Strategic planning software can help take your plans all the way from the beginning to the end whether you are looking to unite your team around a common vision or just do more work in less time. A well-designed strategy tool will enhance teams while streamlining the workflow and reporting, collaboration and project management.

Your strategy software should have a clear, easy-to-use interface that lets users make and edit their plans using custom templates for various strategic planning processes. If you’re performing an SWOT analysis, for instance, the software should enable your team to brainstorm ideas and then create a document with them all within the platform. Similar is the case board survey for strategic planning for more formal processes, such as goals and OKRs.

It is also important to ensure that the software can accommodate your preferred strategic planning approach whether it’s best practice, Six Sigma, or management by objectives. It should be able to create scorecards that are based on four perspectives, which will allow you to identify areas for improvement and evaluate performance.

Finally, you’ll want to be sure that your strategic plan tool can communicate with your operational systems through APIs. This will allow you to draw information from your operational platforms into the strategic planning tools and avoid duplicate entry and manual updates.

A good strategic tool will also let your team share tasks deadlines, as well as responsibility for measures. You’ll also get notifications when tasks run late. It should also offer multiple ways for you to visualize and monitor progress, such as timelines, Gantt charts, resource bookings, and more.