Every Caseware Cloud application has a product template configured to help your users create engagements according to your network standards. As an enterprise author, you can use the product template to enable your users to create engagements. You can also further modify the template, into an enterprise template, to fit your organization’s standards and requirements.
To understand your role as an enterprise author, it's helpful to understand the different templates and your author role in Caseware Cloud.
The following illustrates the template management page and its features, including versions of the product template and action buttons for creating, editing and updating the template and related drafts.
The product template contains the default content for your product and is configured by Caseware authors according to industry standards and updated with the latest product features. Enterprise templates inherit the structure and content of the product template until customized by the enterprise author.
The enterprise template is created and managed by the enterprise author to enforce a standardized methodology across all firms in the accountancy network. Its reflects an organization’s decision to centrally manage guidance and compliance.
An enterprise firm template is a customized version of the enterprise template used by the enterprise firm authors under your global accountancy network.
The following table provides a summary of the relationships between the various templates and authors in Caseware Cloud:
| # | Template type | Managed by | Created from | Used to create |
| 1 | product template | Caseware | latest major version release | enterprise or firm templates |
| 2 | enterprise template | enterprise authors | products template | enterprise firm templates |
| 2.1 | enterprise firm template | enterprise firm authors | enterprise template | engagements |
In Caseware Cloud, each type of template is managed by a different author. Enterprise authors use the product template as a base to create and manage enterprise templates that can be shared across all member firms within an enterprise or association. This role allows organizations to maintain a consistent methodology across firms while still enabling localized customization for specific industries, services, or regions.
Responsibilities include:
Template management: Create, edit, and maintain enterprise templates that member firms use to create engagements.
Customization and configuration: Adapt workflows, components, and content to reflect the enterprise’s methodology and service-line requirements.
Testing and deployment: Use dedicated authoring and testing environments to ensure quality and control before releasing updates to firms.
Version alignment: Track product template updates and apply the latest changes from Caseware to keep enterprise templates current.
Feature customization allows you to tailor your templates to match the unique needs of your enterprise. These customizations ensure that each engagement created from the template reflects the organization’s preferred structure while building on the foundation provided by Caseware.
To learn more, refer to the list of customizable features under Setup: Authoring index.
The product template undergoes continuous improvement lifecycles, which include both minor and major updates. These updates are versions of the product template.
Major versions
Major versions of the product template are created by Caseware and updates all enterprise and firm templates.
Major versions are typically pushed annually or when a significant number of updates are required. These updates affect all enterprises.
Your job as an enterprise author is to accept the major version update and migrate all enterprise customizations to your new major version.
For more information on how to accept and apply your enterprise customization to the latest major version, refer to: Update after a version release.
Minor versions
All authoring levels can release minor versions of their template.
Minor versions released by Caseware push changes to the product template that are minor changes to be adopted across enterprises. Enterprise authors push these changes to the enterprise firm templates.
If your enterprise template is customized, accept the update when notified. A new draft will be created with your customizations carried over automatically.
If you have an enterprise template that uses the product template, minor version updates will automatically be applied.
To learn more about how to manage your enterprise template, refer to: Manage the enterprise template.
For all documentation specific to enterprise authors, refer to the left-side menu under Authoring | Get started | Enterprise authors.