Previously, I have written about XpressDox integration with Salesforce.com and Advologix from a technical side, how from Microsoft Word you can access your template library, launch a template, and pull data from a Salesforce.com based practice management system. Such approach is very powerful and cost effective. But it also requires you to have Microsoft Word installed with an XpressDox plugin.
This post, however, focuses on implementation of a completely cloud-based assembly engine integrated into Salesforce.com. A prototype has been tested and implemented on a client site; however the tool is not yet ready for public distribution. In this system, a simple button would be added to the Matter object (or any object) in Salesforce.
Your template would have been posted to the XpressDox Cloud. When you click on the button, an embedded window in Salesforce would show you the folders for your templates on the XpressDox Cloud-server. You can navigate down the folder tree to select the template you wish to use. When you click on the template, it will launch an embedded interview, right in Salesforce.
The exciting part is what occurs under the hood. The XpressDox integration, which will eventually be offered as a CustomApp on Salesforce, sends to the XpressDox server an XML string which contains a unique ID for the Matter (or other Custom Object). The unique ID is included in an XML answer set that may contain data that has been saved from previous assembly of documents for that Matter. Using the XpressDox integration discussed in an earlier post (CLICK ON LINK), you can use that unique ID to pull data from the Matter, as well as any linked objects, including child objects.
And this is the beginning. Because, the system merges the imported data with the prior answer set. You are presented the interview which has an elegant, customizable skin (basic CSS stylesheet). In the interview you are presented all RELEVANT questions for the select templates. And you are also presented the data from Salesforce. If, in this process, you change the data in the interview, that data is written back to Salesforce. Not just into the XML storage of the answer set. It is written back to any Salesforce fields on the parent object AND the child objects. This is powerful. For it allows the interview to serve as a powerful wizard for populating Salesforce.
At the end of the process, you are given a download link for the completed template. You can download and open it in Word. And then, you can save it to a Cloud storage location of your choice, whether it be the AdvologixPM Content management system, or NetDocuments, or SpringCM, Box.Net or DropBox.
If your are interested, as always, please contact me privately.
