RealityCharting® Tips

  1. Printing the Realitychart
  2. Exporting Reports
  3. Evaluating Solutions
  4. Hiding Causes
  5. Attaching and Viewing Files
  6. Moving Causes Using the Holding Area
  7. Finding the Starting Point
  8. Navigating the Realitychart
  9. Generating Solutions
  10. Selecting Causes
  11. Easiest Way to Copy a String of Causes
  12. Assigning Notes
  13. Custom Settings
  14. Deleting Causes

 

  1. Printing the Realitychart

    The Custom View will display a unique and disconnected image of your Realitychart. This view offers the freedom to define the page setup options, displayed cause scale, and move causes and lines freely about this window. After the settings are defined you may select Print to PDF to create the file used to send to the local printer.

    Quick Steps to Put on Single Page:
    1. In Custom View, choose page setup and set the width to match your plotter (typically 34").
    2. If you have any causes still shown to the right of the page choose Cause Scale and reduce the size of the causes until they fit the width or move the causes to fit as needed.
    3. Then adjust the height to fit whatever causes are shown - on a roll feed plotter this won't matter so long as it's all shown in one vertical pane and not split over two pages.

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  2. Exporting Reports

    Exporting can be done from the specific report window or from the convenient File menu Export option. The exported file is placed on your clipboard as a table and can be pasted into most word processor and spreadsheets applications for further editing or formatting to meet company requirements.

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  3. Evaluating Solutions

    The Solution Assessment Report gives you the ability to write a summary of the problem, make comments and perform an assessment of solutions based off subjective scores for a set of user defined criteria. You can assign the importance of the relative criteria by defining the weight of each. When complete, you can print or export this report.

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  4. Hiding Causes

    Condensing a large Realitychart is made easy with the Hide Causes feature. Select the causes to be hidden and choose Hide Selected Causes in the Tools menu. The causes are removed from the workspace and replaced with a condensed display showing the words Hidden Causes. To make changes click on the text to open the Hidden Causes window and independently select which causes remain hidden or are shown again.

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  5. Attaching and Viewing Files

    The References tab allows you to add references with associated files such as photos and videos. Create a reference and add any number of files with the option of naming each hyperlink. To view an associated file, simply select the hyperlink and RealityCharting will use your browser to open it.

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  6. Moving Causes Using the Holding Area

    To move causes across a large chart it is often easier to select the causes, place them in the holding area, go to the new place on the chart and move them out of the holding area to connect them.

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  7. Finding the Starting Point

    Select the Home button in the Zoom tool and RealityCharting will return to the 100% view and place the Primary Effect center left. You can also reposition the Primary Effect by selecting this option in the View menu or clicking the Primary Effect toolbar icon.

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  8. Navigating the Realitychart

    The Outline view lists every cause on the chart in a numbered outline. To navigate to any cause, simply select it and RealityCharting will position that cause center left on the workspace.

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  9. Generating Solutions

    There are many ways to generate solutions and here are the most common. Remember, generating effective solutions is best accomplished by capturing the synergy of the team.

    Use an Overhead Projector: If you have an overhead projector and large room, view your Realitychart on the screen and use the Identify Solutions command found in Wizard Step 3 or the Node Menu. This will systematically take you through each cause on the chart starting at the upper right.

    Markup Hard Copies: If you do not have an overhead projector or large room, print your Realitychart and use the printout to challenge your causes. Make several copies for each stakeholder to review. Write the proposed solutions on the printout. When done suggesting causes, input them into RealityCharting®. HOT TIP: Use the Solution Tool in the tool bar instead of the Identify Solutions command. Drag the Solution Tool icon (a light bulb) to the cause you want to add solutions to and click it. The Add Solution window will open. This saves much time, especially on large charts, because you can assign the solutions directly to the respective cause without having to go through the entire set of causes. After inputting your solutions into RealityCharting®, run the solutions criteria check on each one.

    Share Electronically: If it is not possible to get the key stakeholders together for this important task, then email the Realitychart to one stakeholder and ask that person to send it on to the next person with a copy to each of the stakeholders. Copy all stakeholders in on the first email and include the sequence. Request each team member to wait their turn. This still allows some synergy to occur as each time it gets passed on, new solutions get added and the others can do some “yes-anding” in their own space and time. HOT TIP: “Yes-anding” is the creative strategy of reserving all judgment of proposed solutions until you apply the solution criteria. Instead of thinking, “that will never work,” think and say about all proposed solutions: “Yes, and we could do thus-and-so also.”

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  10. Selecting Causes

    Select any number of causes on the workspace by holding the Shift key and clicking on the cause heading (a hand icon appears above the cause when this is possible). You can also double click on a cause to select it and the entire cause path to the right.

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  11. Easiest Way to Copy a String of Causes

    Whenever multiple charts are visible at the same time, you can drag causes from one chart to the other and create a copy of the entire causal set in the new workspace.

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  12. Assigning Notes

    Notes may be easily connected to associated causes by selecting the Link Causes button in the Notes window. Notes may be referenced by their number in other locations, so the numbering system must be preserved when deleting causes. To ensure sequential number preservation, the word "Deleted" will replace the applicable note.

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  13. Custom Settings

    RealityCharting provides great flexibility by allowing you to customize how it works. Select Preferences in the RealityCharting menu to turn various features on or off, define which sections are shown in the Problem Definition window, select the default color of the different cause types, define your own criteria and associated ranking options for the Solution Assessment report, and add or delete different types of evidence in the Evidence Log.

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  14. Deleting Causes

    Select any number of causes and press the Delete key on the keyboard. Or move causes into the Holding Area and click the Empty button which will make those causes to disappear.

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