Resume

Alison Murphy

Senior Technical Writer

alisonamurphy1@gmail.com
289-983-0302
Ontario, Canada

Senior Technical Writer with 10+ years of experience creating clear, customer-focused documentation for SaaS and ERP applications.
Two years of experience creating materials for Dynamics 365 Business Central apps, including online help, web content and Microsoft Marketplace listings.
Experienced in producing educational and promotional videos that enhance brand visibility and user engagement.
Hands-on writer who builds content from scratch, explores the software to understand real customer use, and collaborates with developers and product managers to suggest improvements and uncover issues early.

Principal Content Architect April 2024-present

Designed a new online help system using Markdown and DocFx, migrating and rewriting legacy content while adding new material to create clear, accessible documentation.
Managed content for over 30 Business Central apps across multiple formats, ensuring all deliverables met the deadlines and satisfied Microsoft’s requirements for Marketplace approval.
Worked closely with developers to improve app functionality, contributing to a consistently low number of post-release issues.
Created training and marketing videos using Camtasia, and launched a YouTube channel to host them and track viewer analytics.
Leveraged AI to accelerate content creation while maintaining accuracy, natural tone, and brand consistency.
Proactively assumed responsibility for marketing when no team existed, creating email campaigns, newsletters, blog posts, and LinkedIn content without a budget.
Learned and applied new tools (HubSpot, ZoomInfo, Sales Hub) to launch campaigns, nurture leads and analyze engagement.
Served as a trusted advisor to colleagues, providing guidance on content strategy, workflow improvements, and documentation best practices.

Senior Documentation Specialist March 2019-January 2024

Planned and developed online help documentation for three product lines, streamlining content management by utilizing single-sourcing, which resulted in time and resource savings.
Utilized Google Analytics to track online help usage, achieving over 10,000 views within twelve months with an average engagement time of twelve minutes, indicating high user engagement.
Managed a rigorous release cycle for multiple product lines, creating release notes and procedural documentation for over fifteen sub-products.
Enhanced the customer and employee experience by creating training videos for new functionalities, resulting in improved user satisfaction.
Drove brand consistency and efficiency by designing and implementing six Word templates aligned with corporate branding standards.
Improved product quality by conducting usability testing, and identifying and reporting bugs. Recognized for uncovering issues overlooked by other quality reviewers.

Documentation Manager February 2018-February 2019
Product Documentation Specialist November 2012-January 2018

Created six online help systems, integrating two with the Microsoft Dynamics help system, and creating four standalone systems, providing unified accessibility and user-friendly navigation.
Transitioned from RoboHelp to a combination of GitHub, Azure DevOps, and DocFX in response to Microsoft’s migration to a new online help platform.
Met all project deadlines by delivering comprehensive documentation, including online help, release notes, installation guides, and videos for six products.
Developed and supported an interactive online training program that guided new customers through data creation and utilization, enhancing user proficiency.
Enhanced the sharing of release information by creating videos showcasing product updates. These videos had high viewership, becoming among the most watched content within the company.
Implemented an internal SharePoint-based content management system, promoting efficient knowledge sharing across the organization.

Technical Writer August 2010-August 2012
Technical Writer (Contract) July 2009-July 2010

Produced support documents for software and hardware projects, and offered template support for both Word, and FrameMaker to an internal group of 500 employees.
Created technical documentation suites, including instructions for installing schemas and PL/SQL applications on Oracle databases, and installing and configuring applications on JBoss servers, all in a UNIX environment.
Successfully advocated for an online help system to be implemented for the first time in a company-wide application.
Gathered and organized information for disaster recovery documents by gathering and structuring essential information, ensuring preparedness in the event of a critical application failure.

RoboScreen Capture | Snagit

Agile Methodology | Jira | Azure DevOps (formerly TFS/Visual Studio Team Services)

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central | Microsoft Dynamics NAV | Sage X3

Certificate in Technical Communications, Seneca College
Bachelor of Arts in History, University of Western Ontario

Home at Last Rescue (2019-present): Administrative duties and foster care.