Blank Template

to make your own custom tools

When and why use a blank template?

Rather than starting with a blank Excel screen and a blinking cursor...

your Systems2win templates come with some templates specifically designed to serve as a starting point for creating your own custom process improvement tools

with all the familiar...

Standard features
common to every Systems2win template

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Now you are ready to start using your

Blank template

Find and open your template

Save your working document

following the usual document storage and naming conventions established by your leaders

If English is not your preferred language

Switch to your language, just like every Systems2win Excel template.

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Blank Template

How to create your own custom template

Before you start...

1) Learn what you're doing

Study the teachings on this training web page

and watch the pre-recorded webinar for How to Personalize Your Systems2win Templates

2) THINK!!!

Design a rough draft of your custom template on paper first.

Perhaps get ideas from your many other Systems2win templates

(see list of ideas for popular checklist templates, and popular types of matrix templates)

and if you find one that is close to what you want, perhaps use a copy of THAT template as the starting point for your new custom tool.

Otherwise, start with either the Blank template, or the Checklist template

which are both designed to give you a good starting point to create your own custom tools

Phase 1) Get Started

Follow the usual instructions for how to personalize any Systems2win template.

Save your new document to a temporary location.

Unhide the Template sheet.

Phase 2) Personalize Your Headers

Personalize the header fields at the top of the document

Perhaps insert rows, or hide unused rows.

Personalize the (gold) column headers

Perhaps replace existing headers with different words.

You can either simply replace VLOOKUP formulas with simple words,

or use User Substitutions to support language translations in your custom template.

Perhaps insert new columns.

Perhaps use Freeze Panes to keep your headers visible as you scroll.

Personalize row headers for document sections

The easiest way is to copy rows that have pre-formatted section headings.

Tip: Perhaps keep the pre-formatted section heading rows near the bottom of your working document, and simply hide those rows when you're ready to publish.

Phase 3) Personalize Your Data Input Cells

Use everything you know about familiar Microsoft Excel

(and search our online Excel training for anything you don't fully remember)

Perhaps change cell formats

Perhaps personalize dropdown lists (on the DV sheet)

Perhaps personalize conditional formatting

Phase 4) Personalize Anything Else

Charts

Shapes

Styles

Phase 5) Provide User Instructions

On the Help sheet of your custom template...

(which is always organized the exact same way, so that your users know how to find help for your custom template the exact same way they find help for every other Systems2win template...)

1. Add your Instructions to use THIS Template

   Major Steps in bold

   Key Points in red

2. Perhaps use Link Icons to link to relevant training (your own, or on the Internet)

   and/or Suggested Reading

3. Edit the Excel Tips Most Valuable for THIS Template removing tips that are not essential for using YOUR template

   Tip: Before you delete a row — first delete the shapes in that row (so that those shapes don't just get scrunched)

On the Template sheet of your custom template...

1. Perhaps use Comments to provide pop-up help for row and column headers

Phase 6) Do final cleanup

1. Reprotect any sheets that you unprotected
2. Leave the cursor in the upper left corner of each sheet

   (because when your user opens your workbook — the cursor will be wherever you left it)

3. Rehide and sheets that were unhidden
4. Save your template to its permanent location

   To Sync your template using the Systems2win Sync utility, save your template in the /S2winSync/ subfolder in the master /S2winPortal/ folder on your company's shared server.

Phase 7) Teach your users to use your new tool

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Blank template

with many other useful Process Improvement Tools

 

 

to empower every team member