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Applications Administration Guide > Proposals > Creating Proposal Template Documents in Microsoft WordThe first step for creating proposal templates is to create documents in Microsoft Word. These documents consist of one style document and multiple component documents, as shown in Figure 27. The components shown in Figure 27 are only examples. You could have other components, such as a table of contents or a set of collateral, and you could omit the quotes or product descriptions, for example. However, a template must have a style document and one or more component documents. NOTE: See Release Notes on Siebel SupportWeb for information about which versions of Microsoft Word are supported. To create the template documents, you perform the following tasks:
These tasks are a step in Process of Creating Proposal Templates. Planning the Proposal TemplateBefore you create the documents in Word, you must determine how the proposal should look and what type of information it should contain. Begin by looking at previous successful proposals to see what sections they included. For example, did they all have a cover letter, an executive summary, and a quote? Also, look at the documents your company currently has on hand, and the customer questions these pieces answer. Then decide how to organize your information. What topics could be standard across all proposals? What topics are specific to certain proposals? What is the best order for the pieces in the proposal you are creating? Finally, decide what fields to insert to customize their proposals (for example, contact name, account name, and industry). You will use this information to create bookmarks in your Word documents. As part of your planning, you should look at the sample templates that come with Siebel Proposals, which are described in Sample Proposal Data: Field Mappings and Templates. NOTE: Proposals use fields from only one business object. If you want to include additional fields, you must use Siebel Tools to add the business components that include these fields to the business object that is the basis of the proposal. Creating a Styles DocumentAfter you plan your template, you work on the styles document for the template. This Word document will define the layout of your proposal and may include such things as headers, footers, your logo, and special margins. The layout options you specify will automatically be applied to all the components used in the proposal. NOTE: Do not type any content into this document. The content will come from the individual component documents that you will create later. To set up styles for your template
Creating Components for Proposal TemplatesThe next step in developing your template is to create components, which are the text pieces that make up the body of your proposal. A component is a Microsoft Word document that includes standard text and personalized data. For example, a cover letter component includes your standard cover-letter text and personalized data such as the name and address of the contact to whom the letter is addressed. To create a component, you type the standard text and then create bookmarks, or Microsoft Word placeholders for custom data. When a sales representative generates a proposal, these bookmarks will be replaced with data from the Siebel application. NOTE: The following procedures may vary slightly, depending on your version of Microsoft Word. Microsoft Word 2003 is supported for Siebel 7.5.3, 7.7.2 and 7.8. If you are using Microsoft Word 2003, begin with the procedure To create a component with bookmarks in Microsoft Word 2003. If you are not using Microsoft Word 2003, begin with the procedure To create a component with bookmarks in Microsoft Word versions other than 2003. To create a component with bookmarks in Microsoft Word 2003
To create a component with bookmarks in Microsoft Word versions other than 2003
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Applications Administration Guide |