Managing templates
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This feature is managed by a Feature Flag
The feature described in this topic, as well as all related operations, is managed by a Feature Flag. If the Feature Flag is not activated in your system, you will not see this feature in your application.
The v10 application, via the "Admin" component, enables you to manage templates which will be used as a basis to generate reusable and personalized documents or statements for your employees.
The Templates section gives you access to the following actions:
Viewing an Existing Template
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This feature is managed by a Feature Flag
The feature described in this topic, as well as all related operations, is managed by a Feature Flag. If the Feature Flag is not activated in your system, you will not see this feature in your application.
To view the list of existing templates available in the system and view the details of an individual template, proceed as follows:
Open the "Admin" component, and then navigate to Letters & Statements > Templates in the left-hand menu. The "Templates" page is opened.
In the list of existing templates, locate the item that you want to view. If required, use the search bar provided at the top of the page.
Click the tile corresponding to the template. The template page is opened with all the configuration details.
Creating a Template
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This feature is managed by a Feature Flag
The feature described in this topic, as well as all related operations, is managed by a Feature Flag. If the Feature Flag is not activated in your system, you will not see this feature in your application.
To create a template to be used as a basis for the generation of your documents, proceed as follows:
In the "Admin" component, click Templates under the "Letters & Statements" section.
Click the New template button at the top-right of the page. The New Template conditional window is opened.
Enter a name for the template in the Template name field. The template name is mandatory and must be unique.
In the Data source drop-down, select a primary data source for the template among the list of available options.
Click Create template. The template is created and available is the list of templates.
Configuring a Template
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This feature is managed by a Feature Flag
The feature described in this topic, as well as all related operations, is managed by a Feature Flag. If the Feature Flag is not activated in your system, you will not see this feature in your application.
After the template is created in the system, it must be configured to tailor the requirements according to the type of document that must be generated for employees such as a recognition letter, a letter for a promotion, etc. Document templates are based on the synchronization of a predefined Microsoft Word file and data sources to generate personalized statements.
In addition to a primary data source which is used as the main source of information for each employee, it is possible to configure secondary data sources to the template to bring additional details.
Editing the Template Details
The Template Details section enables you to edit the basic properties of a template (name and primary data source) and add secondary data sources, as detailed in the below table:
| Parameter | Definition | |
|---|---|---|
| Template name | Edit the template name as needed. | |
| Primary data source |
Select a new primary data source for the template. The primary data source is a table or a view containing a row for each employee and columns storing the information used in the template such names, addresses, roles, salaries, etc. |
|
| Add another source |
Click the Add another source button to add a secondary data source to the template. Secondary data sources are tables used to bring additional information on the employees which can be composed of more than a single for a given employee. This is a tip message. To remove a data source, simply click the red "x" icon at the very right of the data source line. |
|
| Additional data sources | Select an additional data source to be used in the template. |
|
| Alias |
Select an additional data source to be used in the template. This is an attention message. Aliases must not contain any space or special character except for underscores and dashes. |
|
| Sort by | If needed, select a column of the data source to sort the rows in ascending order in the PDF file. | |
Configuring the Template Fields
In the Template Fields section you can select which fields to include from the data sources into your template file to personalized content for employees. Optionally, you can enter an alias for the fields.
For each of the available data source, the following table details the available parameters:
| Parameter | Definition |
|---|---|
| Add field |
Click the Add field button to add a field from the secondary data source to the template file. Secondary data sources are tables used to bring additional information on the employees. This is a tip message. To remove a data source, simply click the red "x" icon at the very right of the field line |
| Field name | Select a field to import from the data source into your template file. |
| Alias |
Optionally enter an alias for the field. This is an attention message. Aliases must not contain any space or special character except for underscores and dashes. |
Uploading or Downloading the Template File
The Microsoft Word template is the core element of the statement generation feature in which the mapping between the placeholders and the data source fields is operated and must be thoroughly configured.
In the Template File section, the application allows you to upload or download your .docx template file using the two buttons described below:
Upload .docx template file: upload the predefined .docx file from your computer. The document size is limited to 10MB.
Download .docx template file: if a .docx file has been uploaded, use this button to download the file on your device.
Microsoft Word template example
This is a tip message.
For more information concerning the configuration of data sources and .docx templates, refer to BQM104 - [[[Undefined variable FAQ_Titles.BQM104]]]
This is a warning message.
Please note that it is possible to edit a template during a merge run. This is a known limitation of the feature. beqom recommends that you always wait until any merge run is finished before editing the template; otherwise the generation might fail or the generated output might not meet the expectations.
Previewing a Document in PDF Format
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This feature is managed by a Feature Flag
The feature described in this topic, as well as all related operations, is managed by a Feature Flag. If the Feature Flag is not activated in your system, you will not see this feature in your application.
The preview feature allows your to preview the final version of the statement as a PDF according to a selected employee, directly from the application.
This is an attention message.
To prevent any unauthorized access of data, the list of employees available in the Preview section is ruled by the row level security functionality. For more information, refer to BQM104 - [[[Undefined variable FAQ_Titles.BQM104]]].
This is an attention message.
The preview functionality is only available if a .docx template has been previously uploaded in the application.
To preview the PDF version of the document, proceed as follows:
In the "Admin" component, access Letters & Statements > Templates. The list of available templates is displayed.
Open the template in which you want to work.
Navigate to the Preview section located at the bottom the template page.
Select a payee in the Select a payee to preview drop-down. The PDF preview of the document is displayed with personalized values according to the selected employee.
Cloning a Template
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This feature is managed by a Feature Flag
The feature described in this topic, as well as all related operations, is managed by a Feature Flag. If the Feature Flag is not activated in your system, you will not see this feature in your application.
The v10 offers the possibility to copy an existing template with the same properties but with a different name. This functionality can be very useful if you need to built an existing template but with slight differences.
To clone a template, proceed as follows:
In the "Admin" component, access Letters & Statements > Templates.
Locate the template that you want to clone among the available templates.
Hover your mouse cursor over the template tile and click the
icon as illustrated in the following figure:
Clone template button
In the Clone Template contextual window, enter a name for the new template.
Click Create template. The template is copied and available in the list.
Deleting a Template
To delete a template from the system proceed as described below:
Open the "Admin" component and navigate to Letters & Statements > Templates.
In the list of available templates, locate the template that you want to delete.
This is an attention message.
A template cannot be deleted if it is currently used in a merge.
Hover your mouse cursor over the template tile and click the
icon, as illustrated in the following figure:
Delete template button
Click the Delete template button. The template is removed from the system.