Achieve Time Management & Goal Setting Software Help

Metric Information Form

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The metric information form contains two tabs: general and tracking.

General Tab

Title	A brief title for the metric
Owner	Identifies the Goal or Dream that owns the metric (or None if it is a standalone metric.) You can use the Set button to change the owner.
Category	User-definable category value for each metric to aid in grouping
Recurrence	You can specify a recurrence pattern for the metric to help you remember when to take the measurements. Use Set Recurrence to create the pattern.
Has Reminder	If you want to be reminded of the metric when the recurrence dates arrive, check the box, otherwise leave it unchecked.
Reminder Time	Determines what time the reminder for the metric is displayed on the dates of the recurrence.
Description	Enter a description for the metric
Reason	You can describe the reasons why you are keeping track of this metric. The better the reasons you are tracking it, the more motivated you will be to keep it current.

Tracking Tab

The tracking tab allows you to specify the type of metric you are tracking, set objective and/or contribution targets, and modify the individual tracking entries.

Active	Specifies whether the metric is currently active or not
Question	Use the question to help you describe what it is that you are measuring. For example, your question could be 'How many times did you exercise this week?', 'How many miles did you run this week?' or 'What is your current weight?'
Units	If applicable, you can describe the units of measure. Examples include pounds, miles, dollars, minutes, etc.

Type - Selects the type of metric that you want to use. The following metric types are supported:

Cumulative	In a cumulative metric, each new tracking value adds to the growing total. For example, if you are trying to save money towards some goal, you would use a cumulative metric so that your contributions each week are added to the growing total.
Total	In a total metric, each new tracking value represents the new total for the metric. For example, if you are keeping track of your weight, you would use a total metric so that your entry each week represents your new total weight.
Instance	In an instance metric, each new tracking value represents a completely independent instance. For example, if you want to measure how many miles you run each day, you would use an instance metric since each entry is independent of the others.

Objective target	If you have a target you want to reach, check this box and enter the target value in the 'Value' textbox
Contribution target	For cumulative and instance metrics, you can define contribution targets in addition to any objective targets. The contribution target is your target for each new tracking entry.

For example, if your goal is to save $200 a month in order to go on a $2000 vacation, your objective target would be $2000, and your contribution target would be $200. The following contribution target values are available:

None	Don't use a contribution target
Default	Use the default contribution target for each tracking entry
By Weekday	Specify a different contribution target depending on the day of the week where the metric is measured
Automatic	The new contribution target is automatically determined based on previous contribution targets (see below)

Automatic contribution target fields:

Auto-increase type	Indicates whether to increase/decrease by percentage or amount
Auto-increase amount	Indicates the amount to increase/decrease (either percentage or actual amount). Use negative values for decrease.
Auto-increase from	Indicates the value to use to generate the new target (either the previous target or actual contribution)
Min	The automatic target should not be below this value
Max	The automatic target should not be above this value

Tracking values

You can use the tracking values grid to add, delete, or edit tracking values for the metric. Each tracking value can specify the date of the entry, the target (if any), and the actual amount being measured.

Tracking entry target values are meaningful for contribution and instance metrics, where you have an individual target for each entry.

They are not as useful for total metrics where you just record the new total in each new entry.