What's New?                What's new in Versions 5 & 6  (video. turn on sound)

Version 7 upgrade

December 2008 - Improved ease of use, and laid the foundational infrastructure to make possible the dramatic improvements to value stream mapping, swim lane cross functional flowchart, and more.

November 2008 -
New Blank template - to serve as a terrific starting point for creating your own custom templates - with the same look and feel and on-line help that your users have come to expect and appreciate in your Systems2win templates. And the ability to snyc them out to all of your remote users - just like your other Systems2win templates.

November 2008 -
Revision Log - Copy this Revision Log worksheet to any other document created from any Systems2win template - for easy document revision control.

November 2008 -
* Easier installation
* New Systems2win menu item for Styles- provides instant training for how to use Excel Styles - for faster, easier, and more consistent cell formatting.
* We have also been busy behind the scenes again - making our (already-outstandingly stable) software even more bullet-proof in unusual installation environments like Citrix, the various flavors of Vista, and multi-national and multi-language versions of Windows and Office.

August 2008 -
* Reintroduced site licensing (as a low-cost option to per seat licensing)
* New easier user interface and online training links.
* Added drop-down data validation to many templates.
* Open a Blank Template button ensures that a fresh worksheet is always one button click away.

Improved training videos

June 2008 - Every training video has been updated & improved. Long videos have been split into several shorter videos - to make it easier to find the snippet you're looking for. And new videos continue to be added.

Version 6 upgrade

March 2008 - Version 6 is released with per-seat licensing - thereby making it less expensive for a single user or small company to purchase more templates, and easier for a large company to try them with a few users before committing to an enterprise-wide roll out.

Version 5 upgrade for every Excel template.
October 2007.

New Systems2win menu in Word and Excel.
Benefits:
* Several easy ways to find & open templates.
* New stencil of Link Icons - to easily insert highly visual hyperlinks in any Excel or Word document (older templates give Link Icons only in Excel)
* Smaller file sizes - because stencil of shapes is now in a shared menu - rather than duplicated in each workbook.
* New flag icons - to easily link to multi-language documents.

Code separated from data. Most code has been separated into add-ins (rather than being embedded in each workbook). Benefits:
* Easier upgrades. From now on, you will usually be able to take advantage of upgrades without transferring data from your old working documents to your new templates.
* Update anytime. You can update your add-in code at any time, [and upgrade your (personalized) templates when you upgrade].
* Easier for your IT Dept to ensure compliance with your License Agreement, by preventing accidental distribution of templates to unlicensed users.

Easily sync templates in each local PC with master templates in your S2winPortal. Benefits:
* Easily distribute personalized templates to all of your users.
* You can even use our Sync system to distribute your own (non-Systems2win) personalized templates! (think HR vacation request forms...)
* Easier for laptop users to always have access to your company's latest Systems2win templates - even when disconnected from your network.

Even better compatibility with more versions of Windows and Office.
* More templates now support Office 2000.
* More templates now support Office 2007.
* Better support for International languages, and international versions of Windows and Office.

More and easier help.
* More consistent user interface.
* Separate worksheets for Sample and Help.
* Even easier for users to find help.

Systems2win menu is available
whenever you open Excel or Word

Stencil of Link Icons to easily
make hyperlinks to related documents

Flag icons to link to documents
in multiple languages

Consistent help user interface

Version 4 upgrade for every Excel template

Between March and July 2007 - every Excel template was upgraded for even easier and clearer online training, digitally signed macros, better support for user-defined personalization and language translation, Office 2007 features, Excel's scenario features, and many ease-of-use enhancements.

November, 2006. Minor upgrade completed for every Excel template. Replaced all remnant Visual Basic 4.0 code. Improved user interface and training.

Video based online training

Fall 2006. Much of our (already-helpful) searchable-text online training has been supplemented with Flash video demonstrations - with human voice instruction and demonstration - thereby making these already-intuitive Word and Excel templates even easier to use and faster to learn.
And keep your eye on us - because more training videos keep coming...

Video trainings
 (turn on sound)

August, 2006. Substantial upgrade to our Affiliate Program.

Version 3 upgrade for every Excel template
Summer, 2006. Every Systems2win Excel template received a major facelift

• Many new ease-of-use features
• Easier printing of online help and instructions
• Video training to supplement the searchable text online training
• More online help, for both Excel tips and educational training
• Pop-up help for every column/row header
• Mouse-click help for every graphic object
• Many new features and tips to make printing easier, and to set print areas in creative ways to make tools more useful
• Link icons - for easier hyperlinks, using instantly recognized graphic icons for each type of link
• Easier linking between documents related to the same process
• Mistake-proofing (data validation, color-coding cells containing formulas...)
• Custom Formula Safe Zone

Version 2 upgrade for every Excel template. 2005. Every one of our 100+ templates was updated at some time or another during the year 2005.

• Clearer instructions.
• More and better online help.
• More and better online education.
• 130 page PowerPoint online training for Lean & Kaizen teachings - free with templates
• Removed Excel 2000 and Macintosh limitations from most templates.

Customization Log

Feb 2005. Template to make software upgrades easier by maintaining a concise log of customizations

Learn more

January 2005. Introduced Annual Maintenance Program

2004. Every one of our 100+ templates was updated at some time or another during the year 2004.

December 2008 - version 7 upgrade.

The Value Stream Mapping Power Tool is now both more powerful and far easier to use. You start by making a simple drawing, and then unhide Lean metrics as needed.

There are a LOT more version 7 improvements - expounded in detail on the Value Stream Mapping page.

More Info

December 2008. Value Stream Mapping for the Supply Chain.

An entirely new template - that includes pre-programmed Lean metrics and charts for Supply Chain Value Stream Mapping.

This template comes bundled with all of the other value stream map templates.

To manage your value stream with clearly-defined objectives, goals, measures, responsibilities, and deadlines

September 2008. The Value Stream Mapping Power Tool now has a Hide / Unhide Rows button - so that you can quickly unhide the rows containing the Lean calculations you need to answer your boss's question - and then quickly re-hide them so that your end deliverable isn't cluttered or confusing to people who haven't yet learned the value of all of those Lean calculations.

October 2007. Version 5 upgrade features improve both of these templates in many dramatic ways. (both the simple Value Stream Mapping drawing template and the VSM-PowerTool that has all Lean calculations pre-programmed).
* Button to instantly Add or Remove a Process (and all related Process boxes) with a single click
* 50 sequential processes (each with optional "double decker" simultaneous processes)
* Faster processing.
* Cycle Time Unit of Measure can now be seconds, minutes, or hours.
* Special version to support clients still using Excel 2000.
* Terrific new features for version control - stand-alone or integrated with ANY third-party version control software. (with or without ISO 9000 compliance)

June 2007. Value Stream Mapping training.

May 2007. New Trial Version Value Stream Mapping template released.

April 2007. Version 4 upgrade completed. Easier and clearer online training, digitally signed macros, better support for user-defined personalization and language translation, Office 2007 features, Excel's scenario features, and many ease-of-use enhancements.
How to upgrade.

October 2006. Training video released.

October 2006. Incremented version number to version 4. Version 4 is required to work with the new application programming interface - that third-party application developers can use to integrate their software with this template.

October 2006. Corrected the Every Part Every Interval calculation (used to calculate optimal batch size).

May 2006. The Lean Kaizen bundle now includes two different Value Stream Mapping templates:
1) A simple drawing tool
2) A power tool with all Lean calculations pre-programmed so that all you need to do is fill in your data.

June 2006. Free trial template is available for download.

March 2006. Our most popular template - the Value Stream Map - now performs all Lean calculations, and has many new ease-of-use and online training features - including an interactive Sample Help page with learning exercises.

All Lean tools

December 2008. Version 7 upgrade.

March 2008. Version 6 upgrade.

October 2007. Version 5 upgrade.

April 2007. Version 4 upgrade.

More info

All Lean tools (continued)

May 2006. Major upgrade for all Lean and Kaizen Excel templates.
(See Improvements affecting all templates)

Nov 2006. The Business Process Improvement bundle of templates was split into two separate bundles: Lean Kaizen and Process Engineering.
 

October 2007. Version 5 upgrade improves this template in many dramatic ways.
* Now push a single button to auto-draw a Standard Work Combination Chart.
* Terrific new features for version control - stand-alone or integrated with ANY third-party version control software. (with or without ISO 9000 compliance)

December 2006. Training video released.

More Info

April 2006. Major upgrade. Many new ease-of-use features. Simpler and clearer instructions, mistake-proofing, pop-up help, more online help, learning exercises, and more!
And you can now paste your Layout Diagram (Spaghetti Diagram) on a single page with your Standard Work Chart!

2005. Major upgrade. Now has options:
a) to include multiple operators on single chart or separate charts
b) to include chart lines for Takt Time, Target Cycle Time, Cycle Time, and Cycle Time with Out of Cycle Work
c) to define your own header data
d) to integrate with another worksheet used for product mix and/or master scheduling 
e) to use either a Time Observation Worksheet or video input
f) to draw the chart with or without X axis labels
g) to include up to 200 lines on a single chart (and spread even larger processes over multiple charts)
h) to allow unlimited number of operators

2004. Standard Work Chart now auto-draws the chart

December 2006. Training video released.

April 2006. Now you can paste your Layout Diagram (Spaghetti Diagram) on a single page with your Standard Work Chart!

2004. To ensure that work is actually being done as per work instructions

January 2009. Replaced old Lean Design Objectives template with a dramatically improved Results Metrics template that makes it easy to link to multiple data sources to manage ∆ Change Gap Analysis

January 2009. Major upgrade. Most Kaizen tools were converted from Word to Excel format - and have been dramatically improved.

December 2008. Version 7 upgrade.

March 2008. Version 6 upgrade.

October 2007. Version 5 upgrade.

April 2007. Version 4 upgrade.

More info

June 2008. The Kaizen bundle of templates now comes with an editable PowerPoint presentation for Kaizen and Lean training.

September 2006. Released video training for Kaizen tools.

May 2006. Major upgrade for all Lean and Kaizen Excel templates.
(See Improvements affecting all templates)

Nov 2006. The Business Process Improvement bundle of templates was split into two separate bundles: Lean Kaizen and Process Engineering.
 

2005. Released the final templates to complete the Kaizen suite of Excel templates - providing everything needed to plan, implement, and follow up with Kaizen Events for continuous process improvement.

All Process Engineering templates

December 2008. Version 7 upgrade.

March 2008. Version 6 upgrade.

October 2007. Version 5 upgrade.

May 2007. Version 4 upgrade.

Nov 2006. The Business Process Improvement bundle of templates was split into two separate bundles: Lean Kaizen and Process Engineering.

May 2006. Major upgrade was completed for all Process Engineering Excel templates

Cross Functional Flowchart

December 2008. Version 7 upgrade.

Now automatically calculates over a dozen Lean Metrics when you enter your data.

See Cross Functional Flowchart web page.

More info

Swim Lane Cross Functional Flow Chart (continued)

October 2007. Version 5 upgrade affects this template in many dramatic ways.
* New SkipSum formula makes swim lane calculations easy to maintain even when you insert or move columns.

Late 2005. Improved calculations to summarize cycle time and lead time - by total process and by swim lane.
(so you know how many man-hours are needed per Dept to staff your re-designed process)

2004. New template - Swim Lane Flowchart to clearly depict processes that cross functional workgroups

Process Reengineering series

Dec 2005. Major upgrade. Now includes Value Add Analysis pie chart, Full Time Employee Equivalent calculations, and greatly improved help.

2004. New series of fill-in-the-blanks templates covering every concept taught in Ray Manganelli's Reengineering Handbook.
1) Process Reengineering Matrix
2) Jobs Design Matrix
3) Change Management worksheet

All Training Program Design templates

December 2008. Version 7 upgrade.

March 2008. Version 6 upgrade.

October 2007. Version 5 upgrade. .

March 2007. Version 4.1 upgrade for all Training Program Design Excel templates.
April 2006. Major upgrade for all Training Program Design Excel templates.
(See Improvements affecting all templates)

Visual Work Instructions (aka Job Instructions)

October 2007. Version 5 upgrade improves this template in dramatic ways.
* Terrific new features for version control - stand-alone or integrated with ANY third-party version control software. (with or without ISO 9000 compliance)

Visual Work Instructions (continued)

March 2007. Version 4 upgrade:
* Support Excel 2007
* Allow pictures to be easily resized
* Supports live hyperlinks to related documents - even in ISO-9000 controlled released PDF's
* More & better user training

November 2006. New template to provide thorough training  - using both pictures and written instructions. A powerful training aid for training new-hires, temporaries, and cross-trained workers.

Skills & Training Cross-Training Matrix

November 2006. Major upgrade. Added user columns, Custom Formula Safe Zone, much improved help, training video, and more.

2005. Improved online help for how to use numbered outline to easily correlate steps with flowchart boxes

2004. New template to document how to perform a process

Nov 2006. The Project Management bundle of templates was split into two separate bundles: Project Management and Training Program Design.

All Project Management templates

December 2008. Version 7 upgrade.

March 2008. Version 6 upgrade.

October 2007. Version 5 upgrade.

All Project Management templates (continued)

Nov 2006. The Project Management bundle of templates was split into two separate bundles: Project Management and Training Program Design.

April 2006. Major upgrade for all Project Management Excel templates - with many new time-saving features to keep your Project Team members working on their project - and not wasting days inventing project management tools.

(See Improvements affecting all templates)
 

Gantt Chart

November 2007

• Drop-down data validation for People, Resources, Work Calendar Adjustment Factors, and Grid Lines.
• One-click button to set Project Start Date and change grid lines.
• Header rows now repeat at the top of each page.
• Chart now has axis labels at both top & bottom.
• Chart line shows Today's date.
• Easier handling of comments.
• More & better help.

October 2007. Version 5 upgrade affects this template in many dramatic ways.

October 2006. Training video released.

September 2006. The Gantt chart now has Work Calendar Adjustment factors - to enable consideration of weekends and holidays.

June 2006. Free trial template is available for download.

More info

Download free trial

PICK Decision-making Matrix

October 2007. New button to automatically label data points on the chart.

Agenda Minutes template

February 2007. Significant upgrade for features and ease of use.

New online training for Check In.

All Six Sigma templates

December 2008. Version 7 upgrade.

March 2008. Version 6 upgrade.

October 2007. Version 5 upgrade improves every Six Sigma template in many dramatic ways.
* Many Six Sigma templates that used to require Excel 2002 or higher now work with Excel 2000.

June 2006. Major upgrade for all DMAIC Six Sigma Excel templates.
(See Improvements affecting all templates)

August 2005. Full line of Six Sigma templates released. Designed to supplement (not replace) statistical software - by providing those Six Sigma tools that Minitab and other statistical tools ignore or do poorly.

FMEA

October 2007. Data validation - speed data entry, and reduce data entry errors.

More info

Root Cause Analysis Fishbone Diagram

October 2007. Import macro now supports Excel 2000 thru 2007.

January 2007. Totally new version. Easily import data into textboxes - from FMEA, brainstorming, or any Excel data source. Easily expand working space by simply unhiding preformatted rows & columns. New training for Brainstorming & Root Cause Analysis.

Learn more

SIPOC Diagram

June 2006. Free full working version is available for download as a trial template.

Aug 2005. New template to provide an "at a glance" overview of a process, and identify the suppliers and inputs and customers and outputs of a process

Pareto Chart

October 2007. Now supports Excel 2000 thru 2007.

September 2006. Significant upgrade to make it even easier to create a Pareto Chart from any data in any spreadsheet.

Cause & Effect Matrix

October 2007.
* New macro button is even easier to use.
* Now supports Excel 2000 thru 2007.

House of Quality QFD

Oct 2006. Significant upgrade to formulas, ease of use, and flexibility to serve all 4 phases of Quality Functional Deployment.

Aug 2005. New template to provide a guiding structure for a cross-functional product development team to rapidly design and deploy new products and services in a fraction of the time required by traditional methods.

Learn more

All Strategic Planning templates

December 2008. Version 7 upgrade.

March 2008. Version 6 upgrade.

October 2007. Version 5 upgrade.

May 2007. Version 4.1 upgrade for all Business Planning Excel templates.
(See Improvements affecting all templates)

June 2006. Major upgrade for all Business Planning Excel templates.

Policy Deployment Matrix

2005. New template to greatly increase visibility (and actual real-life implementation) of your Balanced Scorecard measures.

Learn more

Strategic Planning Worksheets

2005. Released series of 11 templates to help executives come prepared to your next round of strategic planning.

Learn more

All Software Project templates

December 2008. Version 7 upgrade.

March 2008. Version 6 upgrade.

October 2007. Version 5 upgrade.

July 2006. Major upgrade for all Software Project Excel templates.
(See Improvements affecting all templates)

2005. Released an entire series of 20+ templates - to select and implement enterprise software.

Learn More

Data Conversion Planning worksheet

July 2006. Significant upgrade to this versatile template that helps you plan and manage data conversion from your old software application to your new one.