Plan Diagnostics Report

This new page is like a health check-up for your planning process.  It displays the following statistics about the selected plan:

Reviews
Has this plan been reviewed effectively?

Achievements
Over all, how well are we achieving this plan?

Creation
How well did we define what we planned to do?

Most of the numbers link to custom reports on the Plan Status screen that show exactly how the number was calculated.  Only the Missing Owner numbers link to the Ownership Transfer screen.  A Show Percentage control in the gray top-navigation toggles most fields from showing counts to showing percentages.

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.

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.