We are happy to announce the new version of Create a Plan!
The first change you'll notice is that your first step is choosing how you want to create your plan: Build A Plan - building the plan directly in the web application - or Import a Plan - import a plan that you've created in Excel. Each option will take you through a workflow that guides you through the specific steps for each method of creating your plan.
Build a Plan
In the new Build a Plan flow, you still define the key attributes of your plan: plan name; set a start and due date; define plan levels; and assign plan administrators. But now, if you're a power user you can quickly skip steps, and there is a Summary panel that shows you all the plan information you've entered.
In addition, you can now set up the following options while you are creating the plan:
- Notification Settings - Select either organizational defaults or define custom plan settings.
- Assign Members -Assign Members to the plan when you create it. These members will be able to see the plan once it's activated.
Import a Plan
Creating a new plan using an Excel file is now its own flow: Import a Plan. Many of the options are the same as Build a Plan, and the steps in the process that are unique to importing a file are now easier to use and more intuitive. You'll also see the following improvements:
- New Import Template - The standard Excel template now has column headers and in-spreadsheet data validation that is consistent with other areas of the AchieveIt application, including the Export Plan as Template feature. Don't worry if you still have plan files that use the old template format: Import a Plan will still accept those previous versions.
- More Forgiving Import Data Validation - Now you can enter columns and records in the Excel file in any order, and other scenarios that might have caused validation errors in the older plan import flow are now handled more gracefully.
- Import Data Preview - Now you can see your plan data and any errors in the import file before you create your plan. You can quickly navigate through validation errors and see exactly which cell in your spreadsheet each error relates to, allowing you to more quickly fix the source data in your file.