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What’s New in Release 22

Productivity & Collaboration

Expanded integrations with

Mail, Contacts, and Calendars

M&A Tools release 22 adds key email integrations, for complete, email-driven solutions:

  • Automatically receive comments posted to your projects or activities
  • Send email messages directly into any M&A Tools Project etc.
  • Emails are automatically posted as new comments on the Project message board etc.
  • Drag existing emails from Outlook onto a Project message board
  • Grab email shortcuts for any project or actionable data item
  • Add a CC to your project message boards in any email message
  • Receive and respond to comments via Outlook, Gmail, etc., without logging into M&A Tools
  • Send and receive email attachments, and view or access in-line in message boards

M&A Tools release 22 adds more handy integrations with your contacts, mail, and calendars: 

  • Drag-and-drop contacts right into M&A Tools from Outlook, Active Directory, etc.
  • Attach contacts to Deals, Projects, and Project Teams
  • Administrators: Turn any Contact into a true User Account in two clicks – no double entry
M&A Tools Mail Contact

Ultra-flexible new

Review / Approval Workflows

M&A Tools release 21/22 introduces a flexible universal framework for approvals and other workflows.

All review stages, however different they may appear to the end user, are now defined and administered consistently, via the same control center, with the same interface, features / options, and conventions:

  • Automatically direct actions by dispersed colleagues and roles
  • Direct the sequence of reviews, approvals, and other required actions
  • Alert targeted users to whatever action is now needed
  • Alert targeted users to whatever action was just taken
  • Automated dashboards of progress & required actions
  • Ready out of the box, yet easily and fully customizable
  • For deals / projects, teams, decisions, diligence, issues/risks, documents, dependencies, financial impacts, requests, TSASs, etc. etc.

Release 21/22 benefits include:

  • Allows every workflow to leverage any feature / benefit of any other workflow
  • Greatly expands flexibility of all work flows
  • Simplifies creating or editing work flows
  • Slash learning curve, since learnings apply to any work flows
  • Removes dependence on EKNOW administrator for changes
  • Greater autonomy for consulting teams supporting clients
  • Slash cycle time for process changes…
  • Whether by EKNOW, client, or consultant administrator
  • Allows learnings re-use from one process to another

For consulting partner teams in particular, as well as select key / super-admin client users, the accessibility of the Review Stage admin tool will be liberating.

As always, you may continue to let your EKNOW support team revise or update your processes for you (at no cost). In that case the only changes will be faster turn-around and greater flexibility.

M&A Tools Pending Approval dashboard

Indispensable new

Plan Readiness module

For large integration efforts, release 22 adds EKNOW’s game-changing Plan Readiness module.

This new Readiness module is the culmination of over 20 years of experience supporting large, complex integrations:

  • Coordinate dozens or hundreds of functions efficiently
  • Coordinate parallel activities in lock-step
  • Develop plans via clear, structured processes
  • Accelerate and measure functional team readiness
  • Seamless hand-off from planning to execution
  • Add value to all other M&A Tools modules
  • Easily customized to the consultant or client method
  • Can be quickly re-branded, re-labeled, etc.

The Readiness module is not simply a tool – it’s a flexible, integrated suite of tools and options. Features include…

  • Tools for team creation, guidance, oversight
  • Templates for charters, key data collection, gap analysis
  • Plan development, automated metrics, QC review
  • Real-time views: Heat map, timeline, gantt, calendar, roll-up, more
  • Work flows: Reviews, approvals, reporting, more
  • Reports: Project-level, by team, KPI dashboard
  • Seamless integration with team status reporting, work plan, & other modules

EKNOW or the consultant partner can easily enable and tailor these options to each project, and to the consultant’s or client’s methodology. The readiness module can even be re-branded in seconds, to match familiar terminology.

M&A Tools New Plan Readiness

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