Calculating how close you are to reaching an Objective "key result" target is a critical step to the effective use of Objectives in your organization.

Calculating this can range from simple to quite complex. In MetaPulse we have built multiple ways to calculate this based on the graph target type.

In this Section

The progress calculation (0-100%) varies depending on the graph target type on the objective's key result. This can be a linear target, flat target, area target or a flat area target type if it is an inverted or cumulative graph.

A linear graph target would be something like "Reach 10,000 within 3 months" or "Reduce backlog to 0 by 30 March". This is a target that has a simple point in time and value that you are trying to reach.

A flat graph target is where the starting value is currently equal to the desired value. For example, "Maintain fire safety requirement checklist points at 100%".

An area graph target is a bit more complex. For example, something like "Keep the average ticket response time between 30 and 50 minutes for this quarter". Here we are defining an "acceptable range" for where the ticket response time should be.

A flat area target is the same as an area graph target, however the start value is already within the desired range.

In addition, the graphs could be inverted (smaller is better) where the graph settings are set to inverted or a cumulative type (instead of being an average over a period) where aggregate method is set to sum.

In all scenarios, the lower limit of the progress is capped at zero.

A linear target has a start value that is lower than the target value.

We subtract start value from the current and target values, then divide the resulting current by the target to get the progress.

Inverted graphs work the same way except the start value is higher than the target value. This causes the values to be negative, but dividing them together makes the progress positive again.

Cumulative and non cumulative targets are calculated the same way.

A flat line target is one where the start and target values are the same.

If the current value is lower than the target value the progress is 0%, if the target value is higher the progress is 100%.

For an inverted graph, the result is flipped, 100% for a lower value.

Cumulative and non cumulative targets are calculated the same way.

An area target has a start value, a minimum target and a maximum target. Even though the start value is not shown on the chart, it is used to calculate the 0% progress point.

The calculation from start to minimum target is the same as a linear target calculation. Any value within the target range is 100%.

If it is a cumulative target, the progress increases when going beyond the maximum target. The increase is at the same rate as the start to minimum target. For example, given a target with: start 0, min 10, max 15, and given a current value of 20 the progress would be 150%. This is because 20 is 5 over 15 and 5 is half of 10.

If it is a non cumulative target, the progress decreases when going beyond the maximum target . The decrease is at the same rate as the start to minimum target. For example, given a target with: start 0, min 10, max 15, and given a current value of 20 the progress would be 50%. This is because 20 is 5 over 15 and 5 is half of 10.

Inverted graph target values are reversed. The start value should be greater than or equal to the minimum target which should be greater than the maximum target. The resulting calculation works the same.

A flat area target is one where the start value is the same as the minimum target value.

If the value is within the target range, it is 100% and it is 0% when outside the target range.

For cumulative targets, the value is 100% when higher than the max area.

For inverted graphs with cumulative targets, the value is 100% when lower than the max area.

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This is how the Progress is calculated:

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To provide more clarity on the Risk formula we created this demo that shows how the Behind & At Risk calculation changes in relation to the progress.
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You can play with the formula as instructed and see the effect:
​https://codepen.io/rbates/full/RwKGgvP

We suggest you zoom in your browser to see it better.

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