StrategyBlocks new Features Release – July

We are always grateful to receive enhancement feedback from customers. It helps us to improve the overall product experience through the addition of great new features and functionality. We’d like to introduce 9 new features and describe their purpose and value.

Feature News Popup

When new features are added to StrategyBlocks in the future, they will be displayed in an onscreen notification window the first time you login following a version release. We want to make sure everyone is aware of what is new and available. The window will only appear once following a product update.

New Block Faces

There are several dimensions when considering strategic execution: delivery confidence, outcome metrics, risk, overall execution health and the various forms of information supporting that initiative. For each of these dimensions we have a different block face, and each can be selected from the “block type” thumb menu when viewing the Blocks Tree or Blocks Board (Kanban board), or on custom dashboards, or in the options panel for current block view override.

Overview Block Type

The Overview block face has been created to provide a high-level, “executive overview” of a block. The selected block features a colored bar and a progress wheel to illustrate delivery confidence. In addition it can be customized to display 2 key metrics (the metric icon will change depending on the metrics unit). The position of the metric on the face can be controlled from the block’s properties (gear button) > metrics.  This also manages the order the metrics are displayed in the metrics block face. The button options on the block have been streamlined to show only attached files, properties, and chat.

Updated Progress Block

The progress block type has also had a makeover. The chart still displays the delivery progress achieved to date and trend percentage. But now all the information is contained on the line. The line shows the trend over time and the colored section shows when delivery was behind plan, ahead of plan and in a warning state. Hovering will provide date specific data.

Text Editor

You have always been able to format text boxes using HTML tags. But text fields (description and custom fields) now have a WYSIWYG text editor to make life even easier. Formatting is carried through into your custom dashboards to make your creations even more spectacular.

Shift Feature

Sometimes changing block dates can be somewhat demanding, especially if you have an entire branch of blocks with varying start and end dates. Nobody wants to edit every block separately and manually calculate the relative duration of each. Shift (Previously “Relocate”, can be found from block properties) still allows you to move blocks around the tree, but now you can also adjust their dates quickly. Let’s imagine we have a project which we need to postpone: just select the project level block, open shift, select proportional from the descendants dates drop-down, and set your new start and end dates. The block will stay in the same position, but will all be proportionally adjusted within that specified time period. Or you can choose to overwrite all blocks with the same start and end dates. Just remember, they must still fit within the duration of the selected blocks parent.

Blocks Board (Kanban)

The new Blocks Board has become a true favorite of SB users already. Now there is a new thumb menu that allows the user to only target leaf blocks. This means the Kanban will be filtered to only those blocks appearing at the lowest levels. It displays exactly what needs attention and a progress update: those activities not yet started, behind target, in range, and ahead of target.

Descendants Object Customization

The descendants object has always been a favorite feature of a custom dashboard since it can present a wealth of information. But sometimes the length of a block’s title made the layout a little unbalanced. Now the progress bars will maximize the available space, but you can also customize the column widths with “Level and Position Width” (column 1) and “Title Width” (column 2). 

Focus Area Selection

Focus Areas are a powerful method of categorizing delivery, metrics, and risks. And as a result, many customers have created deep focus area nested hierarchies. The problem was that the structure of these hierarchies was not reflected in the various edit fields. Now the nesting is preserved and laid out in a more logical list, so you can find exactly what you are looking for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bug Fixes & Minor Changes

  • Registration page improvements.
  • Password reset improvements.
  • Fixed timezone related issues in the progress history editor.
  • Fixed blocks board not showing closed blocks.
  • Fixed the block table timeline scale during printing.
  • Hide html symbols in block’s descriptions in the blocks tree.
  • Fixed the blocks progress bar showing overdue one day too late.
  • Tooltip fixes.
  • Fixes relating to bookmarks.
  • Fixes relating to rendering block faces in a custom dashboard.
  • Fixes relating to sub company blocks.