Creating Cause & Effect Maps

You can create a cause & effect map for any objective or KPI that is listed in the "Strategy pane". See "What Are Cause & Effect Maps?" for additional information on cause & effect maps.

To create a cause & effect map:

1. If you want to:

   • Create and save a cause & effect map, edit the scorecard in which you want to create the cause & effect map. See "Opening or Editing Scorecards" for additional information.

   • Create but not save a temporary, read-only cause & effect map, open the scorecard in which you want to create the cause & effect map. See "Opening or Editing Scorecards" for additional information.

2. In the "Strategy pane", right-click the objective or KPI and then select View Cause & Effect Map.

   The "Cause & Effect Map tab: Diagram tab" is displayed.

3. To:

   • Display options that enable you to work with a node, right-click the node or click the Options button (on the right side of the node) to display the "Node Options Menu".

   • Display additional performance data for a KPI, such as target value or variance, click the down arrow at the bottom center of the node. To collapse this data, click the up arrow.

   • Edit a causal linkage, right-click the linkage line and select Edit Causal Linkage. The "Causal Linkage dialog" is displayed.

   • Delete a causal linkage, right-click the linkage line and select Delete Causal Linkage.

   • Zoom in and out of the diagram or to set preferences, use the toolbar buttons on the "Scorecard editor: Cause & Effect Map tab".

   • Work with comments:

     • Hover the mouse pointer over the Comment button in the upper-right corner of a node to display the "Status window", where you can read the comments that were previously added, add another comment, or reply to a comment.

     • Click the Options button on the right side of the node to which you want to add a comment and select Add Comment from the "Node Options Menu". The "New Comment dialog" is displayed, where you can add a comment or read any comments that were previously added.

     See "About Comments" and "Working with Comments" for additional information.

   • Work with status overrides on nodes for which you are the business owner:

     • Hover the mouse over the red asterisk (if available) in a node to display the "Status window", where you can view the overrides that were previously applied or apply another override.

     • Click the Options button on the right side of the node to which you want to apply the status override and select Override Status from the "Node Options Menu". The "Status Override dialog" is displayed, where you apply another override or view any overrides that were previously applied.

     See "About Status Overrides" and "Working with Status Overrides" for additional information.

4. To specify how cause and effect relationships are to be displayed on the cause & effect map, click the Cause & Effect Map Preferences toolbar button on the Scorecard editor: Cause & Effect Map tab.

   The Cause & Effect Map Preferences dialog: General tab is displayed.

5. Specify how you want cause and effect relationships displayed and then click OK.

6. Click the Cause & Effect Map tab: Details tab.

7. Specify a description, assign the business owner, and specify related documents, as appropriate. (By default, the business owner is the creator of the scorecard.)

8. Click Save to display the "Save As dialog". In the Save As dialog, you can rename the cause & effect map rather than use the default name.