Communication templates and service level agreements

In the Service Level Agreements application, you use communication templates to create e-mail notifications. Communication templates provide a mechanism to communicate outbound information in a uniform manner.

A notification includes a template ID, the role or recipient name, the subject of the notification, and the message.

You can create the following two types of notifications:

• Free-form notification that uses a few features of a communication template
• Template-based notification that can use all the communication template features, including attached documents

If you create a free-form notification, a template ID is generated. However, this notification is not saved for reuse in the Communication Templates application.

If you create a notification with an existing template, the remaining fields are defaulted from the communication template that you chose and are read only. You cannot change the attributes associated with a communication template from the Escalations tab of this application.

If you have information that is sent out repeatedly, you can create a communication template and attach it as a notification on an escalation.

Substitution variables

Free-form notifications and template-based notifications are associated with the object to which they apply. This association allows the placement of substitution variables for the object that is specified in the escalation.

If you create a template-based notification in an escalation, the Subject field and Message field could be populated with substitution variables. For example, if the Subject line reads:

Expiration Notice: Contract :contractnum

then :contractnum is replaced with the actual contract number that is obtained from the contract object associated with the template and notification.