Target form

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 6 minutes to read
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    Summary of Target form

    The Target form in ServiceNow's Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) enables tracking and measuring progress towards specific goals. It supports detailed target configuration, progress calculation, and collaboration for effective goal achievement. Some fields are available only when the Goal Framework for SPM application is installed.

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    For users of Operational Sustainability Workspace and Strategic Planning, additional fields not visible by default can be added by configuring the form layout.

    Key Fields and Their Functions

    • Name & Goal: Identifies the target and links it to an associated goal.
    • Description: Provides a brief explanation of the target, with enhancement possible via Refine records skill if Now Assist for SPM is installed.
    • State & Status: Tracks the current state (Draft, In progress, Approved, Complete) and status (Red, Yellow, Green) of the target.
    • Progress: Automatically calculated percentage of target completion, with distinct formulas for maximizing or minimizing targets; supports weighted progress calculations when enabled.
    • Impact on Goal: Numerical value representing the target's importance relative to others; available only if weighted average is enabled.
    • Ownership and Contributors: Assigns responsibility and contributors to the target, defaulting to creator and goal contributors respectively.

    Duration and Metrics Configuration

    • Start and End Dates: Define the timeframe for target achievement, defaulting to the associated goal’s dates.
    • Unit of Measure: Defines whether a target is qualitative (Yes/No) or quantitative (#, $, %, Days), influencing target type options.
    • Type: Indicates progress direction—Maximize, Minimize, or Milestone (qualitative only). Milestone type becomes read-only for qualitative targets.
    • Start, Final Target, Baseline, and Actual Values: Manage initial, aspirational, reference, and current values to measure progress accurately.
    • Check-in Frequency: Allows setting update intervals (Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Yearly) to break down targets for focused tracking; not supported for qualitative targets.
    • Target Value Distribution: Specifies if progress is calculated cumulatively or non-cumulatively across time periods.
    • Remarks and Comments: Support business justifications and collaborative discussions.

    Confidentiality and Access Control

    For targets classified under Environmental, Social, or Governance (ESG) and when ESG Management application is installed, targets can be marked confidential. Access is restricted to specified user groups and users with appropriate roles, ensuring sensitive target data is protected while still contributing to overall goal progress calculation.

    Target Automation

    • Automate Actual Value: Enables automatic updating of actual target values from specified data sources on review due dates.
    • Actual Value Source: Defines the table from which data is fetched to update targets automatically; for example, Benefit Plans can be utilized if Project Portfolio Management (PPM) Standard is installed.
    • Context Variables: Appear based on selected data sources, allowing further customization of automated updates.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Track goal progress with precision using configurable targets and automated data updates.
    • Customize target views and layouts to fit organizational needs, including access control for sensitive targets.
    • Break down goals into manageable periods for detailed monitoring and accountability.
    • Leverage weighted progress and impact scoring for nuanced performance measurement.
    • Enhance collaboration through remarks and contributor assignments.

    Use the Target form to track and measure the progress of the goals.

    Some of the fields on the form is available when the Goal Framework for SPM application is installed.

    Note:
    For Operational Sustainability Workspace and Strategic Planning users, to view the other fields that aren't added to the default view or your custom form view on the form in the workspace, configure the default or custom form layout. For information on how to configure the form layout, see Configuring the form layout.
    Table 1. Target form
    Field Description
    Name Name of the target.
    Goal Name of the associated goal. This field is auto-populated when creating a target from the Targets related list on the Goal form.
    Description Brief description of the target.

    You can refine target description using the Refine records skill, if the Now Assist for SPM application is installed.
    State State of the target. The state can be Draft, In progress, Approved, or Complete.
    Status Status of the target. The status can be Red, Yellow, or Green.
    Progress Percentage of target execution that is complete. The value is calculated automatically.

    If the Type field is set to Maximize, the progress value is calculated using the following formula.

    Progress = (Actual value - Base value) / (Target value - Base value) x 100

    If the Type field is set to Minimize, the progress value is calculated using the following formula.

    Progress = (Base value - Actual value) / (Base value - Target value) x 100

    For more information on how the progress value is calculated when weight scale is defined, see progress value calculation.
    Impact on goal A numerical value that represents the importance of the target relative to the other targets of the goal. If there are any sub-goals present, they are also considered for relative weights and consequent progress calculation. By default, the value is (1) Neutral.
    The available options are:
    • (0) No impact
    • (1) Neutral
    • (2) Moderate
    • (3) High
    • (4) Very high
    • (5) Maximum
    Note:
    This field is available only when the sn_gf.weighted_average_enabled system property is set to Yes.
    Owner Owner of the target. By default, the name of the user creating the target is populated.
    Contributors Users who contribute to the achievement of the target. By default, the contributors of the associated goal are populated.
    Table 2. Duration section of the Target form
    Field Description
    Start date Start date for the target. By default, the start date of its associated goal is populated.
    End date End date for the target. By default, the end date of its associated goal is populated.
    Table 3. Metrics section of the Target form
    Field Description
    Unit of measure Measure type for the specified value. Usage of the measure such as cost, time, and rate. The available measure types are stored in the Units [sn_gf_units] table. Unit of measure defines the type of the target as qualitative or quantitative. The available unit of measures for quantitative target are #, $, %, and Days. The available unit of measure for qualitative target is Yes/No.
    Type Target type that signifies the direction of achievement.
    • Maximize: The direction of the progress is toward the target value from the base value where the base value must be less than the target value.
    • Minimize: The direction of the progress is toward the target value from the base value where the target value must be less than the base value.
    • Milestone: Fixed type. Only the qualitative target values are allowed (that are set in the Unit of measure field for the target) to capture the achievement of the target. The Milestone option is applicable only for qualitative targets.

    The Type field becomes read-only with the value populated as Milestone for qualitative targets (when the Unit of measure field is set to a qualitative target value).
    Start value Start value of the target. The start value can also be considered as the present or current value.

    This field becomes read-only when a value is entered in the Actual value field. Clear the Actual value field to update a value in the Base value field.

    This field is available when the Type field is set to Maximize or Minimize.
    Final target value Final target value of the target. The target value should be aspirational and should challenge the teams.

    This field is available when the Type field is set to Maximize or Minimize.
    Baseline reference Past achievement of the target to provide reference for future performance. This value is only for reference purpose and not considered for target progress calculation.
    Actuals to date Actual value of the target at a given time.

    This field is available when the Type field is set to Maximize or Minimize.
    Check-in frequency Option to specify breakdown intervals for the target and how frequently the owner or contributor should update the actual value of the target. Breaking down the target into smaller periods helps you set a target for smaller periods and focus on the specific breakdown targets. The available options are Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, and Yearly. Target breakdowns are automatically created when you set this field to any of the available options other than None. For more details on target breakdowns, see Target breakdowns in Strategic Planning.
    Note:
    The target breakdowns feature isn’t supported for qualitative targets.
    Target value distribution Option to specify the target to be calculated cumulatively or non-cumulatively. The available options are Split equally across the time period (non-cumulative) and Spread linearly across the time period (cumulative).

    This field is available only when the Check-in frequency field is set to any of the available options other than None.
    Remark Remark entered by the user for business justification when updating the actuals.
    Check-in due date Due date that the owner or contributor of the target must update the actual value of the target to.
    Confidential Option to restrict the access for this target record to the specific users populated in the Allowed groups and Allowed users fields.

    This field is available when the ESG Management application is installed and the sn_grc.enable_record_confidentiality property is enabled. This field is applicable only when the Classification field in the goal form of the target is populated as Environmental, Social, or Governance. The required role to configure this field is sn_esg.reader.

    Note:
    Irrespective of the target record set to confidential or not, the target progress value rolls up to its goal for calculating the progress value of the goal.
    Allowed groups User groups who can access the target record. This field is applicable only for the Operational Sustainability Workspace users.

    Even though a user group is populated in this field, the users can access the confidential record only if the user group has the sn_esg.reader role.

    This field is available when the Confidential field is set to true.
    Allowed users Users who can access the target record. This field is applicable only for the Operational Sustainability Workspace users.

    Even though a user name is populated in this field, the user can access the confidential record only if the user has the sn_esg.reader role.

    This field is available when the Confidential field is set to true.
    Comments Detailed comments for the target to facilitate collaboration.
    Table 4. Target Automation section of the Target form
    Field Description
    Automate actual value Option to enable the target automation feature for the target.
    Actual value source Target source table that the data is fetched from to auto-update the actual value of the target on the target's review due date.

    This field is available when the Automate actual value field is set to true.

    Variables section of the Target form

    This section appears based on the context variables available in the target source that is selected in the Actual value source field.

    When you select Actual value source as Benefit Plans (predefined target automation script for benefit plans), the Benefit Plan field appears in this section, from which you can select the required benefit plans for automating the actual value of the target.
    Note:
    You can use the Benefit Plans custom script only when PPM Standard (Project Portfolio Management) is installed. If you can't find the benefit plan that you want to select, you can find and select the same from Heisenberg UI by navigate to Enterprise Goal Management > Targets and opening the Target form.