HR document templates

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of HR Document Templates

    HR Document Templates enable ServiceNow customers to create and modify reusable HR documents such as employee verification letters, non-disclosure agreements, offer letters, and educational reimbursement agreements. These templates allow customization with dynamic data fields like dates, names, and signatures, supporting multiple e-signatures per document. Starting with the Yokohama release, HR Document Templates are being deprecated and hidden on new instances but remain supported. Customers are encouraged to transition to the newer Document Templates feature for an updated experience.

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    Types of HR Document Templates

    • Document Templates (HTML): Created within the HR application using variables to pre-fill information from tables. They allow customization of headers, footers, images, and text layout. Default templates include Employee Verification Letters (Canada and USA), Offer Letter, and Education Agreement.
    • PDF Document Templates: Managed Documents that require fillable PDFs to pre-fill data via field mapping. The default example is the Non-Disclosure Agreement. Customization requires uploading and publishing fillable PDF forms created externally (e.g., via Adobe tools).

    Key Configuration Details

    • Templates should be configured with company branding such as logos in the header and footer. Header logos can be up to 50 pixels high, and footer logos up to 15 pixels.
    • Only images (not text) can be configured in headers; ensure letterhead logos incorporate any necessary text.
    • For optimal quality, use optimized Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) files for logos.
    • HR Document Templates must use itext7 for PDF conversion (property itext7.pdfconversion set to true), which has been default since the Paris release. Customers using older template versions must manually enable this property.

    Document Functionality

    • Generated documents are PDFs suitable for review and printing.
    • Templates support capturing acknowledgement text to define the meaning of signatures, requiring users to confirm agreement by checking boxes or providing credentials.
    • Multiple e-signatures can be collected, with documents generated automatically once all signatures are captured.

    Practical Application

    ServiceNow customers can use these templates to streamline HR document creation and ensure consistency and compliance in employee communications and agreements. For example, generating an employment verification letter is a common use case initiated from an HR case.

    Next Steps

    • Begin configuring templates by gathering company letterhead, logos, and existing document templates.
    • Review migration guidance to transition from HR Document Templates to the newer Document Templates feature to future-proof your implementation.
    • Ensure fillable PDFs are properly created and uploaded for PDF document templates.

    HR Document Templates are used to create and modify reuseable HR documents.

    Important:

    Starting with the Yokohama release, HR Document Templates is being prepared for future deprecation. It will be hidden and no longer activated on new instances, but will continue to be supported.

    Use Document Templates that provides the latest experience for this functionality. For migration guidelines, see Migrating from HR Document Templates to Document Templates.

    For deprecation details, see the Deprecation Process [KB0867184] article in the Now Support knowledge base.

    Use HR document templates for documents that can be customized with dates, names, and signatures like:
    • Employee verification letters
    • Non-disclosure agreements
    • Offer letters
    • Educational reimbursement agreements

    You can personalize HR document templates by mapping fields or using variables from the available tables to place data in fields. You can also capture multiple e-signatures in a document that automatically generates once all signatures are captured.

    There are two types of HR Document Templates, both create PDF files, but are created and maintained differently:
    1. Document templates (HTML)
    2. PDF document templates

    Acknowledgement text

    Within your document templates, you can capture the meaning of a signature. You can add acknowledgement text to your document templates that prompts the user to check a box when signing or providing credentials to a document.

    Document templates (HTML)

    Document templates are created within the HR application and use variables to pre-fill information from tables into the document. You create how the document looks by defining the header, footer, images, placement of footer, and the text within the template. The base system provides default document templates that you can use to model your documents:
    • Employee Verification Letter in Canada
    • Employee Verification Letter in USA
    • Offer Letter Template
    • Education Agreement

    Before you begin generating documents, configure the templates with your company logo and text. Obtain the following items and information to create or configure the predefined HR document templates.

    • A page of your company letterhead.
    • Copies of your current company employment verification letter and offer letter templates, if available.
    • The logo image to use in your header. The header image can be a maximum of 50 px high. If your letterhead includes a logo and text, ensure that the logo image includes the text, because you can only configure the image (not text) in the header.
    • The logo image to use in your footer, if applicable. The logo image can be a maximum of 15 pixels high. You can configure both an image and text in the footer.For best results, ensure that the image is optimized and a Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file.
    Important:
    Usage of HR document templates with itext5 is no longer supported. Use HR document templates with itext7 instead.

    To use HR document templates feature with itext7, the boolean property itext7.pdf_conversion must be set to true in the Human Resources: Core (sn_hr_core) scope. This property has been set to true, by default, since the Paris release. If you are using the version of HR Document templates that has been released prior to the Paris release, create the itext7.pdf_conversion property manually to switch to itext7.

    PDF document templates

    PDF document templates originate from Managed Documents and use field mapping to pre-fill information from tables into the document. Before you customize a document:
    • The document must be a fillable PDF. See the Adobe home page and search for Convert existing forms to fillable PDFs to learn how to create fillable PDF documents https://www.adobe.com/.
    • The document must be uploaded and published.
    The base system provides the default PDF document template as an example: Non-Disclosure Agreement (Sample).

    Generating documents

    Both the Document template and PDF document template generate PDF documents that can be reviewed or printed and can require multiple signatures.

    A common use case for generating a document from an HR case is when an employee requests an employment verification letter. For information on generating a PDF document from an HR case, see HR document generation.