Goals
A goal is a target with a period, measured by something the system already knows how to count. It does not introduce a new way of recording numbers — it points at an existing measurement and says this is the number we are aiming at, between these dates.
Where to find it
| Screen | Where it lives | What you need |
|---|---|---|
Goals — /admin/goals | Settings → Work & scheduling → Goals | Permission to read work items; saving needs the goals manage permission |
What a goal is made of
| Field | What it means |
|---|---|
| Name | what people read |
| Target | the number you are aiming at |
| Period start / Period end | the window it is measured over |
| Repeat | No repeat, Monthly or Quarterly — the window rolls forward on its own |
| Binding | where the number comes from (below) |
| Progress | the measured number so far, against the target |
The two bindings
A goal measures one of two things, and both already exist elsewhere in the system:
- Saved-view count — how many rows a saved view returns. Give the view's id, and the goal counts it. Anything you can express as a view, you can set a target on.
- Rollup custom field — the value of a rollup field on a particular record. Give the field definition's id and the work item's id.
Nothing else is invented: a goal rides the saved-view and rollup rails rather than defining a third way to measure.
Recomputing
Recompute re-measures one goal now; Recompute all does the lot. Progress is otherwise kept up to date as the underlying data changes — recompute is for when you want the number in front of you this second, or after a change to the view or the rollup it reads.
If a recompute fails, the page says so rather than showing a stale number as if it were fresh.
What a goal is not
A goal is single-level: it does not roll up through a hierarchy of sub-goals. One goal, one target, one period, one measurement.