5. Comms

Comms wrappers

Comms wrappers can be created either as HTML or Word format. When creating one it is important to select the right format depending on the Delivery channel specified. 

1. Letter - use a Word format wrapper as it will produce a PDF with defined headers, footers and page breaks
   
2. Public portal - use an HTML format as this produce an accessible version of letters that will resize appropriately
   

When creating each version of your wrapper it is important to ensure that the content region names match exactly across the different wrappers. Content region names are case sensitive so it is important to pay attention that they are an EXACT match.

If the content region names do not match then it makes creating templates more complicated.

Automated letters

When setting letters up that are going to be sent automatically, e.g. renewals/auto closure letters, it is important that they use a wrapper that does NOT contain any Current user fields.

We would suggest creating a copy of your standard wrappers but just omit any current user fields.

Comms templates

When creating a Comms template ensure you select the correct Message sub type. Once a template has been created with a specified type it cannot be changed.

The Message sub type dropdown contains groups of different types. If you want to create a normal template that will be used to write to an applicant then it is important to choose a item from the 'Person letter' group.

When setting templates up that are going to be sent automatically, e.g. renewals/auto closure letters, it is important that they use a wrapper that does NOT contain any Current user fields

Copying & pasting content

When creating new comms templates be careful when copying and pasting text from other sources, in particular Word documents. These can contain hidden characters that get copied alongside your text and can lead to strange formatting in your template.

We always recommend copying any text into a plain text file first and then copy and pasting into the template in the system. This will guarantee the removal of any unwanted hidden characters. 

Personal Housing Plan

The Personal Housing Plan consists of a dedicated Comms wrapper and Comms template. The Personal Housing Plan is only generated as a PDF document so the Comms wrapper should be created as a Word document.

Any static content added to the PHP comms wrapper should also be added to the My personal housing plan website page to ensure consistency between the online version and the PDF version.

• Related Articles

• Release 6.8.2 29/03/2023

  Fixed Back office Comms Fixed an issue where a draft Comms message could not be updated if the applicant had both email and SMS set as their preferences.

• Release v2.4.2 23/07/2021

  Fixes Back office Comms centre Fixed an issue where a message would fail to generate when using a Word wrapper if a merge field contained a null value.   Comms template Fixed an issue where a Comms template could not be saved when it contained a ...

• Release v3.7.2 23/11/2021

  Fixes Back office Users Fixed an issue where the Role field on the Users list displayed deleted roles for a user. Public portal Comms Fixed an issue where a comms message was displayed in a smaller window than standard.  

• Release 6.5.1 22/02/2023

  New & improved Back office Comms A new message sub type has been created, Risk assessments (linked contact). This type can be used to send comms messages to Contacts that contain information related to a Risk assessment. Updated the Comms template ...

• Release 10.5.1 03/03/2025

  New & Improved Back office Cases Added new functionality that allows Cases to be assigned a Responsible Team in a different Owning organisation. This functionality is available for multi-organisations systems that share data across organisations. ...