This glossary defines every term used across the KMS — from front matter fields to workflow stages, from content types to formatting features. Use it as a quick-reference dictionary.
Status Values
Draft
Front matter value: draft
An article being written or edited. Not visible on the production site — only visible in the CMS and local development environments. All new articles default to draft status.
→ See: Review & Publish Workflow
Review
Front matter value: review
An article submitted for editorial or subject-matter review. Not visible on the production site. A reviewer checks factual accuracy, structure, and style compliance before sign-off.
→ See: Review & Publish Workflow
Published
Front matter value: published
An article that has passed review (or been published directly) and is live on the production site. Visible to all authenticated Ace Strategies staff on the knowledge base. Appears in the index, search results, and filtered views.
→ See: Review & Publish Workflow
Archived
Front matter value: archived
An article that has been retired from active use. Hidden from the knowledge base index and search results. The file remains in the repository for historical reference and can be restored by changing the status back to published or draft.
→ See: Review & Publish Workflow
Front Matter Fields
author
Type: String. Required: No.
The name of the person who wrote the article. Displayed in the article meta row and on the knowledge base index card. Use full names (e.g., "Matt Neagle" not "M. Neagle").
category
Type: Select. Required: No.
The primary subject area of the article. Choose from ten predefined categories (see Categories section below). Displayed in the article breadcrumb trail and as a coloured label on index cards.
→ See: Categories (this glossary)
content_type
Type: Select. Required: No.
The format or purpose of the article (e.g., Briefing Note, Research Report, How-To Guide). Displayed as a badge on index cards and in the article meta row.
→ See: Content Types (this glossary)
date
Type: Datetime. Required: No.
The publication or creation date of the article in YYYY-MM-DD format. Used for sorting on the knowledge base index (newest first). Displayed on index cards and in the article meta row.
difficulty
Type: Select. Required: No.
The assumed reader knowledge level. Options: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert. Displayed as a colour-coded badge on index cards.
excerpt
Type: Text (textarea). Required: No.
A one-sentence summary of the article. Displayed on knowledge base index cards and used in search result snippets. Maximum recommended length: 160 characters (for SEO previews). Write in sentence case with no trailing full stop.
featured
Type: Boolean. Required: No.
When true, the article appears in the "Featured" section at the top of the knowledge base index page. Use for high-priority, time-sensitive, or essential content that team members should read first.
featured_image
Type: Image. Required: No.
A hero image displayed at the top of the article, below the title and meta information. Recommended dimensions: 1200×630px for optimal Open Graph preview rendering. Upload via the CMS media library.
image_alt
Type: String. Required: No.
Descriptive alternative text for the featured image. Used by screen readers for accessibility and displayed as a caption below the image. Write as a complete sentence describing what the image shows.
last_updated
Type: Datetime. Required: No.
The date of the most recent revision, in YYYY-MM-DD format. Update this field whenever you make substantive changes to a published article. Displayed as "Updated [date]" in the article meta row and footer.
noindex
Type: Boolean. Required: No.
When true, adds a <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> tag to the article's HTML <head>, instructing search engines not to index the page. Use for articles containing sensitive information or content intended only for authenticated members.
order
Type: Number. Required: No.
A numeric value controlling the article's position in custom-sorted collections. Lower numbers appear first. If not set, articles are sorted by date (newest first). Useful for documentation suites where you want a specific reading order.
related_articles
Type: Object list. Required: No.
A list of up to six related articles. Each entry has a title and url. Displayed as a grid of linked cards at the bottom of the article. URLs should be absolute paths from the domain root (e.g., /staff/knowledge/glossary/). Never link to /alliance/members/knowledge/... URLs — the IAA knowledge base is a separate library.
reviewer
Type: String. Required: No.
The name of the person who reviewed the article before publication. Displayed in the article meta row as "Reviewed by [name]". Creates an audit trail showing who approved the content.
seo_description
Type: Text (textarea). Required: No.
A custom meta description for search engines. If not set, the system falls back to the excerpt field, then to a truncated version of the body content. Override this when the excerpt doesn't make a good search snippet.
status
Type: Select. Required: Yes.
The article's stage in the content workflow. The most important front matter field — it controls visibility. Options: draft, review, published, archived.
→ See: Status Values (this glossary)
subcategory
Type: String. Required: No.
A finer-grained label within the primary category. Free text. Example: "State Budget" within the "Government Relations" category. Displayed in the article breadcrumb as a secondary navigation level.
table_of_contents
Type: Boolean. Required: No.
When true, auto-generates a clickable table of contents from the article's H2 and H3 headings. The TOC appears in a styled box after the article header. H3 items are indented beneath their parent H2.
tags_list
Type: List of strings. Required: No.
Keywords used for filtering and discovery. Displayed as clickable chips on index cards and in the tag filter bar on the knowledge base index. Conventions: lowercase, hyphen-separated multi-word tags, descriptive but concise (e.g., sa-budget, health, government-relations).
title
Type: String. Required: Yes.
The article headline. Displayed as the H1 on the article page and as the card title on the index. Use sentence case — capitalise only the first word and proper nouns (e.g., "SA State Budget 2026-27 — Health Portfolio Analysis").
Categories
Government Relations
Political strategy, regulatory navigation, government engagement, ministerial briefings, parliamentary affairs.
Strategic Communications
Messaging, narrative development, corporate communications, crisis communications, media strategy.
Stakeholder Engagement
Community consultation, partnership building, stakeholder mapping, engagement planning, public participation.
Media Management
Media relations, issues management, media training, press office operations, reputation management.
Market Entry & Growth
Australian market entry strategy, IAA member resources, investment facilitation, commercial establishment, partner identification.
Polling & Research
Public opinion research, data analysis, survey methodology, focus group research, sentiment tracking.
Public Affairs
Policy advocacy, government liaison, regulatory affairs, legislative monitoring, submission development.
KMS Operations
How the knowledge management system works, editorial process, platform documentation, system guides.
Editorial Standards
Writing style, tone, formatting conventions, callout usage, content templates.
Practice Playbooks
Repeatable workflows for client-facing practice areas — briefing notes, engagement lifecycles, media protocols.
Onboarding
New-starter guides, induction checklists, first-week orientation material.
Policy & Regulation
Legislative analysis, compliance guidance, regulatory impact assessment, policy development, submission writing.
Industry Intelligence
Sector analysis, competitive landscape, market trends, industry briefings, economic intelligence.
Content Types
Briefing Note
Concise executive summary on a specific topic. Typically 500-1,500 words. Structure: Executive Summary, Key Points, Implications, Recommendations. Use for pre-meeting briefings, rapid analysis, and executive updates.
Research Report
In-depth analysis with data, methodology, and citations. Typically 2,000-5,000 words. Structure: Abstract, Methodology, Findings, Discussion, Conclusions. Use for polling analysis, sector research, and detailed policy studies.
How-To Guide
Step-by-step instructional content. Variable length. Structure: sequential steps with numbered headings. Use for tutorials, onboarding guides, and procedural documentation. This documentation suite is a collection of How-To Guides.
Policy Analysis
Legislative or regulatory impact assessment. Typically 1,500-3,000 words. Structure: Policy Overview, Key Provisions, Stakeholder Impact, Compliance Requirements, Strategic Implications. Use for analysing government policy changes and their business impact.
Case Study
Real-world engagement example with outcomes. Typically 800-1,500 words. Structure: Client/Context, Challenge, Approach, Outcome, Lessons Learned. Use for documenting successful engagements and sharing institutional knowledge.
Reference Material
Factual reference documents, directories, and glossaries. Variable length. Structure: alphabetical or thematic organisation. Use for contact directories, process documentation, and definition lists (like this glossary).
Template
Reusable document framework with placeholder content. Variable length. Structure: annotated template with placeholders in [square brackets]. Use for proposal templates, briefing formats, and report structures.
Training Resource
Onboarding and capability-building material. Variable length. Structure: Learning Objectives, Content Modules, Exercises, Assessment. Use for staff induction, skills development, and knowledge transfer.
System Concepts
Callout
A highlighted information block rendered from Obsidian-style > [!type] syntax. The KMS supports 22 callout types: note, tip, warning, important, caution, info, success, question, help, faq, abstract, summary, tldr, bug, danger, error, failure, fail, missing, example, quote, cite. Each has distinct colour styling.
→ See: Style Guide for usage conventions
CMS (Content Management System)
The Sveltia CMS at /admin/ — a git-backed editing interface where content is created and managed. Commits changes directly to the GitHub repository.
→ See: Using the CMS
Eleventy (11ty)
The static site generator that builds the Ace Strategies website from Markdown and Nunjucks templates. Converts content files into the HTML pages served to browsers. Builds run at deploy time — there is no server-side rendering at request time.
Front Matter
YAML-formatted metadata at the top of every .md file, enclosed between --- delimiters. Defines the article's title, status, category, tags, and all other metadata fields. The system reads front matter at build time to determine how each article should be processed and displayed.
→ See: Write Your First Article for a hands-on example
KMS (Knowledge Management System)
The collective term for the knowledge base — the CMS, the git-backed content repository, the Eleventy build pipeline, and the member portal interface. Replaces scattered documents across shared drives and personal vaults with a single, structured, searchable system.
Markdown
A lightweight markup language used for writing KMS articles. Supports headings, lists, links, images, tables, code blocks, and blockquotes. The KMS extends standard Markdown with wikilinks and callouts.
Pagefind
A client-side search engine that indexes the built site and provides the search functionality on the public website and member portal. Runs at build time — newly published articles become searchable after the next build completes.
Production Build
The build that generates the live site served to visitors. Triggered automatically when changes are committed to the main branch. In production builds, articles with draft or review status are excluded. Set by NODE_ENV=production or CF_PAGES=1.
Sveltia
The CMS used for the KMS. A modern, git-backed content management system that provides a visual editing interface while committing changes directly to the repository. Accessible at /admin/.
→ See: Using the CMS
Wikilink
Obsidian-style internal link syntax: [[Article Title]] or [[Article Title|display text]]. At build time, wikilinks are converted to HTML anchor tags pointing to the target article's URL. Wikilinks only work within the knowledge base — they cannot link to external sites or non-knowledge-base pages.
YAML
The data serialisation format used for front matter. Human-readable and whitespace-sensitive. Indentation uses spaces (not tabs). List items are preceded by - (hyphen + space).
Build & Deploy Terms
Build
The process of converting source files (Markdown, Nunjucks templates, JSON data) into static HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files. Triggered by Git commits to the main branch. Typical duration: 1-3 minutes.
Cloudflare Workers
The hosting platform that serves the Ace Strategies website. Workers deploy the built site to Cloudflare's global edge network. Also handles API routes (member authentication, polling data).
Deploy
The process of uploading a completed build to the hosting platform and making it live. Happens automatically after each successful build.
Edge Network
Cloudflare's globally distributed network of servers. The Ace Strategies site is served from the edge location closest to each visitor, minimising latency.
Git
The version control system that tracks all changes to the repository. Every CMS save creates a Git commit. Git history provides an audit trail of who changed what and when.
Repository
The GitHub repository (kamirostami-lab/aces-prime) containing all source code, content, templates, and assets for the Ace Strategies platform.
Roles
Author
The person who writes the article. Responsible for creating content, filling in front matter, and progressing the article through draft → review → published.
Reviewer
The person who checks an article before publication. Verifies factual accuracy, structure, clarity, and style compliance. Adds their name to the reviewer field after sign-off.
Team Lead
A practice head or senior team member. Reviews sensitive or high-impact content. May approve publication of strategically significant articles.
Platform Administrator
Responsible for the technical operation of the KMS — repository access, build pipeline, CMS configuration, and user permissions. The first point of contact for technical issues.
Quick Reference: Field Types
| Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| String | Single-line text | title, author |
| Text | Multi-line text | excerpt, seo_description |
| Select | Dropdown with predefined options | status, category, content_type |
| Boolean | True/false toggle | featured, noindex, table_of_contents |
| Datetime | Date in YYYY-MM-DD format | date, last_updated |
| Number | Numeric value | order |
| Image | Media file reference | featured_image |
| List | Repeatable collection of values | tags_list, related_articles |
| Rich Text | Formatted body content | body |
This Glossary Is Alive
As the KMS evolves, new terms will be added. If you encounter an undefined term or need a definition clarified, suggest an update through the CMS — change the status to draft, add your content, and submit for review.