Previous Article: Creating a Simple Metric
After setting up a Simple Metric you should have a good grasp on what a metric is, the different types of units, and the various calculation methods. Due to the fact that Advanced Metrics are a more complex version of Simple Metrics, you should make sure to setup at least one Simple Metric before diving into Advanced Metrics. You can find all the information on how to set up Simple Metrics here: Creating a Simple Metric
However, if you have already created a Simple Metric and found that the preset tracking types did not fit your use case, you are in luck! Advanced Metrics give you more control of the specific goals for each period, allowing you to specify the goal value for any given period size (weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc) and specific period date range. Let’s check out how you can create an Advanced Metric and all of the settings you have control over.
Creating a Metric
The process for creating an Advanced Metric is exactly the same as it is when you are creating a Simple Metric. If you do not have a metric on a plan item you can create one by clicking on the “Create Metric” button in the Metric Details section.
The "Create Metric" button
The ‘Add Metric' screen will show, allowing you to choose to set up a Simple or an Advanced metric. Go ahead and select the Advanced option in the toggle at the top of the screen.
The "Simple / Advanced" toggle
Setting up an Advanced Metric
Once you have selected the Advanced option in the toggle at the top of the Add Metric screen you will be presented with several different fields on the left side of the screen and a gauge chart on the right. As you fill in the information on the left, the chart on the right will update to reflect the current setup state of the metric.
Let’s take a look at each of the fields on the left side of the screen:
Are you tracking a dollar, percentage, or number?
The metric unit type select
This field allows you to specify what type of unit you are tracking with this metric. The unit options include dollar, percentage, and number.
Metric Goals
Advanced Metrics allow you to set up to 15 Metric Goals for a single metric. These goals are flexible and can represent whatever you can think up. Some of ours users like to extend upon the standard goals for Simple Metrics (the Baseline and Target) by adding a Stretch goal. Let’s go ahead and walk through the steps needed to create a metric goal.
In order to be able to identify the goal on our charts, you will need to give it a name. In the name field at the top of the first goal, enter “Baseline”.
The advanced goal name textbox
Next, go ahead and choose your goal’s line styling. You can click on the colorful circle to choose which color you would like your goal line to be. You can also select the line type from the dropdown directly to the right.
The advanced goal line styling
You’re off to a great start! Once you have named and selected the line styling, you can select an option from the How often will this goal’s target change? dropdown.
There are 4 different frequencies that a goal period can have:
-
Monthly
-
Quarterly
-
Biannually (Twice a year)
-
Annually
Let’s take a look at these frequency types and the options you can set for each:
Monthly
After selecting the monthly frequency you will be presented with two extra inputs, prompting you to set the start month and end month for the goal. Notice that as you change the start and end months the number of months in the calendar below changes as well!
An advanced goal with a monthly frequency
When you are satisfied with the start and end months for your goal, you can begin to fill in the monthly goals. To do so click on the first month in the calendar below the frequency dropdown and enter a goal value. Continue by doing this for all of the months shown in the calendar. Notice that as you fill in the monthly goals, the chart to the right of the screen will automatically update.
Quarterly
After selecting the quarterly frequency you will be presented with two extra inputs, prompting you to set the start month and number of quarters you would like to track. Notice that as you change the start month and the number of quarters, the number of quarters changes in the calendar below.
An advanced goal with a quarterly frequency
When you are satisfied with the start month and number of quarters for your goal, you can begin to fill in the quarterly goals. To do so click on the first quarter in the calendar below the frequency dropdown and enter a goal value. Continue by doing this for all of the quarters shown in the calendar. Notice that as you fill in the quarterly goals, the chart to the right of the screen will automatically update.
Biannually
After selecting the biannual frequency you will be presented with two extra inputs, prompting you to set the start month and number of year-halves you would like to track. Notice that as you change the start month and the number of year-halves, the number of year-halves changes in the calendar below.
An advanced goal with a biannual frequency
When you are satisfied with the start month and number of year-halves for your goal, you can begin to fill in the biannual goals. To do so click on the first quarter in the calendar below the frequency dropdown and enter a goal value. Continue by doing this for all of the year-halves shown in the calendar. Notice that as you fill in the biannual goals, the chart to the right of the screen will automatically update.
Yearly
After selecting the yearly frequency you will be presented with two extra inputs, prompting you to set the start month and number of years you would like to track. Notice that as you change the start month and the number of years, the number of years changes in the calendar below.
An advanced goal with a annual frequency
When you are satisfied with the start month and number of years for your goal, you can begin to fill in the yearly goals. To do so click on the first year in the calendar below the frequency dropdown and enter a goal value. Continue by doing this for all of the years shown in the calendar. Notice that as you fill in the yearly goals, the chart to the right of the screen will automatically update.
Creating another Goal
When you are satisfied with the name, styling, and goal values for each period, you can move onto creating another goal! First, go ahead and click on the Done button in the bottom right of your finished goal. This will close your goal to make more room for more goals. You can always come back to this goal in the future.
The done button
To create a new goal, click on the Add another goal button, located just below the last goal in the list. This will open a new goal in the list. Follow the steps outlined in the sections above to fill out your new goal.
The "Add another goal" button
Clearing a Goal
If you are ever completely unsatisfied with a goal you have created and would like to start fresh, you can clear all of the fields in a goal by clicking on the Clear button in the bottom right corner of the goal. Note that once you do this, you cannot get your goal’s previous values back.
The clear button
Deleting a Goal
If you would like to completely remove a goal from the goal list, you can do so by clicking on the Delete button in the bottom right corner of the goal. Note that once you do this, your goal is gone for good… you will not be able to recover it.
The delete button
Copying a Goal
If you would like to make a copy of a goal, you can click on the Copy button in the bottom right corner of the goal. This will create an identical copy of the goal and place it at the bottom of the goal list. There are no restrictions on having two goals with the same name so you may want to change the name of the copy, just in case.
The copy button
Reordering Goals
Goals show up in chart legends in the order they are placed in the goal list. The first goal in the list will show up as the first legend item and the last in the list will show up last in the legend. If you would like to reorder these goals, you can click and drag the goal using the handle in the top left corner of the goal. Whenever the goal is where you would prefer it, drop the goal into its new place in the list.
The reordering handle and goal title
How will the metric value be calculated?
There are 3 different ways in which you can calculate your metric:
-
Manually
-
Automatically, using the values of direct children
-
Automatically, using the values of selected items
In some places within AchieveIt you may see the term Metric Rollup. This is synonymous with Automatically Calculated metrics.
Each of these types has its benefits and drawbacks. Let’s review each type of calculation method to see which type works best for your metric:
Manually
Manually calculated metrics rely on direct metric updates from user who have access to a plan item. An Administrator, Member, or more often than not the Assigned To, can submit a metric update (or a Progress Update with a metric) for a plan item. With the submission of each metric update the plan item’s metric will change, allowing your users to control over the plan item’s metric over time.
Automatically, using the values of direct children
Automatically calculated metrics that use the values of direct children leverage the tree structure of your plans to automatically calculate a metric. When you select this option, a secondary field will show prompting you to choose either to Sum or Average the values of the item’s children. Choosing either of these options (Sum or Average) will then show all of the children items in a grid below the fields.
An automatic metric calculation (using direct children)
You may notice that some of the children rows in the grid have a specific color. These colored rows indicate that the plan item’s metric values will not be used to calculate the metric until a certain action is taken.
A yellow row indicates that the plan item does not currently have a metric and will not be used in the calculation until it does (although it still keeps the item in the calculation, just in case you set up a metric later).
A red row indicates that the plan item has a mismatched metric unit type (dollar vs number). In this case, the child plan item’s metric will not be used in the calculated until the metric unit type is changed to match the current metric’s unit type.
There is also a handy legend at the bottom of the grid for future reference, just in case.
Automatically, using the values of selected items
Automatically calculated metrics that use the values of selected items act similarly to when you use direct children, however it allows you to specify which item metrics you would like to use in the calculation. Select plan items from the grid by clicking on the checkmark on their left to include them in the calculation.
An automatic metric calculation (using selected items)
Note that you can select any items from the current item’s plan, but selecting some items may create a circular dependency. If you see the a circular dependency error, double check to make sure that you are not creating a circular dependency with your metric calculations.
The Chart
As you make changes to the fields on the left, the chart of the right side of the Add Metric screen will update in real time. You can change between 3 different types of charts: Line, Bar, and Gauge.
The gauge chart is unique in that it will only show the current state of a metric, while the line and bar chart will show the metric’s change over time. If you are creating an advanced metric for an item we suggest you use the line or bar chart, as it will allow you to visualize all of the goal periods as you make edits to your metric goals.
The Gauge Chart
The Bar Chart
The Line Chart
Submitting Changes to a Metric
When you are satisfied with the metric you have setup, click on the ‘Save Metric’ button. This will save the metric for the Plan Item and take you back to the Plan Item Card. If you would prefer to scrap all the edits you have made to the metric you can click the ‘Cancel’ button instead.
The Cancel and Save Metric buttons
The Metric Details section
After you have created a metric for a plan item, you can find an overview of the metric inside of the Metric Details section.
For Advanced metrics, you will see:
-
How this metric's success is being tracked
-
The list of metric goals
-
How this metric’s value is being calculated
-
If a metric is using an automatic calculation, the metric grid showing all of the plan item’s used for the calculation
The Metric Details section
You can edit or delete the metric by clicking on either the edit or delete buttons, respectively. These buttons can be seen when you hover over the Metric Details section.
Clicking on the delete button will prompt with you a message, just in case you accidentally clicked the button. Read this carefully; deleting a metric can have affects on other parts of the AchieveIt system.
The delete metric popup
Clicking on the edit button will open the Edit Metric screen, which is identical to the Add Metric screen.