Metric Promotion

Ad Hoc metrics can now mature into Scorecard metrics. The application manager can now edit a process and convert any Level 2: Auto-Assessed Ad Hoc metric to a Scorecard metric. This completes the path from the initial plan-to-do-anything approach that Ad Hoc metrics allow, to the carefully defined measurements that Scorecard metrics support.

Release 2012-05-12: Longer Links

• Links to supporting materials can now be up to 500 characters long (was 255 chars). This affects objective/strategy reviews, tactic reviews, function links, and process definition links.
• Creation Status approval has been simplified - the two controls on the Strategy Edit screen have been merged into one for clarity and ease of use.
• Plan CSV Download now includes the Strategy Tag of the parent strategy next to each tactic.

Clone Strategy

Release 2012-02-26

Hoshin Improvements

• Cloning Strategies:
  • Clone (Copy) any strategy by clicking the little blue clone link next to that strategy on the Plan screen. The duplicate will include supporting strategies, tactics, and associated ad hoc metrics, but not owners or review information.
  • Cloning uses one strategy as a template for creating others. A strategy that represents a pre-defined approach or methodology may be an especially good candidate for cloning.
  • A cloned strategy does not retain any ties to the original strategy you used as a template; changing a clone does not change the original and vice-versa. You can even move a cloned strategy to a different plan!
• Missing Owners:
  • When building a plan, you no longer have to specify an owner of an objective/strategy/tactic. Leaving the owner blank is a handy way to suppress the "You have been assigned a strategy" message while you are sketching out an idea for a plan.
  • Objectives/strategies/tactics that are missing owners will show up with a gray background so that they are easy to differentiate from active parts of a plan.
  • Objectives/Strategies cannot move past a red creation status without an owner. Tactics now have a red creation status if they are missing an owner.
  • On the first and 15th of every month, the system will remind you to clean up any strategies and tactics you may have without owners.
  • A new "Missing Owner" creation status shows up on the Plan Status screen and the Plan CSV download.

General Improvements

• When adding a new user, you can now un-check the Send Email box if you have a more secure way of delivering temporary passwords, or if you wish to perform other setup on a user before giving them access to the system.

Release 2011-11-30: Improved graphs and Move Strategy

Improved graphs in PlanBase Scorecard bring a new level of visual management to performance measurement:

• Green, yellow, and red background shading highlights on-track, behind-plan, and off-track performance over time.
• Click on any graph to display a full-size version suitable for presentations, printing, or copying to other applications outside of PlanBase Scorecard

As another improvement, you can now move strategies around when building or modifying a plan in PlanBase Hoshin. Easily undo a move if you change your mind. This feature enables you to:

• Move an objective/strategy to a different part of a plan
• Combine one plan into another
• Promote an objective/strategy to its own new plan.

Existing customers can access ShowMe learning modules on these new features.

Inquire today about how PlanBase Hoshin and PlanBase Scorecard can elevate your planning and process improvement!

Improved Tactic Review

The improved Tactic Review screen shows the tactic description, dates, and past performance. It also warns you if you try to update a tactic outside the dates you had planned to work on it.

We also now display a count of users vs. the total number of licenses you have on the Users screen. If you are at or over your limit of licensed users, or you wish to increase your limit, your Application Manager knows how to purchase more.

Release 2011-04-15: Shared Objectives and Strategies

Have you ever wanted to repeat an existing objective or strategy in the same plan or copy it to another plan? With the newest release of PlanBase Hoshin, you can easily share an objective or strategy within the same plan or with a completely different plan. There is no limit to the number of times you can share a single objective/strategy. When you click on the shared objective or strategy, you will be viewing the original and its performance metrics and supporting tactics. If reviews have been completed on the original, you will also see the detail of the review. Users require access to view the original plan and strategy/objective to see this level of detail.

Below are additional notes on how to effectively share objectives/strategies:

• To set up a secondary strategy you must be able to edit the parent objective and view the plan of the child strategy. The Application Manager may be the only one who can set up some associations.
• Adding a secondary strategy to another plan makes that strategy visible in much the same way as associating a strategy with a process makes it visible on Scorecard. Only people who can view the original plan can see the description of the strategy in its secondary places. Others can see the number, owner, status, and reviews, but not the text of the secondary strategy. Making a secondary strategy never reveals sub-strategies, tactics, or ancestors of the secondary strategy.
• The objective/strategy keeps its original number.

Still need more help with this new feature? View the new "Show Me" video clip feature available in PlanBase Hoshin.

Another change you will notice in this release is the addition of a field for "Strategy Tag" in the CSV download.

Release 2011-03-11: X-Matrix

Companies that choose to enable it can now view their Hoshin plans as an X-Matrix report. The X-Matrix is another way of presenting the information already in the system as a chart of the objective, strategies, metrics, supporting strategies, owners, and their relationships around a central box, the "X." In the PlanBase version coloring in the chart helps your eye follow the information in the chart around the corners of the box. Plan entry and reviews are still done in the regular Plan and Review views.

Read about Your Custom X-Matrix in PlanBase on our web site.  Please contact us if you are interested in a demo.

Release 2010-12-13: Hoshin/Scorecard Integration

In the works for months, this is a major release with a number of important enhancements.

Tactic Improvements

• Improved visual management of tactics, process improvements, and corrective actions.  Months are now color coded based on progress.  Question-marks, dashes, and colorful symbols show the current status or indicate overdue reviews.
• Tactics can now be shared between strategies in Hoshin plans and processes in scorecards.
• Tactic Assigned and Review Overdue messages now apply to process improvements and corrective actions as well as tactics.
• Monthly reviews for tactics.  All your previous data is saved and can be reviewed monthly.
• The Edit Tactic screen has been completely redesigned to require fewer keystrokes to enter or edit tactics.  Related tactics can be added with a single click.
• The Tactic Complete logic mirrors the Strategy Complete logic, but does not require manager approval.
• Tactics (including process improvements and corrective actions) are now visible until they are complete.

Other Improvements

• Objectives and strategies can now be linked to your entities and functions in Scorecard.  This allows you to jump between your related plans and scorecards with a single click.
• You can still add text "tags" to objectives and strategies, then filter by those tags on the Plan Status screen.
• Users of Hoshin and Scorecard can set a lowest-level strategy to improve a process, allowing you to share tactics and metrics with that process by picking them from a list.  This eliminates time and effort when developing and reviewing plans.
• The Process Review screen functions like a dynamic A3 chart, showing all process improvement tactics and metric corrective action tactics together, even if some of those tactics were originally entered in Hoshin and others in Scorecard.  The new display includes color-colored months, showing the progress of process improvement and corrective action tactics over time.
• Similarly, the Implementation Review screen has been improved to color-code each month of tactic progress.
• Hoshin-only users can now see the Entity and Function screens (minus any targets or actuals).
• The Responsibilities screens for Hoshin and Scorecard have been combined.
• A new Show Me feature adds a collection of short e-learning modules for features of the Hoshin and Scorecard applications.
• The left-hand navigation pages for Hoshin and Scorecard have been combined.  Only the bottom section that shows your plans or scorecards now changes with respect to which product you are viewing.  The link to switch between views is now at the top of that section.
• Mail is addressed differently to make it more likely for the Application Manager to receive returned mail or any replies to application-generated mail.

Release 2010-04-30: Strategy End-Status Approval

Ending a strategy eliminates the need to review it in subsequent quarters. There are three ways to end a strategy; it can be Completed, Canceled, or put On Hold. Choosing one of these statuses from the Review Status screen may end the strategy immediately, or starting with this release, it may require approval from the owner of the objective above your strategy in the plan similar to the way Creation Statuses are approved, depending on how your company is configured.



This release also adds new Activity radio buttons to the Review Status screen for selecting whether the strategy is Active, Completed, On Hold, or Canceled. This new control will put the right status in the Concern for Future drop-down for you.

• Active: This strategy is currently being pursued.


• Complete: Marking a strategy complete signifies that all actions have been completed and all improvements are sustainable.  This success-status will show up for all future review periods and will not require additional reviews, but it is prudent to check on the metrics for this strategy from time to time to ensure that the progress is maintained.


• On Hold: The strategy is not currently being pursued, but is likely to be pursued again some time in the future.  The hold-status will show up for all future review periods and will not require additional reviews.


• Canceled: The strategy is no longer being pursued.  The canceled status will show up for all future review periods and will not require additional reviews.

There are three levels of End-Status Approval configuration. Ask your support contact to configure this for your company:

• None: No approvals are required. This is the default, what all users have now.


• Completed Only: Approvals are only required for the completed status.  This status is configurable individually because you may wish to continue to monitor a completed strategy to be sure the improvement is sustainable.


• All: Completed, On Hold, and Canceled statuses all require approval.

If you are reviewing a top-level objective, or you own the objective above your strategy in a plan (thus making you the approver) it will never require approval.

When marking a strategy Completed you will have an easier time getting it approved if you enter the reason you believe that the improvements you achieved are sustainable, since that is how the reviewer will evaluate your request for completion.  Reviewers may ask owners to monitor and review a strategy for another few months before allowing them to mark it Completed.  When a strategy is put On Hold or Canceled, it is usually much more cut-and-dry and the approval process (if enabled) can be as much about notifying the boss of the change as is it is about getting approval.

Strategy Complete

Creation Statuses Renamed

The labels that identify the specific strategy creation stage have been changed to be more descriptive:

• Awaiting Approval (formerly called, "Complete") - The owner of this objective has added metrics and strategies (or tactics) and indicated that it is ready to be approved, but has not received management approval yet.


• Being Defined (formerly called, "In Process") - Metrics and strategies (or tactics) have been added to this objective, but the owner has not yet sent it for approval.


• Missing Metrics and/or Strategies/Tactics (formerly called, "Not Started") - This identifies an objective or strategy that does not contain at least one metric and one child strategy or tactic.

You may also filter by any of the above labels on the Plan Status screen.

Final Strategy Statuses

Another enhancement to PlanBase Hoshin enables owners of specific strategies and tactics to mark certain strategies as completed, thus bypassing review-overdue reminders. The Concern for the Future field reflects the owner's expectations about a strategy over the next period. Now it can also show if a strategy has been completed, canceled, or put on hold:

• Complete: Marking a strategy complete signifies that all actions have been completed and all improvements are sustainable. This success-status will show up for all future review periods and will not require additional reviews, but it is prudent to check on the metrics for this strategy from time to time to ensure that the progress is maintained.


• On Hold: The strategy is not currently being pursued, but is likely to be pursued again some time in the future. The hold-status will show up for all future review periods and will not require additional reviews.


• Canceled: The strategy is no longer being pursued. The canceled status will show up for all future review periods and will not require additional reviews.

Statuses show up for the review period they are entered for (quarter or month) except for the Completed, On Hold, and Canceled statuses which are "sticky" and show up for all future time periods. You can overwrite a sticky status at any time in the future and doing so will return the strategy to its normal one-status-per-review-period mode.

Customize Your PlanBase System

We have had many requests to customize PlanBase to allow for easier adoption of the system by more employees. Customization includes adding your company logo or changing specific labels to match your internal terminology. In PlanBase Scorecard, you may now customize the labels, "Business Unit", "Function", and several of the labels on the Financial Review screen. We even let you change the name of PlanBase Hoshin to whatever you want (Strategy Deployment, Goal Achievement, Quality Function Deployment, etc.)

Scorecard Metrics on Hoshin

If you are a PlanBase Hoshin and PlanBase Scorecard user, you can now attach Scorecard metrics to Hoshin objectives and strategies. You can still define ad-hoc Hoshin metrics on-the-fly, but it's much easier to grab an existing metric from Scorecard and leverage the data already being tracked in the system.

Also, the Process Review screen has been redesigned so that metric-specific process improvements are shown next to their metric. General process improvements display at the top of the screen.

PlanBase Rolls Out Enhanced Communications Features in PlanBase Hoshin Upgrade

Andover, MA  June 8, 2009 – PlanBase, a leading creator of web-based Hoshin Planning software, today announced an upgrade to its PlanBase Hoshin software, including new communications and coaching features designed to increase users' engagement with the planning tools, and collaboration with one another, for improved results.

PlanBase Hoshin: New Features Enhance User Engagement and Collaboration

The latest version of PlanBase Hoshin includes several new features designed to increase users' engagement in the planning process through personalized communication and coaching. A new, built-in notification system allows users to receive messages on the Home Page, specific to their role in the planning process, such as reminders to take certain actions for which they are responsible. Many messages will delete themselves when the required action is taken, but any one may be deleted manually. The in-system messages will be augmented by email reminders when certain actions are not taken, or when new messages are present.

In addition, the new release includes features designed to facilitate communication among all participants in the planning process. Known as "Catchball" among Hoshin practitioners, this group dialogue is deemed critical to a plan's success. PlanBase Hoshin will now enable all participants charged with executing a plan to be engaged in top down and bottom up communication aimed at continuously refining and improving their plans, even if they are in different locations.
For more information about the latest release of PlanBase Hoshin, visit PlanBase.com.

PlanBase's web-based Business System management software take the pain out of the strategic planning process by allowing real time, enterprise-wide collaboration on strategy deployment and process management. PlanBase Hoshin brings speed to strategy deployment, accountability to strategy execution, and visibility to progress. PlanBase Scorecard brings measurement to key metrics, continuous improvement to the collection of processes that define how value is created, and transparency to results. In organizations large and small, PlanBase solutions foster increased awareness, motivation, alignment, and success.

PlanBase Hoshin Now Supports Multi-Year Plans

A new version of PlanBase Hoshin, released today, adds full support for multi-year plans. Existing plans can be extended to cover multiple years.

For enhanced security, we can now limit all logins to a single IP address. If your firewall/proxy gives all outgoing requests the same return IP address, this can be used to prevent people from accessing PlanBase Hoshin from anywhere but work (or signed into their work network using a VPN). Let us know if you would like us to enable this option for your organization.

We added two new columns to the CSV download for a more fine-grained view of how "healthy" the plan is. They tell you whether each objective/strategy has metrics and if each metric has a target or an actual value for the current period.

The system now checks that you have JavaScript™ and cookies enabled before allowing you to log in.

JavaScript is a trademark of Sun Microsystems.

New Release of PlanBase Hoshin provides Monthly Reviews, Reporting, and Security Enhancements

Monthly Reviews

PlanBase Hoshin now supports monthly reviews as well as quarterly. It takes just 3 clicks to change any existing plan from a quarterly review schedule to a monthly one. You don't have to make up your mind: you can change it from monthly to quarterly and back again as often as you like without loosing any data!

Dashboarding

A reporting dashboard has been added to the Plan Status screen that allows you to filter by status, depth, or function: "Show me what's red!" It is also possible to email all the owners of the strategies in a plan or just the owners that show up in any slice of data you select on this screen.

Language Support

Characters used in most of the world's writing systems are now supported along with the Euro symbol (€). This means you can enter data into the system in Arabic, Armenian, Balinese, Bengali, Bopomofo, Braille, Buginese, Buhid, Cherokee, CJK Unified, Coptic, Cyrillic, Devanagari, English, Ethiopic, Georgian, Glagolitic, Greek, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Han, Hangul Jamo, Hanunoo, Hebrew, Hiragana, Kanbun, Kannada, Katakana, Khmer, Lao, Limbu, Malayalam, Mongolian, Myanmar, NKo, New Tai Lue, Ogham, Oriya, Phags-pa, Runic, Sinhala, Syloti Nagri, Syriac, Tagalog, Tagbanwa, Tai Le, Tamil, Telugu, Thaana, Thai, Tibetan, Tifinagh, and Yi (partial list).

Security

At PlanBase we are always striving to keep our clients' data as secure as possible. Several new security enhancements were rolled out with this release:

• Accounts are now locked after 13 months of inactivity (a shorter period is available upon request).


• Password expiration is now available upon request.


• PlanBase Hoshin has always picked the strongest encryption a browser/client would support, but now it actually refuses to connect using outdated encryption schemes. Any modern browser and operating system which is still supported by its vendor should continue to work just fine (Windows® 2000 must have all the latest patches applied).

Streamlined Experience

We have worked very hard to make this version even easier to learn and to allow advanced users to perform their work even faster with fewer clicks and less reading. All the new functionality has been added to the online help system which we also make available to our clients as a printed manual.

Find Out More!

If you are interested in learning more about PlanBase Hoshin, please watch our audio/video PlanBase Hoshin Demonstration. You can also Contact Us for more information or to evaluate PlanBase Hoshin for use in your organization.

Windows is either a registered trademark or trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

"Spreadsheet Download" Release provides an Excel® report, email links, and more...

What's new in this release?

Responsibilities Screen:

View every objective, strategy, and tactic that you own, and every plan that you are authorized to view.

Document Links:

Link to scorecards, A3 charts, websites, spreadsheets, or any document available on your network.

All Plans Status:

Together in one place, read the top level objectives for every plan you are authorized to view.

Email Links:

Hover your mouse over the icon next to a user's name, and an email link will appear, as well as a phone number.

Download to Excel®:

Create an Excel Spreadsheet with columns such as Plan Creation Status, Review Status, Owners, or other data from your plan.

About PlanBase Hoshin

PlanBase Hoshin is an easy to use, highly secure, web-based planning tool that provides a clear line of sight from the highest objective to the lowest assigned task or tactic.  Presentation-ready status reports present your progress
in a clean, professional format that can be printed or shared online.  Drill down into any part of a plan to discover root causes and formulate corrective actions.

Using PlanBase Hoshin helps organizations to easily and clearly communicate the strategic plan elements to those who need to know.  It increases accountability but it also increases visibility and provides opportunities to recognize outstanding plan participants.  All of which will increase commitment and motivation in your teams.

The PlanBase web site (including a contact form) is planbase.com.

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Excel is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

Press Release: PlanBase Hoshin "Responsibilities" Release Links to Any Document

PlanBase Inc. released a new version of its PlanBase Hoshin web-based planning software that allows it to link to any document accessible from the web.

If it can be scanned, photographed or typed, it can be linked to PlanBase Hoshin. PlanBase announced today that this new functionality is designed to support links to A3 charts, graphs, web sites, or other supporting materials. "It's another way PlanBase Hoshin fits into an organization's existing infrastructure" says Executive Vice President, John Hamilton.

Also in this release is a "Responsibilities" screen that shows each user all of the objectives, strategies, and tactics that they are responsible for and the status of each. The screen can be printed or sent for ease of documentation and review.

Press Release: PlanBase Hoshin Software Commercial Release

PlanBase Incorporated is pleased to announce the commercial release of PlanBase Hoshin a web-based software application that supports the productive development and implementation of Hoshin Plans for achieving breakthrough objectives.

"We know that organizational leaders have been looking for a practical means for getting the full benefit of Hoshin Planning while overcoming some of the common difficulties associated with managing the Hoshin planning process itself," said PlanBase SVP, John Hamilton. He added, "PlanBase Hoshin provides that solution."

PlanBase Hoshin adds value by providing users with a clear line of sight from the Hoshin objective down to the lowest level assigned task; it also provides real-time status reports on each strategy and tactic; identifies who is accountable for each strategy and tactic; identifies deviations from the plan, their root causes and corrective actions; and provides a systematic way for assessing progress. "We estimate that the combined benefit of these features is that the overall Hoshin planning process can be administered with 30-50% greater efficiency over current practices" said Hamilton.

Other benefits include having data for continually improving the process; enriching the catchball process (back-and-forth interactive planning/brainstorming); building commitment as everyone involved with the plan can see how his or her role supports the overall objective; and identifying potential non-value added subtasks which can be eliminated and resources redirected to work more closely aligned with the overall objective.

"We believe that Hoshin Planning is poised for a surge of interest due, in part, to the influence that Toyota, Bank of America, Hewlett-Packard, and other organizations have on the general business community," said Hamilton. "We expect that PlanBase Hoshin will play an important role in helping organizations during this period of accelerated interest in Hoshin Planning," he added.

The PlanBase web site (including a contact form) is planbase.com