How do I get started with the advanced template editor?

Glossary

• Template to document flow.
• Creating templates.
• Editing tools:
  • Block groups.
  • Variables engine.
• Authorising signatory.
• Sending signatory flow.

Template to document flow

First, let us cover the flow of how you turn a template into a document:

1. First, build your template.
2. Next, when issuing a document to personnel, you will select the required templates.
3. Next, you can tailor your document to each recipient depending on how you set up the template, i.e. variables automatically populated and removing optional block groups that do not apply.
4. Get signatures electronically and track in reports.

Template types 

Next, we can look at template types as the one you select determines which users can sign the documents you send through. The signatories able to sign each document are:

• HR documents: Single signatory, i.e. only the sender.
• Employee contracts: Dual signatories, i.e. sender then recipient.
• Contractor contracts: Dual signatories, i.e. sender then recipient.
• Other HR documents: Dual signatories, i.e. sender then recipient.
• Policies: We do not provide a signature for this template type, but acknowledgement can be tracked.You can manage these documents via the Policy feature.
• Knowledge base: No signature.
• Factsheets: No signature.

Creating templates

When building your organisation's templates via the Advanced template editor, you have two options.

1.  Build from scratch: Recommend order of building from scratch is that you first write your content, save your changes, then add in variables, save the changes, then organise your blocks, format the next, and lastly add in your sections.
2. Cloning: You can clone either one of your existing templates or an Employment Hero provided template and make the required edits.

Editing tools

We built the HR documents feature from the ground up to provide you with a wide variety of editing tools that allow you to send personalised documents to your employees. Our editing tools fall under two categories:

• Block groups
• Variables engine.

To read further information on our editing feature you can refer to the Variables, Blocks, Sections, and Tables articles in our Help Centre.

Block groups

Blocks groups allow you to customise what statement or clause appears within your document. It does this by providing you with a selection of text blocks, allowing you to choose the most appropriate one to include in the document. For example, within salary increase letter, you will need to select if the employee is on a pro-rata, per annum or hourly rate; block groups allows you to select the text that best matches the change.  

Variables engine

The variables engine allows you to personalise specific fields within the document, such as:

• Auto-populating fields: This feature auto-fills details such as the employee's name, address, salary details, and business details such as company name and job title.
• Date picker: This feature provides you with a calendar where you can select a date to add to your organisation's document.
• Free text fields: This feature allows you to enter a string of text into the document, so this could be the extra duties an employee needs to do or a list of changes to their role.
• Drop-down fields: Provides options when issuing a document for the sender, i.e. Pay cycle = Daily, Weekly, Fortnightly, Monthly.

The different colour of the variables helps you distinguish between auto-populated fields and those requiring edit/attention. We include colour-coded cues for the variables. At the document issuing stage, we will show them in pink when they require editing and will change them purple once acknowledged. Auto-populated variables are purple from the beginning and even if edited, will populate with the appropriate data field.

Authorising signatory

An authorising signatory is the person who has the right to sign off on employee contracts and HR documents within your organisation. This person is the one responsible for reviewing the content, is correct, signing the document, and then sending this onto the intended recipient.

The Authorising Signatory feature allows you to nominate this role within your organisation and then have them input their signature into the HR platform. The platform also allows you to assign employees with sending authority, i.e. these employees can sign contracts for the authorising signatory. You can read more about the Authorising Signatory feature in the following article.

Sending signatory flow

Lastly, if your document needs signing by another user, i.e., your organisation would prefer someone else to sign off on signature documents rather than the Authorising signatory. Then, you can use the Sending Signatory drop-down to select the document signer within our HR Documents feature.