Customizing Goal Settings

Save time with math calculations, auto-status, and more.

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Variance Calculation

 

Don't worry about making mental math mistakes subtracting to get the Variance each week. Rhythm can automatically calculate the Variance for you when you enter numbers for Projected and Actual.

Setting it up is simple; edit your KPI and select an option under Variance Calculation.

You have 2 options:

• Projected - Actual: Use this if you want Rhythm to subtract the Actual values from the Projected Values. This is the setting to pick if you want the Variance to be positive if you are behind your Projection for the week. (For example, if you projected 2 blog posts and only wrote 1, the Variance would be 1.)
• Actual - Projected: Use this if you want Rhythm to subtract the Projected values from the Actual values. This is the setting to pick if you want the Variance to be negative if you are behind your Projection for the week. (For example, if you projected 2 blog posts and only wrote 1, the Variance would be -1.)

Rollup Calculation

 

Stop hunting for numbers from the team and crunching them yourself. Let Rhythm do the math for you on goals that roll up. This setting is useful if you need to calculate the Sum or Average for linked Child Goals.

To turn on calculations, change the Rollup Calculation setting to one of these options:

• Sum: Gives the total of the Projected, Actual, and Variance from linked Child Goals.
• Average: Gives the average of the Projected, Actual, and Variance from linked Child Goals.

Once you've changed the setting, be sure to link the Child Goals so Rhythm can do the math for you.

Helpful Tips:

Your data is only as good as the data entered in Child Goals, so as the owner of the Parent KPI or Priority, you should establish clear standards for how the data should be collected and recorded and communicate those standards to the owners of the Child Goals:

• • Make sure you are all measuring the same way.
  • Agree on a quarterly, monthly, or weekly time horizon.
  • Decide on a deadline for updating the status of Child Goals so all the data is ready when you update the Parent Goal.
  • You cannot roll up a goal with a Status Frequency that is less often than the Status Frequency of the parent goal (for example, you can't add two monthly KPIs up to a weekly KPI).

Automatically Update Status Color

 

This setting is only applicable for goals that you status based on the Actual number each week. If you are basing your status on a forecast of how you will finish the month or the quarter, you'll need to continue updating the status manually, using your human intelligence to make the right forecast.

If you do have a KPI or Priority that you status based on the Actual number each week, this feature can save you a lot of time.

Here's how to set it up:

• Ensure that you don't have any text in your Red-Yellow-Green success criteria; use numbers only. You may have to change how you word your goal name or description so that your goal will still be specific and clear. For example, you might have to change the KPI name from "# of calls" to "# of calls per week" to clarify what you are measuring.
• Change the "Auto Status Color Setting" from No Calculation (Manual Entry) to one of the following options:
  • Greater Than/Equal To Success Criteria: Use this setting if you are trying to increase the number. For example, "# of sales calls" is something we want more of, so we'd choose this option.
  • Less Than/Equal To Success Criteria: Use this if you are trying to decrease the number. For example "# of customer complaints" is a number we'd like to see go down, not up.

When you are updating your KPIs each week, all you'll have to do is put in your Actual number. Rhythm will do the work of assigning a Status color based on your Red-Yellow-Green success criteria.

Projected/Actual/Variance Setting

Depending on how you enter your Projected, Actual, and Variance values for each Goal, ensure that you have selected the right setting so that your data shows up correctly in the status chart. You have 2 options under Projected/Actual/Variance Setting:

• • For A Single Week Only: Choose this option if you are entering the Actual value each week. Rhythm will add the weekly values up to get a monthly total for you in the Chart.
  • Cumulative (Running Total of Weeks): Choose this option if you are entering a cumulative value for the quarter in the Actual field each week. Rhythm will display the value for the last week of the month in the Chart since you've already done the math when you enter data each week.

Status Frequency

 

Choose how often you'd like to update the status of this goal:

• For Quarter Priorities and KPIs, we recommend updating the goals Weekly.
• You can use the Monthly option for results-based KPIs that only change monthly.
• We recommend updating Winning Moves and Annual Priorities Quarterly.

Percent Complete

 

Rhythm can automatically calculate the % complete for your goals by comparing the Actual number you enter to the number in the Green Criteria.

• If you have the goal set to "For a Single Week Only" Projected/Actual/Variance Setting, Rhythm will add up all the Actual values you have entered and calculate the percent based on the total of your entries.
• If you have the goal set to "Cumulative" Projected/Actual/Variance Setting, Rhythm will use the value for the week closest to the end of the quarter that has an Actual value to calculate the percent.
• If you aren't entering numbers but want to manually track the % complete of a goal, you can change the % Complete setting  to "Enter Manually" and drag the slider to indicate how close you are to your goal.
• The % Complete is tied to the success criteria for the goal, so if you are tracking the same KPI with different criteria for the quarter and the year, you can see the % complete for both sets of criteria.