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Goals Dashboard

Overview

The Goals dashboard helps you understand how well goal-setting and goal delivery are working across your organisation. It brings together how many goals people have, whether those goals are well-formed, and how they are progressing, so you can see where goal-setting needs encouragement and where goals are falling behind.

The dashboard is organised into four tabs:

  • Overview — goal volume, coverage, progress, and completion at a glance.
  • Goal Quality — how many goals meet SMART criteria (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timely).
  • Deep Dive — the same metrics broken down by a dimension you choose, such as business unit, location, or supervisor.
  • Row Data — individual goal and job records for detailed investigation.

This dashboard is most useful for HR practitioners and people leaders who want to check that goals are being set, that they are good-quality goals, and that people are on track to complete them.

Key Metrics

Goal volume and coverage

Active Goals – The count of goals that have been created and are not archived or abandoned, as at the most recent recorded day.

Jobs With Active Goals – The count of active jobs that have at least one active goal assigned.

Basic Goal Coverage – The percentage of active jobs that have at least one active goal.

Strong Goal Coverage – The percentage of active jobs that have three or more active goals.

No Goal Coverage – The percentage of active jobs that have no active goals at all.

Progress and outcomes

Goal Progress – The average progress towards active goals, shown as a percentage from 0 to 100%.

Completed Goals – The count of goals that have been marked complete.

Achieved Goals – The count of goals completed on or before their due date.

Overdue Goals – The count of goals that are past their due date and not yet complete.

Goal Completion Rate – Completed Goals as a percentage of Active Goals.

Goal Achievement Rate – Achieved Goals as a percentage of Active Goals. This is stricter than the completion rate, because it only counts goals finished on schedule.

Goals Overdue Rate – Overdue Goals as a percentage of Active Goals.

Goal quality (SMART)

SMART Goal % – The percentage of active goals that meet all five SMART criteria.

Specific %, Measurable %, Achievable %, Relevant %, Timely % – The percentage of active goals meeting each individual SMART criterion. See Understanding SMART goals below.

Understanding SMART goals

A SMART goal meets five criteria. The dashboard measures each one separately, as well as the percentage of goals that meet all five:

  • Specific – The goal has a description of more than 20 characters.
  • Measurable – The goal has at least one measurement attached, so progress can be tracked with numbers.
  • Achievable – The goal has a realistic timeframe, between 1 and 12 months from start to due date.
  • Relevant – The goal is connected to a bigger-picture priority, either cascaded from another goal or aligned to an organisational objective.
  • Timely – The goal was set up in advance of its start date, rather than added retrospectively after it had already begun.

Use the Goal Quality tab and the Goals by Number of SMART Criteria Met chart to see how many of the five criteria your goals typically meet, not just whether they meet all of them.

Understanding goal status

The dashboard uses two different types of status, and it helps to know which is which:

  • Goal Progress Status – The status recorded in Humanforce HR by the employee or manager (for example Not Started, On Target, At Risk, Completed). This reflects how the goal is tracking, as assessed by the people involved.
  • Goal Status / Goal Sub Status – A calculated lifecycle stage based on dates, shown as at the selected day. Goal Status is In Progress, Completed, or Archived. Goal Sub Status breaks this down further into In Progress, Overdue, Achieved (completed on time), Completed (Late), or Archived. Archived overrides any other status.

Because both statuses are calculated for the specific day you're viewing, historical trends stay accurate — a goal's status on a past date reflects what it was at the time, not what it is today.

How goal progress is calculated

Goal progress is shown as a percentage from 0 to 100%. For goals with at least one measurement attached, it is the average progress across those measurements. For goals without any measurements, progress shows as 100% once the goal is marked Completed, and 0% otherwise. This is why the Measurable SMART criterion matters — goals without measurements can only show as fully done or not started, with no shading in between.

Dashboard tabs

  • Overview – Shows goal coverage KPIs (Basic, Strong, No Coverage), goal volume and rate KPIs (Active, Completed, Achieved, Overdue Goals and their rates), goal status trends by start date and due date, a breakdown by goal category, and how goal performance relates to how many active goals each job holds.
  • Goal Quality – Shows the percentage of goals meeting each SMART criterion, and a breakdown of goals by how many of the five criteria they meet.
  • Deep Dive – Uses the Deep Dive By selector to break every coverage, volume, rate, and SMART quality metric down by a dimension you choose, such as business unit, location, gender, or supervisor. Use it to compare teams and find where goal-setting or goal quality is weakest.
  • Row Data – Provides detailed tables of job-level goal coverage, individual goal records, and completed goal records, including employee attributes. Use it to investigate the detail behind a metric.

Visualisations

Visualisation What it shows
Active Goals / Completed Goals / Achieved Goals / Overdue Goals Headline counts of goals by lifecycle stage
Goal Progress / Goal Completion Rate / Goal Achievement Rate / Goals Overdue Rate Headline rates for the selected period
Basic Goal Coverage / Strong Goal Coverage / No Goal Coverage / Jobs With Active Goals The share of active jobs with none, some, or strong goal coverage
Goal Status by Goal Start Date Count of active goals by current status, plotted by when each goal started
Goal Status by Goal Due Date Count of active goals by current status, plotted by each goal's due date
Goals by Goal Category Count of goals split by category
Goals by Goal Progress Status Count of goals by their current progress status, as set in Humanforce HR
Goal Performance by Active Goal Per Job Count Compares job count, completion rate, and achievement rate against how many active goals each job holds
SMART Goal % / Specific % / Measurable % / Achievable % / Relevant % / Timely % The percentage of active goals meeting each SMART criterion
Goals by Number of SMART Criteria Met Count of goals grouped by how many of the five SMART criteria (0–5) they meet
Deep Dive charts Every coverage, volume, rate, and SMART metric broken down by the chosen Deep Dive By dimension
Job Summary One row per active job, showing goal coverage alongside standard employee and job attributes
Active Goals List One row per goal, showing progress, status, category, approval status, dates, and employee attributes
Completed Goal Summary One row per completed goal, showing completion date, days to complete, and employee attributes

[Screenshot: The Goals dashboard Overview tab, showing goal coverage and volume KPI tiles]

Filters and navigation

Use the filters at the top of the dashboard to focus on a period or a group of employees or goals. Filters apply across all tabs.

  • Date – Sets the reporting period. Defaults to the last 365 days.

    Note: The Date filter controls how far back the dashboard looks for goal activity — it does not filter by a goal's start date, due date, or completed date. Goals are tracked day by day, so most metrics show each goal's most recent status within the selected period. This means a goal completed six months ago still counts as Completed under a 30-day filter, as long as it existed at some point in that window — narrowing the Date filter won't hide it just because its completion date falls outside the range. To see a goal's actual start, due, or completed date, use the Goal Start Date, Goal Due Date, and Goal Completed Date columns on the Row Data tab, or the Goal Status by Goal Start Date and Goal Status by Goal Due Date charts — these plot the goal's real dates directly, independently of the Date filter.

  • Goal Category Name, Goal Approval Status Name, Goal Status, Goal Sub Status, Current Goal Progress Status – Focus on a specific type or stage of goal.
  • Business Entity, Business Unit, Location – Focus on part of the organisation.
  • Supervisor Name, Supervisor Status – Review a specific manager's team.
  • Gender, Age Group – Segment by employee demographics.
  • Employment Condition, Work Type, Work Class, Work Right, FTE, Pay Grade, Position Title, Probation Status – Segment by employment details.

On the Deep Dive tab, use the Deep Dive By selector to choose the dimension each chart breaks down by, such as Business Entity, Location, Gender, Age Group, or Supervisor Name.

Tips for using this dashboard

  • Start with Basic, Strong, and No Goal Coverage to check whether goal-setting is happening at all, before looking at quality or progress.
  • Use the Goal Quality tab to check whether the goals people are setting are well-formed, not just whether goals exist.
  • Segment by Supervisor Name or Business Unit on the Deep Dive tab to find teams that are behind on goal-setting or have a high overdue rate.
  • Compare Goal Achievement Rate with Goal Completion Rate — a gap between them means goals are getting finished, just not on time.
  • Open the Row Data tab to see the individual goals behind a metric, including their category, approval status, and progress.

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