SD Planner

There are a number of specific capabilities that SD Planner provides to help companies start on their journey toward SD. 

The intent of SD Planner is to provide these capabilities in a manner that is generic, yet highly customizable to the needs of an individual company. In addition, SD Planner strives for clarity and simplicity, so that it is intuitive and easy to use with minimal training. The graphical user interface has been designed accordingly. 

SD Planner is designed for use by a variety of different groups within a company. It is optimized for use by a business unit, but it can also be used by a corporate group on behalf of the company as a whole. Typically, a functional group will assume a... 

Self-Evaluation. The Self-Evaluation window (Fig. 4.5) is used to assess the current status of the user s company or business unit relative to the elements defined in SD Planner . This information is used subsequently to determine whether the organization is meeting its stated goals and to recommend potential actions. 

Gap Analysis. The Gap Analysis function is the heart of SD Planner . It is used to compare goals against self-evaluation results. Whenever the organization s current practices fall short of the goals, a gap is said to exist. The tool allows the user to view gaps in several different ways, one of which (by Element) is depicted in Figure 4.7. 

Companies have adapted SD Planner to suit their unique situations. Some examples of how companies have used the tool include the following. 

Figure 4.9. An Action Planning report generated by SD Planner .

The GEMI approach embodied in the SD Planner tool was created to help companies address environmental, economic, and social issues in a way that creates... 

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