How do I Create a Goal in Cascade?

Click on the + Add button within the Focus Area (for Plan & System Admins), or click on the + sign in the circle near the top right of the browser (for non-admins).

As a plan admin or system admin user, you will have access to the '+ Add' buttons within the Focus Areas and at every level of planning. You can click on any of these '+ Add' buttons to begin the process of adding a new goal. As a non-admin user, click on the '+' sign in the circle near the top right of the browser, or, to create a child goal at the next level below an existing goal, click on a goal to bring up the sidebar to the right of the screen, then click on the 'Show More' at the base of the sidebar, then scroll down until you see the 'Add Child' button and click on that.

Once you have used one of the options above to begin the process of creating a goal, the goal creation sidebar will appear to the right of the screen and you can fill out the fields from top to bottom to finish creating a goal. To effectively set up a goal you should:

• Provide a goal title - Must be a minimum of 2 words and should start with a verb and include enough relevant details to show the action and intent of what you aim to achieve. The goal might end up by itself in a report at some stage, so it should be able to stand alone
• Choose the Goal Type - The goal type (or goal template) allows you to group your goals and add information to the custom attributes they contain in the 'Define Details' area. If you are only able to select a certain goal type(s) when you create a goal, you can alter this later in the goal hub. 
• Choose a start date and end date - Don't forget to click on the date number to lock in the date, otherwise, the date will reset to what it was before you tried to edit it
• Assign an Owner - Click in the field and start typing a name or select from the dropdown. The first person named is the goal owner, any subsequent people named are co-owners.
• Define Details - Where you can fill out the custom attributes assigned to the specific goal type (goal template)
• Tracking Metric - Where you can choose your target and unit of measurement and advanced tracking options
• Determine Alignment - Here you can add additional alignment for the goal if it supports the completion of another goal, or will also be reported within another area (eg. your goal might be a strategic goal but is also a capital project, so rather than having 2 goals to report against, you can have one goal with 2 alignments and only report against it once in both areas)
• Click 'Save as Draft' (not always available) or 'Launch' - This will create your goal as a draft which means it won't show for other users (except admin users) or show up in snapshots, (unless specifically requested when creating a snapshot) or dashboards. If the goal is launched it will immediately be available to view for all users. If you are creating a goal for another user, once you click 'Launch' the system will send them an email to let them know they have a new assignment in the system

Below is a video showing how to add a goal:

This article was written by Luke Holcombe.
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