# Goals: the complete guide

Every rule for goals in one place: progress, status, tracking, roll-up, weights, alignment, scoring, closing a period, and editing or deleting goals.

This guide collects every goal rule, default and label in one place. Each section links to the short page for that job.

## Kinds of goal {#kinds}

- **Goal**: An outcome tracked from 0% to 100%. Created with New Goal or the C key. See [Create a goal](https://help.brev.io/create-a-goal/).
- **Metric**: A named value (unit Percentage, Count or Currency) tracked from a starting value (default 0) to a target. Progress is the share of that distance travelled. See [Create a metric](https://help.brev.io/create-a-metric/).
- **Project**: Delivery work tracked as a percentage, with an optional start and due date. See [Create a project](https://help.brev.io/create-a-project/).
- **Terminology**: Admins can rename all three, and the umbrella word, in [Terminology](https://help.brev.io/settings-product/#terminology). Labels such as Create Goal follow the type and the renamed word.
- **Default time period**: A new goal starts in the organization's latest current period. A goal added under a parent takes the parent's period.

## Expected progress {#expected-progress}

- The pace line starts at 0% (or a Metric's starting value) and ends at 100% (or the target). Expected progress is where it sits today.
- Milestones inside the window bend the line: it passes through each milestone's value on its date.
- A Project with a due date paces from its start date (or its creation date) to its due date.
- Stay above, Stay below and Stay between metrics have no pace line. They are judged by the share of the period spent in bounds.
- Shown as Expected today on the goal page and in the check-in dialog, and in a list row's progress hover card.

Short page: [Expected progress](https://help.brev.io/expected-progress/).

## Status {#status}

- **On Track**: Progress at or above expected, or 100% and above.
- **Behind**: Below expected by up to 25 percentage points.
- **At Risk**: More than 25 points below expected, with progress above 0.
- **Not Started**: Progress 0 and more than 25 points below expected.
- **Postponed**: Only set by a person. A later roll-up or refresh can replace it.
- **Completed**: Only set by a person, through scoring. Never derived.

When status changes on its own:

- In the check-in dialog, Brev suggests a status as you edit progress. Picking a status stops that for the rest of the dialog.
- In the dialog, reaching 100% switches the status to Completed, unless you picked one.
- A roll-up from children and an auto-track refresh each set status from progress, replacing a status you picked.
- A Stay above, Stay below or Stay between metric reads On Track while in bounds and At Risk when out. A refresh keeps its status.
- If the automatic status differs from the last human check-in, a warning icon shows by the status.

Short page: [Goal status](https://help.brev.io/goal-status/).

## Tracking method {#tracking-method}

- **Children**: Progress rolls up from children. Offered only on a goal with children. Each child check-in adds an "Updated from children" entry.
- **Integration Refresh**: Progress comes from auto-track. Offered only on an auto-tracked goal.
- **Manual Only**: Progress comes from check-ins. Not offered on an auto-tracked goal.
- **Defaults**: Auto-tracked: Integration Refresh. Goal or Project with children: Children. Everything else, including every Metric: Manual Only.
- **Where to change it**: The selector in the goal page's Progress card, or next to Check-in in the panel. Also Roll-up type under More fields, and the roll-up pill in the dialog. Needs edit rights.
- **Auto-track**: Connecting replaces the roll-up from children after a confirmation. Removing it returns the goal to Manual Only. See [Auto-track a goal](https://help.brev.io/auto-track-a-goal/).

Short page: [Choose where progress comes from](https://help.brev.io/tracking-method/).

## Roll-up basis and weights {#roll-up}

- Time-based coverage (default): each child counts for the share of the parent's window it spans. Uncovered time counts as 0%. Overlapping children average.
- A Project child with a due date covers its delivery window, not its period.
- If no child overlaps the parent's window, the parent falls back to the plain average.
- Equal weighting: every child counts the same, or by its weight.
- The org default is set in Settings → Goals → Progress & logic. One goal overrides it with the Roll-up basis pill in its dialog, shown while the roll-up pill is Children.
- Archived children don't count.

- Weights need the Goal Weights setting, a parent on Children, and at least one child.
- Open them with the scale icon (Configure child weights) beside the tracking method selector.
- Each child starts at weight 1. Distribute Equally sets every weight to 1. The last column is each child's effective share.
- Weights count only under Equal weighting, and in the plain-average fallback. Time-based coverage ignores them.

Short pages: [How parent progress rolls up](https://help.brev.io/parent-progress-rollup/) and [Weight sub-goals](https://help.brev.io/weight-child-goals/).

## Alignment {#alignment}

- Set a parent from More fields, then Alignment, in the ⋯ menu. The dialog's Parent pill and Align to a parent goal on the page work too.
- You need edit rights on the goal. The parent must be an organization goal, a goal of a team you're on, or a goal you can check in on. Org Admins can align under any goal.
- Add child, under Add in the ⋯ menu, opens the dialog with the parent set. It copies the parent's Scope, team, time period, tags and privacy. It shows only to people who could create a goal with the parent's Scope and teams.
- With Multiple Alignment on, the pickers take several parents, and Option-drag (Alt-drag) in a view adds one. Progress rolls into each parent.
- With Shared Team Ownership on, Scope pickers take several teams, and the goal shows in each team's view.

Short pages: [Align a goal](https://help.brev.io/align-a-goal/), [Align to more than one parent](https://help.brev.io/align-to-multiple-parents/) and [Share a goal between teams](https://help.brev.io/multi-team-goals/).

## Score goals and close a period {#scoring}

- Score in the check-in dialog: status Completed, or 100% progress, shows the score pill (0.0 to 1.0 in steps of 0.1).
- The pill starts at progress rounded to 0.1. The button reads Score goal, and a Score this goal? confirmation follows.
- Once scored, the status can't change. Editing the scoring check-in shows Update score.
- Dragging a list row's slider to 100% completes and scores the goal with no confirmation.
- A completed goal leaves Check in, and auto-track stops refreshing it.
- A parent's score is never calculated from its children's scores; only progress rolls up.
- There is no Closed status or section. Completed goals stay in their period's views (Status filter: Completed) and leave Check in.
- Closing a period: refresh auto-tracked values, score each goal with a closing note, clone what carries forward, then set the next period Current.

Short pages: [Score a goal](https://help.brev.io/score-a-goal/) and [Close out a time period](https://help.brev.io/close-out-a-time-period/).

## Edit, archive, delete and clone {#editing}

- **Who can edit**: By default: owners, and Org Admins and Owners. Team Admins can too when their team, or a subteam, owns the goal or has one of its owners. People shared on a goal can check in but not edit. Delete and archive are a separate permission with the same defaults.
- **Edit**: Edit Goal opens the dialog; Update Goal saves. Name and description edit in place. Edits add no check-ins.
- **Bulk edit**: Stage Owner, Scope, Time period, Align to, Archive or Unarchive, then Apply. Clone and Delete also live there. Status, tags and names are per goal.
- **Archive**: Hides the goal from views, selectors, rollups, reports, digests and AI tools. Also archive sub-goals is on by default. Turned off, children move up. Needs the same right as delete.
- **Restore**: Show archived above the list, then Unarchive Goal. Its sub-goals and archived parents come back too.
- **Delete**: Permanent. Deletes check-ins and every descendant whose parents are all being deleted. A child with another surviving parent stays.
- **Clone**: Copies with no check-ins and reset progress. Bulk clone applies staged changes to the copies. Include subgoals is off by default.

Short pages: [Edit a goal](https://help.brev.io/edit-a-goal/), [Edit several goals](https://help.brev.io/edit-goals-in-bulk/), [Archive](https://help.brev.io/archive-a-goal/), [Delete](https://help.brev.io/delete-a-goal/) and [Clone](https://help.brev.io/clone-a-goal/).

## Tags, milestones, privacy and blockers {#more}

- **Tags**: Need the Tags setting. Shared with actions. Anyone except Observers and Guests can create one; Manage tags deletes one everywhere. See [Tag goals](https://help.brev.io/tag-goals/).
- **Milestones**: Need the Milestones setting. A name, value and date inside the period; they bend the pace line. See [Milestones](https://help.brev.io/milestones/).
- **Private goals**: Need the Private Goals setting. Visible to owners, the creator and who it's shared with. Org Admins are not included. See [Make a goal private](https://help.brev.io/private-goals/).
- **Project dates**: A due date sets pacing and the reporting period. See [Project dates](https://help.brev.io/project-dates/).
- **Blockers**: Blocked by and Blocking links; yellow when the blocker is Behind, red when At Risk. See [Blockers](https://help.brev.io/goal-blockers/).
- **Insights**: Summary, Highlights, Blockers and Tactics, with a sparkle on list rows. See [AI insights](https://help.brev.io/goal-insights/).
- **Actions**: Add one from the goal's Actions or Action items section: title, status, meeting and assignee (you by default). No due date there; set it on Actions. The checkbox completes it, and completing one doesn't move the goal's progress. See [Add an action to a goal](https://help.brev.io/add-an-action-to-a-goal/).
- **Suggested goal**: AI Goal Coach drafts one goal in the new goal dialog. See [Use a suggested goal](https://help.brev.io/suggested-goals/).

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