Entitlement Template
An Entitlement Template is a predefined set of entitlements that can be quickly applied to products to standardize customer support terms.
Definition
An Entitlement Template is a predefined set of entitlements that can be quickly applied to products to standardize customer support terms. When a product with an entitlement template is added to an asset, the template automatically creates the associated entitlement records, defining support levels, response times, and service commitments without manual entry.
In plain English
“An Entitlement Template is a predefined entitlement that you can quickly apply to products. When a product with the template is added to a customer's asset, the entitlement is created automatically with the right service terms, instead of you having to set it up by hand each time.”
Worked example
Coppermoor Software's product team defines an Entitlement Template called "Premium Tier 12-Month Support" specifying the SLA terms (1-hour response, 8-hour resolution, 12-month duration). When a customer purchases a Premium license, the Entitlement Template is automatically applied to their account's Asset; the corresponding Entitlement record is created without manual setup. Other Entitlement Templates exist for Standard Tier and Enterprise Tier with different SLAs. Templates eliminate the per-customer setup work; the support team would otherwise be configuring entitlements from scratch for every new customer.
Why Entitlement Template matters
An Entitlement Template is a predefined set of entitlement terms that can be quickly applied to products in Salesforce Service Cloud. When a product with an entitlement template is added to an asset (the customer's record of owning the product), the template automatically creates the associated entitlement records with the configured support level, response times, and service commitments. This eliminates manual entitlement creation for every product purchase and ensures consistency across customers buying the same product.
Entitlement Templates are particularly valuable for product-based service offerings where each product comes with standard support terms. Without templates, every new asset would require manual entitlement creation, which is slow and error-prone. With templates, the right entitlement appears automatically based on the product, and admins maintain the support terms in one place (the template) rather than scattered across thousands of individual entitlements. Updating a template propagates the change to future entitlements created from it.
How to set up Entitlement Template
Entitlement Templates are reusable Entitlement definitions linked to Products — when a customer's Asset references the Product, the template auto-creates Entitlement records with standard SLA terms. Useful when service-level commitments are tied to specific products ("Gold Support tier auto-applies to anyone owning Product X").
- Confirm Entitlement Management is enabled
Setup → Entitlement Settings → Enable. Without this, templates aren't available.
- Open Setup → Entitlement Templates
Setup gear → Quick Find: Entitlement Template → Entitlement Templates.
- Click New Entitlement Template
Top-right.
- Set Name and Type
Type: Phone Support / Web Support / Web or Phone Support. Drives which channels honor the entitlement.
- Set Cases Per Entitlement and Term
Cases per Entitlement: how many cases this template covers. Term in months.
- Link the Entitlement Process (optional)
If this template should drive an SLA timeline, link the Entitlement Process here. Per-case milestones cascade from this link.
- Save
Template is created. Now link to Products.
- On a Product: Entitlement Templates related list → Add
Object Manager → Product → Page Layout → ensure the Entitlement Templates related list is on the layout. Then on a Product record, add the template.
- When an Asset references that Product, an Entitlement is auto-created
Asset → Product link triggers automatic Entitlement creation per the template's terms.
Phone / Web / Phone or Web.
Numerical cap.
Duration in months.
Drives SLA milestones.
- Entitlement Templates link Products to Entitlements via Assets. The chain: Customer owns Asset → Asset references Product → Product has Template → Template generates Entitlement. Missing any link breaks the auto-creation.
- Editing a template doesn't update existing auto-created Entitlements. Existing Entitlements keep their original terms until manually updated or recreated.
- Templates without linked Entitlement Processes don't drive SLA timers. The Entitlement record is created but no milestones — defeats most of the value.
How organizations use Entitlement Template
Built Entitlement Templates for each of their products, defining standard support terms. When a customer buys a product, the entitlement appears automatically with the right SLAs.
Uses Entitlement Templates to standardize support terms across thousands of customer assets. Maintenance is centralized in the templates rather than scattered across individual entitlements.
Created Entitlement Templates for different policy types so claim handling entitlements are created automatically when policies are activated.
Test your knowledge
Q1. What does an Entitlement Template do?
Q2. Why use templates instead of creating entitlements manually?
Q3. When does a template create an entitlement?
Discussion
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