Home / Business & Management / Business Technology / Dynamics 365: Implementing Power Platform Integrations / Templates Overview
Templates Overview
This activity will introduce us to the use of templates within the certain Microsoft Office products, which allows us to automatically integrate data
Here we’ll have a quick overview of templates in the power platform– specifically document templates, Excel templates, and email templates. We also have workflow templates, but they are beyond the scope of this course. Look for those in the course about automation.
Templates make it easy for users to leverage data and quickly create standardised documents and emails. Users with appropriate permissions can make their own templates and share them with other users and teams. Organisational templates are created by the administrator to benefit users. Some considerations. Data is leaving the system, and that means you lose control of what happens to it. None of these templates prevent a user from updating the items created by a template such as Word documents generated from CDS data. If your compliance requires documents to be locked out, you will need a third party tool for document generation, or a workflow for email creation. Let’s look at Word templates. Some things to know– they’re based only on a single record.
Full formatting is available with the features in Word. But note, they are not solution aware. They leverage one to many and many to one, and as well as many to many relationships.
Excel templates. They can be based on a trigger on a view. Full formatting is available, once again using Excel functionality. And they also are not solution-aware. So based on a single view, notes that are in classic web interface, a user can select a single record, a group of records, and select to run an Excel template. However, the behaviour is the same. The template runs against the view. They can be opened at Excel Online or a desktop. They empower users to use Excel documents with Dynamics 365 data without needing to know how to create them. Full formula and formatting features in Excel are available. And they [INAUDIBLE] must stay in the instance of where they were created. Email templates.
They can be used in campaigns, individual emails, and workflows. There’s no spellchecker, so be careful. They are solution-aware, so they can move as part of a solution. Entity templates available for accounts, contacts, opportunities, leads, quotes, orders, invoices, cases, contracts, service activities, and system jobs. Global email templates are very limited in available fields. If a standardised email is needed for a customer entity, consider using a workflow to create and send the email, so that you can leverage the full data model of that entity in dynamic text. A note on document template security. Use security roles to control CRUD operations on Organisational and personal templates, CRUD being Create, Read, Update, and Delete. Word templates and Excel templates share the same security privileges.
So by granting one, you are granting the other. Organisational templates can be shared with specific security roles, shared with all by default. Sharing personal templates with teams can be an easy way to bridge the gap between security needs and limit visibility to a group of users. Security roles for CRUD privileges, personal, and Organisational email template privileges are separate. Unlike document templates, email templates can’t be restricted to only specific security roles.
This step will introduce us to the use of templates within the certain Microsoft Office products, which allows us to automatically integrate data from the Common Data Service (CDS) in order to standardise our reporting and communication.
Users with appropriate access can create templates that draw from the Common Data Service, for the following environments
- Document/Word
- Excel
This allows for the standardisation of communications and reporting, from visual branding to accuracy and succinctness of quotations, to speeding up the generating of regular reports.
NB: When you generate documents, data is leaving the system. This means you no longer have control over it. None of these templates prevents users from updating the documents generated and manipulating the contents. If your compliance requires documents to be locked down, then a third-party tool for document generation will be necessary.
Word document templates
- Based on a single record
- Full Microsoft Word formatting available
- Not solution aware
- Leverage one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many relationships
Excel templates
- Trigger based on a view
- Full Microsoft Excel formula & formatting available
- Not solution aware
Email templates
- Available for campaigns, individual emails, and workflow
- No spellchecker capability
- Solution aware
Document Template Security
Administrators have the ability to set CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) roles in the security roles settings. Word and Excel share settings and be restricted to specific security roles, but Email settings are different and cannot be restricted.
Join the discussion
What is your team or organisation’s current process for standardisation of communications?Use the discussion section below and let us know your thoughts. Try to respond to at least one other post and once you’re happy with your contribution, click the Mark as complete button to check the step off, then you can move to the next step.
This article is from the online course:
Dynamics 365: Implementing Power Platform Integrations
Created by
This article is from the free online
Dynamics 365: Implementing Power Platform Integrations
Reach your personal and professional goals
Unlock access to hundreds of expert online courses and degrees from top universities and educators to gain accredited qualifications and professional CV-building certificates.
Join over 18 million learners to launch, switch or build upon your career, all at your own pace, across a wide range of topic areas.
