All guides, by feature
Set a goal for a Mission Control seat
In Goals, pick the department, add a KPI, then set its goal type, value and period, and save.
Before you start
- Who can do this
- Agency Owner or Admin
- You need
- Mission Control switched on for your agency.
- Availability
- If enabled for your agency
- Where in Orbit
- Sidebar › Manage › Goals
Steps
Tick a step’s number when it’s done. We’ll remember where you were.
In the sidebar, open Goals and choose the department under Departments, such as Paid Search & Social.
Press + Add KPI and pick a metric in .
Choose its and enter a Value. For Hold within band, enter Low and High.
Choose .
Press the save button, which names the department, such as Save Paid Search & Social goals.
When it worked
The bar reads, for example, “Paid Search & Social goals saved.”, and the goal shows on that seat’s Mission Control board.
If something goes wrong
Orbit showsA band needs both a low and a high value.
Enter both Low and High, then save again.
Orbit showsThe high end of a band must be above the low end.
Make High bigger than Low, then save again.
Orbit showsA tracked-only goal cannot carry a target value.
Choose a goal type with a target, or leave the value empty.
Orbit showsOnly agency owners and admins can change goals.
Ask an Owner or Admin to set the goal.
Orbit showsNo metric on this seat has a working query yet.
Orbit can’t measure any KPI for this department yet. Try another department.
How it works
Explainer: Goal types and their colours
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.
| Goal type | Green | Amber | Red | Pill |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reach | At or above 100% of target | At or above the pace warning (90% by default) | Below the pace warning | “92% of target” |
| Stay at or above | At or above target | Up to 5% below | More than 5% below | “At or above floor” / “Below floor” |
| Stay at or below | At or below target | Up to 10% over | More than 10% over | “Within ceiling” / “Over ceiling” |
| Hold within band | Between low and high | Outside the band | Never | “Inside band” / “Outside band” |
| Track only, no target | Grey | Grey | Grey | “Tracked, no target” |
- 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.
Explainer: Goal periods
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.
| Period | Shows as | Covers |
|---|---|---|
| Fiscal year | FY… to date | From the month your fiscal year starts to today |
| Quarter | FY… Q… to date | Your current fiscal quarter to today |
| Month | month to date | The 1st of this month to today |
| Rolling 12 mo | trailing 12 months | The last 12 months |
| Rolling 90 days | trailing 90 days | The last 90 days |
| Rolling 30 days | trailing 30 days | The last 30 days |
| Per flight | whole flight | Each plan’s whole flight |
| Always on | right now | A reading at this moment |
- 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.
Explainer: KPIs you can set goals on
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.
| Department | KPIs you can add |
|---|---|
| Executive | Booked revenue, Pipeline and Media spend under management (Reach) |
| Account Mgmt | Clients on plan (Stay at or above) |
| Paid Search & Social | Blended CPA and Worst-account platform CPA (Stay at or below); Click through rate and Conversion rate (Stay at or above) |
| Programmatic | Delivery to plan (Stay at or above); Working CPM (Stay at or below) |
| Analytics | Data freshness and MMM refresh cadence (Stay at or below); Connector uptime and Rows ingested 24h (Stay at or above) |
| Strategy | Plans in flight and Budget under plan (Reach); Plan approval cycle time (Stay at or below) |
- 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.
Explainer: A seat’s north star
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.