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New and Prior Release Features |
The latest release of Strategy Roundtable™, version 5.03, includes the following enhancements:
- An entirely new edition of Strategy Roundtable™ is now available, the Crazy Growth™ edition, supporting the Crazy Growth Method™ of Consulting Alliance Program member Crazy Growth Partners. Crazy Growth's system is the best approach we have seen to quickly isolating major barriers to company growth and laying out a realistic plan to eliminate them.
- Included in the support for the Crazy Growth Method™ is the ability to modify the label used to describe each level of the organizational hierarchy, such as Strategic Business Unit, Division and Department for the three levels of business units under the corporate entity. These values are managed via the Master Table/Organizational Hierchy Levels menu selection.
- Strategic Goals and Tactical Objectives can now be qualified using the standard Balanced Scorecard “Perspectives” of Financial, Customer, Internal Process and Learning & Growth.
- The data entry screens for Strategic Goals and Tactical Objectives have been updated to display calculated strategy score values only when one of these values is non-zero.
- Similarly, the Strategic Plan Summary report has been updated so that it will only display strategy score values when one of the values is non-zero.
- There is a new report showing Master Projects with their assigned Sub-projects. This report displays detail Project definition information for each Master Project followed immediately by detail information for all of the Sub-projects of that Master Project.
- This release of Strategy Roundtable™ runs on the Sybase SQL Studio release 9.0.x.
- Infrastructure changes for migrating Strategy Roundtable™ to the Web - The following changes have been made in preparation for migrating Strategy Roundtable™ to a browser-based Web implementation:
- Enhanced the registration database (Sr_Reg.db) to track all users of Strategy Roundtable™ regardless of the training or production database they are accessing.
- Modified the log-in processing to reference the registration database (only) for user validation. Processing for changing the database you are using or logging in as a different user has also been simplified.
- Moved all active log-in and function use tracking from each individual database to the registration database.
- Modified user maintenance to integrate the registration database with the assignment of access rights (user roles) for individual databases. In production databases (those other than the Acme sample/training database) the new processing provides a list of known users from the registration database on insert of a record to add a user to the database. The Administrator may select an entry from the list or close the list window and enter an entirely new user. While the list window will not open in the Acme database, Strategy Roundtable™ will notify the Administrator when a user is added that is already in the registration database.
- Eliminated the need for the Add Client to New Database function. Strategy Roundtable™ now handles this automatically based on access granted to a new database via Maintain Users.
- Expanded the allowed length for database names from 8 to 15 characters (not including the .db extension added by Strategy Roundtable™).
- User Defined Label for Critical Success Factors - User defined labels for Critical Success Factors have been added to the existing user defined label capability for Strategic Goals and Tactical Objectives in Strategy Roundtable Preferences.
- Project Alerts Window - A new window, opened immediately after the Outliner, displays any projects owned by the person logging into Strategy Roundtable™ that:
- Have had the approval status changed since they last logged-in; and
- The project is active and the last completion status update was more than n days before today, where n is the default number of update days found in the Preferences master table.
- Three-level reporting - Users can now print graphs and reports that include business units in up to 3 consecutive levels of the organizational hierarchy.
The graph/report criteria window has been updated so that the business units to be selected display on the right hand side with the parent business units of those available for selection displayed on the left side of the criteria window (with the exception that if you are “on” the top level business unit in the hierarchy when selecting the report – such as Acme – then that business unit displays only once to the left with all of it’s business units underneath it to the right). - Expanded Project Completion Status Description Fields - The Project Status Description and Key Task Status Description fields found on the Project Completion Status windows have been expanded from 255 to 2000 characters.
- Administrative Mode enhancement - Administrative Mode can now be set and cleared by any Strategy Roundtable™ Administrator from the File menu (with the Outliner closed) without logging in or out of Strategy Roundtable™ (this is a Strategy Roundtable™ Enterprise only function).
- User Defined Reports Menu - Three new fields have been added to Strategy Roundtable™ Preferences to define the name and behavior of a new Reports/Graphs menu item. When these fields are valued in Preferences, users assigned one or more of the user roles, Strategic Planner, Executive, Project Owner, Visiting Executive or Strategy Roundtable™ Administrator for a business unit will be able to run an external tool to generate user defined report and graphs from within Strategy Roundtable™. User defined graphs and reports can be created with any ODBC compliant tool such as Crystal Reports or MS Access.
- Database Utilities - The existing Verify, Backup and Add Database functions along with two new database utilities are now all available via a single, simplified Database Utilities window (accessed via File/Utilities/Database Utilities with the Outliner closed). The new utilities (for Strategy Roundtable™ Enterprise only) are:
- Copy Database - A Strategy Roundtable™ Administrator now has the ability to copy an existing database to a new database. All users with access to (found in) the original database will be granted access to the new copy.
- Delete Database - A Strategy Roundtable™ Administrator now has the ability to remove a database from the list of available databases for all users that had been able to access the selected database. The database is also removed from the list of databases running on the database server.
- Enhanced Reporting - The Performance Measure Actual Values report has been updated so that it:
- Displays only Performance Measures that have been assigned to a strategic plan component for a business unit - the data is appropriately displayed for each selected business unit - and
- Displays the strategic plan components a Performance Measure is assigned to (Critical Success Factors, Strategic Goals, Tactical Objectives and Projects) as well as the Target Value entered for each.
- New User Role - A new User Role, Visiting Implementer, has been added to the existing security roles. Users assigned this role for a business unit may view the Strategic Plan Summary report and Strategy Scores graph as well as the following strategic plan components for that business unit (only):
- Strategy Introduction
- Corporate Assumptions
- Mission
- Vision
- Values
- CSFs
- SWOTs
- Revenue Items
- Strategic Goals
- Tactical Objectives
- New Administrator Utility - The Roll Forward Plan Data function for the Strategy Roundtable™ Administrator has been added. This function allows the StrategyRoundtable™ Administrator to copy Master Table and Strategic Plan data from one Organization Plan Period to another (new) Organization Plan Period. This function fully implements the ability to document and track the implementation of successive "rolling" strategic plans.
- Project Data Entry I - The flow of New Project processing has been changed so that initially only the Project Definition window is opened. After you save the Project Definition the first time, you will be asked if you would like to add Key Task and Budget Items. If you answer yes, the Project Definition window is closed and all three data entry windows, Project Definition, Key Tasks and Budget Items are opened.
- Project Data Entry II - The processing of updates to the three windows comprising a Project, Project Definition, Key Tasks and Budget Items has been revised so that you may now edit any component on any of the three windows and request the changes to be saved without inter-window constraints. This includes automatically moving the Project Target Start Date to allow entry of a Key Task Start Date that is before the current Project Target Start Date. Strategy Roundtable will let you know that the desired Key Task Start Date is before the Project Target Start Date and ask you if you'd like to move it up to accomodate the Key Task Date you've entered.
- Project Completion Status - The processing of updates to Project Completion Status has been revised so that the Project Status Description need only be modified one time during a single edit session. Also, the user is informed when Key Task completion status has been changed but the Status Description for the Key Task has not been changed. The revised data is always saved.
- Impact Statements - The restriction preventing a Strategy Roundtable Administrator from modifying the weight of the first impact statement in each impact statement master table has been removed. This enables our clients to put the list of statements in any order they desire.
- Project Performance Assessment - This new capability adds to Strategy Roundtable™’s existing ability to identify and track measures of organizational performance and link these Performance Measures to Critical Success Factors, Strategic Goals, Tactical Objectives and Projects. Project Performance Assessment makes it possible to investigate how a project was performed, i.e. was the project done well - did it get done on time, on budget and deliver the promised output. Just to be clear, this is quite different from the question, ”Did the (strategic) result of having done the project affect organizational performance as desired?” - which would be answered, at least in part, by determining if the Performance Measure Target Value for the project was attained.
- Enhanced Reporting - The Projects by Business Unit and Projects by Project Owner reports have been enhanced by adding the ability to select one or more Approval Statuses (proposed, accepted, active, etc.), in addition to business units and, for the Project Owner report, project owners, as criteria for selecting projects to appear on the reports.
- Improved Screen Layout and Ease of Use - The updating of screen layouts begun in version 3.00 has been extended to all of the screens in Strategy Roundtable™. Explanatory labels have been added to many screens making the purpose and relationship of the screen elements clearer.
- Increased Deployment Flexibility - This release eliminates the Strategy Roundtable™ Enterprise requirement for a mapped drive pointing to the folder where the Strategy Roundtable™ databases are located. By removing this requirement, it is now possible for a Client PC to access the Strategy Roundtable™ Enterprise server via a remote (VPN) network connection without logging into the (Windows NT/2000 domain for) the server.
- Updated Internal Architecture - Strategy Roundtable™ version 4.00 is built upon PowerBuilder version 7.0.3, helping ensure that Strategy Roundtable™ is both up-to-date and running in a stable application environment.
- Microsoft Project project definition export - Further enhancing Strategy Roundtable™'s project portfolio management capability, now in addition to the ability to automatically update the status of projects in Strategy Roundtable™ from MS Project, you can now create projects in MS Project 98 and 2000 by exporting the Milestone information defining a Strategy Roundtable project.
- CSV Text File project export - In addition to the ability to export data directly into MS Project, you can also export project definition information to a comma separated values text file for import into MS Project or any other project management software product.
- Database Management System Update - Strategy Roundtable now uses the latest release of the Sybase Adaptive Server Anywere DBMS software, 7.02.
- Improved the screen layout and ease of use for:
- Strategic Goal Impact Assessment
- Tactical Objective Impact Assessment
- Project Category Value Assignment during Project Definition
- Project Revenue Assignment during Project Definition
- User Defined Labels - You can now enter a user defined label for Strategic Goals and Tactical Objectives. Whatever text is entered in Roundtable Preferences will appear everywhere – EXCEPT IN HELP – that the default labels appear in Strategy Roundtable™. This allows organizations that have adopted terminology different from the defaults used in Strategy Roundtable™ to describe these concepts to customize the software to meet their needs.
- Expanded Data Entry Fields - Data entry fields for Project Description and Project Objective are expanded from 254 to 500 characters in the Project Definition window.
- Expanded Availability of Discussion Notes - Discussion Notes may be captured and reported on for Corporate and Business Unit Values in addition to Mission, Vision, CSFs, SWOTs, Strategic Goals and Tactical Objectives.
- Terminology Changes - Two Strategy Roundtable™ terms have been updated in this release:
- The term Milestone has been replaced by the term Key Task. A Key Task is a substantial component of a project that has a target start date, a duration, some number of Resource Types required to complete it, and one or more budget items associated with it. If used in conjunction with the Project Data Transfer capability to export to and import from Microsoft Project, a Key Task would usually have multiple sub-tasks added under it, resulting in the task becoming a Summary Task in MS Project. As the project progresses and detailed status is maintained in MS Project, summary information would be imported into Strategy Roundtable™ updating the Key Tasks (mapped to from the now Summary Tasks in MS Project) with up-to-date actual status information.
- The term Success Measure has been replaced by the term Performance Measure. The associated term Threshold Value for Success has been replaced with Performance Measure Target.
For additional information regarding this latest release please contact Gryphon Systems, or request to download a trial copy of Strategy Roundtable™ Desktop Professional.
Strategy Roundtable™ version 5.01 released in April of 2003, included the following capabilities:
Strategy Roundtable™ version 4.03, released in September of 2002, added spell checking, enhancing the ease of use of Strategy Roundtable™. Strategy Roundtable™ employs the spelling and grammer checking functionality of MS Word to provide this capability.
Other new functionality in this release includes:
These enhancements are on top of the improved workflow introduced in the previous release, Strategy Roundtable™ version 4.01:
Version 4.00 added the following capabilities to Strategy Roundtable™ Desktop Professional and Strategy Roundtable™ Enterprise:
Version 3.00 added the following capabilities to Strategy Roundtable™ Desktop Professional and Strategy Roundtable™ Enterprise: