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A Tool For Emergency
Exercise/Drill development

What’s New in Exercise Builder© Version 7.1

Exercise Builder has undergone several enhancements and improvements since the 2008 release. The most recently version, Exercise Builder Version 7.1, was released January 21, 2011. This release updates two functions:

  • Makes Exercise Builder compatible with the Windows 7® (64 bit) operating system-it is now comparable with Windows XP® SP3 (32 bit), Vista® (32 bit), and Windows 7® (32 and 64 bit) operating systems.
  • Fixes a bug in the Search and Replace function. The Search and Replace function in version 7 was not refresh the screen after it had executed and this presented the possibility of a user saving old information over the top of the information they just replaced.

What’s New in Exercise Builder© Version 7

Exercise Builder has undergone several enhancements and improvements since the 2008 release. Most recently, Exercise Builder Version 7 released May 3, 2010, updates include:

  • Exercise Builder has a new name: Version 7! The application is in its seventh year of production, and all future releases will be assigned version numbers instead of release dates, effective May 2010.
  • Version 7 is compatible with the Windows XP SP3, Vista, and Windows 7 operating systems.
  • The DOE G 151.1-3, Chapter 4 – Readiness Assurance, Appendix D, Evaluation Criteria reference(s) for each exercise objective, are now listed on the Step 4, Objectives Worksheet and the Objective Editor.
  • Response steps can now be updated on all screens with just one entry in the Objective Editor, Objective Worksheet, or MSEL.

What was new in Exercise Builder 2009 Version 2 released August 3, 2009

Exercise Builder 2009 Version 2 was released on August 3, 2009. The primary purpose for this release was to make Exercise Builder compatible with the Windows Vista® operating system. Additionally, problems with the Exercise Builder 2009 version released May 4, 2009 were fixed. Exercise Builder 2009 Version 2 allows the user to install Exercise Builder on computers with the Windows Vista® operating system. It also allows for exporting/importing of exercise files to and from XP and Vista computers.

Other improvements and/or fixes included in Exercise Builder 2009 Version 2.

  • Added Exercise Control and Evaluation objectives, response steps and exercise evaluation guide (EEG).
  • Fixed a problem with not being able to delete evaluation checklist items ("did they" questions) in an EEG.
  • Fixed a problem with county, city, tribal and state participants IDs not updating correctly after being modified.

These improvements are in addition to the improvements made to Exercise Builder 2008 for the Exercise Builder 2009 version, released May 4, 2009.

What was new in Exercise Builder 2009 version released May 1, 2009

Added the HSEEP Translator Report

The most significant change from Exercise Builder 2008 to Exercise Builder 2009 is the addition of the HSEEP Translator Reports. The reports are designed to provide municipalities participating in DOE exercises the ability to document their participation in accordance with the Homeland Security Exercise Evaluation Program (HSEEP). This is accomplished by analyzing the DOE exercise objectives and response steps and assigning a corresponding HSEEP Target Capability as if they were activities and tasks in the HSEEP methodology.

Other modifications to Exercise Builder 2008 for the 2009 version

  • Modified Step 13.3 - Print the Exercise Plan (EXPLAN) allows the user to generate and save all parts the EXPLAN into one Rich Text Format (RTF) file. Prior to generating the file, the user can reorder the EXPLAN sections/documents as they will appear in the generated document.
  • Modified Step 12.0 - Security, Safety and Logistic Plans to allow the user to use their own site specific Security, Safety or Logistic Plans when using Exercise Builder.
  • Added screen # of # on each screen so the user will know where they are in relation to the total number of screens in the Step.

  • Added to the Objective Editor:
    • The ability to delete custom objectives and automatically reorder the sequentially numbered remaining objectives.
    • Added to the Objective Editor, the ability to Search and Replace specific objective text globally or the objective text for a single participant.

(You get to the Objective Editor by clicking on the Edit drop-down menu, Objectives, Edit Statements command.)