> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.gradial.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Onboarding Checklist

> Everything you need to do to get your Gradial environment set up and ready to use.

<Note>
  **Your Gradial organization must be provisioned before you can begin.** Contact your Gradial onboarding manager to initiate provisioning. While you wait, you can complete the discovery prep and security review steps in Phase 1 independently.
</Note>

***

## Phase 1: Environment Discovery

Gradial leads structured discovery to understand your technology environment, content workflows, and use case priorities. Several steps in this phase can be started on your own before any sessions are scheduled.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Prepare your program inputs (start now)">
    You can complete this step independently, before discovery sessions begin. Gather:

    * Key business objectives and success metrics for the engagement
    * A sample of example tickets by type (small content updates, large updates, new page requests) — or an export from your ticketing system
    * Workflow documentation for your current content process
    * Examples of golden template or reference pages

    Having these ready before your first session significantly shortens discovery.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Initiate security review (start now)">
    Your IT or security team may need to review and approve Gradial's integration model before any system connections can be made. This is often the longest step in onboarding and is entirely driven by your organization's internal processes — start it as early as possible.

    Your Gradial onboarding manager can provide security documentation, architecture diagrams, and compliance information to support this review.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Participate in discovery sessions">
    Your Gradial onboarding manager will run structured interviews with your authoring, MarTech, and design leads. Use the inputs you prepared in Step 1. Sessions typically cover current workflows, use case priorities, and CMS/DAM environment specifics.
  </Step>
</Steps>

***

## Pre-Configuration: What to Collect Before Setup

Before connecting your systems in Phase 2, your team needs to gather the technical details that Gradial requires to operate correctly in your environment. Collecting these upfront — ideally in a shared document — prevents back-and-forth during setup and helps your IT team submit a single, complete credential request.

The six categories below cover everything you'll need. Use these as a checklist to work through with your CMS admin, MarTech lead, and IT team before your Phase 2 sessions begin.

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="1. Integration Paths">
    One row per system you're connecting. This is what your Gradial onboarding manager will need to configure each integration.

    | #  | Platform           | Endpoint / Connection URL                         | Status | Notes                                    |
    | :- | :----------------- | :------------------------------------------------ | :----- | :--------------------------------------- |
    | 1  | AEM Sites + Assets | e.g., `https://author.yoursite.com`               |        | Auth method (OAuth, service account)     |
    | 2  | Jira               | e.g., `https://yourorg.atlassian.net`             |        | API token or service account credentials |
    | 3  | Workfront          | e.g., `https://yourorg.my.workfront.com`          |        | WT / Service Account                     |
    | 4  | Marketo            | e.g., `https://xxx-EOX-xxx.mktorest.com`          |        | REST API — OAuth 2.0 Client Credentials  |
    | 5  | SFMC               | e.g., `https://mcXXX.auth.marketingcloudapis.com` |        | OAuth 2.0 Client Credentials             |

    **What to confirm:** The correct author/API endpoint URL for each environment (sandbox vs. production), the authentication method required, and whether IP allowlisting is needed.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="2. Content Paths">
    The CMS paths where Gradial's agent will be permitted to read and author content. Define one row per content root or DAM root.

    | #  | Content Path              | Content Type | Scope            | Platform  | Notes                                         |
    | :- | :------------------------ | :----------- | :--------------- | :-------- | :-------------------------------------------- |
    | 1  | `/content/your-site/en`   | Pages        | Path & sub-paths | AEM Sites | Site root — agent operates on all child pages |
    | 2  | `/content/dam/your-brand` | Assets       | Path & sub-paths | AEM DAM   | DAM root — all brand assets stored here       |

    **What to confirm:** Exact JCR paths (AEM) or equivalent content roots for your platform, which paths are in scope for the initial engagement, and any paths that should be explicitly excluded.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="3. Domain Mapping">
    Maps public-facing URLs to their CMS content paths. Gradial uses this to resolve page targets when tasks are submitted with a URL rather than a path.

    | #  | Public URL                     | Content Path            | Environment | Locale | Notes                                             |
    | :- | :----------------------------- | :---------------------- | :---------- | :----- | :------------------------------------------------ |
    | 1  | `https://www.yoursite.com/en`  | `/content/your-site/en` | Production  | en-US  |                                                   |
    | 2  | `https://sandbox.yoursite.com` | `/content/your-site/en` | Sandbox     | en-US  | No public URL in sandbox — AEM author access only |

    **What to confirm:** All environments in scope (sandbox, staging, production) and their corresponding CMS paths, plus any locale or region variations.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="4. Templates">
    The page templates Gradial's agent will use when creating new pages. One row per template type.

    | #  | Template Name | Template Path                                         | Type    | Page Types                                   | Notes                                                       |
    | :- | :------------ | :---------------------------------------------------- | :------ | :------------------------------------------- | :---------------------------------------------------------- |
    | 1  | Content Page  | `/conf/your-site/settings/wcm/templates/content-page` | Default | Content pages, landing pages, campaign pages | Primary template — used when no other template is specified |

    **What to confirm:** The template paths in your CMS for each page type in scope, which template is the default, and which page types map to which templates.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="5. Golden Page Paths">
    Golden Pages are the reference pages Gradial uses as a quality and structure benchmark for new page creation. One row per page type you want covered.

    | #  | Page Name                      | Content Path                                | Template Used | Purpose                              | Notes                                       |
    | :- | :----------------------------- | :------------------------------------------ | :------------ | :----------------------------------- | :------------------------------------------ |
    | 1  | Homepage (Golden)              | `/content/your-site/en/homepage`            | Content Page  | Brand-standard layout benchmark      | Use as structure baseline for all new pages |
    | 2  | Campaign Landing Page (Golden) | `/content/your-site/en/campaigns/golden-lp` | Content Page  | Reference for campaign page creation |                                             |

    **What to confirm:** Which pages your team considers the gold standard for each page type, and that those pages are in a stable, published state accessible to Gradial. See [Golden Pages](/docs/creating-new-experiences/golden-pages) for more.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="6. Reference Page Paths">
    Specific existing pages used as layout or content references for new page creation tasks — distinct from Golden Pages in that these are real in-production examples rather than curated benchmarks.

    | #  | Page Name          | Content Path                                      | Public URL                                     | Use Case                       | Notes                                                  |
    | :- | :----------------- | :------------------------------------------------ | :--------------------------------------------- | :----------------------------- | :----------------------------------------------------- |
    | 1  | Sample Campaign LP | `/content/your-site/en/campaigns/sample-campaign` | `https://www.yoursite.com/en/campaigns/sample` | Create new page from reference | Use as layout/content reference for new campaign pages |

    **What to confirm:** A representative set of existing pages by page type that the agent can use as copy/structure references when Golden Pages don't exist yet.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

<Tip>
  Collect this information in a shared spreadsheet before your first Phase 2 session. Your Gradial onboarding manager can provide a template. Having it ready means your IT team only needs to be looped in once for a complete credential request — rather than piecemeal over several weeks.
</Tip>

***

## Phase 2: Credentials & Access

Connect Gradial to your CMS, ticketing system, and other tools. Once your organization is provisioned (Step 1), every subsequent step in this phase is self-service — follow the linked documentation and complete each integration independently.

<Warning>
  **This phase is the critical path of your onboarding.** Connecting your systems depends on your IT team provisioning service accounts and completing security reviews — a process that can take anywhere from one week to two months. Start early and submit a single, consolidated credential request rather than individual asks spread out over time.
</Warning>

<Steps>
  <Step stepNumber={1} title="Gradial provisions your organization (Gradial-led)">
    Your Gradial onboarding manager creates your organization account and sets your initial admin user. Your admin will receive an invite email once this is complete. All steps below can be completed independently after this point.
  </Step>

  <Step stepNumber={2} title="Add users to your Gradial organization">
    Log in at [app.gradial.com](https://app.gradial.com) and invite your team members. Identify your core team early — the admin, product owner, and use case leads who will own Gradial day-to-day. See [Manage Team Members](/docs/integrations-administration-and-setup/managing-access/manage-team-members) and [Roles & Permissions](/docs/integrations-administration-and-setup/managing-access/roles).
  </Step>

  <Step stepNumber={3} title="Set up Single Sign-On (SSO)">
    Connect Gradial to your identity provider (Microsoft Entra ID, Okta, or custom OIDC) to enable SSO. Recommended for all enterprise teams. See [Single Sign-On](/docs/integrations-administration-and-setup/managing-access/sso) for step-by-step configuration.
  </Step>

  <Step stepNumber={4} title="Whitelist Gradial's IP addresses (if required)">
    If your organization restricts inbound connections by IP, you may need to add Gradial's IP ranges to your allowlist before integrations can connect. Contact your Gradial onboarding manager for the current IP address list. This is typically handled by your network or security team alongside the credential provisioning in the steps below.
  </Step>

  <Step stepNumber={5} title="Connect your CMS environments">
    Connect Gradial to your CMS (e.g. Adobe Experience Manager, Sitecore) so agents can read, author, and publish content. For AEM, two accounts are typically required:

    * **A technical account** — used by Gradial to authenticate with the AEM API
    * **An authoring account** — a user account with write permissions to the content paths agents will work with

    See [Integrations](/docs/integrations-administration-and-setup/integrations/get-started-with-integrations) for supported platforms and detailed setup instructions.
  </Step>

  <Step stepNumber={6} title="Connect your ticketing system">
    Connect your project management tools — Jira, Workfront, Wrike, or similar — so Gradial agents can receive and execute work directly from your existing workflows. See [Connecting to External Ticketing Systems](/docs/integrations-administration-and-setup/how-gradial-works-with-ticketing-systems/setting-up-ticketing-integrations).
  </Step>

  <Step stepNumber={7} title="Connect Figma (if applicable)">
    If your team uses Figma for design, connect it using a Personal Access Token (PAT) so agents can source design assets and patterns. See [Figma Integration](/docs/integrations-administration-and-setup/integrations/figma).
  </Step>

  <Step stepNumber={8} title="Connect your DAM system (if applicable)">
    If your team uses a DAM, connect it so agents can source and manage assets as part of content workflows. See [Digital Asset Management](/docs/asset-management/digital-asset-management).
  </Step>
</Steps>

***

## Phase 3: Platform Onboarding

Configure Gradial for your environment and run end-to-end use case validation together with your Gradial onboarding manager. Setup steps are self-service; validation is a joint exercise.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Set up a sandbox area in your CMS/DAM">
    Create a dedicated sandbox or testing area within your CMS or DAM. This gives you a safe space to run agents and validate outputs before going live. Refer to your CMS admin for the recommended folder and permission structure, or ask your Gradial onboarding manager for guidance.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Schedule indexing jobs for your sites and assets (Gradial-led)">
    Once your CMS and DAM are connected, your Gradial team sets up and runs indexing jobs over your site content and asset libraries. Indexing is what powers site-wide search and bulk operations ([Site Search](/docs/updating-existing-experiences-i-e-content-updates/site-search)) and asset retrieval at scale ([Asset Search](/docs/asset-management/asset-search)) — results are only available after indexing is complete.

    * **Sites** — indexing runs over your connected site content within the content paths you defined in pre-configuration.
    * **Assets** — indexing runs over your connected DAM roots. Large asset libraries take time to index, so schedule this early rather than waiting until a use case needs it.

    Ask your Gradial onboarding manager to schedule these jobs as soon as the relevant integrations are connected. For AEM, you can also configure [journaling-based asset sync](/docs/integrations-administration-and-setup/integrations/aem/advanced-configurations#asset-sync-journaling) so asset changes flow into the index within minutes instead of waiting for the next full re-scan.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create Golden Pages">
    Golden Pages are reference pages that Gradial uses as a quality benchmark when creating or updating content. They represent your ideal page structure, component usage, and content standards. Set these up and ensure they are accessible in your CMS. See [Golden Pages](/docs/creating-new-experiences/golden-pages).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Configure design patterns (if applicable)">
    If you're using Gradial for page creation or migration, ingest your design system's component patterns so agents understand your component library and can assemble pages correctly. See [Design Pattern Ingestion](/docs/creating-new-experiences/design-pattern-ingestion).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Configure brand, compliance, and QA rules">
    Set up the rules that agents apply when generating and reviewing content — brand voice, legal compliance guardrails, and QA criteria. Rules can be created directly in the Rules Manager or by asking the agent. See [Rules & Skills](/docs/marketing-brain/managing-skills).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Validate your use cases (Gradial-led, joint)">
    Your Gradial onboarding manager will run use case validation sessions with your team — working through each in-scope workflow end-to-end against your real CMS environment. This is a collaborative exercise: your team runs the tasks, your Gradial manager guides the setup and troubleshoots issues together with you.

    Validation covers the full range of workflows in scope:

    * Small content updates (copy, images, links) — see [Small Content Updates](/docs/updating-existing-experiences-i-e-content-updates/small-content-updates)
    * Medium content updates (multi-component or multi-page) — see [Medium Content Updates](/docs/updating-existing-experiences-i-e-content-updates/medium-content-updates-in-gradial)
    * New page creation from Golden Pages and design patterns — see [New Page Workflow](/docs/creating-new-experiences/new-page)
    * QA and accessibility reports — see [QA Reports](/docs/quality-assurance-and-accessibility/qa-report) and [Accessibility Reports](/docs/quality-assurance-and-accessibility/accessibility-report)
    * Translation/localization workflows, if applicable — see [Translation](/docs/translation-and-localization/translation) and [Localization & MSM Inheritance](/docs/translation-and-localization/msm)
  </Step>
</Steps>

***

## Phase 4: Use Case Readiness & Training

Training follows a core-first model: Gradial trains your core team, your core team trains the extended user group — with Gradial available to support along the way.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Train your core team (Gradial-led)">
    Your Gradial onboarding manager leads a dedicated training session with the people who will own Gradial day-to-day: your admin, product owner, and use case leads. This session covers how to run each validated use case, how to write effective prompts, and how to troubleshoot common issues. By the end, your core team is ready to operate independently and train others.

    Use [Navigating the Gradial Platform](/docs/getting-started/navigating-the-platform) and [Prompting an AI Agent](/docs/getting-started/prompting-an-ai-agent) as supporting references.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Core team trains extended users (with Gradial support)">
    Your core team leads training sessions for authors, designers, and other operational staff. Gradial is available to support these sessions — answering questions, joining for complex use cases, and helping ensure your extended team leaves with the same confidence as your core group. Running these sessions internally builds long-term organizational capability.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Assign named internal owners">
    Before go-live, designate specific people responsible for:

    * **Prompt maintenance** — keeping prompts up to date as your content needs evolve
    * **Evaluation management** — updating QA evals when brand or compliance requirements change
    * **Use case evolution** — identifying and onboarding new use cases over time

    These don't need to be separate people, but ownership should be explicit.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Confirm your support process">
    Know where to go when you need help:

    * **Platform issues**: [Customer Support Portal](/support-portal) or [support@gradial.com](mailto:support@gradial.com)
    * **Documentation**: You're already here — bookmark the docs and share with your team
    * **Onboarding questions**: Your Gradial implementation manager remains your first point of contact until formal graduation
  </Step>
</Steps>

***

## Grady's Graduation

<Steps>
  <Step title="Complete graduation sign-off">
    Gradial onboarding concludes with a formal graduation sign-off — a review confirming that all in-scope use cases have been validated end-to-end, your team is trained, named owners are in place, and your support model is agreed. Your Gradial contact will guide you through this step.

    <Frame>
      <img src="https://mintcdn.com/gradial/yWuKxdDL9ose9AW5/images/02bde58f-134a-4b16-9073-180e31c88d91.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=yWuKxdDL9ose9AW5&q=85&s=0ba0dbd5604c3eb19aa948a0f65f402e" alt="02bde58f 134a 4b16 9073 180e31c88d91" width="1024" height="1024" data-path="images/02bde58f-134a-4b16-9073-180e31c88d91.png" />
    </Frame>
  </Step>
</Steps>

***

<Tip>
  **Need help?** Your Gradial implementation contact is your first stop for onboarding questions. For ongoing support, visit the [Customer Support Portal](/support-portal).
</Tip>