Understanding the Letter Generation Process

Important:

Mass Change is a deprecated product. It is strongly recommended that you use Application Engine instead. For more information on PeopleSoft Application Engine, see PeopleTools: Application Engine.

You can extract data from your PeopleSoft Campus Solutions system and use it to generate letters, labels, lists, envelopes, and so on. You can extract data from one individual ID, all individual IDs, or all organization IDs in your database. You specify the type of data to extract and then run the extract process. The system places the extracted data into a comma delimited (.csv) file, which is a standard format readable by most word processing programs. Then, using your institution's word processing software, you can merge the data into any of the templates that you have for the letter codes defined on the Standard Letters page, including the sample Microsoft Word templates delivered with the system, and print the outcome.

For information about using your institution's word processing software to merge data and print letters, consult the manufacturer's documentation.

Before you can extract letter data, a communication record for the desired letter must be assigned to the intended recipients. For joint communications, you should assign the communication to only one of the individuals. If you assign it to both, the letter generation process extracts the data for both IDs and will print two joint communications for the same two people. The record must include the appropriate administrative function, communication category, and communication context, and specify a method of Letter and the direction of Outgoing. You can assign communications to individuals or organizations manually or using the 3C engine or mass change functionality.

When the communication records exist, follow this procedure to use the Letter Generation process to extract data and generate a letter:

To generate a letter:

  1. Specify the data to extract for the letter, including the ID, address usage, address name, salutation, and letter code.

  2. Specify the date to print on the letter, the date to use as the letter completed date, and the communication date selection range.

  3. Specify any checklist items to include in the letter.

  4. Run the Letters Data Extract process to extract the specified data.

  5. Use your word processing program to merge the extracted data into the letter template.

  6. Save the softcopy template with merged data or use it to print the letter.

Specifying the parameters for extracting data for the letter includes selecting the letter to use, identifying the individuals or organizations whose data you want to extract, and specifying the types of data to extract. Use the run control pages, described in the following sections, to specify extract data parameters.

After defining all of the parameters for extracting data, run the data extract process. Unless you specify a different file path, the process places the data files in the temporary directory for the server. You can specify a shared folder on your local machine or on any valid network drive path.

When the process finishes, files with the appropriate file names are placed at the specified extract file path destination. If you select the .csv output, three files are created at the destination:

  • CCLTR<LETTERCODE>.CSV for letters.

  • CCLBL<LETTERCODE>.CSV for labels.

  • CCLTRGEN.DAT file, which is coded to work with the Microsoft Word templates delivered with the system.

For example, if you use the TRN letter code and you select the .csv output, the file for letters at the destination is CCLTRTRN.CSV.

Note:

If you use a letter code for which you specified a unique Structured Query Compiler (SQC), you must place the SQC in the same directory as the CCLTRGEN.sqr and the CCLTRUNQ.sqc. You must also modify CCLTRNAM.SQC to look for the specific SQC.

You can review extracted data online for individuals and organizations on the Communication Letter Data pages.

When you run the letter generation data extract process, the data specified under Letter Printed Data for that letter code on the Standard Letter Table page is listed on the Communication Letter Data page for individuals or on the Organization Communication Letter Data page for organizations. You can use these pages to review and confirm the data extracted for an individual or organization. For example, using the Communication Letter Data page, you can confirm the address to which the letter for a specific individual was addressed.

The letter generation data extract process automatically formats extracted addresses to meet U.S. postal regulations for domestic and international mail. The format is reflected in the address listed on the appropriate Letter Data page.

If you set a relationship to generate a copy of communications for a separate recipient on the Communication Recipient page in the Relationships component, you can view the data extracted for that separate recipient on the Communication Recipient Data page described in this section.