Welcome to the new version of the Cascade strengths reports. Here we explain what is new for this impressive release, version 2.0r03b, March 2019. There is a lot packed into the new version and we hope you like the result.
Listening to your comments, hearing your questions and observing how you use Cascade, the new version offers;
- An easier and more intuitive way to navigate around the pages.
- A quicker method for creating reports and PDFs.
- More visually appealing pages, so it looks less like Excel.
Overview
The first thing you may notice in Cascade is the lack of the Select Name page and the arrival of the Home page with its new menu. You can now drive everything from the Menu to save hunting for the tabs at the bottom of the screen.
We never liked the Select Name page which evolved over time. The new Home page is carefully designed for ease of use. Hopefully, the Menu provides an intuitive approach to speed up the initial learning curve.
Many of the pages have received a facelift to create a standard layout and a consistent colour pallet. Tweaks to the presentation of the reports provide a fresher appearance and lots of fine adjustments to make the Cascade experience easier.
Several structural changes behind the scenes are paving the way for new features and additional languages.
As most of the new features add value to the Cascade package, many are only available with the Bonus Pack.
Jump to a section of this page.
Watch the video explaining the changes
The video demonstrates Cascade with the new features described on this page. The hints and tips along the way, quickly get you up to speed with the new features.
Getting Started
To get up and running quickly with the new version of Cascade, here are the steps to follow.
- Download the Cascade file from the link in your email and save it to a folder in your Documents area. Make sure the folder is part of your backup process and we don’t recommend saving files to the Desktop.
- Open the Cascade file and Enable Macros if asked.
- Transfer your client theme information to the new version of Cascade. Essentially, Copy and Paste the information from the Theme Table in the old version of Cascade to the new version. See the support article for more information.
Welcome Page
The Welcome page (extreme left-hand tab) provides an initial overview of Cascade. This the first page visible to new users and sets out the concepts. The new text and fresher look should help you to get up and running quicker.
Home Page
The Menu is the hub for Cascade to navigate around the pages and create the reports. It has three sections for the different stages, entering theme information, team reports and Individual reports.
Menu – Enter Themes
Start with the blue section on the left to enter the themes for your clients or staff. The Theme Table is the place to collect the theme information.
At the bottom of the blue section, it shows the number of people in the Theme Table and the total capacity for Cascade. There is also the date when the support period is due to end.
Menu – Build Team Reports
The pink section in the middle is for the team reports. Use the Team Grid to select the team or the people for your workshop.
Following your selection, the Team reports with red buttons provide visual representations of the team. You can insert a heading for the team or workshop name which will appear at the top of these reports.
Below the heading is a reminder of the number of themes displayed in the Team Grid. The Team reports represent this number of themes in their charts. Also below the heading is the total count for the number of people visible in the Team Grid.
The other reports in this section with the blue buttons are for more than one person, not necessarily for the whole team.
Menu – Create Individual Reports
The green section on the right is for the individual reports. Choose a person from the drop-down list who is visible in the team Grid. Watch the video
Blow the name are the number of themes for that person in the Theme Table and the number of Dominant themes if known.
All the reports for one individual have green buttons which take you into the report page.
To print a report or create a PDF for the chosen person, click on the icon next to the report name. The options for each of the reports are summarised on the right.
To the right is information about each report. The number of pages and themes, along with any chosen options.
In the bottom corner is the language for the reports. This will become more relevant when we later introduce the Language Packs.
When the Print & PDF Preview option is On, Cascade will show the page before sending it to the printer or display the result for the PDF document. As your confidence grows, you can turn this off to speed up the report creation process.
Some Mac computers do not support the coding to preview a print job. A warning appears if this is the case.
Create Individual Reports for the Whole Team
To generate reports for each person in the team or for a workshop, select the Whole Team option. The Print and PDF icons will create the personalised reports for each person in the Team Grid.
If you are creating reports for the Top 10 themes and some people just have their Top 5 themes, the number of pages for their reports will adjust so there are no blank pages.
Likewise, when printing a report for the Whole Team, if the number of Dominant themes for the current person is available in the Theme Table, the report will adjust accordingly. If there is no value for the number of Dominant themes, it will assume 10 themes.
There is the option to turn on the Print & PDF Preview which will show the page before printing (Windows only) or the PDF page after creation.
This feature is not active when producing reports for the Whole Team to save filling up your screen with PDFs or asking you to confirm printing for each person.
Tabs on the Home Page
Settings
The Settings tab enables you to configure the options for creating PDF reports. Use the Insert Path button to enter the current path of Cascade or the Library folder for Macs, then Test the Path.
Windows computers have the option of a Default Sub Folder when saving the PDF files. Mac computers have a link for additional information to set up the folder permissions.
The reports for the Whole Team naturally print out in alphabetical order by name. This may be your preference, however, it is easier when handing out the reports if they are sorted by group or by table within your workshop. You can specify the order in the Team Grid, then set the Multiple Report Order to the Team Grid Order. This prints the reports in a more convenient order for distribution.
Note 1: The drop-down lists of names in the individual reports, the Insert Names in the team reports and the labels page follow the order set by the Multiple Reports Order.
Note 2: Changing the Sort Order will only take effect after visiting the Team Grid page.
If you need to contact us for support, there is a button to Show / Hide System Settings for your computer. We may ask you to copy and paste this information into an email so we can provide the right solution for you.
Modules
The Modules tab shows which modules are active for your Cascade product. You can upgrade Cascade with the Bonus Pack and the Go Large Module by applying a unique code. You can also see the new modules we are planning for the future.
The Help tab provides a list of resources and links to get help and support.
Theme Table
To ease navigation, there is now a button to jump from the Theme Table to the Team Grid. A prompt will appear if Cascade thinks that the Team Grid page needs refreshing. This is usually when the number of people in the Theme Table significantly increases or if the Sort buttons change the order of the names.
In addition, there are two main enhancements to the Theme Table. Watch the video
Set the Number of Dominant Themes
It is now possible to tailor the reports to show
Click on the button to View the Dominant Theme Count, which moves the page to the far right. Enter the number of Dominant themes for each person between 8 and 15. If the cell is left blank the reports will assume there are 10 Dominant themes. The View Themes button will get you back to the main part of the page.
Spot Duplicate Names
The other enhancement to the Theme Table helps you to manage your clients. Any duplicate names appear in red so they are easy to spot. You can then choose if you want to remove the duplication.
Team Grid
Be ready to see some big changes!
The first thing you may notice is the lighter shading within the grid. This provides a cleaner look and saves your printer toner.
Watch the video
For clarity and consistency, the tab is now called ‘Team Grid’ instead of ‘Team’.
Theme Selection
At the top of the screen there are options to show different numbers of themes in the Team Grid. Choose from Top 5, Top 10, Top 15, Top Dominant, All 34 or None. For each option, you can choose to include the Bottom 5 themes. The None option allows you to show a blank grid or just show the bottom 5 themes.
Where the number of Dominant Themes for a person is set in the Theme Table (from 8 to 15), the Team Grid will show this number of themes. If there is no Dominant value set, it will default to 10.
There are lots of combinations here. You can show the Top 5 with the Bottom 5, or just the Bottom 5.
Domain Descriptions
New to the Team Grid are the optional Domain Descriptions. There are two sets of text to suit your preference, which may depend on the order of the Domains.
Domain Descriptions – See Gallup’s descriptions for each of the D
Domain Contribution – See how each Domain contributes to the team in terms of the What, the Why, the Who and the How.
Show / Hide Menu
The other display options in the Show / Hide menu allow you to customise the page layout.
Theme Totals (Row 8) – Choose to hide the column totals for the themes. When selecting the display options for All 34 or the Botton 5 themes, the value for the Theme Totals goes blank. This is when you may want to hide the Theme Totals row.
Headings (Row 10) – Choose to hide the Heading row which removes a blank row at the top of the grid.
Columns E & F – Choose to show or hide the columns to the left of the names.
Client Names – You can anonymise the Team Grid by disguising the names.
Control Buttons
The image of the people sitting at a table has gone and you can insert your own or your customer’s logo. In addition, you can resize columns and rows to accommodate longer names.
Clear Filters – Removes any filtering of the clients after selecting and sorting the list of people.
Refresh Page – This is the Get out of Jail Free button to piece it back together if it all goes horribly wrong. You won’t lose any data, it sorts out the rows and columns then replaces over 100,000 pieces of formulae. In addition, it sets the number of rows for the grid according to the number of people in the Theme Table, plus the Spare Capacity value.
Adding your Logo
As there are so many buttons on this page, it is very easy to knock one and the screen quickly becomes a mess. For the sake of stability, the images are locked for the page. The exception is the Cascade logo where you can replace it with your own.
- Right click on the Cascade image.
- Select Change Picture, From a File…
- Browse your computer to find your logo image, click Insert.
- Move and resize your logo on the page.
Domain Order
What is the correct order for the Domains?
Cascade Order
Cascade displays the Domains in the order SIRE (Strategic Thinking, Influencing, Relationship Building and Executing) as this is often the way things happen within a team. It helps to demonstrate the connection and synergy between the D
Gallup Order
Gallup
To satisfy both camps, the Domain Order button allows you to switch the order of the D
Selecting and Sorting
Using the Filter options for each heading, you can select people by the information in columns A – G. You can sort the list by one or more columns.
You can also filter by Theme enabling you to select those with a certain theme. The Domain totals on the right provide the opportunity to filter and sort by Domain. This makes it easy to find anyone with Maximizer theme or people with the highest number of Strategic Thinking themes.
A combination of filtering and sorting opens up a huge range of possibilities when displaying people in the Team Grid.
When printing multiple reports, there is an option in the Settings to print the pages in the order of the names in the Team Grid. This can group the pages in a convenient order for easy distribution.
Blank Rows – Spare Capacity
You may notice only a few blank rows at the bottom of the Team Grid. Previously, it showed all 500 or 2000 rows, irrespective of the number of clients in the Theme Table. If you only had a few clients and were not careful when printing, you could find a 16 or
In the Settings part of the Home page, you can set the Spare Capacity. The number of blank rows which appear initially in the Team Grid.
As you add people to the Theme Table, the available capacity will diminish. Refreshing the Team Page will provide more blank rows according to the Spare Capacity setting. There is a check when leaving the Theme Table, which will prompt you if you need to refresh the Team page.
See a demonstration in the video
Printing
Following on from the Spare Capacity piece, it is now easier to print the Team Grid without several pages of blank grids.
Use the Print and PDF icon buttons to quickly create paper or PDF results of your Team Grid.
Report Pages
There is a fresher look with the reports as they now use lighter lines.
The Printer and PDF icons are a quick way to output the page to the printer or a PDF file. If the Print & PDF Preview is On at the Menu, Windows users will see the result before printing or after the PDF creation.
Printing on a Mac
On some Mac
If you want a one-click button on your Mac, you can add a Print function to the Quick Access bar right at the top of the screen.
- Click on the drop-down icon to the right of the Quick Access (green) bar.
- Select Print and the printer icon will appear in the green bar.
- Simply click on the printer icon to print the current page.
The Menu navigation button takes you back to the Menu without needing to use the tabs at the bottom of the page.
The Help icon takes you to the relevant help page on our website.
Team Reports
The Frequency, Spark Chart, Team Summary reports and the Word Cloud text show the theme information for the people in the Team Grid. The reports also reflect the number of themes visible in the Team Grid, either Top 5, 10, 15 or Dominant themes. To keep the information relevant, when the Team Grid is set to All 34 themes it drops the selection down to the Top 15 themes. It also removes the selection for the Bottom 5 themes.
For clarity, the team reports take their headings from the Menu screen. There is a central place to enter the workshop title or team name, which appears
Individual Reports
The Drop-Down list of Names no longer has lots of white space at the bottom. This makes scrolling through large and small lists easier.
After selecting a name, you can see the number of themes they have in the Theme Table. It also shows the number of Dominant Themes for the person if the information is available.
The Display Themes button rotates through Top 5, Top 10, Top 15 and Top Dominant themes. As most reports contain 5 themes per page, the report automatically adjusts to the correct number of pages.
The value for the Dominant Themes is entered in the Theme Table, ranging from 8 to 15. For example, if someone considers their top 12 as their Dominant themes, you can print out reports for their top 12 themes.
Personal Insights
A new feature for the Personal Insights report is the addition of the Metaphors and Barrier Labels for each theme. As space is at a premium, there is a choice to show either the Metaphors and Barrier Labels or the Theme Comparisons. Click on the button to toggle between the two options.
The Theme Descriptions are the revised versions released by Gallup in October 2018.
Theme Advantage
The Theme Advantage page could previously only support models or theories with four parts. Now it can support four or five part models. In time, we plan to add more topics.
My 34 Report
There is a slight tweak to the headings for the Lesser Themes.
The heading for the Lesser Themes for the Being and Doing option has a softer “I may not appear to be”. Previously it said “Don’t expect me to be” which clashed with some of the affirmative statements.
Name Tent
Lots of big changes here!
Hearing your comments we have four main layouts for the Desk Name Tents. Watch the video
- Top 5 – One list. As before with one list of the Top 5 themes.
- Top 10 – Two lists. New! One list with themes 1-5 and another list with themes 6-10.
- Top 5 – One Row. New! A horizontal row of the Top 5 themes.
- Top 10 – Two Rows. New! One row with themes 1-5 and a second row with themes 6-10.
For each layout, there are options to choose.
Paper Size – A4 or Letter
Orientation – Portrait for 3 fold tents with a base or Landscape for 1 fold tents as an upside down V.
Name Format – Full Name or just the First Name
Theme Colour – Domain Colours or All Black text
Bold Themes – Emphasise the Top 5, all Top 10 or No themes
In addition, you can choose to show the Domain Pie Chart for each person on their tent. Depending on the design layout, you may need to position the image to the best location.
There is an option to add some text on each Tent, either your strap line or the name of the workshop.
Also, for the 3 fold Tents (Layouts 1 & 2), the copyright information and your registration details are out of the way on the base.
Thank You
Thank you for reading this far. As you can see, there is a lot here and you will soon be running around Cascade with the new Menu. We have included as many suggestions as possible and will continue to enhance Cascade in the future.
Thank you to the Testing Team who provided valuable feedback in checking anything we overlooked. Together we can enhance the Strengths Community.