Request: In an insurance company, the CRM Software used in the agencies delivers data for individual letters and mailings. Depending on the content type, autotext entries will have to be added to the single letter documents or to the mail merge base documents. All correspondence documents must have the layout of the insurance letterhead, but the individual data of the local agency must be incorporated.
Solution: At the agency the localized information is entered through an administrative dialog after installation of the templates. Each new document reads the information and creates at run-time headers, footers and labels. Updates of the global template with the autotexts are possible without interfering with the localization or requiring the users to recreate the template layout.
Request: In a retail chain, the document template set must be redesigned for use in the company headquarter and in more than 100 outlets all over Germany. The project should provide the company with templates which are consistent with the firm corporate design and which are easy to use.
Difficulties: Users should not have the possibility to change the document layout after creation of documents. However, edits of the body text and of the sender and adressee information should be possible.
Solution: Together with the developers of the firm new layouts are defined, based on a framework which all single templates use. The templates for letter, fax, memorandum and minutes have input and edit dialogs, which allow access to the sender and addressee information. Section-based document protection prevents the users from changing the page layout, headers and footers. The localization of the document (phone, fax numbers and address in the footer) is done by a global AddIn on creation of a new document.
Request: In the service sector, the corporate group has a dozen divisions with more than 200 branch offices. The group plans a rollout of the template set developed for the head office in all divisions and branches.
Difficulties: At the time of the project start, the IT infrastructure of the group is inhomogeneous. For instance, there is no consistent installation point for Microsoft Office with a clear path structure. Each division has its own stationery with different layout; for each branch office small numbers of stationery are printed with the localized information.
Solution: Management has been convinced by the project team to support a new stationery layout consistent for all divisions. Only the logo itself is different, whereas position and measurements are standardized. Preprinted information is deleted from the stationery.
A global Word AddIn contains the complete functionality for the administration of user profile data and company (branch) data. Single document templates such as letter and fax are attached on run-time to the AddIn libraries, thus avoiding path issues. Users can select, on document creation, for which branch office they want to create the new document.
An online-help provides support for difficult tasks and shows automatically "What's new"-information in the case of template updates. - Installation is done by an InstallShield setup.
The document template set allows important cost savings on the stationery side, because larger numbers can be printed, and the regular deployment after changes in the branch office data is not longer necessary.
Request: The reference book of the bank is accessible in the IntraNet in PDF format. The creation and update of the single chapters is done by the responsible authors in the bank's various departments. They are accustomed to Microsoft Word as primary tool for text processing. Therefore, Word documents in "track changes" mode are used. The documents should be protected against wrong formatting. The chapter metadata (Reponsibles, Title, Subtitle, Chapter number, Revision Status, Revision TimeLines) are stored in an Access database and must be transferred into the document.
Solution: VBA macros in the template have the following jobs: (1) Transfer of metadata from the database into first page, headers and fields of the document; (2) Formatting macros for easier authoring; (3) Use of the extended document protection feature with Office 2003, which can prevent direct paragraph and font formatting. The list of allowed styles is saved in an INI file, permitting the necessary style updates. An online-help informs authoring users about changes and updates.
Request: A law firm requests a set of document templates. In addition to the usual correspondence documents, the users create large and structured documents in German, English and French. A DMS software will soon be in place; and interfaces to the CRM software and to the billing system are needed as well.
Solution: Development of the template set and a global AddIn for additional functions, use of interfaces, support during the introduction of DMS, creation of online help and of scripts to support installation and administration issues. Project lifetime: The project startet in 1996 with the migration from DOS/Wordperfect 5.0 to Windows 95 and Office 95. DocsOpen was used as DMS. The law firm initially had 5 offices in large German cities. Meanwhile, the firm has merged with an international law firm based in the USA. The German template set had to be constantly changed and adapted to new layouts and new requirements. In 2005 the firm has migrated to Windows XP, Office 2003 and Intervowen iManage 8 as DMS.