OKR module is a collaborative goal-setting tool that your teams or individual users can use to set challenging goals with measurable results.
Using the PPM Express OKR module, you can set objectives for the whole organization or a specific department or business unit. When the objectives are set, you can track how projects contribute to these objectives, track progress, create alignment, and encourage engagement around measurable goals. There can be multiple key results for a single objective and aggregated execution is measured and displayed by PPM Express.
Creating Objectives
To start creating Objectives, open the OKR module page and click the Create Objective button.
In the Create Objective window, provide your objective's name, description, start and finish dates.
Select the scope, if this Objective is for the whole organization or a specific department.
There are several Value Types available:
- Number
- Percent
- Money
- Flag (Yes/No)
Objective Progress can be set manually or calculated automatically.
There are several Calculation types available for the Objective Progress. Calculation type defines the method of the Objective progress calculation.
Manual - progress is entered manually.
Calculated - progress (%) is calculated based on the following formulas that depend on the Start and Target Values, and the Objective Direction:
- If Objective Direction is set to “Growth” or “Reduction”: (Current Value - Start Value) / (Target Value - Start Value) * 100;
- If Objective Direction is set to “Above Threshold”: Current Value >= Target Value = 100%, Current Value < Target Value = 0%;
- If Objective Direction is set to “Below Threshold”: Current Value <= Target Value = 100%, Current Value > Target Value = 0%;
- If Flag Value Type is selected, Progress is changed to 100% when Current Value is set to Yes.
Key Result Rollup - progress is calculated as arithmetic mean based on the Progress of the first-level Key Results and Sub-Objectives progress.
If the Key Result Rollup calculation type is selected, the Progress and the Current Value fields will be disabled and calculated automatically.
If the Key Result Rollup calculation type is used, Current Value is automatically calculated based on the following formula: Current value = (Target Value - Start Value) * Progress / 100 + Start Value.
If the Key Result Rollup calculation type is used and Flag Value Type is selected, Current Value is changed to Yes when Progress is 100%.
Parent Objective is recalculated on each Key Result and Sub-Objective creation/deletion/edit. Only open and closed items are counted in the progress calculation.
If Parent Objective is closed or archived, all Sub-Objectives, Key Results will be closed/archived as well. It is not possible to re-open Sub-Objective or a Key Result only. You can re-open only the parent Objective, and its child items will be re-opened as well.
Also, set the value type. You can type in the start, target, and current values at once. Select the manager for the Objective, status, and tags if needed.
This information will be displayed on the Details section of the Objective dashboard as soon as the Objective is created.
Click the Create Objective button.
The Objective will appear on the Objectives page at once.
When the Objectives are added you can start adding the key results and sub-objectives.
Adding Key Results
You can add Key Results for your Objectives from the Objectives page directly by selecting the Objective and using the actions menu on top or by clicking on the ellipsis button next to the required Objective and selecting the New Key Result option.
Also, you can open the Objective dashboard by clicking on the required Objective, navigate to the Key Results section and click the New Key Result button.
Type in the name for your Key Result, select the value type, and provide the target, start, and current value.
The progress can be calculated automatically or manually (the same logic as for the Objectives). The direction value of the Key Results is also considered (Growth, Reduction, Above threshold, Below threshold). If the direction is set to Growth or Reduction, the following formula is applied: (Current Value - Start Value) / (Target Value - Start Value) * 100. PPM Express also checks the Start/Target values and shows warnings if there is data inconsistency. For example, if the Growth direction is selected, but the Start Value is higher than the Target one.
If the Above Threshold value is selected for direction, the Key Result progress will be 0 until the Current Value is the same as Target. As soon as the values are the same or the Current Value is higher, the progress is set to 100%.
If the Below Threshold value is selected for direction, the Key Result progress will be set to 100% when the Target is achieved, or the Current Value is less than the Target.
Click the Create Key Result button.
When the Key Results are added, they become available in the Key Results section of the Objective.
You can review the Key Results of the Objective from the Objectives page by expanding the list of all Key Results and Sub-Objectives.
Three states are available for the Key Result: Open, Closed, and Archived. Archived Key Results are not taken into account for the calculation of the Objective Progress.
Key Results can be cloned. If you clone a closed Key Result, its copy will always be created in the opened state.
Please note: If the Key Result is cloned, Contributing Projects will not be copied to a cloned Key Result. Current Value will be set to the same value as Start Value.
Also, you can move the selected Key Result to another Objective.
Also, when the Key Results are added, they become available for selection in the OKR project section of all projects.
Users can add the OKR section to their projects and add Key Results to the project. All Key Results for the open Objectives are available in the Key Result list of the Select Key Result window. You can search them by name or by scope.
When the Key Result is selected, click Confirm.
Provide the information as required and click Add Key Result.
Project Target is how this project can help achieve the Objective. Current Value is how the project has contributed to this Key Result for now.
When the Key Results are added to the OKR project section, these projects become contributing projects of the Key Result and, thus Objective. To review the list of all contributing projects for the Key Result, open the Key Result for editing and scroll down.
Contributed Value field of the Key Result is filled in automatically, taking into account the total Current Value of all projects where the Key Result is added.
Please note: The Current Value and Contributed Value can be different as the projects are not the only source of contribution to the Key Result and Objective as a whole. Current Value is set manually by the manager of the Objective.
You can also review all contributing projects in the Contributed By section of the Objective dashboard.
Please note: If the Key Result is deleted, it will be deleted from the contributing projects as well and the progress of the Objective will be recalculated.
Adding Sub-Objectives
You can add Sub-Objectives for your Objectives from the Objectives page directly by selecting the Objective and using the actions menu on top or by opening the Objective menu and clicking on the ellipsis button next to the required Objective.
Also, you can open the Objective dashboard by clicking on the required Objective, navigate to the Sub-Objectives section, and click the New Sub-Objective button.
Provide the name for your Sub-Objective, description, scope, start and finish dates, calculation type, value type, start, target, and current value, etc. click the Create Objective button.
When the Sub-Objectives are added they become available on the Sub-Objectives section of the Objective.
You can review the Sub-Objectives of the Objective from the Objectives page by expanding the list of all Key Results and Sub-Objectives.
Sub-Objectives can be added/closed/deleted/cloned from this page directly by clicking on the ellipsis button next to the required item.
Also, you can move the Sub-Objective to another Objective or to the Top Level (the Sub-Objective will become an Objective in this case). The Objective where you move Sub-Objectives should be open.
Three states are available for the Sub-Objectives: Open, Closed, and Archived. Archived Sub-Objectives are not taken into account for the calculation of the Objective Progress.
If you click on the Sub-Objective, the Sub-Objective dashboard will be opened. It has the same sections as the Objective where you can add the details, key results, review contributing projects, add sub-objectives.
Please note: Users can review, create, delete and manage the Objectives according to their license and Manage Objectives permission:
Manage Objectives/Collaborate on Objectives: Users with User licenses who have Manage Objectives rights can create, edit, and delete all Objectives on the page and manage them.
Collaborate on Objectives: The following actions are available for Users with the 'Collaborate on Objectives' permission for Objectives they own: view all Objectives, create/edit Objectives, create/import Sub-Objectives, create/import Key Results, clone, move Sub-Objective to another Objective, close, archive, delete Objective.
The following actions are available for Users with the 'Collaborate on Objectives' permission for Objectives they don't own: view all Objectives, create/import Sub-Objectives, and clone the Objective.
Users with Team member licenses who have the 'View Objectives' permission can:
- review all information on the Objectives page but cannot edit, delete, close, or re-open the Objectives.
- review the Key Results project section if these Team members have View permission for the project. But cannot edit, delete, or manage the information within the Key Results project section.
Auto calculation of Key Results and Objectives statuses
The statuses of the Objectives, Key Results, and Sub-Objectives can be calculated automatically when the item is closed.
While the items are active, the manager can set the status as required manually. When the item is closed, the status can be calculated automatically and closed in the auto-calculated status so the manager could review what status the closed items have.
To enable auto-calculation of statuses perform the following:
1. Click on the gear button in the right top corner and select the Insights setting.
2. Scroll down to the Objectives and Key Results Statuses and enable the Calculate statuses automatically option.
Change the values in the Progress/Status Impact section if needed. The statuses will be calculated automatically according to these settings when closed.
Statuses within each status category can be customized: you can add new statuses, change the default one, change the color, etc. For more details, please refer to the 'How to customize statuses' article.