Creation of Office templates for FITKO (Federal IT Cooperation)

Development of Word document templates & PowerPoint presentation templates for Microsoft Office 365

FITKO (Federal IT Cooperation), which is supported by the federal and state governments and is based in Frankfurt am Main, commissioned eWorks, a Microsoft Office specialist with many years of experience, to create professional Word and PowerPoint templates in summer 2019. The objective was to develop Microsoft Office templates for the quick and easy creation of a wide variety of Word documents and PowerPoint presentations in the exact corporate design.

Graphic design drafts of the Word documents and PowerPoint presentations to be created served as the basis. These purely visual drafts were technically prepared by eWorks and then converted into Word document templates (.dotx files) and PowerPoint presentation templates (.potx files). eWorks designed all Word and PowerPoint templates exactly according to the specifications and fine-tuned them in close coordination with the client - until a coherent overall picture was achieved.

The heterogeneity of the different Word templates, which were as diverse and multifaceted in structure, scope and functionality as their intended use, proved to be a particular challenge. Unlike usual when creating Word templates, not all Word templates could be derived from a common master template, but had to be planned, implemented and approved individually, template by template. From simple letter templates and protocol templates to complex concept templates with a wide variety of headings, bulleted lists, illustrations, tables, cover pages, placeholders, directories, etc., everything was included.

As a special bonus, there were also additional templates for table displays and name badges, etc., including a mail merge function to generate and print dozens of badges in one go at the click of a mouse - using an Excel address list or Access database, for example. The use of VBA programming and Word macros was deliberately avoided in order to save time and costs in the project process.

As always when creating Word templates, usability played a key role: the inclusion of modern content control elements such as mini-calendars, fields, image placeholders etc. as well as format templates, mail merge fields and calculation functions are just some of the convenient functions that have been added. Users can now create 100% corporate design-compliant Office documents - with templates that they enjoy using because they avoid errors and save time.

eWorks actively supported FITKO in this Office template development right from the start of the project: starting with an initial, personal consultation, through the technical planning of the numerous PowerPoint and Word templates and their design, to the handover and acceptance of all developed template files. Throughout the entire course of the project, eWorks continuously advised its client and recognized, pointed out and incorporated change and additional requests at an early stage - as can be expected from an agile development process. Following the successful completion of the project and the commissioning of the Office templates, eWorks continues to support FITKO with questions regarding operation, any errors or possible requests for changes and enhancements to the Word and PowerPoint templates.