# From DB
$template_file = "C:/Program Files/DirDictate/soap_form/soap_final.dot";

unless ( -f $template_file ) { ... }

##</code><code>##

# Called as:
#   perl script.pl "C:/Program Files/DirDictate/soap_form/soap_final.dot"

$template_file = $ARGV[0];
unless ( -f $template_file ) { ... }