Word templates created through digitization with Excel & VBA

VBA programming with Excel and Word for the Mayor Reuter Foundation

The Bürgermeister-Reuter-Stiftung (BRST), based in Berlin, commissioned eWorks, a Frankfurt-based Microsoft partner and Word specialist, to consolidate a historically grown Word template landscape in 2022. Depending on the document type, company name and corporate design, around 500 Word templates and other documents were circulating across the entire foundation group, which had to be individually adapted each time changes were made to company data, format templates or layout. This manual maintenance was labor-intensive, tedious, expensive and error-prone. The task: streamline structures, centralize content and develop a template generator that can be used to create Word templates - in order to reduce maintenance work and digitalize document processes.

The goal was a solution that could be used to create any required MS Word template and roll it out immediately if necessary - regardless of whether specialist departments wanted a Word form, letterhead or another Word template to be created. To achieve this, eWorks developed an architecture that clearly separates data, design and logic, thus paving the way for automation, maintainability and speed.

The core of the implementation is a template generator implemented in Excel based on professional VBA programming: a workbook with configuration control (including master template folder names, Office themes, document types and master template mapping), central input for all company and document type-specific information and a user-friendly ribbon with two selections for 7 document types and 9 company names, which also accepts "All" on request and thus generates up to 53 Word files in one run. Technically, the generator works with a few, clearly structured master templates per document type, which (where appropriate) bundle several similar document types - clearly named objects and text marks control which content is relevant for the export and which is automatically omitted. Four CI-compliant office themes ensure that each generated template immediately appears in the correct corporate design. A status bar provides progress and transparency, and the export can be canceled at any time if required. Thanks to customized Word programming, the solution can still be flexibly expanded: New document types or company names can be added at any time, as can future specialist requirements - a clear advantage in the ongoing transformation of digitalization. As a Word expert, eWorks pays consistent attention to the separation of layout in Word and data maintenance in Excel: Adjustments to addresses, logos, colors or format templates are thus made once and take effect immediately throughout the system.

The result is a drastic reduction in the number of files to be maintained from several hundred individual templates to a few Word master templates plus template generator, combined with greater consistency, noticeable time savings and significantly less susceptibility to errors. Changes to company information and corporate design elements can be maintained centrally and rolled out to all required variants in seconds - the solution is sustainably maintainable and therefore ideally suited for organizations that want to digitize their document processes. This means that all BRST business units (Home in Berlin, Bürgermeister Reuter Social Services and Bürgermeister Reuter Real Estate Services) are now digitally modernized. Once the project is complete, eWorks will continue to support the foundation as required - from selective enhancements to customizations, which the eWorks VBA developers will then implement efficiently.

Are you planning to have Word templates created and maintain them centrally? eWorks develops Excel/VBA-based template generators and Word master templates that automatically generate templates and reliably implement corporate design specifications. Contact us - we will be happy to advise you!