Document templates

Vaks PM · Document templates · August 2026

What this guide covers. Vaks PM generates two office documents from a project's data: the project charter (a Word .docx) and the client-facing status report (a PowerPoint .pptx). In both cases a default, Vaks-branded rendering is available with no setup; an organization can also supply its own template in its brand, into which Vaks injects the data. This guide explains the principle, lists the available tags, and describes how to build and upload a template.

Overview

A template is an ordinary Office file (.docx for the charter, .pptx for the status report) that you design in your company's brand — logo, fonts, colours, layout. Wherever you want a project value to appear, you write a tag such as {projectName}. On each generation, Vaks starts from your template, replaces the tags with the real project values, and returns the finished file.

Two important properties:

No template required. If your organization hasn't uploaded a template, Vaks produces a clean, Vaks-branded default — for the status report, that default deck even includes native charts (progress, deadlines, burndown) editable in PowerPoint.
Your brand, your structure. As soon as you upload a template, it drives the look and structure: Vaks only fills the tags. The logo and colours live in your file; there is nothing to re-configure on the Vaks side.

Where it lives

Upload a template: Administration → Document templates. You'll see each kind (Charter, Client status report), upload a file, download it again, or reset to the built-in default. An invalid template (corrupt file, unclosed tag) is rejected before it is saved, with an error message.
Generate a charter: from a project's lifecycle (charter stage), the charter is produced as Word.
Generate a status report: from a project, Reports → Exports → Project status (PowerPoint). The deck's "health" and "summary" content is set on the project itself (Manage → General tab → Client status report).

Tag syntax

Tags follow a simple syntax, the same in Word and PowerPoint:

Form	Purpose	Example
`{field}`	Simple value: replaced by the matching data.	`{projectName}`
`{#list}…{/list}`	Loop: the content between the two tags is repeated for each item in the list.	`{#milestonesDone}{name}{/milestonesDone}`

A tag must be written in one piece in the file (keep a spell-checker or formatting change from splitting {projectName} into fragments). When in doubt, type the tag in a plain editor and paste it in.

Project charter Word .docx

The charter follows the sections of a classic project charter (purpose, objectives, scope, deliverables, milestones, stakeholders, assumptions, constraints, risks, budget, success criteria). The default template lays them out in thirteen sections; your template is free to arrange them differently, as long as it places the tags you want.

Available tags

Tag	Content
`{projectKey}`	Project key (e.g. `ACME-12`).
`{projectName}`	Project name.
`{description}`	Project description.
`{client}`	Client (name + company) or "Internal project".
`{draftDate}`	Draft date.
`{projectPurpose}`	1. Project purpose.
`{objectives}`	2. Objectives (SMART).
`{scopeIn}`	3. In scope.
`{scopeOut}`	4. Out of scope.
`{deliverables}`	5. Key deliverables.
`{milestones}`	6. Key milestones.
`{stakeholders}`	7. Stakeholders.
`{sponsor}`	8. Executive sponsor.
`{assumptions}`	9. Assumptions.
`{constraints}`	10. Constraints.
`{risks}`	11. Initial risks.
`{budgetEstimate}`	12. Budget estimate.
`{successCriteria}`	13. Success criteria / KPIs.

Client status report PowerPoint .pptx

The status report is a client-facing deliverable: it presents progress in a readable, presentable way, and deliberately excludes logged time, internal costs and AI-agent details (those stay in the internal reports). The default deck has five slides: title page, overall status, progress & deadlines (with charts), milestones, next steps & risks.

The health (on track / at risk / off track) and the summary are written by the project manager on the project. These are editorial choices — a client status is written, not computed.

Text tags

Tag	Content
`{projectKey}` · `{projectName}`	Project key and name.
`{client}`	Client (name + company) or "Internal project".
`{startDate}` · `{dueDate}`	Project start and due dates.
`{reportDate}`	Report date (generation day).
`{preparedBy}`	Author (the person generating the deck).
`{health}`	Overall status: "On track", "At risk" or "Off track".
`{statusSummary}`	Narrative status summary.
`{progressPct}`	Completion percentage.
`{totalTasks}` · `{doneTasks}` · `{overdueTasks}`	Total, completed and overdue task counts.

Loops: milestones & next steps

Lists render with a loop: write the template line once, between an opening {#list} and closing {/list} tag. Vaks repeats it for each item. Inside, use the item's sub-fields.

List	Sub-fields	Content
`{#milestonesDone}`	`{name}`, `{date}`	Achieved milestones.
`{#milestonesUpcoming}`	`{name}`, `{date}`	Upcoming milestones.
`{#milestonesAtRisk}`	`{name}`, `{date}`	At-risk milestones (overdue).
`{#nextSteps}`	`{name}`, `{due}`, `{assignees}`	Upcoming tasks, with due date and assignees.

Example, inside a text box:

{#milestonesUpcoming}
• {name} — {date}
{/milestonesUpcoming}

Charts

A custom template can show the same charts as the default deck. Because a PowerPoint file can't insert an image via a plain text tag, Vaks uses named-image replacement:

In your slide, insert a placeholder picture (any image — a grey rectangle, a temporary visual) at the position and size you want for the chart.
Select it, open PowerPoint's Selection Pane (Home → Arrange → Selection Pane) and rename the picture to the desired chart.

Picture name	Injected chart
`chart:progress`	Progress doughnut (done vs remaining).
`chart:due`	Deadline-adherence doughnut (on time / late / no deadline).
`chart:burndown`	Burndown line (ideal vs actual).

On generation, Vaks replaces that picture's content with the rendered chart, keeping the position and size you gave the placeholder. Charts are produced server-side, with no browser.

Build a template

Start from a blank document in your brand (or download the default template from Administration → Document templates as a starting point) — .docx for the charter, .pptx for the status report.
Place the text tags ({projectName}, …) where the data should appear.
For lists, write one template line wrapped in {#list} / {/list}.
For charts (status report), add placeholder pictures named chart:… (see above).
Save in the matching Office format.

Keep each tag in one piece. If a tag seems ignored on generation, it is almost always because formatting split it — retype it in one go.

Upload & generate

In Administration → Document templates, choose the kind (Charter or Client status report) and upload your file. Vaks validates it immediately and flags any unknown tag (a likely typo) without blocking.
Generate the document: the charter from the project lifecycle, the status report from Reports → Exports. Your template is used automatically; to go back to the default rendering, remove the template ("reset to default").