About Communication TemplatesAbout Communication TemplatesYou create notifications in the Escalations (SP) application using communication templates. Communication templates provide you with a mechanism for communicating outbound information in a uniform manner. These communications are sent out in the form of e-mails through the system's e-mail service.
A notification includes a template ID, the role or recipient name, the subject of the notification, and the message. If you have information that is sent out repeatedly, you can create a communication template for it and attach it as a notification on an escalation.
You can create two types of notifications in the Escalations (SP) application:
a free-form notification that uses only a few features of a communication template
a template-based notification that can leverage all the features of a communication template, including attached documents
If you create a free-form notification, the system generates a template ID for it, but doesn't save the notification for reuse in the Communication Templates application. If you select an existing communication template, the system defaults the values in the Role/Recipient, Subject, and Message fields from the communication template you chose. You cannot change these read-only values from within the Escalations (SP) application.
Both free-form notifications and template-based notifications are associated with the object to which they apply. This allows the system to resolve dynamic content placed in the template in the form of substitution variables for the object specified in the escalation. You can use substitution variables in the Subject and Message fields in a notification. You enter these variables in the form :attribute. For example, if the Subject line of the communication template reads:
Expiration Notice: Contract :CONTRACTNUM
then :CONTRACTNUM is replaced by the actual contract number obtained from the contract object associated with the template and notification.
Note: You must manually insert a space after any variables in your Subject or Message field if more text or other variables follow.
The system can share communication templates across applications. When
you create a communication template in the Communication Templates application,
you can specify how you want it shared, using the Accessible
From field. The possible values are ALL, APPS
(all applications except Escalations and Workflow), ESCALATION, and WORKFLOW.
In the Escalations (SP) application, when you click Select Value 
on the Template field
to use an existing template, the system shows you the communication templates
that are set to ACTIVE, have the same Applies
To object as the escalation, and have been flagged with either
the ALL or ESCALATION values.
Note: For more information about communication templates, see the online help for the Communication Templates application.