Index: impl/logic/src/java/org/sakaiproject/emailtemplateservice/service/impl/EmailTemplateServiceImpl.java
===================================================================
--- impl/logic/src/java/org/sakaiproject/emailtemplateservice/service/impl/EmailTemplateServiceImpl.java	(revision 78509)
+++ impl/logic/src/java/org/sakaiproject/emailtemplateservice/service/impl/EmailTemplateServiceImpl.java	(working copy)
@@ -31,8 +31,12 @@
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.Map.Entry;
 
+import java.io.InputStream;
+
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
+import org.apache.commons.lang.StringUtils;
+import org.apache.commons.lang.math.NumberUtils;
 import org.sakaiproject.component.api.ServerConfigurationService;
 import org.sakaiproject.email.api.EmailService;
 import org.sakaiproject.emailtemplateservice.dao.impl.EmailTemplateServiceDao;
@@ -50,7 +54,11 @@
 import org.sakaiproject.user.api.PreferencesService;
 import org.sakaiproject.user.api.User;
 import org.sakaiproject.user.api.UserDirectoryService;
+import org.sakaiproject.tool.api.SessionManager;
+import org.sakaiproject.tool.api.Session;
 
+import org.simpleframework.xml.core.Persister;
+
 public class EmailTemplateServiceImpl implements EmailTemplateService {
 
    private static Log log = LogFactory.getLog(EmailTemplateServiceImpl.class);
@@ -75,6 +83,10 @@
       serverConfigurationService = scs;
    }
 
+   private SessionManager sessionManager;
+   public void setSessionManager(SessionManager sm) {
+      sessionManager = sm;
+   }
 
    public EmailTemplate getEmailTemplateById(Long id) {
 	   if (id == null) {
@@ -363,5 +375,58 @@
 	}
 	return userDirectoryService.getUsers(ids);
 }
+	public void processEmailTemplates(List<String> templatePaths) {
 
+		final String ADMIN = "admin";
+
+		Persister persister = new Persister();
+		for(String templatePath : templatePaths) {
+			InputStream in = getClass().getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream(templatePath);
+
+			if(in == null) {
+				log.warn("Could not load resource from '" + templatePath + "'. Skipping ...");
+				continue;
+			}
+
+			EmailTemplate template = null;
+			try {
+				template = persister.read(EmailTemplate.class,in);
+			}
+			catch(Exception e) {
+				continue;
+			}
+
+			//check if we have an existing template of this key and locale
+			EmailTemplate existingTemplate = getEmailTemplate(template.getKey(), new Locale(template.getLocale()));
+			if(existingTemplate == null) {
+				//no existing, save this one
+				Session sakaiSession = sessionManager.getCurrentSession();
+				sakaiSession.setUserId(ADMIN);
+				sakaiSession.setUserEid(ADMIN);
+				saveTemplate(template);
+				sakaiSession.setUserId(null);
+				sakaiSession.setUserId(null);
+				log.info("Saved email template: " + template.getKey() + " with locale: " + template.getLocale());
+				return;
+			} 
+		
+			//check version, if local one newer than persisted, update it - SAK-17679
+			int existingTemplateVersion = existingTemplate.getVersion() != null ? existingTemplate.getVersion().intValue() : 0;
+			if(template.getVersion() > existingTemplateVersion) {
+				existingTemplate.setSubject(template.getSubject());
+				existingTemplate.setMessage(template.getMessage());
+				existingTemplate.setHtmlMessage(template.getHtmlMessage());
+				existingTemplate.setVersion(template.getVersion());
+				existingTemplate.setOwner(template.getOwner());
+
+				Session sakaiSession = sessionManager.getCurrentSession();
+				sakaiSession.setUserId(ADMIN);
+				sakaiSession.setUserEid(ADMIN);
+				updateTemplate(existingTemplate);
+				sakaiSession.setUserId(null);
+				sakaiSession.setUserId(null);
+				log.info("Updated email template: " + template.getKey() + " with locale: " + template.getLocale());
+			}
+		}
+	}
 }
Index: impl/logic/pom.xml
===================================================================
--- impl/logic/pom.xml	(revision 78509)
+++ impl/logic/pom.xml	(working copy)
@@ -104,6 +104,19 @@
             <artifactId>freemarker</artifactId>
             <version>2.3.11</version>
         </dependency>
+
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>commons-lang</groupId>
+            <artifactId>commons-lang</artifactId>
+            <version>2.4</version>
+			<scope>provided</scope>
+        </dependency>
+		<dependency>
+		    <groupId>org.simpleframework</groupId>
+		    <artifactId>simple-xml</artifactId>
+		    <version>2.3.5</version>
+		</dependency>
+
     </dependencies>
 
     <build>
@@ -144,4 +157,4 @@
             </testResource>
         </testResources>
     </build>
-</project>
\ No newline at end of file
+</project>
Index: api/src/java/org/sakaiproject/emailtemplateservice/model/EmailTemplate.java
===================================================================
--- api/src/java/org/sakaiproject/emailtemplateservice/model/EmailTemplate.java	(revision 78509)
+++ api/src/java/org/sakaiproject/emailtemplateservice/model/EmailTemplate.java	(working copy)
@@ -23,10 +23,14 @@
 
 import java.util.Date;
 
+import org.simpleframework.xml.Root;
+import org.simpleframework.xml.Element;
+
 /**
  * EmailTemplate is an email template, though it could actually be used for anything,
  * identified by a unique key and set to be locale specific if desired
  */
+@Root
 public class EmailTemplate implements java.io.Serializable {
 
    // Fields
@@ -35,18 +39,25 @@
 
    private Date lastModified;
 
+   @Element
    private String key;
 
+   @Element
    private String locale;
 
+   @Element
    private String owner;
 
+   @Element
    private String subject;
 
+   @Element
    private String message;
 
+   @Element
    private String htmlMessage;
    
+   @Element
    private Integer version;
    
 
Index: api/src/java/org/sakaiproject/emailtemplateservice/service/EmailTemplateService.java
===================================================================
--- api/src/java/org/sakaiproject/emailtemplateservice/service/EmailTemplateService.java	(revision 78509)
+++ api/src/java/org/sakaiproject/emailtemplateservice/service/EmailTemplateService.java	(working copy)
@@ -148,6 +148,12 @@
     * @param replacementValues
     */
    public void sendRenderedMessages(String key, List<String> userReferences, Map<String, String> replacementValues, String from, String fromName);
+
+   /**
+    * Takes the list of paths supplied and looks up the XML files using the services classloader. Each file is parsed
+	* into an EmailTemplate and saved.
+    * @param templatePaths A List of template path Strings
+    */
+   public void processEmailTemplates(List<String> templatePaths);
    
-   
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
Index: api/pom.xml
===================================================================
--- api/pom.xml	(revision 78509)
+++ api/pom.xml	(working copy)
@@ -22,6 +22,14 @@
         <deploy.target>shared</deploy.target>
     </properties>
 
+	<dependencies>
+		<dependency>
+			<groupId>org.simpleframework</groupId>
+		    <artifactId>simple-xml</artifactId>
+		    <version>2.3.5</version>
+		</dependency>
+	</dependencies>
+
     <build>
         <resources>
             <resource>
@@ -33,4 +41,4 @@
             </resource>
         </resources>
     </build>
-</project>
\ No newline at end of file
+</project>
Index: pack/src/webapp/WEB-INF/components.xml
===================================================================
--- pack/src/webapp/WEB-INF/components.xml	(revision 78509)
+++ pack/src/webapp/WEB-INF/components.xml	(working copy)
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
             ref="org.sakaiproject.component.api.ServerConfigurationService" />
          <property name="userDirectoryService" ref="org.sakaiproject.user.api.UserDirectoryService"/>
          <property name="emailService" ref="org.sakaiproject.email.api.EmailService"/>
+         <property name="sessionManager" ref="org.sakaiproject.tool.api.SessionManager"/>
     </bean>
 
 	<bean