Define template details

Only system administrators, and authority users with the correct security key or user permission, can maintain templates.

  1. On the System Administration or Home screen, click DP - Letter Templates.

    The Letter Templates Summary screen appears, showing the existing templates.

  2. Click Details next to the template.

    The Letter Template Details screen appears, showing the template's Product Area, Document Group, Template Name and Template Description.

    For an NCS template only, the Template Description is editable.

  3. Optionally, in the Sub-Categories box, select one or more sub-categories of the document group.

    This can help users select the correct template when requesting documents.

  4. For a Welsh authority, if this is an English-language template then you can select an Alternative Welsh Template and an Alternative Bilingual Template.

    These alternative templates must be predefined within the same document group, and if specified allow ASSURE to switch automatically between English, Welsh and Bilingual templates according to the preferred language of each selected recipient.

  5. For an NCS template that includes information from custom sub-tabs, use the Sub Tab Application Type to select the specific type of application or worksheet. This ensures that the correct merge fields will be available in the Document Editor.

    Note

    For a TMT/Word (DP) template, the application type is identified in the Template Maintenance Tool.

  6. Optionally, in the Target response days field, specify the number of days in which the recipient is expected to respond.

    For a Building Control, Land Charges, or Planning template, tick the Use non-working days calendar checkbox if you want this period to exclude non-working days (for example, bank holidays).

  7. Tick the Store produced documents checkbox if you want any documents created with this template to be stored in the NEC Document Management repository.

    • Tick the Allow editing of produced document checkbox if you want to allow the requesting user to edit the document.

    • Tick the Allow auto editing of produced document checkbox if you want ASSURE to open the document for editing automatically.

    How auto-editing works

    If your authority is using NEC Communications Suite the document will open in the online Document Editor. Otherwise, it will open in MS Word provided that the requesting user has the NEC DM Enterprise Desktop Integration (EDI) application running on their computer.

  8. Tick the Is the template an application summary template? checkbox if the document defined by this template is intended to summarise an entire application type. (For Building Control and Planning, these sorts of templates cannot be selected by authority users.)

  9. These options relate only to Grant and Loan (GL) applications; that is, where Document Group is PSH (Grants):

    • Tick the GL Payment Letter checkbox if this template can be used when making an authorised payment to an applicant or payee involved the application.

      Before producing the letter, ASSURE prompts for the payment details and records them on the GL worksheet.

    • Tick the Schedule of Works checkbox if this template can be used to summarise the schedules associated with a particular payee involved in the application (including those schedules that are not associated with any payee).

      The Recipient Type should be GL Payee.

  10. Tick the Use Preferred Method of Written Contact checkbox if you want the recipients' preferred method of written contact (PMoWC) to influence how the document is distributed.

  11. Tick the Manual Release checkbox if you want an emailed or printed document to be held indefinitely in the Awaiting Release status until released by a user.

  12. Tick the Delay Send checkbox if you want an emailed document to be paused temporarily in the Awaiting Send status. Set the duration of the delay in the Time Delay (minutes) field.

    Note

    If used together with the Manual Release feature, the delay occurs after the document is released.

  13. Under Default output method, specify how you prefer the document to be distributed:

    • Click Print if you want it to be printed.

    • Click Email if you want it to be emailed.

    • Click File if you want it to be filed (for example, saved as a PDF).

    • Click Ask every time if you want each user who requests the document to decide.

    The presence of Location, Printer and Email fields depends on the PMoWC setting as well as the default output method:

    • In the Location field, specify the share name of the folder to which the document should be filed (do not specify a local path).

    • In the Printer list, select the central printer to which the document should be sent, or Local or LocalAuto to allow the document to be printed at a local printer.

      The central printers must be predefined at the ASSURE server. A document sent to the Local printer is held in the document queue with a status of Print Local until released. A document sent to the LocalAuto printer is held by the NEC DM Enterprise Desktop Integration (EDI) application with a status of Print Local Auto, and must be printed from there.

    • In the Email field, specify the email address of the default recipient of the document.

    If both the Location and Printer fields are present, you must complete one or the other but not both. These choices can be overridden by the requesting user.

  14. If you want the user to be able to produce multiple documents and amalgamate them into a single file, do the following:

    1. Ensure that Default output method is set to File.

    2. In the Location field, specify where the file is to be placed.

    3. Tick the Amalgamate letters into single file checkbox.

    4. Tick the Store in DMS checkbox to store the amalgamated file in the NEC Document Management repository, and any other supported third-party Document Management System (DMS).

    5. In the Amalgamate File Type field, choose the file format: MS Word (.docx), OpenDocument Text (.odt), or Portable Document Format (.pdf).

    The requesting user can override these default settings.

    Note

    This feature is available only for an NCS template.

  15. Under Letter Template Type, tick the Standard, Reply and Batch checkboxes to indicate for which types of letter this template is suitable.

  16. Optionally, in the Document Type list, select the document type by which the document will be indexed in the NEC Document Management repository.

    The available document types may be limited by the document group.

  17. In the Recipient Type list, select the type of person who is to be its recipient. The available types depend on the document group. Select Not Selected if you want the requesting user to identify the recipient.

    For a Building Control or Planning template, tick the Lock recipient type checkbox to prevent the recipient type being changed by the requesting user.

  18. Optionally, for a Public Protection template, in the Action Code list, select an action to be added to an associated worksheet's Actions tab when the document is produced. If none is specified, a default action is used.

    Tip

    Documents that are not going to be stored in the NEC Document Management repository should not be associated with actions that trigger Attach File events, because there will be no files to attach.

  19. Optionally, you can override the default introductory content and attachments of the email that is sent when the output method is Email.

    Click Email Introduction to open the Edit Letter Email Content dialog.

    • Use the HTML editor to change the content of the email.

    • To add attachments, click Choose Files then select the files in the Windows Open dialog and click Open.

    • To remove an attachment, click its dustbin icon Remove File icon.

    Any attachment can be downloaded from NEC Document Management by expanding the ▼ control and choosing the file from the list.

    Note

    The default email content and attachments are defined in Configuration Settings.

  20. Tick the Output in Email body checkbox if you want the document to be formatted as part of the email itself, rather than as a PDF attachment to it.

    Note

    This is possible only for NCS templates.

  21. Tick the Lock Email Content checkbox if you want to prevent the requesting user changing the email introductory content and attachments.

  22. Tick the Authorise before sending checkbox if you require the document to be authorised before it is printed, emailed or filed.

    Click Authorising Users and then search for and select up to 50 possible authorising users from the list of current authority users. Only one of these needs to authorise the document.

    Note

    If you tick both Allow editing of produced document and Authorise before sending, the document must be edited first (or not edited at all), and then authorised.

  23. Click Save to return to the Letter Templates Summary screen.

  24. Click Close.