Creating Documents and Templates

The final step of preparing a quote involves sending it to the customer.

The Document Generation Templates workspace allows administrators to create document templates with tags that retrieve specific quote details. The Document Generation Templates workspace can be found under Setup → Quotes.

SAP CPQ allows users to transfer quote details to documents that can be printed, downloaded, and e-mailed. Document Generation creates dynamically populated documents in PDF, Word, and Excel formats. The format, style, fonts, colors, and images of the final printable document is based on the layout of the document template. Once users create a quote, they often need to email the details to customers for further review. Quote documents are e-mailed to the customer using the e-mail address in the customer profile.

The Document Generation provides administrators the independence to define the format and the style of the document. Users can generate simple one-section or multi-section documents. Section documents can be used independently or included with a larger proposal.

SAP CPQ supports a wide range of generated documents including the following:

• Full Proposals (single-document proposal).
• Multi-section Proposals containing:
  • Cover Letter
  • Table of Contents
  • Executive Summary
  • Case Study
  • Appendix

Use the Document Generation Template workspace to perform the following tasks:

• Create and manage templates.
• Specify whether a section in a multi-section document is mandatory or optional.
• Redefine single-document templates as multi-section templates and add sections.
• Define whether documents are generated as Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) or PDF formats.
• Protected .doc and .docx files cannot be uploaded into SAP CPQ.

Document generation templates can be created in two ways:

• A new template by using Microsoft Word
• A new template by using Microsoft Excel

Create a blank Word or Excel document, format the document as needed, and manually insert the necessary tags.

A document template can contain a single or several sections. Examples of sections include:

• Table of Contents
• Cover Letter
• Executive Summary
• Case Study
• Appendix

These sections are selected and generated once a quote has been created and placed into a proposal. The Document Generation Templates workspace uses preset section templates. Users can also create their own sections.

To create a document template with multiple sections:

• From the Global Document Templates workspace, select Add New.
• Provide a name for your template and select Save.
• In the Template Type field, select Multi-Sections Template.
• Open the Sections tab.
• Under Sections select Add New.
• Select a Section from the list followed by selecting the check-boxes.
• Repeat for multiple sections.
• Select Save.

When generating multi-section documents, users can:

• Control the order of the document sections.
• Upload and name their own sections.
• Require sections so they cannot be removed from the generated document.
• Download sections.
• Replace sections by uploading a new template.
• Users can modify sections depending on their permissions.

The Document Template feature owes its flexibility to the administrators who define the visibility and format permissions. Administrators can also select additional fields and documents to be included in the generated document. Also, administrators can enable users to administer templates on the user side.

The tabs that display in the Document Template editing page are:

• Template Definition:

  Define the template name, whether the template has sections because it's a multi-section template, or if it's a section (and part of another template). This tab is where you upload the Word template document.

• Sections (only available for multi-section templates):

  Order the template's sections according to your needs and allow whether users can sort sections, upload their own, and inherit later sections' formatting from the template's first section.

• Visibility Permissions:

  Define which User Type, Company, Market, Brand, or Custom Permission Group can see and use the template. You can also define a visibility condition. Use visibility permissions to limit the quote's use to a given stage of the quote or sales process. Setting a limit can avoid sending an incorrect or invalid quote.

• Format Permissions:

  Grant users the ability to select the quote document's output format, whether Word (.doc), Word (.docx), or PDF. Without a format permission, the default format is used.

• Related Fields:

  The identified quote fields user is prompted when generating a document using this template. The prompts include a quote's expiration date or payment terms. Depending on the template type you're editing, the fields are related to a section (if there is a section template). The fields can also be related to the entire output document (in which case, they're displayed in the Template Details panel in the Customize tab on the user side).

• Additional Content (only available for single-section templates):

  Files stored as managed content documents are assigned to the template. The user is prompted to include one or more of these files in the quote document at the location marked by:

  <<INCLUDE_DOCUMENTS>><<INCLUDE_DOCUMENTS_END>>

• Additional Documents (available in single- or multi-section templates, but not in section templates):

  Files stored as managed content documents are attached to the template. Use a formula to determine which conditions to attach the file.

• Delegation of Authority for Document Templates:

  Grant a user or a group of users the ability to manage the template. You do so by giving them access to the Template Definition, Related Fields, and Additional Files tabs from the user side of SAP CPQ. 

Identify which quote fields need to be editable by the user from the Document Generation page when generating a document by using this template.

Additional content can be product descriptions for items in the quote, data sheets, terms and conditions of the quote, and more. The document sent as a proposal to the customer must contain one or more files that are used to describe the product. When generating a document, the sales person is able to choose which product description file is included in proposal. Optional files embedded in a generated document using an <<INCLUDE_DOCUMENTS>>tag.

This tab is available only for simple-section templates.

The administrator is able to define the following:

• File Name: Add the name of the file that you wish to attach to the generated document. File names must contain a file extension, for example .docx or .pdf. The system supports doc, docx, pdf, png and jpg file formats. Alternatively, select the Formula Builder button to create a formula that dynamically retrieves file names from a custom table.
• File Description: Enter a description of the file manually or define a formula that retrieves the description dynamically.
• Add More Files: Select the button to add another File Name and File Description fields. This allows you to add more than one file to the template.
• File Selection: Select the check boxes to allow users to select multiple files to attach to the generated document. Alternatively, select the radio buttons to allow users to select a single file.
• Also Include Quote Items in Formula Evaluation: Select the checkbox to attach files to each quote item in the generated document, but not to the quote globally.
• Separate files with page break: Select this checkbox for the system to separate additional files with a page break
• Image settings: Specify the way image files are inserted into generated documents. You can choose between Default settings (format: PNG, resolution: 300, quality: 100) and Custom settings. Selecting Custom settings allows you to choose between two formats:
  • PNG (choosing PNG allows you to further specify Image resolution)
  • JPG (choosing JPG allows you to further specify image resolution and Image quality)
  • Configuring image settings allows you to control the size of the output document. PNG

Additional documents can be product descriptions for items in the quote, data sheets, terms and conditions of the quote, and more. These documents are attached to the quote according to a formula. No user choice is involved and is mandatory. You can decide which mandatory files to attach to a generated document. 

You complete the document generation process in the Document Generation dialog, which allows the user to perform the following:

• Download the quote document.
• Select one or multiple partner functions as recipients of the generated document. Only the partner functions with a defined email address are offered for selection.
• Send the generated document as an email attachment if Email Attachment is selected.
• Include a link in the email by selecting Include Proposal Link.
• Attach the document to the CRM opportunity linked to the quote (if integration was configured).