We’ve expanded the number of scheduling options for monthly and quarterly progress update notifications. The new settings allow you to select whether you’d like to receive a single update for a single month or quarter (the standard configuration for how AchieveIt has always worked), or if you’d like to receive multiple updates throughout the month or quarter (new!).

For example, some of our customers prefer to only document their final month-end numbers. However, other customers would like to receive multiple updates throughout the month, to help react more quickly during the month, and drive towards that final month-end number.

Similarly, some use cases require only a single quarter-end metric. But if you’re driving towards a quarterly sales, revenue, or production target, you can see the value of receiving several updates throughout the quarter, to ensure you’re in the loop the whole time as to how you’re tracking towards that target.

 

Monthly

First, select whether you want to receive ‘Just One’ or ‘Multiple’ updates per month.

For Just One Update

If you select ‘Just One’ update, you will then configure when you’d like users to be reminded about their progress update. For example, if you select ‘Every week on’, the assigned-to user will receive an email every week on the designated day *until* they submit their progress update.

The same is true if you enter multiple days in ‘Throughout the month on these days’ or ‘After the month has ended on these days’.

Users will continue to receive reminders on the specified days, but since only one update is required, they will not continue to receive reminders after submitting their progress updates. For example, if the assigned-to user completes their monthly update during the first week of the month, they will not continue to receive reminders.

For Multiple Updates

Once a Week

If you select ‘Multiple Updates’ and ‘Once a Week’, assigned-to users will be required to submit a progress update once a week, every week throughout the month.

If your organization uses the progress update grace period, the grace period will affect the cadence of the updates. In the example above, the organization has configured a three day grace period. If their update request is sent on Monday, updates will be due by Thursday, and considered late on Friday. 

Specific Dates

If you select ‘Multiple Updates’ and ‘Specific Dates’, assigned-to users will be required to submit a progress update on the dates you specify throughout the month. You can select as few as two dates (the most common configuration we’ve encountered with customers using the monthly cadence), or as many as you need for your organization’s specific needs. 

If your organization uses the progress update grace period, the grace period will affect the cadence of the updates. In the example above, the organization has configured a three day grace period. If their update request is sent on the 15th, updates will be due by the 18th, and considered late on the 19th.

If you’re selecting specific dates, make sure to select at least two dates, or you will receive the following error message.

If you decide you’d like to send a progress update request on only one specific date, you can always use the ‘Just One’ update configuration, and select the ‘Throughout the month on these day(s)’ option. 

Quarterly

As with the monthly settings, you can now designate whether you’d like to receive a single update for a quarter, or multiple updates throughout the quarter. Getting updates throughout the quarter can be particularly helpful when aiming towards a specific target (such as a sales goal), as it allows you to be more responsive as the updates come in. A single update for a quarter is helpful if your organization only reports on final numbers (such as total widgets produced in the quarter, final bookings numbers, etc.).

First, select whether you want to receive ‘Just One’ or ‘Multiple’ updates.

For Just One Update

If you select ‘Just One’ update, you will then configure when you’d like users to be reminded about their progress update. For example, if you select ‘Every week on’, the assigned-to user will receive an email every week on the designated day *until* they submit their progress update.

The same is true for all other options. For example, if you select ‘Every month in the quarter on these day(s), and the assigned-to user makes their update in the first month of the quarter, they will not continue to receive reminders, since only one update is required.

For Multiple Updates

Once a Week

If you select the Once a Week option under Multiple Updates, users will be required to submit a progress update every week throughout the quarter.

Specific Dates

If you select specific dates, you have the option of selecting a particular day (or even multiple days) you’d like to receive updates EACH month in the quarter. For example, if you select every last Monday of the month, your user will be required to submit an update three times throughout the quarter.

If you selected specific day(s) using the ‘Every month in the quarter on these day(s)’, and input 15 and 30, the assigned-to user would be required to make updates twice per month, on the 15^th and 30^th. (Note: if there is no 30^th in the month, the system will automatically substitute the last day of the month.)

If your organization has particular milestones throughout the quarter, you can use the “Throughout the quarter on these days” function. However, note that this setting uses the total number of days, so you might enter “15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90”, rather than actual dates.

Finally, you can select the number of days before or after the end of the quarter. The maximum number of days before or after is 92. For example, if you don’t receive final quarter numbers for Q1 until sometime in Q2, this setting would work well for your organization.

Overriding These Settings at the Plan and Plan Item Levels

By default, all plans and plan items will inherit these settings. If you would like to override these settings, you have the option to do so on a plan or plan item level.

This means you can customize notification settings for each plan, and for individual plan items.

To Override Settings at the Plan Level

1. Open the top plan card.
2. Select the Options tab.
3. Uncheck the ‘Use Organization Settings’ checkbox.

4. Select the desired notification settings for this plan.

To Override Settings at the Plan Item Level

1. Open the plan item card.
2. Select the Options tab.
3. Uncheck the ‘Use Plan Default Settings’ checkbox.

4. Select the desired notification settings for this plan item.