over several months, rather than cramming all edits into a few short weeks. By allowing your editing to be an ongoing process, you give your staff time to put more thought into their revisions, check for errors, and edit on their own time. This not only lessens the burden of content management for your staff, but typically leads to fewer errors in your catalog. The staging process also eliminates any downtime in your catalog. Some institutions take down their catalog site for a period of time to allow their staff to prepare it for the upcoming year. During this time, the catalog isn’t accessible, which can hurt both SEO and your institution’s online presence, while also being burdensome for students. With Clean Catalog, you can switch from your old catalog to your new catalog instantaneously once it’s ready to be published. No downtime, no confusion, no headaches. Just the way modern catalog management should be.

If you’d like to see a demo of Clean Catalog staging or editing functions, feel free to reach out to us! We’d love to chat about whether our software is a good fit for your institution and answer any questions your team may have.