Updating objective design

When people create a new objective, they first align the new objective to a defined pillar or plan, then enter further details. Below are screenshots of the objective creation process showing how the alignments are selected and then further details added.

All this can be designed and configured from the admin dashboard.

The configuration of the objectives modules falls into three categories -

When designing objectives, you first need to activate the objectives module and if necessary adjust the language used. To do this, go to the ‘settings’ menu item on the admin dashboard (1), then on the ‘modules’ tab (2), click on the Objectives ‘configure’ button (3).

The screen this brings up will allow you to configure the Objectives module.

You can activate the Objectives modules by clicking the status toggle so it turns blue (1). You can change the module name, for example you may want it to be called ‘Goals’ (2).

You can edit the objectives info pop-up (3) and the language used for the various text sections used in goal creation and update (4).

Scrolling down to the bottom of the page, you will see the ‘edit’ button (5) that allows you to activate or deactivate and to edit the email that is automatically sent when someone comments on one of your objective updates.

Once the general configuration for the objectives has been defined, you can set up the plan templates to allow extra input fields for objectives at set up, update and closing.

To do this, select ‘module manager’ from the menu on the left hand side of the admin dashboard (1), then click the ‘view’ button on the Plans/Objectives card (2).

This will bring up the ‘Plans/Objectives’ page. The plan templates are defined on the first tab.

The plan templates tab will show you a list of all templates already created. If you click on the green plus button to create a new template (1), or click on the three dots to the right of a template (2) then select ‘edit’ (3) to edit a template, you will get the ‘add/edit plan template’ page.

At the top of the ‘add/edit plan template’ page, there are buttons (4) that allow you to preview the template, save your changes or save changes then exit the screen. The ‘settings’ tab (5) allows you to give the template a name and description. If you scroll down to the bottom, you will see a red ‘delete’ button that allows you to delete the template.

Ignore the plan setup form, plan update form and plan closing form tabs (6) – these are for use with the plans module rather than the objectives module.

The objective setup, update and closing forms allow you to add bespoke fields when creating, updating and closing objectives that use this template.

Once you have set up your plan template(s), you can then create firm strategic plans that can be assigned to objectives when they are created. This is done using the ‘firm strategic plans’ tab.

The firm strategic plans tab shows a list of all firm strategic plans already created. If you click on the green plus button to create a new firm strategic plan (1), or click on the three dots to the right of a firm strategic plan (2) then select ‘edit’ (3), you will get the ‘add/edit firm strategic plan’ page.

On the ‘add/edit firm strategic plan’ page, first select the appropriate plan template (4) that defines the forms for creating / updating / completing objectives aligned to this firm strategic plan. Note that a plan template can be used by more than one firm strategic plan.

Give the firm strategic plan a name (5) and a description (6). These will be visible when the objective is being created so make them useful in that context.

You can select an avatar for the firm strategic plan by clicking on the ‘Browse...’ text (7). You may have a set of images that you use, or you can search on line for royalty-free images.

Next, scroll down the page to select who has access to this firm strategic plan. You can select all employees, individual employees or select by role / department / location.

If you opt to select individual employees, a drop-down box will show you a list of employees to select from. You can select as many people as you want.

If you choose to give access by role, department or location, drop down boxes will appear for each of these fields.

You can select whether objectives aligned to this firm strategic plan will be searchable by everone or only visible to the objective’s owner, their managers and employees with appropriate leadership access.

Finally, you can select whether objectives aligned with this firm strategic plan can be shared with an collaborated on by other users, and whether or not the firm strategic plan is active or inactive. Yes (active) is the default.

The objectives module is now configured and ready for use.

Both plan templates and firm strategic plans can be set to inactive. You can set ‘active’ to no (inactive) if the plan template or firm strategic plan will not be used in the future. It is the best option if objectives still exist that are aligned to an unwanted firm strategic plan or if firm strategic plans are still using by an unwanted plan template.

However if this is not the case, you can delete an unwanted firm strategic plan or plan template outright by clicking on the three dots to the right of the unwanted item in the list (1), then selecting ‘Delete’ (2).