OKRs
- Purpose
- Set Objectives, measure them with Key Results and see progress roll up through the tree.
- Who is this for
- Everyone
- Prerequisites
- None. A root Objective must be linked to at least one Program, Project, Staff member or Team.
- Permissions
- View access to OKRs on a linked record to see an Objective, and manage access to change it.
OKRs connect the goals you set (Objectives) to the measurable results that show whether you are getting there (Key Results). Everything lives on one OKR page, as a tree you can expand, filter and export. Your workspace may use different names for Objective and Key Result.
How it works
An Objective is a goal. A Key Result is a measurable outcome that belongs to exactly one Objective.
- Objectives can sit inside other Objectives, up to 10 levels deep. An Objective with no parent is a root.
- Key Results are always at the end of a branch. A Key Result cannot contain another Key Result.
- Every Key Result has one parent Objective, which you can change later.
- An Objective's Affects field links it to the Programs, Projects, Staff and Teams its goal drives. A root Objective must have at least one.
Both types share these fields: Name, Status, Assignee, Due date, Category, Progress and Description. Progress is calculated for Objectives and for most Key Results (see below). Key Results add Progress type, Base, Current, Target, Unit and Unit position.
How progress is calculated
Choose a Progress type on each Key Result. It is required.
| Progress type | What you enter | How Progress is worked out |
|---|---|---|
| Metric | Base, Current and Target numbers, and optionally a Unit and whether it goes before or after the number | (Current minus Base) divided by (Target minus Base), as a percentage. It can go above 100% and never below 0%. Goals that go down work too, because Target can be lower than Base. |
| Percentage | A whole number from 0 to 100 | The number you type. This is the only type where you edit Progress directly. |
| Done / Not done | A checkbox in the Progress field that reads Done or Not done | 100% when ticked (Done), 0% when not (Not done). |
An Objective's Progress is the average of its direct children, which can be Key Results and child Objectives. Each child counts for at most 100%, so one Key Result that overshoots cannot hide a laggard. An Objective with no children shows 0%.
The average only includes children you can see, so two people may see different figures for the same Objective.
Progress shows as a coloured bar. The colours come from three bands that your admin sets (see Set thresholds). By default, 0 to 33% is red, 34 to 66% is amber and 67% and over is green. A bar over 100% keeps the top colour and stops filling at 100%.
Hover any Progress value to see where it came from: the progress type and its numbers for a Key Result, or each child's value for an Objective.
Edit Key Results
A Key Result's cells depend on its Progress type, so some cells are locked.
| Progress type | Locked cells | What you edit |
|---|---|---|
| Metric | Progress, which keeps its bar | Base, Current, Target, Unit and Unit position. |
| Percentage | Base, Current, Target, Unit and Unit position, shown as a dash | Progress, as a number from 0 to 100. |
| Done / Not done | The same five cells, shown as a dash | Progress, with the Done / Not done checkbox. |
- Double-click a locked cell to see why it is locked, for example "Not used while Progress type is Percentage. Switch Progress type to Metric to change it."
- To unlock the cell, change the Key Result's Progress type.
- For a Done / Not done Key Result, double-click the Progress cell, then click the checkbox. Done saves 100%, Not done saves 0%.
The reason appears when you try to edit, not when you hover. Hovering a Progress value still shows where it came from. Values in the dashed cells are kept, so they return when you switch back to Metric.
Browse the tree
Click OKR in the left menu. Root Objectives are the top rows. Click a chevron to open an Objective and see its child Objectives and Key Results, indented beneath it. A button near the search box expands or collapses everything.
Click anywhere on a row to open its record panel. Right-click a row, or use its Row actions button, for the row menu. See The record panel.
Use Customise to change what the page shows:
- Under Show, choose All, Objectives only or Key Results only. Objectives only hides Key Results but keeps the nesting. Key Results only gives a flat list.
- Under Columns, show, hide and reorder columns. Name is always visible and cannot be deleted, but you can move it. A new tab also shows an ID column right after Name.
- Each column takes its value from one field on Objectives and one on Key Results, because the tree mixes two record types. Click the gear on a column to choose which, or Add column to build a new one.
- Leave a type unmapped and its cells stay blank.
Show as a board
- Click Customise.
- Under Visualisation, choose Kanban board.
- Under Show level, choose Objective or Key Result. A board shows one level at a time, with one column per Status.
- Optional: Choose a Group by field for swimlanes.
- Optional: Choose which Columns to show and how to Sort cards by.
- Optional: Under Card fields, add up to 6 fields to show on each card.
- Optional: Use Show before hover to show only some of those fields until you rest the pointer on a card.
To go back to the tree, choose List under Visualisation. Drag a card to another column to change its status. Each column has an Add button at the foot that creates a record with that status already set.
The choice of list or board belongs to the tab, like its filters and columns. Card fields and Show before hover are kept per level, so Objectives and Key Results each have their own. See Customise your table view.
The page also has quick search, Filter, tabs and Download (CSV, Excel and PowerPoint). The page ships with one fixed All tab, and you can add your own tabs. See Filter, sort and group and Create and manage tabs.
Add an OKR
- Click Add in the toolbar and choose Objective or Key Result.
- Enter a Name.
- Optional: For an Objective, choose a parent Objective. Leave it empty to create a root Objective.
- Fill in the rest of the dialog. A root Objective needs what it Affects. A Key Result needs its parent Objective and a Progress type, then the measurement fields that type asks for.
- Click Add. The new row appears in the tree.
You can also add from an Objective's row menu: Add Key Result and Add sub-Objective create a child directly under it.
Move an OKR
To move an Objective under another Objective:
- Open the Objective's record panel and go to the Links tab.
- Click Add link and choose Replace parent. If the Objective has no parent, the entry reads Set parent.
- In the Set parent picker, choose the new parent Objective. The change saves at once and a toast says Parent set to the new name, with Undo.
The picker offers Objectives only. It leaves out the Objective itself and everything beneath it, so you cannot create a loop, and it stops you going past 10 levels.
To make an Objective a root again, click Remove parent on its Parent row. Only Objectives have this option, because their parent is optional.
To move a Key Result, open the Key Result's record panel and change its parent. You can also open the new Objective's Links tab, click Add link, choose Key Results and pick the Key Result. A Key Result has no Links tab of its own.
Manage Key Results
Open an Objective. Its panel has the tabs Overview, Details (where Affects lives), Knowledge and Links.
The Links tab lists the Objective's direct Key Results under Key Results. Each row shows the name, due date, status, assignee and priority, and you can change those in place. Click a row to open the Key Result. The Parent group shows the parent Objective, or No parent for a root. Child Objectives do not appear in this list. They have their own panels.
The Links tab only attaches a Key Result that already exists. To create one, use Add on the OKR page or Add Key Result in the Objective's row menu. For how the tab works, see Link records.
See OKRs from records
- Open the Program, Project, Staff member or Team and go to its OKRs tab. It lists the Objectives whose Affects field names the record, each expandable to its Key Results.
- Optional: Click Add and choose Objective (already linked to this record) or Key Result.
Sorting reorders siblings and keeps each child under its parent.
Delete an Objective
- Right-click the Objective's row, or click its Row actions button.
- Choose Delete. A confirmation dialog opens.
- Confirm. The Objective and everything beneath it go.
Set thresholds (admins)
One scale colours the Progress bars of every Objective and Key Result. Only admins see the card.
- Go to Administration → Entity & fields and open Objective.
- Find the Progress thresholds card and click the pencil (Edit).
- For the second and third bands, enter a whole number from 0 to 100 in From. The first band always Starts at 0.
- Optional: Choose a colour for each band.
- Click Save settings.
Each value must be higher than the one before it. Click Reset to 0 / 34 / 67 to return to the defaults.
Good to know
- Only Objectives nest. Key Results never do.
- Very large trees load branch by branch as you expand them.
- Objectives and Key Results each have a Comments icon in their record panel. See Comment on a record.
- An admin can switch OKR off, or switch it off for one type of record, on Administration → Features. That record type then loses its OKRs tab. See Turn features on or off.