Template Considerations and Limitations

Template Considerations

• Template development is an iterative process, with creation as the first step. Modifications aren’t always necessary, but to take advantage of template customization features, you must understand CRM Analytics Templates and how to design them. For more information, see Why Analytics Templates
• To edit template files for customization, you need familiarity with JSON and Salesforce developer tools. For more information, see CRM Analytics Development Tools.
• As with any development process, starting early is a good idea. Don’t wait until your source app is perfect before creating a template from it. Add some data and a dashboard, then create the initial template. Update that template periodically after adding features to the source app.
• If you’re not planning on making one template dependent on another, make sure that all the app’s assets reside in the source app. Assets include datasets that are used in dashboards, datasets that are referenced in dataflows, links from one dashboard to another, and images that are used in multiple places. Don’t reference any assets from the Shared App or your Private App. For more information on template dependencies, see Share CRM Analytics Assets Between Apps.
• If you’re planning to take advantage of the template dependency framework, make sure that any apps that your source app depends on have also been made into templates. And make sure that your installation documentation includes a prerequisite to install those supporting apps.
• If you have a dataflow that references data from a connected dataset, make sure that you understand how to use that connector in a template and how to install that connector in a subscriber org. For more information, see Add a Remote Connector to a CRM Analytics Template.
• Any CSV files that the template needs must be recently uploaded by the same user who is creating the template.
• Make sure that the source app only uses features that are supported by CRM Analytics templates. Features that aren’t currently supported include:
  • Custom Maps and Charts
  • Using recipes in templates is available, but recipes are complex and some use cases are problematic when templatized. We recommend you use dataflows for all Digest nodes and design recipes to run using the datasets output from the dataflows as their inputs.
  • Einstein Discovery Stories (Stories are supported in templates, but they aren’t added to the template on creation. They must be added manually during template customization. For more information, see Add an Einstein Discovery Story to a CRM Analytics Template.)

Template Limitations in CRM Analytics Studio

• You can’t update an existing template with another app that isn’t your source app.
• If you load an existing template into your org via the Metadata API or CLI, you can’t specify a source app for the template.

To perform these advanced actions, use the Analytics CLI plugin template commands. For more information, see Salesforce Analytics Plugin CLI Command Reference - template commands