StrategyBlocks - Strategy management software

Proud sponsor of the Chief Strategy Officer Summit

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 14:26:25 +1300

The Innovation Enterprise are hosting the Chief Strategy Officer Summit in London, UK on the 25–26th of April 2013. We are pleased to announce not only are we a proud partner for the summit but our directors Craig Catley (NZ) and Simon Lawerence (UK) will be attending to 2 day conference.

If you would like to meet us on the day we would be more than happy to have a chat to you about you and your business and how you think strategy software could help your business execute your business plan better.

Learn more about the strategy conference

Visit the website to read more about the conference.

Meet the StrategyBlocks directors

Learn a little bit more about Craig and Simon before attending the summit:

Craig Catley - LinkedIn
Simon Lawrence - LinkedIn

Feel free to approach us for a chat (it doesn't have to be about StrategyBlocks) we'd love to meet you and hear more about what bought you to the conference. We hope to see you there!

Free 30 day trial of our strategic management & planning software

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 08:09:21 +1300

Here at StrategyBlocks we are offering anyone who’s interested a free 30 day trial of our strategic management and planning software. We’ve found this to be an ideal timeframe for companies to successfully evaluate our strategy software and determine if it will help with the strategic execution of your strategic plan.

We are also offering a free live online demo should you require a little more coaching and help on how to properly structure your strategic plan. Simply visit the request an online demo page and fill out your details. We will then be in touch to schedule a convenient time to walk you through our business strategy software and get you well on the way to putting your strategic plan into action.

Not to mention it’s a great chance for us to answers any question or concerns you may have. Our goal is to make your job easier!

If you would like to learn more about StrategyBlocks please visit the software features page. Features include strategic management, key performance indicators and of course strategic planning.

If you have an iPhone we've just released an iPhone App visit the Apple App Store to download it for free.

If you would like to know more feel free to get in touch we’d be more than happy to help.

Download the new strategic plan iPhone app

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 10:33:12 +1300

Yesterday Apple approved the release of version 1.0 of the StrategyBlocks iPhone app. Like most iPhone apps it's not the full featured web-client hjowever it should allow you to complete all of your strategic planning and strategic management need from your iPhone.

We are working hard improve to the functionality and include more features in the near future. If there is something you would like added to the app which will make your life a little easier get in touch so we can work together to streamline your strategic execution.

Available on the App Store

The prefect Strategy for making the most out of Wellington, New Zealand

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 09:52:07 +1200

Unlike the information in tourist guides most of the StrategyBlocks team visit these place on a regular basis and we have not accepted/received any money to promote these companies. We enjoy doing these things and wanted to pass it along so you could enjoy your time in Wellington, New Zealand.

Where to eat

Viva Mexico!
210 Left Bank, Wellington 6011 | (04) 382 9913 | http://www.vivamexico.co.nz/
Miyabi Sushi Japanese Café
Willis Street Village, Shop 13 142 Willis Street, Wellington 6011 | (04) 801 9688
Asian Kitchen
101 Victoria Street, Wellington 6011 | (04) 472 8887
Midori Sushi
100 Willis Street, Wellington 6011 | (04) 473 4090
Sweet mother's kitchen
5 Courtenay Place, Wellington 6011 | (04) 385 4444 | http://www.sweetmotherskitchen.co.nz/
Fidel's Café
234 Cuba Street, Wellington 6011 | (04) 801 6868 | http://www.fidelscafe.com/

Where to get a beer

Little Beer Quarter (LBQ)
6 Edward Street, Wellington 6011 | (04) 803 3304 | http://www.littlebeerquarter.co.nz/
Hashigo Zake
25 Taranaki Street, Wellington 6011 | (04) 384 7300 | http://www.hashigozake.co.nz/
Saint John’s Bar
5 Cable St, Wellington 6011 | (04) 801 8017 | http://www.stjohnsbar.co.nz
The General Practitioner
100 Willis Street, Wellington 6011 | (04) 381 6161 | http://www.thegp.co.nz/
Mighty Mighty
Upstairs 104 Cuba Street, Wellington 6011 | (04) 385 2890 ‎| http://www.mightymighty.co.nz/
Southern Cross
39 Abel Smith Street, Wellington 6011 | (04) 384 9085 | http://www.thecross.co.nz/

Where to get a decent coffee

La Mason
142 Featherston Street, Wellington 6011 | (04) 499 5350 | http://www.lamasonbrewbar.tumblr.com/
Memphis Belle
38 Dixon St, Wellington 6011 | (021) 244 8852 | http://www.memphisbellecoffeehouse.co.nz/
Gotham
4 Chews Lane, Wellington 6011 | (04) 910 6009 | http://www.gotham.co.nz/
Mojo
18a Bond Street, Wellington 6011 | (04) 472 6567 | http://www.mojocoffee.co.nz

What to do in Wellington

Fergs Kayaks (rent bikes/kayaks and go rock climbing)
6 Queens Wharf, Wellington, 6011 | (04) 499 8898 | http://www.fergskayaks.co.nz/
Real Surf (rent surfboards)
68 - 74 Corner Kingsford Smith Street & Lyall Parade, Lyall Bay Beach 6022 | (04) 387 8798 | http://www.realsurf.co.nz/
Te Papa museum
55 Cable Street, Wellington 6011 | (04) 381 7000 | http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/
Wellington cables cars
Corner Victoria & Wakefield Streets, Wellington 6011 | (04) 802 4860 | http://www.wellingtoncablecar.co.nz
Botanical Garden
101 Glenmore Street, Kelburn, Wellington 6012 | (04) 499 1400 | http://www.wellington.govt.nz/services/gardens/botanicgardens/botanicgardens.html
Carter observatory
Inside Botanical Garden, Kelburn, Wellington 6012 | (04) 910 3140 | http://www.carterobservatory.org/
East to West Ferries (visit Eastbourne)
Queens Wharf, Wellington, 6011 | (04) 499 1282 | http://www.eastbywest.co.nz/
Cuba Street (explore Wellington’s best street)
Cuba St, Wellington 6011
City Gallery Wellington
101 Wakefield Street, Wellington, 6011 | (04) 801 3021 | http://www.citygallery.org.nz/
Weta Workshop
Camperdown Road, Miramar, Wellington 6022 | (04) 909 4000| http://www.wetanz.com/weta-workshop-services/
The Roxy Theatre
5 Park Road, Miramar, Wellington 6022 | (04) 388 5555 | http://www.roxycinema.co.nz/
Shopping (Willis Street/Lambton Quay/Manner Mall/Cuba Street)
http://www.wellingtonnz.com/shopping
Wellington Zoo
200 Daniell Street, Newtown, Wellington 6021 | (04) 381 6755 | http://www.wellingtonzoo.com/
Golf Warehouse (driving range)
80 Randwick Road, Lower Hutt 5010 | (04) 939 8000 | http://www.golfwarehouse.co.nz/
Adventure Mini Golf
2 Wi Neera Dr Elsdon, Porirua 5022 | (04) 237 6809 | http://www.adventuregolf.co.nz/
New Zealand Parliament
Visitor Centre, Parliament Buldings, Molesworth Street, Wellington 6160 | (04) 817 9503 http://www.parliament.nz/
Staglands Wildlife Reserve
2362 Akatarawa Road, Akatarawa Valley, Upper Hutt 5372 | (04) 526 7529 | http://www.staglands.co.nz/
Laser Force
133 Tory Street, Wellington 6011 | (04) 384 4622 | http://www.laser-force.co.nz/
Chaffers Market (Sunday only)
Corner of Cable Street & Barnett Street, Wellington 6011| http://www.harboursidemarket.co.nz
Lanes Bar and Bowling Lounge
234/238 Wakefield St, Wellington 6011 | (04) 801 7036 | http://www.thelanes.co.nz/
Mount Victoria lookout
Top of Mount Victoria, Wellington 6011 | http://www.wellingtonnz.com/sights_activities/mount_victoria_lookout
Mount KauKau (walk)
Wellington 6035 | http://tracks.org.nz/track/show/159

Enjoy.

What's new on the StrategyBlocks website

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 08:58:29 +1200

Whenever you visit a new website it is inevitable there may be some things that don’t get your attention based purely on the way you navigate the website or the way you search for content on the internet. Below are some of the pages I think could be of interest to you and could possibly help you decide if StrategyBlocks is the right product for your strategic execution.

Getting started (aka an introduction to StrategyBlocks):

Our goal is to get you up and running with our strategy software as quickly as possible here are just a few of the ways we hope will get you excited about the whole strategic management and planning process as we are:

Start a free 30 day trial
Request a live online demo of the product
Watch a 2 minute video presentation
View actual screenshots taken from the product
Learn more about some of the strategy mapping terminology used within StrategyBlocks.

We're a full featured strategy software platform

We’ve added a complete list of functionality and features of StrategyBlocks to make it easier for you to discover if StrategyBlocks is the right product for your business and it does all the things you need from your strategic management software. The list of features will grow as we continue to improve and enhance the capabilities of StrategyBlocks. Here are some of our most popular strategic management features:

Improved strategic management software support

We appreciate it can be frustrating whenever you run into problems. You're trying to find answers and solutions as quickly as possible so you can get you back to what you are working on a are up and running as painlessly as possible. Here are a number of ways you can find solutions or let us whenever you experience and problems:

Read the user guides to get familiar with the product
Give feedback on how you are finding StrategyBlocks and suggest areas we can improve
Follow us on twitter to get outage updates
Send us an email
Fill out a support request.

We're social, connect with us!

Follow StrategyBlocks on Twitter
Like StrategyBlocks on Facebook
Subscribe to the StrategyBlocks channel on YouTube
Subscribe to our blog (RSS)
Add StrategyBlocks to your LinkedIn network.

Like to know more?

Get in touch with StrategyBlocks to start your strategic management and planning process.

We're on LinkedIn add StrategyBlocks to your network

Fri, 15 Jun 2012 15:12:25 +1200

Feel free to add StrategyBlocks to your Linkedin in network or simply recommend us to your friends or colleagues. Also if you would like to know more about what it is StrategyBlocks does please get in touch we would love to hear from you and learn how we can help your business execute your strategic management plan.

Meet some of the executive team behind StrategyBlocks:

Craig Catley - http://www.linkedin.com/in/craigcatley
Allen Keyte - http://www.linkedin.com/pub/allen-keyte/0/738/149
Simon Lawrence - http://www.linkedin.com/pub/simon-lawrence/3/605/87b

New StrategyBlocks website

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 10:17:00 +1200

I have personally learnt a lot over the years from people who have freely shared their ideas, their experiences and the decision-making process when it came to making a well thought out website. With that in mind I would like to give something back and share with you a detailed explanation of some of the design and development choices I made along the way. I will also be introducing and some of the technologies I used to get this website up and running.

Refreshing the StrategyBlocks logo

I began looking at the StrategyBlocks logo (which was originally created Viv Sellers of Creation) and thought it could use a small update to refresh the branding so it wouldn't look too out of place on the new site. I decided to keep the existing typography but make it more sophisticated and elegant.

Choosing a font

Myriad Pro is one of my top 10 favourite fonts and was the font I settled on to use throughout the website and for any print based marketing/advertising. Myriad Pro is an OpenType version of the original Myriad font family which first shipped in 2000, as the Adobe Corporation moved towards the OpenType standard.

Getting Myriad Pro to display correctly on the web

By default Myriad Pro isn’t a common font installed on most computers. What does that mean? Unless the person viewing this website has Myriad Pro installed on their computer then this font won’t be display a substitute font will take its place sometime giving an undesirable look and feel. To resolve this StrategyBlocks subscribed to Typekit a font-hosting service which displays the correct font regardless of whether it is installed or not.

Frameworks provide necessary structure (978.gs framework)

In its simplest form StrategyBlocks works by building up your strategic plan by using an interconnected system of "blocks". I wanted to use a solid web development framework as the "building blocks" of this site and decided to go with the 978.gs grid-system which I find robust yet extremley flexible.

Adding additional structure (using a baseline grid)

To provide additional structure I decided to implement a baseline (or horizontal) grid where all web elements such as headings, text, images, etc. would all align horizontally to this grid. As I discovered this approach can be extremely challenging in a live web environment. However I tend to think this attention to detail and rhythm it creates throughout the site’s layout is worth the additional effort. I would highly recommend this approach however a word to the wise - baseline grids can be highly addictive!

Adding a full-sized background image (aka eye candy)

Backstrtch.js is a simple jQuery plugin which allows you to add a dynamically-resized background image to any web page. This means regardless of how big or small a person’s computer monitor is the background image will automatically resize to fill the screen.

Choosing a CMS (Content Management System)

StrategyBlocks is a member of the CDP Group and all their websites run the SilverStripe CMS (or Content Management Systems) so this was an easy choice. SilverStripe CMS is an open source web content management system based in Wellington, New Zealand. They have excellent tutorials (which I have used) on creating your own customised SilverStripe website. They also have an active and friendly user-community where you can find answers and ask questions if you run into any problems along the way.

Engaging website visitors while reducing spam

SilverStripe has a built-in commenting system but in my experience I feel Disqus is better suited to handle this aspect of the site. DISQUS is a free web-based commenting platform that helps build an active community from your website's audience. It has awesome spam-prevention features and is easy to install.

Bringing it all together

Taking into account all the things mentioned above you are reading the post on the finished redesign of the StrategyBlocks website. I hope you found this blog post informative and hopefully some of the technologies and design/development insight help inspire you to create better and well thought out websites.

Like StrategyBlocks on Facebook

Wed, 30 May 2012 13:20:58 +1200

Please feel free to ask questions, suggest software features and/or blog post ideas or simply to make us aware of any issues that you are having within the product.

Find StrategyBlocks on Facebook.

Subscribe to the StrategyBlocks channel on YouTube

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:08:43 +1200

Overtime we hope to upload additional videos like tutorials and new features within the product to ensure you have a better understanding of what StrategyBlocks does so you get the most out of your strategy software purchase. If there is anything in particular you would be interested in seeing please let us know.

Watch StrategyBlocks on YouTube today.

Calculating KPIs (outputs)

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 09:34:02 +1200

As a simple example, let’s take something a situation like sales across multiple regions. For instance, you might have sales in North America and sales in Europe. These regions will each have their own independent targets and actuals, but, as the manager of global sales, you would want to have both sets of data rolled up into one KPI without having to manually duplicate and sum the data. In the most recent version of the product you can create a new Global Sales KPI and select the calculation tab:

When the checkbox is selected, the values and targets tabs have editing disabled and they become the result of the expression defined on the calculation tab. In this case, we’ve typed “Sales” into the filter and we’re adding North American Sales KPI to the list of calculation variables. Notice that each in the list will be prefixed with a letter (e.g., A for European Sales and North American Sales will become B).

The input box at the bottom of the form is where the calculation can be typed as you’d like to define it, using the prefixes as variables (e.g., A, B); To the right of the input box we show the results of parsing the calculation, and a status icon indicating whether we support the expression or not. In complicated expressions, we introduce brackets “()” based on our interpretation of precedence rules but those can be added on the left side to remove any ambiguity.

Assuming the calculation is valid, once you submit the KPI the server will calculate a new series of values/targets based on the expression and redraw the chart. In the above example, if you have a target of 5000 for December 31 in North America, and one of 3000 in Europe, the Global Sales target would be 8000 for the same date. When the manager of North America increases the target to 5500, Global Sales automatically picks that up and becomes 8500.

Calculated KPI's can also be used as a mechanism to create ratio calculations on the fly. Creating ratios and being able to conveniently monitor them on an on-going basis can be challenging, but they are an important way to benchmark organisational performance. For instance, something simple like the profitability of a product or "gross profit margin” can be created by dividing Gross Profit by the Sales, or a "price to earnings ratio" can be created by dividing Share Value by Earnings Per Share. Even more complex calculations like a valuation ratio can be produced: (Market Cap-Total Debt)/EBITDA. StrategyBlocks provides a flexible intuitive way to achieve this.

These calculated KPIs are treated the same as any other KPI in the system. When they are attached to blocks, their charts can be displayed in the blocks view, and they contribute to the health calculation. They can also be used in subsequent KPI calculations allowing users to create their own ad-hoc hierarchies of KPIs.

Follow StrategyBlocks on Twitter

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:20:03 +1200

Please feel free to ask questions, suggest features and/or blog post ideas or simply to make us aware of any issues that you are having within the product.

Follow @StrategyBlocks on twitter today.

Introduction to enterprise strategic planning

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 14:32:35 +1200

Hello everyone and welcome to the new StrategyBlocks website - I hope you find it informative and useful. The StrategyBlogs section is a new addition and to kickoff I want to discuss some of the issues I see surrounding strategy management generally.

I believe communication is the key. It is of fundamental importance that the individuals tasked with the execution of strategy, understand what the objectives are and stay aligned with the strategic vision of the organisation.

This is not new, organisations have been aware of this for many a year, but achieving better communication of strategic goals is a challenge few handle well.

We have seen a huge investment of time to develop extremely detailed strategic plans and I have no doubt that this has been a worthwhile investment. However, it is unlikely that anybody within the organisation is going to attempt this monumental read. Perhaps it is no coincidence that it is widely considered that 95% of staff have no idea of their organisation’s strategic goals.

So what exactly is the problem with the “Strategic Plan On Top Shelf Collecting Dust” (SPOTSCD)? It is horrendously long, unpictorial, and completely dull. It is far from engaging and does not drive people into action. Therefore there is a reduced awareness of the individual’s place in the organisation’s grand vision and as a result people go about their day-to-day business, whether it is strategically relevant or not.

I read an excellent article recently by author, Nenshad Bardoliwalla . (December 1, 2009). The Top 10 Trends for 2010 in Analytics, Business Intelligence, and Performance Management . Retrieved from (http://www.enterpriseirregulars.com) which shares some interesting insights related to strategy and its relationship to the Performance Management technology market. The following are excerpts from that article:

“1 - We will witness the emergence of packaged strategy-driven execution applications.” “We called this “Strategy-Driven Execution”, the complete fusion of goals, initiatives, plans, forecasts, risks, controls, performance monitoring, and optimization with transactional processes.”

“7 – Advanced Visualization will continue to increase in depth and relevance to broader audiences.” “The latest advances in state-of-the-art UI technologies such as Microsoft’s SilverLight, Adobe Flex, and AJAX via frameworks like Google’s Web Toolkit augur the era of a revolution in state-of-the art visualization capabilities.” “these capabilities will find their way into enterprise offerings at a rapid speed”.

We at StrategyBlocks believe what is rapidly emerging is the need for a highly visual form of dynamic strategy mapping, to act as a platform for enterprise collaboration and communication.

This will provide an umbrella framework for strategic thinking, bringing together a variety of information and measures of success, both structured and unstructured. Whether that is the rollup of effort/progress, financial value contributing to the overall goal, and/or the relevant pieces of business intelligence reporting and key performance indicators integrated in to the strategic plan at the appropriate points.

The aim is simple - let those involved with the execution of strategy clearly see the result of their efforts and for management, finally be able to monitor the overall success of those strategic objectives.