Engagement templates are another great way to save time in Canopy!
In this video:
Create an engagement template
Apply engagement item templates
Apply Templates
If you haven’t started using templates in Canopy now is the time! Templates are a great way to streamline your work and get your engagement letters out faster than ever.
Create an Engagement Template
Start by clicking on Template in the global navigation bar.
Select Engagement
Select the Blue Create New button
Name your template. A best practice is to name the template based on the services you plan to use the engagement for. In this case, we will add 1040 filing.
You can change the access here to private or leave it as a template visible to your whole team.
The engagement template builder will pop up. If you are familiar with our engagement builder you will notice it looks very similar! You will build your template just like you would build an engagement. You can use the navigation window on the side to navigate to each section.
Engagement Details
Let’s start with the Engagement Details.
Start by selecting a name. One way to help make your names more detailed is by using dynamic placeholders. For example, you can have it include a client's name or a specific date.
Next, you can choose to add a start or end date. These dates can also be added after you apply the template, but this can be helpful if there is a set date. For example, our end date will be April 15th.
Finally, you can select an assignee. If you have roles set up this is a great way to select a specific role like Prepare to be assigned to the engagement.
Keep in mind, you will select the signers once you have applied the template, and selected the client.
Engagement Items
Next, let's add engagement items.
Click + engagement item. If you have created engagement item template you can select the template at the top. You can check out this video to learn how to create engagement item templates now!
Engagement Item Templates will auto populate the information for the item, billing and payment, terms and tasks as you have them set up in your template.
You can also input the information manually.
Start by naming the engagement item.
Next, select the service item using the drop-down menu. You can add and adjust your service items from your billing settings. Learn more here.
Review and adjust the billing rate and type.
Select the billing frequency, anywhere from weekly, to yearly, or upon completion.
You have the option to add tax percentage due with the invoice.
And finally, you can add a description. This a great place to give your client a few details about what the service you are offering includes.
You can continue to add engagement items until you have all of the services you want to include in this template.
Billing & Payment
Let’s move on to the billing and payment information.
You will notice on this screen that the service rates and billing frequency set on the engagement items will populate in this section.
For items billed on a set frequency, You can make a selection on what day to send the invoice using the dropdown menus. You can also adjust when you want the invoices to end. This one is set to end on the date we selected, but you can also select after a specific number of invoices, or never.
You can use the checkbox to automatically start recurring invoice series, and use the toggles below to create a single line invoice or add a client note.
Terms
Once the billing portion looks correct, you can move on to the terms.
Start by adding your general terms. This is another great place to let a template do the work for you. You can create a letter template for your general terms. Once it is created you can use the drop-down to select the correct template. If you haven’t set up a letter template yet you can check out this link to learn how.
Your service item terms will populate from any service item templates you have selected. If you have updated your terms at any time you can come back to this template and select the refresh button to update to the latest version. You can add terms to any other service items neeed. If you have updated your terms at any time you can come back to this template and select the refresh button to update to the latest version.
Review your terms and make any changes necessary.
Tasks
We are now ready to move on to tasks.
Once again if your service item templates include tasks they will be applied here.
You can add multiple task templates by clicking on +Add Task Template.
Use the dropdown to select the appropriate task template. Use the next dropdown to associate the task with on of your engagement items, and finally you can assign the task to an assignee.
Apply the Engagement Template
Once you have reviewed your template you can choose to either save as a draft or if completed Save Template.
Now we can apply this template to an engagement.
We will start by clicking the global plus button.
Now you are prompted to select if you would like to create with a template or create from scratch and you guessed it, we are going to create with a template.
Use the dropdown to select the template we just created, and then select next.
Now in the engagement builder you will see all the information from the template autopopulates. You just need to select the clien (or add a new client), and then select the signers.
You can make any changes or edits necessary in any section of the engagement and then you are ready to save and send.