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Veeva hosted documents allow you to attach related documents such as PDF or video to email templates and fragments whilst maintaining 100% compliance with your approved email content.

To briefly summarize how it works: In Shaman, Veeva tokens corresponding to the Veeva hosted document are added within your email templates or fragments using “Special links”, to link the Veeva hosted document to your email content.

In this article we will take you through the process both in Shaman and in Veeva Vault step by step. We will look at the following Veeva hosted documents (as the process varies slightly with each document type):

Good to know!

Shaman has a really handy feature in Shaman that allows you to create a related piece and sync it directly to your Veeva Vault, allowing you to skip the step of manually uploading it to Veeva Vault. For more information on how to do this, take a look at this article.

Pieces of email content (for example, email templates or fragments) can be in one of four “stages” after being synced from Shaman to Veeva Vault. It is important to know which each stage in your Veeva Vault relates to, as this will determine who can test, view or use this content, and where (eg. in your test CRM, in your live/ production CRM).

Let´s take a look at the stages and what they mean for your content.

In Shaman: Any content synced from Shaman that does not have an MLR document attached to it, will directly go into draft status. Normally, if your content does not have MLR information attached to it, it will not be possible to advance from the draft stage (this is to prevent any non-approved content being distributed non-compliantly.)

In Veeva Vault: Content in draft status can still be edited directly in Veeva Vault. For example, you can update viewable renditions and general information linked to your email content.

In CRM: Draft content is not visible in either test or live/production CRM.

In Shaman: Content has been synced to Veeva Vault with an MLR document attached to it.

In Veeva Vault: Content in staged status can be made available in the test CRM environment by completing a “push” through the CRM Publishing tab. You should check your in-house rules on using the push to CRM Publishing. Usually you can push to full/test environment at any time. Without completing this step, the staged content will not be viewable in test CRM.

In CRM: Staged content is available to test (usually for content creators) in the full/test CRM environment.

In Shaman: Content in approved status in Shaman has been synced to Veeva Vault, and in Veeva Vault it has been manually set to approved.

Good to know!

It is currently not possible to set content directly to approved from Shaman to Veeva Vault, content must be manually approved in Veeva Vault.

In Veeva Vault: The content has been manually approved for use by the field force.

In CRM: Approved content is available for the field force to use.

It is worth mentioning at this point that a temporary status “Superseded” exists when a new version of content has been created (for example, there has been an update to the content made in Shaman, and it has been resynced to Veeva Vault). Once this new version has been approved, the previous version of the content will be “Superseded”, until the newest version has been pushed to CRM Publishing and is showing in live/full environment.

In Shaman and Veeva Vault: Content will appear with an expired status to advise users that this content is no longer available for the field force in live/Production CRM.

Good to know!

To revive expired content back to approved or staged, first the expired content must be duplicated in Shaman, creating a completely new piece of content. The process then starts from the beginning - add MLR information, sync to Veeva Vault before manually approving in Veeva Vault.

In CRM: Expired content is not available for the field force to use.

Good to know!

If you see the status “Non-Existing” in Shaman, this is because the content has not yet been synced to Veeva Vault.

So now we have taken a look at the basics, we are ready to get stuck into uploading and adding Veeva hosted documents to approved email content.

You can add one related piece to a template/ fragment.

Let´s imagine that you have created a new email fragment or template, have completed the email details, and are now in the HTML editor ready to add elements to your email fragment or template. (If you need to revise any of these steps, check out this article here).

Good to know!

In this example we will use a button as the “call to action” to link the related piece to the email content. It is also possible to link the related piece to images, text or headings using the same method outlined below.

From the menus on the right hand side, select the content menu. Find the button icon in the content menu, and simply drag and drop that icon onto your email canvas.

You will notice that a placeholder grey button with the words, “Button text” has been added to the email canvas. To add your own text to the button instead, simply start typing where you see the text already in the box.

In the menu on the right hand side, there is a section called “Actions”. Here, click “Special Links” to reveal some additional actions options. Select “Document Links” in the dropdown menu, followed by “Related Piece”. You will see that the actions fields have been automatically populated with {{PieceLink}} in the URL field, and default tab settings below it.

Aside from completing the creation of your email, and exporting it to Veeva Vault, there are no additional steps to link the related piece to your email on the Shaman side.

On the Veeva Vault side however, it is necessary to add the related piece to your email content.

Please note: the screenshots in the following steps have been taken in our Shaman Veeva Vault, which will most likely differ in configuration and appearance to your Veeva Vault, but the process of adding the related piece will be very similar.

Once you have logged into Veeva Vault, you can locate your email content by using the Veeva ID to search for it using the search box available at the top of the page.

Good to know!

You can find your Veeva ID in Shaman in the email overview and in the email details page.

In the general information menus on the right hand side of your email template or fragment, click the “Relationships” tab. You will find a section called “Related Piece”. Click the small add icon on the right hand side.

Search for the related piece you wish to add using the search bar at the top of the list of documents.

Good to know!

You will only see related piece documents which have been Approved for distribution in Veeva Vault, and which have the same Product/brand as the email content you are working on.

Once you have found the related piece in the list of documents, select it by clicking the circle icon to the left, then click “Save”. You will see the related piece now appears in the general information - relationships section of the email content.

To ensure the changes have been communicated to your test or live CRM, it may be necessary to do a “push” to the relevant CRM publishing org name. In some organizations there are routine “pushes”, meaning you do not need to complete this step, so do check this with your local CRM admin.

And that´s it! The Veeva hosted document has been correctly added to your email content, and the changes should be viewable in the relevant CRM environment.

You can add one PI document to a template/ fragment.

Let´s imagine that you have created a new email fragment or template, have completed the email details, and are now in the HTML editor ready to add elements to your email fragment or template.

Good to know!

In this example we will use a button as the “call to action” to link the related PI to the email content. It is also possible to link the related PI to images, text or headings using the same method outlined below.

From the menus on the right hand side, select the content menu. Find the button icon in the content menu, and simply drag and drop that icon onto your email canvas.

You will notice that a placeholder grey button with the words, “Button text” has been added to the email canvas. To add your own text to the button instead, simply start typing where you see the text already in the box.

In the menu on the right hand side, there is a section called “Actions”. Here, click “Special Links” to reveal some additional actions options. Select “Document Links” in the dropdown menu, followed by “Product Information”. You will see that the actions fields have been automatically populated with {{PILink}} in the URL field, and default tab settings below it.

Aside from completing the creation of your email, and exporting it to Veeva Vault, there are no additional steps to link the related PI to your email on the Shaman side.

On the Veeva Vault side however, it is necessary to add the related PI to your email content.

Once you have logged into Veeva Vault, you can locate your email content by using the Veeva ID to search for it using the search box available at the top of the page.

Good to know!

You can find your Veeva ID in Shaman in the email overview and in the email details page.

In the general information menus on the right hand side of your email template or fragment, click the “Relationships” tab. You will find a section called “Related PI”. Click the small add icon on the right hand side.

Search for the related piece you wish to add using the search bar at the top of the list of documents.

Good to know!

You will only see related PI documents which have been Approved for distribution in Veeva Vault, and which have the same Product/brand as the email content you are working on.

Once you have found the related PI in the list of documents, select it by clicking the circle icon to the left, then click “Save”. You will see the related PI now appears in the general information - relationships section of the email content.

To ensure the changes have been communicated to your test or live CRM, it may be necessary to do a “push” to the relevant CRM publishing org name. In some organizations there are routine “pushes”, meaning you do not need to complete this step, so do check this with your local CRM admin.

And that´s it! The Veeva hosted document has been correctly added to your email content, and the changes should be viewable in the relevant CRM environment.

You can add one ISI document to a template/ fragment.

Let´s imagine that you have created a new email fragment or template, have completed the email details, and are now in the HTML editor ready to add elements to your email fragment or template.

Good to know!

In this example we will use a button as the “call to action” to link the ISI Document link to the email content. It is also possible to link the ISI Document to images, text or headings using the same method outlined below.

From the menus on the right hand side, select the content menu. Find the button icon in the content menu, and simply drag and drop that icon onto your email canvas.

You will notice that a placeholder grey button with the words, “Button text” has been added to the email canvas. To add your own text to the button instead, simply start typing where you see the text already in the box.

In the menu on the right hand side, there is a section called “Actions”. Here, click “Special Links” to reveal some additional actions options. Select “Document Links” in the dropdown menu, followed by “ISI Document Link”. You will see that the actions fields have been automatically populated with {{ISILink}} in the URL field, and default tab settings below it.

Aside from completing the creation of your email, and exporting it to Veeva Vault, there are no additional steps to link the ISI Document to your email on the Shaman side.

On the Veeva Vault side however, it is necessary to add the ISI Document to your email content.

Once you have logged into Veeva Vault, you can locate your email content by using the Veeva ID to search for it using the search box available at the top of the page.

Good to know!

You can find your Veeva ID in Shaman in the email overview and in the email details page.

In the general information menus on the right hand side of your email template or fragment, click the “Relationships” tab. You will find a section called “Related ISI”. Click the small add icon on the right hand side.

Search for the related ISI Document you wish to add using the search bar at the top of the list of documents.

Good to know!

You will only see related ISI documents which have been approved for distribution in Veeva Vault, and which have the same product/brand as the email content you are working on.

Once you have found the related ISI in the list of documents, select it by clicking the circle icon to the left, then click “Save”. You will see the related ISI now appears in the general information - relationships section of the email content.

To ensure the changes have been communicated to your test or live CRM, it may be necessary to do a “push” to the relevant CRM publishing org name. In some organizations there are routine “pushes”, meaning you do not need to complete this step, so do check this with your local CRM admin.

And that´s it! The Veeva hosted document has been correctly added to your email content, and the changes should be viewable in the relevant CRM environment.

You can add multiple documents to a template/ fragment.

Let´s imagine that you have created a new email fragment or template, have completed the email details, and are now in the HTML editor ready to add elements to your email fragment or template. (If you need to revise any of these steps, check out this article here.

Good to know!

In this example we will use a button as the “call to action” to link the related Vault Doc to the email content. It is also possible to link the related Vault doc to images, text or headings using the same method outlined below.

From the menus on the right hand side, select the content menu. Find the button icon in the content menu, and simply drag and drop that icon onto your email canvas.

You will notice that a placeholder grey button with the words, “Button text” has been added to the email canvas. To add your own text to the button instead, simply start typing where you see the text already in the box.

In the menu on the right hand side, there is a section called “Actions”. Here, click “Special Links” to reveal some additional actions options. Select “Document Links” in the dropdown menu, followed by “Vault Document (Add ID)”. You will see that the action fields have been automatically populated with {{$VaultDocID}} in the URL field, and default tab settings below it.

There is an additional step that needs to be completed here. The document ID in Veeva Vault of this document needs to be added into the token itself in Shaman. You will find this Document ID in the URL in Veeva Vault when viewing the related document (after /#doc_info/:)

This ID then needs to be populated into the token, so a document with ID 127438 will appear as {{$127438}} in Shaman.

Aside from completing the creation of your email, and exporting it to Veeva Vault, there are no additional steps to link the related document to your email on the Shaman side.

On the Veeva Vault side however, it is necessary to add the related document to your email content.

Once you have logged into Veeva Vault, you can locate your email content by using the Veeva ID to search for it using the search box available at the top of the page.

Good to know!

You can find your Veeva ID in Shaman in the email overview and in the email details page.

In the general information menus on the right hand side of your email template or fragment, click the “Relationships” tab. You will find a section “Other Related documents”. Click the small add icon on the right hand side.

Search for the related document you wish to add using the search bar at the top of the list of documents.

Good to know!

You will only see related documents which have been Approved for distribution in Veeva Vault, and which have the same Product/brand as the email content you are working on.

Once you have found the related document in the list of documents, select it by clicking the circle icon to the left, then click “Save”. You will see the related document now appears in the general information - relationships section of the email content.

To ensure the changes have been communicated to your test or live CRM, it may be necessary to do a “push” to the relevant CRM publishing org name. In some organizations there are routine “pushes”, meaning you do not need to complete this step, so do check this with your local CRM admin.

And that´s it! The Veeva hosted document has been correctly added to your email content, and the changes should be viewable in the relevant CRM environment.