Implementation Approaches for Documents

primedocs is not just a software product, but part of a template and document management system. Its strength lies in its flexibility: there are several ways to offer a document in primedocs — and these can be combined to a certain extent. They are therefore not "either/or" options. For each template, you can choose the approach that works best for the end users.

Terminology

A template serves as the basis for document creation — it is usually unfinished, but a clean starting point. A document, by contrast, is usually finished or nearly finished and needs only a few (or no) further data (e.g. manuals, checklists, brochures).

Goal of the System

Two basic ideas stand behind all approaches:

• Consolidation — content is maintained in one place instead of in countless file copies. Identical texts, logos and configurations exist exactly once; a change takes effect everywhere. The tools for this are template composition, snippets, global translations and global configurations.
• Permissions — maintenance can be delegated in a targeted way: templates and snippets have their own permissions, so specialist departments can keep their content up to date themselves without changing the rest of the solution.

Toolbox

Tool	Purpose	Typical use
Templates	Basic structure of a document with layout, logic and automation	Letters, contracts, reports, presentations
Snippets	Reusable content blocks — inserted manually by end users or via logic	Text modules, form content, contract clauses
Global translations	Centrally managed, multilingual texts	Labels, salutations, date formats
Fields (Forms and Fields)	Collect, transform and place data in the document	User input, profile data, interface data

The following implementation approaches show when to use which tool; for multilingual requirements, see Multilingual Solutions.

The Four Implementation Approaches

1. Template Building (Automation)

In classic template building, you collect data from the user via the Forms dialogue and fill it into the document automatically. In addition, data can be taken from the user profile or from configured data sources (interfaces). This allows a template to be largely automated.

• Advantages: interchangeable profiles, data import from third-party systems, transfer of Forms data, high degree of automation.
• Disadvantage: creation can be time-consuming, particularly with complex automations. As long as the templates stay simple, however, you are up and running quickly.

2. Empty Document with Manual Snippets (Document Construction Kit)

Here an empty base document is provided, and the content is then assembled manually using shared snippets. Two variants are common:

• Complete content as a snippet — for example with forms (tax offices, security authorities, HR): an empty "form base" document into which the complete form content is inserted via a snippet. The snippets can be clearly grouped by form type.

• Text construction kit — instead of the entire content, text modules are offered for selection, with which the document is "clicked together". Contract example: cover sheet, parties (depending on the number), preamble variants, contract content, and signature block — each as a selectable snippet.

• Advantages: very agile, very easy to handle, and maintenance of the building blocks can be delegated to the specialist department (via the snippets' permission concept).

• Disadvantage: more limited automation.

3. Importing External Documents

A file can be imported into primedocs 1:1 — in any file format, including PDF. The file is opened exactly as it was imported; data fields cannot be embedded, and no automatic population takes place.

• Suitable for: documents that are used or printed exactly as they are opened — checklists, directives, instructions, manuals, brochures, flyers, emergency plans.
• Advantages: very fast and simple (a few mouse clicks); visibility can be controlled normally via primedocs; a new file version can be swapped in easily.
• Disadvantage: no automation, no primedocs functionality within the document.

4. Word Content Controls

Templates can contain data entry fields directly within the Word document (content controls). These can be guided by colour: the placeholder text appears in colour, the entered content as normal (black) text. This creates intuitive user guidance directly within the document.

• Suitable for: technical or complex documents where filling in within the context is easier than in the Forms dialogue.
• Note: content controls are a Word feature, but combine very well with the rest of the primedocs functionality.

Combining Approaches

The great strength lies in combining them. Examples:

• Snippets that contain profile fields and are populated automatically when inserted.
• Collecting some details in the Forms dialogue and having other fields filled in within the document via content controls.
• Embedding an external document with content controls that are completed live.

Hybrid Data Transfer: Forms or Content Controls?

For the mixed form of Forms dialogue and content controls, the following rule of thumb helps you decide where a field is captured:

• Forms dialogue — for fields that appear multiple times in the document (e.g. the name of the opposing party in a contract, or product names). They are captured once and populated in all places simultaneously.
• Content controls — for all other fields. They are captured directly in the document and explained with meaningful placeholder text.

One advantage of this hybrid approach is the ease of maintaining the templates, which can be carried out directly by the customer without much effort.

Content Controls in Snippets

Content controls can also be embedded in snippets — but not as a drop-down menu or as a building-block content control. These are bound to the respective template: if such a snippet is inserted into a document based on a different template, the drop-down remains empty.

Multilingual Solutions

Three patterns have proven effective for multilingual organisations — they, too, can be combined:

Multilingual Templates

One template contains a separate template file per document language; when creating a document, the file matching the selected document language is used.

• Advantages: full design freedom per language — layout, order or legal texts may also differ.
• Disadvantage: every content change must be applied in every language.

Centrally Managed Snippets

A single template; the actual content comes from snippets that are maintained per language.

• Advantages: only one template to maintain; the translation of the building blocks can be delegated to the specialist departments.
• Disadvantage: the document structure must be representable via snippets.

Fields with Global Translations

Individual smaller texts (labels, titles, salutations) are maintained as global translations and included in fields via translate- attributes or the $.translations API.

• Advantages: smallest unit; centrally managed and usable in any number of templates.
• Disadvantage: unsuitable for entire paragraphs or structured blocks — use FormattedText translations or snippets for those.

Rule of thumb: words and sentences → global translations. Paragraphs and content blocks → snippets per language. Structurally different documents per language → multilingual templates.