Word template creation for STAR COOPERATION

Word template creation for STAR COOPERATION

Developing intelligent Word letter templates with Microsoft Office 365 & VBA

STAR COOPERATION GmbH (Böblingen), a globally active project planning and consulting company for automotive and other projects, commissioned eWorks as a Frankfurt Word specialist in 2018 to create Word templates for letters and other Word documents.

STAR COOPERATION wanted to have "intelligent" Word templates created in order to curb the proliferation of Word templates that had developed over the years, which had been duplicated and adapted for different locations and different companies. eWorks, as a Word template agency, was commissioned to create a standardized, central letter template with a new design that could be used by all users at all locations across all brands in the future and at the same time serve as a technical foundation for all other Word templates. In this way, the content and technical maintenance as well as the functional development of the Word templates was to be centralized in order to be more professional, consistent and at the same time more cost-efficient. However, the long-term maintenance of the Word templates should continue to be carried out by the client's IT department itself and, in particular, be possible without programming knowledge so that the client can make any necessary changes at any time.

The focus in the first phase of the project was on personal consultation and joint evaluation of the technical implementation options, for example C# vs. VBA as the programming language and Word macros vs. Word add-in as the architecture, which resulted in various possible combinations. However, it quickly became clear that the previous number of templates had to be reduced as a matter of priority because the decentralized maintenance and servicing of dozens of Word templates was simply too time-consuming, cost-intensive and error-prone. The decision was ultimately made in favor of an "intelligent" letter template based on Microsoft Office 365 and VBA, which can be flexibly adapted to the location and company name and thus meet the requirements of all users at all locations of all brands.

In the end, an "intelligent" Word template was developed with separate but combinable switching options for company name and location as well as stored default values that can be changed at any time with a click of the mouse - whereby the Word template layout adapts fully automatically to the respective company name. If necessary, the company name and location can be switched as often as required, for example because a Word letter has to be sent for several company names and/or locations in succession.

On top of this, a time-saving recipient entry has been added to the letter template, which allows a contact selection via Outlook programming and then fills the address field - conveniently and intuitively by clicking a button in the Word ribbon. Individually programmed Word VBA macros, modern content controls, placeholders and format templates enable optimum usability, high user acceptance and - as a nice side effect - maximum compatibility with future Microsoft Office versions. The underlying idea was not least to make the creation of Word documents as quick and easy as possible in order to gain user acceptance - all this with 100% corporate design conformity.

Speaking of corporate design: on this occasion, the new "all-in-one template" was also modernized in terms of template design, in that design drafts were precisely implemented by eWorks and stored in the Word template - and protected, so that users can neither unintentionally nor intentionally interfere with this corporate design. The outdated template design thus became a thing of the past, as did Word letters that deviated from the corporate design.

Finally, a CSV import was programmed for the client's IT department in order to dynamically import all relevant data on branches and business units from CSV files and thus be able to incorporate changes without programming knowledge. Outdated addresses, footers or other template content were therefore a thing of the past, as was dependence on a technical Word service provider or excessive maintenance work: in future, all Word templates developed will automatically and immediately adapt to the latest company data.

eWorks actively supported STAR COOPERATION in the creation of these Word templates right from the start of the project: starting with an initial consultation and needs analysis, through the technical planning and design of the letter templates, including VBA programming, to the handover and acceptance of all developed Word templates and additional functions.

Following the scheduled commissioning of the Word templates 2019, eWorks continuously supports its client as a Word expert in various follow-up projects on demand as part of a support contract: for example, through further Word macro programming such as a practical document type switchover (letter <-> invoice). Or by creating additional Word forms for other business processes based on the templates already developed by inheriting the layout and VBA macros in a time and cost-saving manner. Or through personal advice on further Word programming through to completely new Word add-ins. Or through ad-hoc support for all questions, operating difficulties and other problems relating to the Word templates created or to Microsoft Office 365 in general.

Used technologies

CSV
Microsoft Office
VBA

Related references

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