Document templates

A document from a template

Many documents in a company have a fixed layout, and only the data changes: the number, the contractor, the amounts, the items. In Opero such a document does not arise by typing into Word by hand, but from a template. A template is a ready pattern with places marked for data; the system inserts the values from a record into them and produces a ready PDF.

Thanks to this, every invoice and every offer looks the same, has the company letterhead, and no field can be forgotten, because the template watches the layout.

The data pulled into the document

• The record's data drops into the marked places: number, date, contractor, amounts.
• The items (for example the rows of an invoice or an offer) arrange into a table automatically, as many rows as there are.
• The company letterhead with the header, footer, and logo is part of the template, so the document is on-brand right away.

Example. You close an offer. Instead of assembling the PDF by hand, you start generation from the Offer template. The system takes the offer's data, arranges the items into a table, adds the header with the logo, and produces a ready file that you attach to the e-mail to the client.

Where documents come from

A document from a template arises in two ways, depending on the instance's configuration.

• Automatically, when a set event occurs, for example approving a matter starts generating a letter. Then the file appears at the record.
• On demand, when you start generation yourself from the record.

In both cases the result is a PDF file, which stays at the record like any attachment.

Differences from an attachment

• An attachment is a file that came from outside and you upload it by hand, for example a scan of the signed contract.
• A document from a template is assembled by the system from data, so it is always up to date with the record at the moment of generation and always in the same, on-brand layout.

If a document you assemble in Word by hand today is always made the same way and only the data changes, that is the best candidate for a template. Tell the administrator.