Builder Glossary

An app represents a collection of information typically required for completing related documents in a specific catalog/matter type.

For example, say you have an Estate Planning matter type. The typical documents you create for clients might be a will, trust, power of attorney, living will, and so forth. You can create an app that groups these templates and asks all the questions in them. Then, when you need to generate a document, rather than address each document individually, you can select the app which contains all the required questions, and which produces the needed documents.

An app consists of one or more templates (and their components) that are typically related. When generating a document or group of documents, an app will determine which questions are needed and then create and save the related documents. For example, if the template you are creating is part of a larger collection of templates/data, you would assign it to an app designed to accommodate all these components. If the template will be used in isolation, it will most likely be assigned to its own app.

A catalog contains object models, variables, templates, formulas, and apps.  

Catalogs in Builder mirror your matter types in Actionstep. Merge fields, custom data, and data collections from Actionstep are made available in a Builder catalog as variables.

An instruction is a command used to do something specific in the template. Some common uses for instructions include: 

• Including or excluding a word or paragraph based on certain conditions being true or false. 
• Repeating variable fields in order to create a list of answers. 
• Formatting data in the document (e.g., applying UPPERCASE to a name)

Object models are used to group common variables so you can reuse them for specific instances within your templates/catalogs.

To explain, many of the documents you'll use with your matter type include information about parties associated with a matter, and there may be multiple parties (like plaintiff/defendant, testator/beneficiary, employer/employee, etc.). With Builder, you can use an object model that groups generic variables like Name, Address, DOB, etc. and then create party-specific object variables that reference these common variables. This approach lets you quickly create unique groups of variables which reference the individual common variables.
 

When using data from Actionstep, object models represent the data collected for both the participant type and matter type in Actionstep. They also represent custom data fields and data collections. For example, the as:action_participant object contains several variables relating to a participant (like name, address, gender, address, etc.) that is then used to more quickly and easily create participant-specific object variables (like Plaintiff and Defendant).

A table model is a reusable list of information (in tabular format) that doesn’t change based on the client or matter you are working with. For example, you could create a table of states/regions/cities along with their postal abbreviations and local government offices can be used across most matter types / catalog models. You create tables so that you can reference the information in them from anywhere within your system.  

Other examples of tables you might create include a table of attorneys at your firm (which could include names, phone numbers, hourly rates, etc.), gender (which could include gender types and associated pronouns), and so forth.

A text template is an Builder component that lets you string together individual variables to create a single data entry point in a completed document. These types of templates are created directly in Builder and can be inserted in a Word document. 

For instance, if you ask First, Middle, and Last Name, you can create a text template called FullName which will combine these different components into a single field.

See also the entries for DOCX Template and File Template.

A variable is the basic unit of data in a document. Variable types include text, number, date, true/false, selection (like groups of possible options), and object (like a table or a model). Variables are like merge fields in Actionstep and MS Word. It’s where data specific to your client or matter gets merged into a document. 

Actionstep merge fields, custom data fields, and data collections are made available as variables in Builder so that you can use them to automate your templates, and data from Actionstep can be pulled into the completed document/record. See Understanding How Actionstep Data is Used in Builder for an explanation.