Goals

A goal is a target with a period, measured by something the system already knows how to count. It does not introduce a new way of recording numbers — it points at an existing measurement and says this is the number we are aiming at, between these dates.

Where to find it

The list

Each row shows the goal's Name, its Progress — the number so far against the target, with the percentage, for example 6 / 8 (75%) — its Period — the first and last date of the period the number measures, as days in the space's time zone (with Monthly or Quarterly after it when the goal repeats), and its Binding — where the number comes from, shown as Saved-view count or Rollup custom field. A person who may manage goals also gets Edit and Recompute on each row.

What a goal is made of

New goal (or Edit goal, after Edit on a row) sits under the list. Its fields:

Save goal saves it; Cancel leaves an edit without saving. There is no delete button.

The two bindings

A goal measures one of two things, and both already exist elsewhere in the system:

• Saved-view count — how many work items a saved view returns inside the goal's period. Anything you can express as a view of work items, you can set a target on.
• Rollup custom field — the value of a rollup field on one work item. Give the Rollup field definition id and the Work item id.

Nothing else is invented: a goal rides the saved-view and rollup rails rather than defining a third way to measure.

Picking the view

A person who may read views picks it by name from Saved view — Pick a work-items view… lists the views of work items. Without that permission the form shows a Saved view id box instead, and says so.

The goal counts the view's rows whose date falls inside the period, so the view needs a date column. The form checks as soon as you pick one:

• with a date column it names the column the period applies to — The period applies to its "…" column.;
• without one it says so in red — This view has no date column, so the goal period cannot be applied to it. Add a date column to the view, or pick another view. — and Save goal stays greyed out.

The period always applies to the view's first date column. If that is not the date you mean, change the order of the view's columns in the view designer. Saving checks the view again and refuses one it cannot count, saying why above the form.

Who sees which number

Each person sees the number for the work items they may see. Somebody who can see every work item in the space sees the whole count; somebody who can see only their own items sees the count over those. The number never tells anyone about rows they could not open themselves.

Recomputing

The page works the number out again whenever it is more than a minute old, so opening the list gives you a fresh count. Recompute re-measures one goal now; Recompute all does the lot — useful right after you change the view or the rollup a goal reads.

If a goal's number cannot be worked out — its view was deleted, or its rollup holds no number — the row says why in red beside its last known progress, rather than showing a stale number as if it were fresh. Recompute on that row shows the same reason above the form.

Showing a goal on a dashboard

A goal is most useful where the team looks every day. Put a Goal widget on a dashboard: it shows the goal's name, its progress against the target with a bar, and its period. How to build it is under Goal on Dashboard widgets.

What a goal is not

A goal is single-level: it does not roll up through a hierarchy of sub-goals. One goal, one target, one period, one measurement.

Who can do this