Microsoft · AdCenter · Writing Sample
Specification writing and process documentation for Microsoft’s AdCenter platform — covering the Change History Report, Campaign Analytics, and the SaaS licensing and pricing transition under the Microsoft–Yahoo partnership.
Change History Report
Through the life of a search marketing campaign, its elements are continuously changed and optimized — but tracking those changes across complex multi-agency accounts was broken. CSOs had to RAS into the corporate intranet to run reports. SAMs couldn’t look up accounts by name — only by Order ID. Agencies were receiving Excel spreadsheets by email two to three days after requesting them.
I authored the full specification: business need, user scenarios per audience (CSO, SAMs, advertisers), pain points, out-of-scope features for the first release, and the phased approach to opening the report to advertisers in future releases. The document had to satisfy engineering requirements, product sign-off, and the increased call volume anticipated from the Microsoft–Yahoo scale.
Campaign Analytics
Online advertisers needed to understand which keywords, ad groups, and campaigns performed well and which needed optimization. The Campaign Analytics specification covered the full conversion tracking workflow — from the advertiser’s welcome screen decision point through goal definition, stage tracking, and the final dashboard.
The spec had to support two distinct workflows: Conversion Only Analytics (simpler, for advertisers who only wanted confirmation page tracking) and Campaign Analytics (extended, for advertisers who wanted to track the full purchase path through defined Stages). I authored the terminology section, the “Goals vs Stages” distinction, and all scenario documentation — written to be understood by both engineers and non-technical stakeholders.
SaaS licensing & pricing (WWLP)
As Microsoft transitioned from traditional software to a Software-as-a-Service model, I documented the Requirements Rationalization process for the Worldwide Licensing and Pricing program — mapping how long-term planning teams, BOSG IT, and various stakeholder groups submitted, rationalized, and prioritized enhancement requests. This effort was part of Microsoft’s broader change management initiative, helping establish a more consistent and transparent approach across licensing, pricing, and program management functions.