Create a template from an activity
If you and your team used an activity to complete a process and that activity proved useful, because it captured the steps that you needed to complete and gathered together all the resources that you needed, you can use that activity as the starting point for a template.
About this task
To create a template from an activity...
Procedure
- Open the activity that you want to use as the starting point for the template.
- From the title bar, click More Actions, and then select Copy As New Template.
- Edit the following fields. By default, they contain information that pertains to the activity that you are using to create the template.
Name
The template title. The default value is the activity title. Edit the title of the template. Choose a name that is generic enough that it can be used in different situations. For example, if the title of the activity is "Acme sales engagement," change the template title to "Sales engagement."
About this template
Edit the description to include information about how the template is meant to be used.
Tags
Edit the keywords associated with the activity; delete tags that are too specific to the current activity to be included in the template, or add new keywords. Separate multiple tags with commas.
Starting page
Specify which view to display by default when the activity is created. Choose one of the following views:
- Activity Outline
- Recent Updates
- To Do Items
- Create a member list for the template. Members have access to the template and can help you seed the template with entries. Adding entries helps to create the workflow of the activities that will use the template. To create a member list, perform one of the following steps:
- To reuse the member list of the current activity in the template, select Use members from activity.
Note: This option is not available if you are creating the template from a community activity.
- To add an individual person or group, expand Add a Member. Begin typing the group or person's name or email address into the second field. As you type, a list of matching names is displayed. Click a name in the list to add that person or group.
- To add all of the members of a community to the template, expand Share with Communities. Begin typing the community name into the second field. As you type, a list of matching names is displayed. Click a name in the list to add that community
Note: If you subsequently use the template that you are creating to start a community activity, you will not have the option to use the member list from the template, but you can use the member list from the template when you use the template to start a standard activity.
- To add a person, group or community to a role other than the default role of author, click the down-arrow beside the Author field, and then select Owner or Reader. The access level options are defined as follows:
- Click Save.
- Review each of the entries in the template and remove any entries that are not applicable to the process in general. For example, you might have created a message entry with your home number on it so your teammates could reach you in the case of an emergency. This entry is one that you would want to remove from the template to avoid publishing your home number to the entire organization.
- Enhance the template by adding entries. Add standard entries and to-do items to cover pertinent information that might have been missing from the existing activity.
What to do next
The template is now ready for use. Be the first to put it to the test by creating an activity from the template.
Parent topic
What is an activity template?
Related tasks
What is an activity template?
Create an activity from a template
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