---
schema_version: "1"
id: f61c5eb4d3b72cde070b9d7e449ee6c103d5ae393ff8db7e1b5fe26ab574ac5c
title: Template Considerations and Limitations
collection: admin
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/analytics/264-0-0/bi_template_considerations.md
canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=analytics.bi_template_considerations.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5
source_site: help.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: 3a13e993d619698a7a51deb19a6fec594d178e550249593c6ec86cfdb688d2c0
description: When creating and managing CRM Analytics templates, be aware of these considerations and limitations.
products:
  - CRM Analytics
  - Cross Cloud
release: "264"
---
# Template Considerations and Limitations

When creating and managing CRM Analytics templates, be aware of these considerations and limitations.

## Template Considerations

- Template development is an iterative process, with creation as the first step. Modifications aren’t always necessary, but to take advantage of template customization features, you must understand CRM Analytics Templates and how to design them. For more information, see [Why Analytics Templates](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/analytics/bi-dev-guide-wave-templates/guide/)
- To edit template files for customization, you need familiarity with JSON and Salesforce developer tools. For more information, see [CRM Analytics Development Tools](https://help.salesforce.com/articleView?id=analytics.bi_dev_tools.htm&type=5&language=en_US).
- As with any development process, starting early is a good idea. Don’t wait until your source app is perfect before creating a template from it. Add some data and a dashboard, then create the initial template. Update that template periodically after adding features to the source app.
- If you’re not planning on making one template dependent on another, make sure that all the app’s assets reside in the source app. Assets include datasets that are used in dashboards, datasets that are referenced in dataflows, links from one dashboard to another, and images that are used in multiple places. Don’t reference any assets from the Shared App or your Private App. For more information on template dependencies, see [Share CRM Analytics Assets Between Apps](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/analytics/bi-dev-guide-wave-templates/guide/bi-templatesdev-share-assets.html).
- If you’re planning to take advantage of the template dependency framework, make sure that any apps that your source app depends on have also been made into templates. And make sure that your installation documentation includes a prerequisite to install those supporting apps.
- If you have a dataflow that references data from a connected dataset, make sure that you understand how to use that connector in a template and how to install that connector in a subscriber org. For more information, see [Add a Remote Connector to a CRM Analytics Template](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/analytics/bi-dev-guide-wave-templates/guide/bi-templatesdev-add-connector.html).
- Any CSV files that the template needs must be recently uploaded by the same user who is creating the template.
- Make sure that the source app only uses features that are supported by CRM Analytics templates. Features that aren’t currently supported include:
    - Custom Maps and Charts
    - Using recipes in templates is available, but recipes are complex and some use cases are problematic when templatized. We recommend you use dataflows for all Digest nodes and design recipes to run using the datasets output from the dataflows as their inputs.
    - Einstein Discovery Stories (Stories are supported in templates, but they aren’t added to the template on creation. They must be added manually during template customization. For more information, see [Add an Einstein Discovery Story to a CRM Analytics Template](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/analytics/bi-dev-guide-wave-templates/guide/bi-templatesdev-add-discovery-story.html).)

## Template Limitations in CRM Analytics Studio

- You can’t update an existing template with another app that isn’t your source app.
- If you load an existing template into your org via the Metadata API or CLI, you can’t specify a source app for the template.

To perform these advanced actions, use the Analytics CLI plugin template commands. For more information, see [Salesforce Analytics Plugin CLI Command Reference - template commands](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/analytics/bi-dev-guide-cli-reference/guide/bi-cli-reference-analytics-template-unified.html)