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OKR

Run Objectives and Key Results in OpenAleph with OKR plans, objectives, measurable key results, automatic progress roll-up, assignees and check-ins.

Who can do thisEmployeeManagerManager creatorScoped adminAdminSuper admin

The OKR module (Objectives and Key Results) lets your company set shared, measurable ambitions for a period and follow them together. An OKR plan covers a period (a quarter, a year...), contains Objectives (what you want to achieve), each measured by Key Results (how you know you got there). Progress is calculated automatically from the Key Results and rolls up to the objective and the plan.

Note: OKR is a licensed module. If you don't see OKRs in the sidebar, your company may not have the module enabled; ask your admin (see Modules and licences).

OKR or Goals?

OpenAleph has two separate modules. They don't share data, and a company can use one or both.

OKR Goals
Purpose Shared company, team or individual ambitions for a period Personal goals of one employee
Structure OKR plan › Objective › Key Result › child Key Result One flat goal per person
People One owner per item, plus any number of assignees One assignee, one responsible
Measures Key Results: Number, Percentage or True/False Indicator: True/False, Number, Percent or Multi-choice
Progress Calculated in % and rolled up automatically (KR › objective › plan) Each goal on its own
Statuses Fixed lifecycle: Current, Upcoming, Finished, Archived Customisable workflow statuses
Visibility Every OKR is visible to everyone in the company Visible to the person, their managers and admins
Mobile app Web only Available in the mobile app

Use OKR for strategy that several people contribute to, and Goals for individual objectives followed between an employee and their manager.

Key concepts

Term Meaning
OKR plan A container for a period, with a title, a description, an owner, assignees, a start date and a deadline. Its progress is the average of its objectives.
Objective A qualitative ambition inside a plan. It has an owner, a scope (Organisation or Individual), optional assignees, a start date and a deadline (the plan's dates by default). Its progress is the average of its Key Results.
Key Result (KR) A measurable result that tells whether the objective is reached. It has an owner, assignees, dates and an indicator (Number, Percentage or True/False) with a starting value, a target value and a current value.
Child Key Result A Key Result created under another Key Result, to split it into smaller measurable parts. The parent (a "global" Key Result) then gets its progress from its children.
Owner The person accountable for a plan, objective or KR (shown as "Person in charge" on the plan and KR headers).
Assignees People who contribute to a plan, an organisation objective or its KRs. They can update the item and are notified about it.
Scope Organisation (a shared objective that can have assignees) or Individual (a personal objective, without assignees).
Status Current or Upcoming (set automatically from the start date), Finished (set manually), Archived (plans only, cascades to everything inside).
Score The progress band of a KR: No progress (0–29%), Some progress (30–69%), Good progress (70–99%), Fully achieved (100%).
Last events The history and comments of a plan, objective or KR.

Who does what

Action Employee / Manager Manager creator Scoped admin Admin / Super admin
See every OKR plan, objective and KR of the company Yes Yes Yes Yes
Create an OKR plan No Yes Yes Yes
Edit, change status, archive or delete a plan If owner, assignee or creator of the plan If owner, assignee or creator Yes Yes
Create objectives in a plan If owner, assignee or creator of the plan Same Same Yes (any non-archived plan)
Edit objectives and KRs, update values If owner, assignee or creator of the item or of one of its parents Same Yes Yes

See Visibility and permissions for details, and Roles and access levels for what each access level means across OpenAleph.

Where to find it

In the sidebar, open OKRs:

  • Objectives and KRs: all objectives of the company with their Key Results, filterable by plan, status, progress, scope, owner and deadline.
  • OKR Plans: the list of plans by status (Current, Upcoming, Finished), and the archived plans.

Your current Key Results also appear on the home page, in the "Key Results & goals" section (or "Key Results" if your company doesn't use Goals). See Home page and navigation.

Typical workflow

  1. A manager creator or an admin creates an OKR plan for the period in OKRs › OKR Plans › New OKR plan, sets its owner and dates, and defines the first objective (and optionally its first Key Result).
  2. The plan owner adds the plan's assignees and sends them the invitation emails.
  3. Owners and assignees add Objectives to the plan and Key Results to each objective, with an owner, dates and a measure. Big KRs can be split into child Key Results.
  4. During the period, KR owners and assignees update the current value and comment. Progress rolls up to the objective and the plan; owners and assignees are emailed when a KR reaches a new score band.
  5. When a KR, objective or plan is done, it is marked as Finished. At the end of the period the plan can be archived.

Notifications

OKR notifications are sent by email, never to the person who made the change (see also Notifications and emails):

  • When you become owner or assignee of a plan, objective or KR (assignees are only emailed if the person adding them chose Yes, send emails; items that are still upcoming are notified when they become current).
  • When an objective is added to a plan you own or are assigned to, or a KR is added to an objective you own or are assigned to.
  • When a KR you own or are assigned to reaches Some progress, Good progress or Fully achieved.
  • When a plan, objective or KR you are involved in is marked as finished, archived or deleted.

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