Adding a goal line can be helpful in measuring your progress towards your goals. While your key value shows a snapshot of your actual performance, the goal line is a visual line on your metric that lets you compare your performance against your goal.
The Goal Line Chart Transform allows users to add a single value or a dynamic goal line to their metric. This Chart Transform allows you to define targets for a specific data series with dynamic groupings in Data Explorer, so you can set up daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly goals. Change the date grouping on a metric and the goal for that grouping will chart on the metric.
Adding a Goal Line
The new Goal Line Chart Transform is only compatible with Data Explorer. For help on creating a metric in Data Explorer, see our Creating Metrics in Enhanced Metric Builder article.
To add a goal line, go to the Edit Metric view for one of your metrics. If you are creating a new metric, you will want to connect your data, then start building your metric visual before adding a goal line.
Below the Sort & Limit Transform in the bottom left corner, click on the Goal Line Chart Transform, then click +Add a goal line.
You will be presented with a modal to setup your goal line. The first step is to select how you want to create your targets. We've provided documentation below for both single value and multiple value goal lines.
Goal Line Setup: Enter Multiple Values
- Pick the Data Series you are adding a goal to.
- Pick the frequency - is this a weekly, monthly, yearly goal?
- Adjust your Start Date and End Date if needed.
- Enter the goals for each time period.
You can copy and paste values from a spreadsheet into the Goal column.
Formatting Goal Lines
Upon clicking "+Add a goal line" in the Chart Transform, you will be presented with a modal to setup your goal line. From here you will have a number of formatting customizations you can choose from. All customizations with the exception of start and end date will be available for single and multiple value goal lines.
Color and Title
Next, you will want to format your goal line. Customize the color with your company�s branded colors, or choose a preset color provided. You can give your goal line a title, for example, you might call your goal �Monthly Sales Goal.� These formatting options define the color and title you see in the legend and value labels in the chart.��
Line Style and Thickness
After choosing a color and title, you will have the option to choose between 4 different line styles including; solid line, solid line with shadow, dashed line, or smoothed line. The thickness of these lines can also be chosen (defaults at 2px).
Line thickness does not change the size of the rounded bullet. This will be available in a future iteration.
Rounded Bullet Points and Labels
Following your line style selections, will have the option to choose whether or not you would like rounded bullet point and value labels to appear on your goal lines. If "Show Value Label" is selected then the label rotation dropdown will become available. It is important to know that number formatting for value labels defaults its formatting based on the assigned data series number formatting. If you would like value labels to have different number formatting selection then click the "Custom Label Format" check box. This will allow you to format your value labels separate from the assigned data series.
Rounded bullets are selected on by default.
Data Series of the Goal
Next, you will need to define the Data Series you would like to create the goal for. If you only have one Data Series selected in your chart, the dropdown selection will default to the aggregated column. If you have more than one aggregated column in your chart, the charted columns will be available to choose from in the dropdown.
Frequency of the goal?
The frequency of your goal defines the granularity of your goal. Are you setting up a daily, monthly, quarterly, or yearly goal? Please note the goal line will only appear when the selected frequency matches the grouping granularity of the chart.
Frequency selection is only available when your metric is grouped by a date column. Your frequency options include the following: daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly. If your metric is grouped by a text or numeric column, you do not define a frequency for your goal line.
Start & End Date
Start Date and End Date selections define the time period in which the Goal Line should display on the chart.
Start Date and End Date selections are only available if your metric is grouped by a Date column. The Start Date and End Date will be selected by default if you have defined a Date Range on the chart (anything besides Display all data). However, you are still able to adjust your Start and End Date if you wish to display a Goal Line for a different time period.
Data
The Data table displays the groupings and values based on your selections for Data Series, Frequency, Start Date and End Date.
To add a goal value, simply click in the Data table and start typing. It is important to note that Grow will only accept numeric values, although the charted goal values will respect the number formatting of the associated Data Series.
When you are ready to display your Goal Line on the chart, click Done to exit the modal. The Goal Line will appear on the chart for the defined Frequency and Date Range.
Goal Line Setup: Enter a Single Value
Building a Single Value Goal Line is similar to building a dynamic goal line (outlined above). To create a single value goal line, you will need to deselect "Enter Multiple values for this goal". It is important to understand a few differences between the goal line setups, for example, you do not define a Start and End Date for the goal to display, rather it displays for all date ranges. Additionally, rather than defining your goals in the Data table, instead you enter the Goal Value just below the frequency setting.
FAQ
1.How do I setup a monthly and quarterly goal for a metric?
You may have noticed that Goal Lines only appear on the chart when the defined frequency and selected chart grouping match. If you wish to have both a monthly and quarterly goal, simply create another Goal Line with the appropriate frequency.�
2. How do I add a future goal to a metric?
In order to add a future goal to a metric, you need to set the metric Date Range to include future dates and you need to set a future End Date in the Goal Line module. A few examples of a Date Range that include future dates would be "This Year" or "This Month."
Features Coming Soon
Select a column goal line: select a column from your table of data or select a column from a goal defined in another report (ex: Google Sheet). This eliminates the need to join two reports together and destroy the transactional layer of data you wish to chart.