Interoperability with Microsoft® Excel
and Causal Loop Diagrams lead new features list

Lebanon, NH, January 10, 2006 - isee systems, the world leader in Systems Thinking software, announced version 9 releases of STELLA® and iThink®. Major feature additions include dynamic links to Microsoft® Excel and presenting models as Causal Loop Diagrams. Current and new users will also appreciate usability and productivity enhancements that make the software even easier to use.

Dynamic links with Microsoft Excel, provide constant access to data that reside in worksheets or other applications that can use Excel as a bridge to iThink and STELLA. Causal Loop Diagrams are widely used in system dynamics to simplify model explanation by focusing on dominant feedback loops or selected causal connections. Unlike typical Causal Loop Diagrams, those in Version 9 retain underlying model elements (stocks and flows) so that the diagrams can be used to create or modify models.

Version 9 development included a very productive beta test period. “We’ve gotten great help and feedback from beta testers. In fact, Version 9 models are already being used for real work,” explained Joanne Egner, Managing Director of isee systems.

Apogee Informatics is using iThink 9.0 in its health care consulting practice. “Using the latest beta version, we’ve created a persistent link between Microsoft Excel data and iThink so that our models always use the most current information. It’s been especially helpful with our emergency room model which looks for predictability in a very complex, rapidly changing system,” reported Apogee President Dr. David Klubert.

John Morecroft , Adjunct Associate Professor of Decision Science at London Business School tested Version 9’s Causal Loop Diagram capabilities. “Feedback loops — causes and effects — show you why a business or social system isn’t performing. They are very hard to see outside of a diagram. Version 9’s hybrid approach to Causal Loop Diagrams; where the story or diagram of a system is related to the system’s model, is extremely useful. Users can move from a model to a diagram and back again as they learn and build their model.”

Other new Version 9 features include:

Models saved for use with earlier versions — Version 9 models can be saved as Version 7 models making it easier to share work and results with other users

Expanded image format options (for creating and importing image files) — Image files can be created or imported in the following formats: PICT (*.PCT), GIF (*.GIF), Bitmap (*.BMP), TIFF (*.TIF), Jpeg (*.JPG), or PNG (*.PNG).

Additional built-in functions — A new Statistical function (LOGNORMAL) and five new Array functions (ARRAYMIN, ARRAYMAX, ARRAYMINIDX, ARRAYMAX_IDX, and ARRAYVALUE) have been added to the list of available built-in functions.

Drag and drop capabilities — New drag and drop capabilities simplify graph and table creation/updates and the addition of pictures to model presentations.

User interface improvements — The user interface has been updated and reorganized to make STELLA and iThink even easier to use. Changes include updated toolbar icons, tabbed access to model layers, larger, repositionable dialog boxes, and right-click menus.

About isee systems (www.iseesystems.com) — isee (formerly High Performance Systems) is the world leader in Systems Thinking software. Founded in 1985, isee developed STELLA®, the first software to bring Systems Thinking to the desktop. In addition to STELLA which is used primarily by educators and researchers, isee offers iThink® for business simulation. isee is a privately-held company with substantial global reach in business, education, and government markets.