Document Template Design and Delivery

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Overview

ChannelOnline has upgraded its ability for resellers to control the look and design of the Quotes, Proposals, Sales Orders, Invoices, and Packing Slips that they deliver to their customers.  By utilizing the creation of Document Templates that can be assigned to a specific document type and used with predefined print/e-mail options, you can provide as much or as little detail depending on the need.  Part of the new system allows you to preview the template and options combination or bypass the preview with the use of quick links on the document page (RMA and Purchase Orders are not affected by these new templates).

This document will detail how to use the out-of-the-box templates, copy, modify, and create your own templates in the Template Designer.  Then how to enable templates for use and combine them with print and email options for delivery.  It will also cover how to set your preferred defaults in the My Preferences section and for a StoreSite.

Template Designer

The Template Designer, accessed from Admin > Document Templates, provides the capability to design your own templates for use with the advanced document delivery system.  Users with administrative rights to the Template Designer page can copy the predesigned templates for quotes and proposals or create brand-new ones.

In order to access this module, you must first be assigned to an Access Rights Profile with the “Manage Document Templates” permission enabled (If you do not see the Document Templates link in the Admin list or page, you do not have access).

From this Admin area, you can:

• Change the status of this feature set (Active, Trial, Inactive) during the Beta period (Beta period exists only for customers that joined prior to release 6.0.5. All newer functionality such as Proposals and Electronic Signature (E-Sign) is only available in Active mode).
• Create and manage Document Templates.

In order to use the Document Templates and Document Delivery System functionality, there are some things that are necessary to know.

• All five provided templates cannot be edited (three for quotes and two for proposals).  To modify one of these templates for use, you will need to make a copy.
• Each sales template needs to be assigned to a document type.  Designate the template for use with a quote, sales order, or invoice (or a combination of any of these).  Proposals use their own dedicated templates.  Use the Proposal sub-tab to navigate to them.
• Each template needs to be “enabled” for use or it will not appear for use with documents in the Delivery Window or for setup in a user’s Print / E-mail Settings. Templates are enabled for use by checking the Enable box located in the template header during the Template Designer mode.
• After your templates are enabled, you can use them for print, email, and E-Sign from a document by using the Send or Electronic Signature link at the bottom of the document.

Creating a Template

There are two ways to create a template:

1.   Copy an existing template by clicking on the copy icon in the column second from the right in the Document Template table.

2.   Select the Create New Template link at the top left of the Document Template table.

Document Templates can be named, assigned to one or more supported document types (quote, sales order, and invoice), and enabled.

Once in a template, expand the Template Settings (Document Name) drop-down to change the document name, add a description, and assign document types for template use. Select the check box next to each applicable type.

This is also where you will enable a template for use.  Proposal templates have an additional section for establishing their default print options called “Default Display Options”.

Be sure to save your settings. After hitting the Save button, the page will always reload.

Formatting and Style

After you have named your template, you can choose the following formatting options by selecting the desired option from each section’s dropdown menu:

• Layout – there are 4 layouts of rows and columns that have been preconfigured for use.  Additional rows can be added by using the insert feature at the bottom of the designer.
  • Layout Options – Add new rows and columns, insert page breaks for use with the PDF conversion, and add horizontal lines
• Colors – 12 color-themed palettes and a “None” option are available
• Font (families) – 5 common browser-supported font families are available
• Style – Choose between rounded or squared corners for your components

These selections can be changed later.   However, changing Layouts may result in the loss of some added components (details below).

Adding and Removing Components

Components are the major building blocks of a document template.  Each component is a logical grouping of document, company, or customer information.  Templates are built by adding components into target areas of the selected layout and editing them for borders, backgrounds, color, and font size.

Some new information has been made available via the components that had not been on the original ChannelOnline template.  These items include thumbnail images, % discount off list, account manager (not just the preparer), company fax number, signature block (you may wish to omit the signature block if you are using the E-Sign feature), and terms and conditions.  

Even though all components can be edited, they do not all have the same level of editing capabilities.  Most components enable editing of the title and body font, size, color, and style, including borders and backgrounds.  Some of this capability is limited by the information that is displayed by that component.

STEPS

1.   Open the template that you want to create or modify

2.   Select the desired Layout preference

3.   Add components to targets by clicking on the Add buttons in the target fields*

4.   Select a Color palette

5.   Select a Font family

6.   Select Style

7.   Edit individual components

8.   Enable for use with document Delivery Window

* Tip: Save and preview as you add and edit components.

If you want to move components around in your design it is best to remove the component from its current location by clicking on the ‘X’ icon in the components upper right corner.  After it is removed it will be available in the list of components in the Add Component popup window to be used again.  Changing the layout will drop components that no longer fit into the row where they were originally placed.  It is recommended that you use the Insert Row feature and move it to the location you want by using the up and down arrows for the row.  After the row is in place add the components you want and remove the unwanted components or rows.

Page Layout Tools – The following design tools are used to modify the contents of your quote and proposals:

• Insert Row: Adds a new row to the page. Allows you to specify the number of columns required on that row. You may include up to 4 columns per row.
• Page Break: Inserts a ‘break’ signal which tells printers to resume printing on the following page. This feature only affects printed documents.

• Header: Used to insert a paragraph title. Headers help you structure the content within your documents. When used with proposals, a table of contents will be automatically created from the header sections.
• Horizontal Line: Adds a visual line separator at the specified location. Horizontal lines are best leveraged to create logical breaks between distinct segments of your document.

Specialty Proposal Components

The key advantage of using proposals over quotes is that you can provide more thorough communication about the services you plan to offer your customers.  This can be in the form of an outline of goals, project phases, and/or timelines.  Most information can be drafted and placed into a template in the template designer.  Some special components have been created for use in building proposals.  These are available as placeholders during the design step but are actively used to build proposals once the template is complete.  These components include:

• Cover Page: The Cover Page displays the applied theme or a background of your choosing, plus important data fields for dynamic generation.
• Table of Contents (TOC): A table of Contents can be added to a proposal by using the table of contents component.  Once added, the component picks up all headers that have been added to the proposal.  These headers will be displayed in the proposal builder and act as anchors for building and PDF conversion.
• Headers: Headers are inserted to help structure a proposal and create a table of contents entries.
• External Links – Use External Links to take users to documents stored on a public drive.
• Add Quotes – The Add Quotes component has two functions.  In the template designer, you can add it as a placeholder for quotes, should they be added to a proposal.  When building the proposal, you then use the component to add an available quote or multiple quotes to the proposal.  This allows users to create proposal options and or phases in a project plan.
• Add Spec Sheets – Add a complete product specification sheet to the body of a proposal document.  In the builder, only the top portion is displayed.  In preview or send, you will see the complete product information.

Document Delivery

Once the Document Delivery System is active, you will have the ability to invoke the enhanced Document Delivery System by clicking the ‘Send’ button from the bottom of your quotes, sales orders, or invoices.

Clicking the Send link will launch the document Delivery Window. In this window, users can preview the document with their default template and preset print options applied, modify those selections as needed from the print option pane on the right, and then choose how they want the document delivered – via browser print function, PDF, or email.

Delivery Window

The following options make up the document delivery window:

1.   A filtered template list to pick from for sending the document. (This only shows the templates that have been enabled for that document type).

2.   A view print option setting list, which automatically uses the presets for document type, and the view selection you were in when you clicked ‘Send’ (for example Quote Sourcing View).

3.   The ability to switch between portrait and landscape page orientation.

4.   A Show selection with a two-column layout of the view options that can be modified.

5.   A preview window, which automatically defaults to the document type and view selection you were in when you clicked ‘Send’ (for example Quote Sourcing View).

Some of your view options may become grayed out and non-selectable depending on the availability of that option.  This may occur if you have a specific option disabled, account-wide under Admin -> Company Settings, or if you do not have a corresponding component included in the selected template for that view option in which to display information.  For example: If you do not add the ‘Lease Table’ component to your active template, we will disable the “Lease Options” checkbox on delivery.

User Print / E-mail Settings

When an account has been switched to either ‘Trial’ or ‘Active’, all ChannelOnline users (SalesReps, Admins, and Purchasers) will be able to set up their default template by document type as well as their default print/email options for each document view.  The system has defaults that will be applied automatically and can be changed in the delivery window, but users who set up their defaults will reduce the time it takes to send documents.  To do this, each user can navigate to:  My Account -> My Preferences -> Print / E-mail Settings (Edit)

In Print / E-mail Settings, users may:

• Define from available (enabled) templates which ones they want to use as the default for each document type.  All enabled templates will still be available in the delivery window this just sets the default.
• Assign print options to each possible document view. Example: Template 1 will be the default for Quotes, and each document view (Standard, Sourcing, and All Suppliers) can have a saved set of print options.
• Enable the Quick Publish option to bypass the use of the delivery window (with options and preview accessed by the Send link). When enabled, users will see two additional links added above the Send link at the bottom of the quote, sales order, and invoice documents.

Once a user has set up and saved their defaults, those defaults will be called whenever they send any document.

StoreSite Preferences

Once an account has been switched to ‘Trial’ (Preview Store only) or ‘Active’, all of your StoreSites will receive a default template selection drop-down located in Admin -> StoreSite Admin -> (edit) [Store Name] -> Settings Tab – General -> Edit.  By default, all stores will be assigned to the “ChannelOnline Standard” template, which is a close match to the original ChannelOnline document design.

Several of the options on the ‘Settings’ Tab under the ‘Cart (Quote)’ section will be either disabled or removed, depending on your activation level.  These options are no longer needed due to the flexibility you now have with the assigned StoreSite template.  For example, the option “Print Logo” controls whether or not you would like the StoreSite logo to be included in the printed version of a document.  Going forward, you can now accomplish this by including or not including the logo component in the template assigned to this store (this may require the creation of a template for StoreSite use only).

The following StoreSite document settings will be affected once you completely activate the new functionality.

• Use of the Company Logo or assigned Logo. Logos will be set in the template designer.
• Show reseller company address info on the Print Preview page. (print options)
• Show billing & shipping info on the Print Preview page. (template)
• Show tax on the View Cart and View Quote pages. (print options)
• Show shipping charges on the View Cart and View Quote pages. (print options)
• Show manufacturer part # for products. (print options)
• Show lease options on the View Cart / Quote and Print Preview pages. (print options)

Building a Proposal with a Template

After you have enabled a template for use, you can create a proposal by going to the desired customer and selecting the Create Proposal link underneath the contact information and above the list of quotes and orders.

The versatility of the proposal template functionality, coupled with the Electronic Signature feature, plus user-customizable text and HTML components, templates can be used to create and deliver simple or complex proposals.  Use the predefined HTML components to assist in creating blocks of important proposal-related structure, formatting, and information.  Examples include:

• About Us
• Company Info
• Executive Summary
• Project Overview
• Milestones
• Timelines
• Project Members

All Quote components are available for use in pulling database values onto proposals.

Additionally, the ability to add multiple quote product tables onto a single proposal means that you can set up a proposal to offer options or phases or to break out hardware from services and labor within a proposal document.

Action options in the builder’s footer include Save, Save as New, Save and Close, Ready for E-Sign, Send (E-mail, PDF, or Print), and Preview.