Put the rule in the guide

Some rules in a partner guide don’t state themselves. They point somewhere else:

• “Discounts are set out in the current price list.”
• “Specialization requirements are available on the partner portal.”
• “See the program terms for eligibility.”

Each line looks tidy. Each one leaves the reader without the rule.

What goes wrong

The partner reading your guide often can’t follow the pointer at that moment. They’re reading a PDF someone forwarded, or they don’t have a portal login yet, or the link has moved. So they guess, or they ask.

The page being pointed to also changes on its own schedule. The guide says one thing was true in March; the portal says something else in June. Nobody announced the change, because nobody thought of the portal page as part of the program.

And anyone given only the guide, whether a new partner manager, a lawyer, or software answering a partner’s question, can’t answer at all. They’ll either say they don’t know or fill the gap with what’s typical elsewhere.

Put the rule in, link for detail

• State the rule where it applies. “Gold partners receive a 10% rebate on eligible bookings” belongs in the guide, even if the full rate card lives elsewhere.
• Link for detail, not for the rule. A link is fine for the long table, the form or the training course, as long as the rule itself is on the page.
• If a value changes often, say how it changes. “Discounts are set each quarter and published on the portal on the first business day of the quarter” is a rule. “See the price list” isn’t.
• Don’t lock rules in pictures. A tier table pasted in as an image can’t be searched, copied or read by assistive software. Put the text in as text.

A good guide can be read on its own. Everything else is reference.