About Objectives

Objectives help you to manage the main goals of a success plan, so that you can establish the individual requirements necessary to achieve the success plan. After creating a success plan and establishing the individual aims outlined by your customer's needs, you can create objectives to provide a framework for the customer to achieve their goals. In addition, an objective can have multiple playbooks to plan, detail, and manage the objective.

Permission Sets

To use this feature, users must have one of the following permission sets assigned to their profiles:

  • To view, edit, and delete objective records, and create both blank records and records from templates: CSC - Customer Success
  • To view and edit objective records, and create blank records only: CSC - Participant User

For more information, see Assigning and Removing Permission Sets.

Viewing Objectives

You can view objectives in:

You can view the following records associated with an objective in the Related tab of the objective's record page:

  • Playbooks
  • Playbook Tasks
  • Objective KPIs

Creating Objectives

You can create either blank objectives or objectives from templates. An objective created from a template inherits the information stored in the template, including its child record information. You can also select a record type for your new record if your administrator has set up custom record types.

You can create objectives using:

  • The Create Objective action in the Actions panel, which is available on the Customer Success Management Workspace. This action might also be available from a record page if your administrator has added the Actions panel to the page. This enables you to create either blank objectives or objectives from a template, as well as add objective KPIs to your new objective.
  • The Add Objective button in Success Tracker. This enables you to create either blank objectives or objectives from a template, as well as add objective KPIs to your new objective.
  • The New list view button in the Objectives tab. This enables you to create blank objectives only.

For more information, see Creating Objectives.

Note:

To create objectives from templates, you must have the correct permissions assigned. For more information, see Setting up Customer Success Cloud.

Blank Objectives

When creating an objective from a success plan record page, the Success Plan field is automatically populated with the success plan you are currently viewing.

Objectives Created from Templates

You can save an objective as a template by selecting the Template checkbox while creating your new objective. Objectives created from templates inherit their information and the following child records:

  • Objective KPIs
  • Playbooks
  • Playbook tasks
Note:

You can select a playbook task record without selecting its parent playbook record.

When creating a new objective record from a template that contains child records, the Select Records grid displays so that you can:

  • View the child records inherited from the template, such as playbooks and playbook tasks.
  • Deselect any child records that you do not want to include in your new record. By default, all of the template's child records are selected. If the template contains no child records, a message notifies you of this, the Select Records grid does not display, and you can finish creating your new record.

  • Edit the child records inherited from the template. When adding resources to new child records, ensure that the resources you want to add are active and are not PSA resources. You can add a single resource to objectives and playbooks, and multiple resources to playbook tasks.

Note:

Changing the start date of an objective affects the start and end dates of its child records. In this case, any changes you made to the start and end dates of child records will be lost and the start and end dates will be set according to the objective's new start date.

When creating objectives from templates:

  • When selecting a template:

    • Only objectives with the Template checkbox selected are displayed.
    • You can switch between views using Cards and Lists. By default, the last-selected view is displayed.

    • To refresh the template information, click Reload.

  • When creating an objective from a success plan record page, the Success Plan field is automatically populated with the success plan you are currently viewing.

  • Their related playbook and playbook task records inherit the account selected in the Parent Account field.

When creating an objective:

  • To associate the objective with a success plan, the accounts of the objective and the success plan must be the same.
  • From an account record page, the Parent Account field is automatically populated with the account you are currently viewing.

Custom Record Types

If your org uses custom record types:

  • You can select a record type for your new record, if your administrator has set up custom record types.

  • The displayed fields might vary if your org uses custom record types. For more information, contact your administrator.

  • When creating a record of a specific type, the Record Type field is automatically populated and is read-only. To display this field, your administrator must add it to the necessary page layouts.

  • If there are no record types available in your org for the CS Activity, Objective, Playbook, Playbook Task, and Success Plan objects, the fields in their related creation and edit windows use the related field sets.

For more information, see Setting up Customer Success Cloud.

Editing Objectives

You can edit an objective to update its details:

  • In the Objectives tab
  • From Success Tracker

For more information, see Editing Objectives.

Notes:

  • Editing an objective's success plan also updates the success plan of the objective's playbooks and playbook tasks.

  • The displayed fields might vary if your org uses custom record types. For more information, contact your administrator.

  • If there are no record types available in your org for the CS Activity, Objective, Playbook, Playbook Task, and Success Plan objects, the fields in their related creation and edit windows use the related field sets.

  • Updating an objective's parent account automatically updates the account on the playbooks and playbook tasks associated with the objective.

Allocating Resources to Objectives

You can manually allocate any active CS Cloud resource to an objective. The resource allocated to an objective record is also the owner of that record.

For more information, see Allocating Resources.

Deleting Objectives

You can delete objectives:

  • In the Objectives tab
  • In the Objectives related list in the Related tab of the parent success plan of the objective that you want to delete
  • In Activity Tracker

To delete an objective, you must first delete its objective KPIs. For more information, see Deleting Objective KPIs.

Objective KPIs

An objective can have multiple objective KPIs (key performance indicators), which enable you to track and quantify the performance and success of the objective. Customer success managers can use this feature to facilitate reporting to internal and external stakeholders, saving time, operational cost, and improving customer satisfaction.

Each objective KPI can have a different category, description, target date, and unit, as well as different baseline, current, and target values. By specifying these values and selecting a unit of measurement, such as a currency, time period, or numerical unit, you can view how your objective KPI is progressing toward the target. The following example shows how you can use an objective KPI and its baseline, current, and target values to track and quantify an objective's performance and success.

Example:

One of your customer's targets is to generate an additional $250,000 in revenue in this financial year. To track this target and quantify its performance and success, you can create a related objective KPI. In addition to setting a target date, selecting a category, and selecting USD as the unit of measurement for the objective KPI, you can also specify the following information:

  • A baseline value of $1,000,000, which was the revenue generated in the preceding year
  • A current value of $1,100,000, which is the up-to-date value of the customer's revenue
  • A target value of $1,250,000, which is the revenue value that the customer aims for
Note:

The progress of objective KPIs is displayed as a number between 0% and 100%. If the current value of an objective KPI is less than its baseline value, the progress is displayed as 0%. Negative progress values are not supported.

By default, Customer Success Cloud provides the following units of measurement for the baseline, current, and target values:

  • Currency: EUR, GBP, JPY, USD
  • Time: Hours, Days, Weeks, Months
  • Numerical: Percent, Quantity

The baseline, current, and target values of an objective KPI must use the same unit of measurement. The unit of measurement that you select when creating an objective KPI applies to all of its values by default. We recommend customizing this field to include values specific to your organization. For more information, contact your administrator.

Permission Sets

To use this feature, users must have one of the following permission sets assigned to their profiles:

  • To view, create, edit, and delete objective KPI records: CSC - Customer Success
  • To view, create, and edit objective KPI records: CSC - Participant User

For more information, see Assigning and Removing Permission Sets.

Managing Objective KPIs

You can create, view, edit, and delete objective KPIs to manage their details efficiently.

Creating Objective KPIs

You can create an objective KPI and associate it with:

  • A new standalone objective. You can do this when creating a new objective from either the Actions panel or Success Tracker.
  • A new objective associated with a success plan created from a template. You can do this when creating a new success plan from a template from either the Actions panel or Success Tracker.

  • An existing objective. You can do this from:

    • The objective's record page
    • The Objective KPIs tab
    • Success Tracker

An objective KPI can only have one objective associated with it. However, an objective can have multiple objective KPIs.

For more information, see Creating Objective KPIs.

Notes:
  • When creating an objective from a template, the new objective inherits the template's objective KPIs. The target dates of the new objective KPIs are calculated by adding the number of days between the template's original start date and the new objective's start date, which is today's date by default. However, if you change the objective's start date manually when creating an objective, you must then manually update the target dates of its objective KPIs as well.
  • When creating a success plan that includes objectives from a template, the new objectives inherit the template's objective KPIs.

Viewing Objective KPIs

You can view objective KPIs in the following ways:

  • View all objective KPIs in your org in the Objective KPIs tab
  • View objective KPIs associated with a single objective on the objective's record page, in the Objective KPIs related list in the Related tab
  • View all objective KPIs for a single success plan on the success plan's record page, in the Objective KPI Overview grid in the Objective KPIs tab
  • View an overview of your objective KPIs in the Objective KPIs section of the Record Details panel in Success Tracker

In the Objective KPI Overview grid, you can view the following information for individual objective KPIs:

  • Parent objective
  • Category, description, and unit
  • Baseline, current, and target values
  • Progress, target date, and status

The status of objective KPIs is represented using the following badges:

  • Completed. An objective KPI is completed when its current value matches or exceeds the target value.
  • Not Available. An objective KPI either has no values or the values are specified incorrectly. In this case, its progress is calculated as 0%.
  • On Track. An objective KPI is on-track if it is not yet complete and its target has not been exceeded.
  • Overdue. An objective KPI is overdue if it is still incomplete when its target date is earlier than the current date.
Tip:

If Not Available is displayed, you must specify the current or target value for the objective KPI.

In the Objective KPI Overview grid you can also:

  • Click a parent objective's description to open its record page
  • Edit objective KPI fields by double clicking
  • Click Reload to refresh the data in the grid

For more information, see Objective KPI Overview Lightning Component Fields.

When selecting an objective and opening the Record Details panel of Success Tracker, you can view the following objective KPI information:

  • Overall objective KPI progress
  • Description
  • Target Date
  • Individual objective KPI progress

In the Record Details panel, you can also:

  • Click an objective KPI's description to open its record page.
  • Edit the objective KPIs of the currently viewed objective by clicking Edit. This opens the Edit Objective KPIs window where you can also add new objective KPIs to your objective, as well as delete an existing objective KPI.

  • Confirm the status of your objective KPI represented as one of the following badges:

    • Completed. An objective KPI is completed when its current value matches or exceeds the target value.
    • Not Available. An objective KPI either has no values or the values are specified incorrectly. In this case, its progress is calculated as 0%.
    • On Track. An objective KPI is on-track if it is not yet complete and its target has not been exceeded.
    • Overdue. An objective KPI is overdue if it is still incomplete when its target date is earlier than the current date.
    Tip:

    If Not Available is displayed, you must specify the current or target value for the objective KPI.

Editing Objective KPIs

You can edit an objective KPI:

  • From the Objective KPIs related list in the Related tab of the related objective's record page
  • In Success Tracker, if the related objective is associated with a success plan
  • In the Objective KPI Overview grid in the Objective KPIs tab of a success plan record page, if its parent objective is associated with a success plan
  • When creating a success plan from a template
  • In the Objective KPIs tab

For more information, see Editing Objective KPIs.

Deleting Objective KPIs

You can delete an objective KPI:

  • In the Create Objective and Edit Objective windows, when either creating or editing the objective related to the objective KPI that you want to delete
  • When creating a success plan from a template
  • From the record page of the objective KPI that you want to delete
  • From the record page of the objective that the objective KPI is associated with
  • In the Record Details panel of Success Tracker if the related objective is associated with a success plan
  • In the Objective KPIs tab

For more information, see Deleting Objective KPIs.