Bookshelf v7.7: About Siebel Correspondence

Siebel Correspondence allows employees and partners to generate correspondence from any location with access to the Web. It also makes it easy for them to direct correspondence to fulfillment centers that print and mail it, so they can produce and send correspondence even if they are on the road and do not have access to a printer.

For example, if sales representatives want to do mass mailings to customers in cities where they are giving presentations, Siebel Correspondence allows them to log on from any location where they have Web access. Then they can create personalized form letters to invite customers in a specific city to a specific presentation, and direct these letters to be printed and mailed by a fulfillment center.

First, an administrator creates templates (usually form letters and labels) that employees and partners can use for their everyday correspondence. Then, employees and partners can automatically generate correspondence based on this template and on data from the Contact business component.

About Correspondence Templates

Siebel correspondence templates are created and edited in Microsoft Word (DOC file format). Correspondence templates contain fixed text and one or more merge fields. The merge fields are placeholders that are populated with variable information from your Siebel database, such as a Contact's name and address, when users generate a correspondence for one or more recipients.

Users can create their own personal templates, and administrators can create correspondence templates for users.

About Correspondence with Multiple Languages and Locales

The fixed text of each correspondence template is written using specific locale conventions and language. In order to support Global Deployment, the author of the correspondence template can explicitly indicate the locale and language using the Locale and Language fields in the correspondence template record. The Document Server then uses these settings to substitute correctly localized data into the merge fields of the correspondence template. The following types of fields are affected:

Correspondence Terms Defined

Table 74. Correspondence Terminology
Term	Definition
correspondence template	This is a Microsoft Word file (DOC or HTM). It usually contains one or more merge fields. It should not contain code (including field codes such as ASK) or macros. Typically, this file contains a form letter where the address and salutation are merge fields that can be automatically filled in for multiple recipients.
label template	The label template is a correspondence template specifically for a mailing label. Label templates are created much the same way as other correspondence templates, but are generated using the Generate Label command instead of the Generate Correspondence command.
insertion template	This is a Word, text, or HTML file. It may not contain any merge fields.
personal correspondence template	A correspondence template that users create for their own use. It cannot be used by others, although the administrator can view, edit, and delete it.
correspondence template record	This is the record in the Siebel database that contains the correspondence template. (The correspondence template is stored in the Siebel File System.) These records appear in the Correspondence Templates and the Personal Templates views.
correspondence record	This is the record in the Siebel database that contains the generated correspondence. A correspondence record must have a correspondence template record associated with it. In addition, it can have a label template record associated with it.
merge field	Merge fields are placeholders in the correspondence template that are populated with information from records in the Siebel database, such as a contact's last name. (These are also called mail merge fields.)
merge data	Data from the Siebel database that is copied into the merge fields when correspondence is generated.
SIEBEL.HTML file	Lists the database columns used as merge fields in the most recently generated correspondence. (The file is updated each time correspondence is generated.) When correspondence templates are created in Microsoft Word, the SIEBEL.HTML file is used as the data source file.