2023-1: 2022 Year in Review

A lot has happened in 2022! See what new features have been released over the past year and what is coming in early 2023.

• SMART Goals & Objectives
• Copy / Share / Move content
• Copy entire diagrams between projects
• Create diagrams from existing content
• Tag diagram factors for presentations and animations
• Standard Report Documents (Beta)
• What's coming in 2023?

Build a SMART Goal or Objective using the SMART Guide

When creating Goals or Objectives, use the SMART Guide to make sure they are

• Specific - Clearly defined so that all people involved in the project have the same understanding of what the terms in the goal or objective mean.
• Measurable - Definable in relation to some standard scale (numbers, percentage, fractions, descriptive categories, or all / nothing states).
• Achievable - Practical and appropriate within the context of the project site and in light of the political, social, and financial context (especially relevant to objectives; goals may be more aspirational).
• Results-Oriented - Represents necessary changes in target condition, threat reduction, and/or other key expected results. You make your objective results-oriented by building it on a key factor in your results chain
• Time-Limited - Achievable within a specific period of time, generally 1-10 years for an objective and 10-20 years for a goal.

When adding Goals to Targets, or Objectives to Results, in diagram view or tree view, select 'Use SMART Guide' to walk through a set of guided steps and watch your SMART statement take shape. At the end of the guided steps you have the option to refine your statement.

Copy / Share / Move factors in diagram view or tree view

Individual factors, e.g. Targets, Strategies, Results, Activities, Goals, etc, can be moved, copied or shared between diagrams within a project. These actions can be completed in diagram view or in tree view.

In diagram views, standard keyboard strokes (CTRL-C or CTRL-V), right click or the "..." menu available for selected factors can be used for these actions.

In tree views, simply drag and drop factors in order to move, copy or share them across different Results Chains or Situation Models. Select the factor you want to move/copy/share, drag it to the new location, and a menu will pop up asking you which action you want to take.

NOTE: It is important to know whether you want to move, copy or share a factor since each has a different meaning:

Move - Moving factors between diagrams takes the entire factor and all its related content from one place to another within your project. You do not have the option to select which elements (e.g. related indicators or activities) come along for the ride; everything comes along to the new location in your project.

Copy creates a new factor that includes the source factor’s summary data (ID, name etc.) and classifications, but not progress reports, measurements, etc.  Note that this will create a duplicate of the copied factor in your project.  If you only want one version of the factor in your project but you want it to appear in multiple places, use Share instead (see below).

When copying a factor you have the option to include copies of the related elements (e.g. Objectives, Indicators, Activities) with the copied factor. There are three ways to copy content:

• • "Copy" to the clipboard and paste the factor in the same diagram or in another diagram
  • "Copy To" to send a copy of the factor directly to another diagram
  • "Copy From" to copy content from another factor to the factor you have selected

Share - Sharing a factor allows you to display a single factor in multiple places in your Miradi project. Use "Share" to make sure you only have one version of a factor in your project, but display it in all the relevant diagrams throughout your project.

When sharing factors, you do not have the option to pick and choose the related elements that are shared. The entire factor is shared everywhere it appears throughout your project, including all its related elements.

Copy / share / move multiple factors at once

It is possible to select multiple factors in a diagram and copy, share or move them to a different diagram within the same Miradi project. Miradi will give you the option to copy, share or move, depending on the types of factors you have selected. If you do not see the option you would like to use, try selecting a smaller number of similar factors and copy/share/move in multiple steps.

There are two ways to select multiple factors in your diagram:

• Use Shift + Click to select multiple factors one by one
• Lasso multiple factors by clicking and holding your cursor, then dragging a lasso around multiple factors

Once you have selected your factors, use the "..." menu above the selected factors to choose your action. You will have the option to

• Copy all factors to the clipboard
• Copy to - copies all factors to another diagram
• Share/Copy to - shares factors where possible and copies factors that cannot be shared
• Move to - move all factors and their elements to another diagram

Copy entire diagrams across projects

Select an entire Situation Model or Results Chain and copy it to a different project. Find the Diagram Properties tab in the upper left of the diagram canvas and use the "..." menu to copy the diagram.

Create Results Chains from Situation Model content, and vice versa

Select a set of factors within a diagram and use those factors to create a new diagram. For example, select a Strategy, a few Contributing Factors, a Threat and related Targets in a Situation Model and use them as the starting point for a new Results Chain.

Tag diagram factors for presentations and animations

Teams often find it useful to show only a subset of the factors in a diagram, especially with complex diagrams. Tags allow you to isolate specific factors for display, or create a series of tagged factors to animate your diagrams and build them up step by step, either online or in a slide editor such as Microsoft PowerPoint or Google Slides.

In Miradi Online, create and manage tags for your diagrams using the Tags tool on the left side of the diagram canvas. 

Use the Visibility tool (also available in the left hand menu) to turn diagram factors on and off using the tags.

Apply tags to one or more factors at a time by selecting a set of factors and choosing the tag icon above the selected factors or in the right side menu.

See how to set up tags for your projects, export a set of images and build an animated diagram in a slide deck:

Standard Report Documents (Beta)

Miradi content can be exported to Word using report document templates. If your project is in a Program / Team space, you have the option to create custom templates (learn more about report document templates here). In the coming months we will be releasing beta versions of a few standard report document templates available to all Miradi projects. Please share any feedback on reports or features that would be useful for you and your team.

To run a report for your Miradi project, go to 'Data Views' in the upper right of your project window and select 'Report Documents'.

The list of reports available to your project includes standard reports (shown with a Miradi icon) and any custom reports designed and managed by your program managers. Click on the name of the report to export your report document to Word. Note that this process exports your content to Word so any changes you make in the report will not be reflected in your Miradi project.

The standard reports can not be customized by you. If you would like to create custom reports for your Miradi projects, consider purchasing a Team Plan. Learn more about custom report document templates here.

What's coming in 2023?

In the first quarter of 2023 we'll be releasing a bunch of new features and a new version of Miradi Desktop (v4.6). Stay tuned for guidance early in the new year on how to upgrade your system. In the meantime, you can look forward to some exciting new features:

• Track Outputs, aka deliverables, for your Tasks, Activities, and Strategies
• Identify Assumptions underlying your Situation Models and Results Chains and assess your team's confidence in the Evidence used to support those Assumptions
• Enjoy a full spectrum color picker for fonts, text boxes and group boxes, and two new predefined color palettes
• Use the new Arrange tool to layer elements front to back in your diagrams 
• Chat with other Miradi users in the Help Center Community Forum