Templates allow you to capture a repeatable process made up of streams, tasks and users that can be seamlessly executed at a later time. This makes your workflow more efficient and ensures necessary steps are not forgotten.

There are two types of templates, those with no workflow (which will follow our default behaviour) and those with a workflow attached.

In this article, we will cover the template creation process within Cutover, where no workflow has been defined.

To understand more about template workflow, please see our Help Center article here.

Templates are created directly from runbooks that are in planning state. With templates, you have the ability to create multiple runbooks allowing you to make use of settings you've previously defined, creating a workflow that executes seamlessly.

You may think of templates as a framework that includes a specific set of tasks that work toward a specific goal that you can replicate and execute as often as needed.

To create a template, you will need to either be a workspace runbook creator or a workspace folder creator. Templates have two states which are draft or approved.

To create a template, follow the steps below:

If you already have a runbook you wish to convert to template, go to the Runbook setting icon next to your runbook title and select the Make Template option, then click +Submit to confirm.

If you have scheduled your runbook, the moment a runbook is designated a template, the planned start date is removed and this will begin at Day 1, but will retain the time specified ie: Day 1 - 8am, assuming the scheduled runbook was supposed to start January 23rd at 8am.
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If this was an unscheduled runbook, you will see no change to the scheduling. For more information on scheduled and unscheduled runbooks, see our Help Center article here.
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​Draft state
You will notice that when your runbook has been converted to a template, it will go initially into a draft state - indicated by the (Draft) pill at the top of the template header. In this state your runbook can be edited until you are happy for it to be approved.
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​Approval state
A template can be approved by clicking in the ‘Mark as approved’ text in the banner that appears in the bottom of the template.

A runbook can be created from a template regardless of whether this is in a draft or approval state. Once your template is in approval state, the runbook is no longer editable and nothing can be changed.
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If you wish to edit any of your runbook or tasks, you must move the template back to draft state. This can be done by clicking on the cog next to the runbook name at the top and selecting Create a new template version. When you do this, you will notice the green approved pill at the top will be replaced by a grey draft pill.

Once a template is approved and is without the Approval workflow, Runbook admins can return it to draft state to make changes. Simple click the Return to Draft button in the green banner displayed at the bottom of your template.

You can also return multiple templates (up to 100) to draft status using the multi-select check box.

Once selected, a 'Return to draft' button will appear. Click the button to continue. Check the warming message and then click 'Return to draft' to continue.

See our other articles here:

Create a runbook

Create a template - advanced workflow