Template-building methodology

Building a custom template is a bottom-up process. You build each component that you need, and then assemble them into a complete template. You use the complete template to create instances of the object.

Task 1: Planning

Before you begin building templates within Marketing Operations, analyze the needs of your organization, and plan out the types of templates you need. For more information, see Plan custom templates.

Task 2: Define attributes and forms

After you determine the types of fields you need and how you want to organize them, create the attributes and forms. For more information, see Creating, editing, and deleting attributes and Creating forms.

Task 3: Define metrics

After you determine the types of metrics you need, create and edit the appropriate metrics. For more information, see Metric creation overview.

Task 4: Define other template components

Using the appropriate software, create any icons and data mapping files your template needs.

Task 5: Define the template

Assemble the components into the template. You can create custom tabs, and specify the icons, forms, metrics, and other components, to use in the template. For more information, see Adding or editing templates.

Task 6: Test the template

Use your new template to create a marketing object. Building a template is an iterative process. You usually must go back and tweak the individual components, maybe swap components in and out, and then retest the template by creating new objects. For more information about building objects from templates, see the HCL Marketing Operations User's Guide.