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.

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.

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.

"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