Goals

A goal type says what good looks like for a KPI: reach a target, stay above or below it, or hold within a band. It decides when the pill on Mission Control turns green, amber or red.

• Enter percentages as whole numbers: 95 means 95%.
• A Reach goal above 125% of target adds “Well over target — check the period this goal is measured over.” to the tile. That usually means the period doesn’t match the target.
• A new goal starts with its KPI’s usual type, such as Stay at or below for Blended CPA. Change it in Goal type.
• A goal with no value yet shows on Mission Control as a number with no target.

A goal’s period, set in Measured over, is the stretch of time its actual is counted over. Every period ends today, in your agency’s timezone.

• Each KPI offers only the periods it can be measured over. A KPI with no date to slice by, such as Clients on plan, is Always on only.
• The timezone is shown above your goals: “Periods are computed in …”.
• Fiscal year and Quarter follow the Fiscal year starts month in your defaults.
• If a Reach goal reads well over target, check the period matches how the target was set, for example an annual target on a Fiscal year goal.

The north star is the one goal per department shown as the big tile on that seat’s Mission Control board. It always shows, and it needs a target.

• Each department has at most one north star. Press Make north star on another goal to move it.
• The first KPI you add to an empty department becomes its north star.
• A Track only, no target goal can’t be the north star.
• The north star always shows on Mission Control, so its Show on Mission Control switch can’t be turned off.
• With no north star goal, the seat’s board shows its built-in figure instead.
• Teammates who see only some clients get their own number on the tile with no target. Agency-wide KPIs, such as Data freshness, Connector uptime and Rows ingested 24h, keep their target for everyone.

Each department offers the KPIs Orbit can measure for that seat. Metrics without a working data source are counted as withheld and can’t be picked.

• In Add a KPI, type in Search metrics or pick a group. KPIs already on the department show Added.
• The footer of Add a KPI counts the metrics catalogued for the seat but not offered, because they have no working query or no data source yet.
• not externally reconciled means, in Orbit’s words, “The query is written and internally reconciled. Nobody has yet checked it against a source outside the warehouse.”
• You can’t add metrics of your own.

Three agency-wide defaults sit above the goals: Fiscal year starts, Currency and Pace warning at. Fiscal year starts sets when Fiscal year and Quarter periods begin, and Pace warning at sets where a Reach goal turns from amber to red.

• Pace warning starts at 90%. Enter a whole number from 1 to 100.
• It applies to Reach goals only. Stay at or above, Stay at or below and Hold within band have fixed thresholds.
• Fiscal year starts takes a month. Fiscal quarters follow from it.
• Periods are computed in your agency’s timezone, shown as “Periods are computed in …”.
• Defaults apply to every department. Press Save defaults to keep them; saving a department’s goals doesn’t save them.

Goals are set per seat for the whole agency, from a fixed list of KPIs. Only Owners and Admins can change them.

• You can’t set a goal for one client or one person.
• You can’t add a KPI that isn’t in the list, and each KPI can appear once per department.
• Each department’s save button saves only that department. Save each one before you leave the page; unsaved edits are lost when you leave.
• Removing a goal deletes it when you save, and a new target replaces the old one. Orbit doesn’t keep past targets to look back at.
• The preview shows how the target will read, not the live number. The actual appears on Mission Control.
• Goals appear on Mission Control only. The Dashboard and Insights don’t use them.
• Managers and Specialists see Goals read-only, with no + Add KPI, Make north star, Remove or save buttons.

A System Role sets what someone can change in Orbit. Owners and Admins can do almost everything. Managers and Specialists work on plans, reports and pacing, and can view clients and connections without changing them.

Owner and Admin have the same permissions, with three exceptions. Only an Owner can make someone an Owner. The last Owner can’t be demoted or removed, so your agency always has one. And only an Admin can choose a client’s Trade Desk advertiser and push to The Trade Desk.

A System Role decides what someone can do. Which clients they can see is set separately, in their Client Access.

Your seat decides your Mission Control board: its north star, its telemetry and its ops jobs. It comes from the Specialty Role an Owner or Admin sets for you in Team.

The north star below is what a seat shows when no goal is set for it. Once an Owner or Admin sets a north star goal in Goals, the tile shows that KPI against its target instead.

Board figures run up to today and are worked out when you open the page. “30 days” on the board means the 31 calendar days from 30 days ago through today.

• Paid Search and Paid Social both get the Paid Search & Social seat. An Owner or Admin with no matching specialty gets Executive.
• Specialty wins over System Role, so an Admin whose specialty is Analytics gets the Analytics board.
• Creative and Other have no board yet, and nor does a Manager or Specialist with no specialty. They see “No board is set up for your specialty yet.”
• You can’t choose your own seat. Ask an Owner or Admin to change your Specialty Role in Team.
• Goals marked Show on Mission Control are added to the top of Telemetry.
• The footer shows your seat and your reach, such as “Scope · 4 assigned clients”. Every figure narrows to those clients.