Creating Templates, do I use sysprep.

I use ESXi5 and Vcenter5. I have a few questions about templates. Do I need to use sysprep? On the vSphere 5 Documentation Center page I can either convert or clone a VM to a template no mention of sysprep. On a blog at Trainsignal, http://www.trainsignal.com/blog/vmware-template-creation and other sites they talk about using sysprep. Is there a best practice?

I use windows terminal servers  Is it best practice to create templates with just the OS and then after deploying a VM from template add the applications

Thanks