Set Up Your Execution System in 30 Minutes: A Practical Guide

What You'll Have in 30 Minutes

By the end of this guide, your DCE account will be live with:

• Your Strategy & Execution Plan imported and structured
• A scorecard with KPIs, owners, and targets
• Your leadership team invited and assigned to accountability seats
• AI meeting prep queued for your next scheduled meeting

No consultant required. No multi-week implementation. Just sign up and follow these steps.

Before You Start

Gather these (you probably already have them somewhere):

• Your strategy document — V/TO, strategic plan, or whatever you call the document that has your core values, purpose, and annual/quarterly priorities. A Google Doc, Word file, or even a Ninety.io export works.
• Your scorecard — The weekly KPIs your leadership team tracks. A spreadsheet, a Ninety.io export, or even a list on paper.
• Your team list — Names and email addresses for your leadership team members (typically 4-10 people).

If you're switching from Ninety.io or Bloom, export your data as CSV first. DCE's Setup Assistant can import it directly.

Step 1: Sign Up (2 minutes)

Go to betterexecute.ai and create your account. Free trial — no credit card required.

Choose your framework preference during onboarding:

• EOS / Traction — Pre-configured with V/TO structure, L10 meeting format, Rocks, IDS
• Scaling Up — One-Page Strategic Plan sections, Meeting Rhythm, Priorities
• OKRs — Objectives and Key Results structure with quarterly cycles
• Custom — Build your own structure using DCE's 13-section Strategy Plan template

Your choice here determines default labels and templates. You can customise everything later.

Step 2: Import Your Strategy (10 minutes)

This is the core setup step. You have three options:

Option A: Import from Ninety.io / Bloom (fastest)

1. Export your V/TO and scorecard data as CSV from your current tool
2. In DCE, go to Settings → Import
3. Upload the CSV files
4. The Setup Assistant maps your data to DCE's 13-section Strategy Plan
5. Review the mapping, make any corrections, and confirm

Option B: Paste from an existing document

1. Open your existing strategy doc (Google Doc, Word, PDF)
2. In DCE, open the Strategy & Execution Plan
3. For each section (Core Values, Purpose, 5-Year Direction, etc.), paste your existing content
4. The Setup Assistant formats and structures it automatically

Option C: Build from scratch with the Setup Assistant

1. Open the Strategy & Execution Plan
2. The Setup Assistant walks you through each of the 13 sections with prompts and examples
3. Fill in what you know. Leave gaps — you can complete them later as a team or with consulting help

Pro tip: Don't try to perfect every section now. Get the basics in — core values, purpose, annual priorities, quarterly commitments — and refine over the coming weeks. The system is designed to evolve, not to be perfect on day one.

Step 3: Set Up Your Scorecard (5 minutes)

Go to the Scorecard page and add your weekly KPIs:

• Name — What the measurable is (e.g., "Weekly Revenue", "Support Tickets Closed", "Pipeline Value")
• Owner — Who is accountable for this number
• Target — The weekly goal
• Frequency — How often it's measured (weekly is default for L10-style meetings)

If you imported from Ninety.io, your scorecard measurables are already populated. Review them, adjust targets if needed, and you're done.

Start with 5-15 measurables. You can always add more. The goal is to have a working scorecard for your first meeting — not a perfect one.

Step 4: Invite Your Team (5 minutes)

1. Go to Settings → Organisation
2. Add team members by email
3. Assign each person to their seat on the Accountability Chart
4. Assign scorecard ownership (which KPIs each person owns)

Team members receive an email invitation with a link to set up their account. They'll be able to see the strategy, their scorecard metrics, their to-dos, and meeting prep immediately.

Step 5: Schedule Your First Meeting (3 minutes)

1. Go to Meetings → Meeting Templates
2. Select your meeting type (Weekly L10, Weekly Sync, or Custom)
3. Set the day and time
4. DCE will generate an AI meeting prep document before each scheduled meeting

What Happens Next

Before your next scheduled meeting, the Data Canvas produces your first AI-drafted prep document:

• Scorecard summary — Current values, variances, and trends for each KPI
• Project status — Milestones due this week, overdue items, and completion percentages
• Open topics — Issues and discussion items carried over or newly added
• Recommended focus — Based on data patterns, the AI suggests what deserves the most attention

Walk into the meeting with this prep already distributed to the team. Start at decisions, not at status updates.

After the first meeting

The system gets better each week:

• Action items captured during the meeting are tracked automatically
• The Execution Advisor learns your patterns and produces better prep
• Scorecard trends become visible after 3-4 weeks of data
• Strategy integrity checks identify misalignment between projects and priorities

When you're ready for deeper optimisation

DCE surfaces gaps automatically — missing scorecard targets, stalled projects, misaligned priorities. When you want expert help interpreting those signals and tightening your system, our consulting team offers:

• DCE Diagnostic — A structured assessment of your execution gaps with specific recommendations
• Guided Implementation — Hands-on strategy build, scorecard design, and meeting cadence setup
• Ongoing Coaching — Monthly sessions to keep the system evolving

But start with the product. The best way to learn what you need is to run the system for a few weeks and see what the data tells you.

Ready? Sign up free at betterexecute.ai — running in 30 minutes.