Manage scorecards and goals

Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability Tech Summit November 2024.

This article explains how to create scorecards and goals, and how to update the status of goals. Scorecards and goals enable organizations to curate sustainability metrics and track them against key business objectives. Goals can be created based on current and target values that are manually entered or derived from connected data sources. Users can manually check in updates, or the system can automatically update the current values and status.

Create a scorecard

  1. In the main navigation pane, select Scorecards.
  2. Select Add Scorecard to create a scorecard.
  3. In the Name field, enter the name of the scorecard.
  4. In the Description field, enter a description for the scorecard. The description should describe the goals to associate with the scorecard.
  5. In the Owner field, select a contact person to assign to the scorecard. The contact person can be either the person who is responsible for the scorecard, or the person who is creating and managing it.
  6. Select Save to save the scorecard. You can now start to enter the associated goals as described in the next section.

To edit or delete a scorecard, select the Manage Scorecard button (gear symbol) at the top of the Scorecards page.

Create goals

  1. In the main navigation pane, select Scorecards. Then select the scorecard that you want to enter goals for.

    Alternatively, select Settings in the navigation pane, and then select Company profile > Structure. Select an organizational unit, and then select View goals.

  2. Select Add goal.

  3. In the Goal name field, enter the name of the goal.

  4. In the Owner field, enter the name of the person who is managing the goal or responsible for it.

  5. In the Description field, enter a description for the goal.

  6. Mark the Aligns with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) checkbox if your goal aligns with the SBTi.

  7. In the Scorecard field, select the scorecard to associate with the goal. This field defaults if you're creating a goal from a scorecard.

  8. In the Parent goal field, select the parent goal if this one is a child goal.

  9. Optional: In the Organizational unit field, select an organizational unit. In the Facility field, select a facility.

  10. In the Start date field, select the start date for the goal. In the End date field, enter the date when you expect the target value to reach the goal, or enter the due date.

  11. In the Unit of measure field, enter the unit of measure. In this way, you also set the unit of measure for your current and target values. Any data point that comes in is automatically converted to the unit of measure that you select here.

  12. In the Does this goal have a baseline year? field, select Yes if you want to compare this goal's progress from a historical year and value. In the Baseline Year field, select your historical reporting year. In the Baseline value field, enter the comparative value.

  13. In the Does this goal have a baseline year? field, select No and enter your starting value in the Starting value field.

  14. In the Source of current value field, select an option to specify how the current value should be updated:

    • Enter manually – The current value is manually updated by using the check-in functionality that is described later in this article.

    • Connect to data – The current value is automatically updated every day or when new data is brought into the system.

      Note

      The maximum frequency is once per day. To use this option, follow these steps:

      1. Select Connect to data > Set up connection. Optionally, create rules based on pre-sets that have been established to provide a guide for common connection rules.
      2. In the Data source field, select the data source. Then, in the Value field, select the value. A preview of the value from the selected data source will appear. To update, select Calculate.
      3. Select Save.
  15. In the Source of target value field, manually enter the target value of the goal, or connect to data (that is, the value that you want to reach). Although you usually don't update the target value after setting a goal, you can edit the goal and update the target value.

    Note

    You can also enter manual target values as a percentage of your Baseline value. For example, if your Baseline value is 100,000 and you set Percentage of baseline value to 50, the Target value field automatically fills in 50,000.

  16. In the Status update method field, select the method to set the status of the goal. There are two options for updating the status:

    • Enter manually – Manually set the goal to Not Started, On Track, At Risk, Behind, Unmet, or Met. The status can be updated as part of the check-in process that is described later in this article.
    • Automatic – The status is automatically updated based on rules that you define. To use this option, select Create rules, and then, for each status, add a value and date condition. The system then sets the goal to that status if the condition is met.
  17. Select Save to save the goal to your scorecard.

  18. Tiles at the top of the Goal page provide insight into the number of goals and their status. Select the filter pane or the goal status to filter goals.

Manually check in updates to a goal

After you creat a goal, you can periodically update the current value and status.

  1. On the Goal page, select a goal, and then select Keep this goal on track by checking in.

  2. By default, the current date is used. However, you can change the value if you're creating a historical check-in.

  3. Enter the date of the check-in if it isn't automatically entered.

  4. Set the status for the check-in if it isn't automatically set.

  5. Optional: Add a note for reference.

  6. Select Save. The check-in is added to the trend chart at the top of the page.

Note

After you save a check-in, the system automatically generates a Percent change value, corresponding to the percentage of change between your last check-in and your latest one. For example, if the value of your last check-in was 4,000 mtCO2e and the value of your latest check-in is 8,700 mtCO2e, the Percent change is 117%. If this is your first check-in, the value is blank.

To edit an existing check-in, follow these steps.

  1. Select the goal to open the check-in page.

  2. Select the three vertical dots to the right of the check-in, and then select one of the following options:

    • Edit goal checkin
    • Delete goal checkin
    • Add note

Refresh the goal status

Refresh the current check-in by selecting Refresh for today.

Refresh check-in values over a range of dates by selecting Refresh for a date range. Use this option when creating a new goal to view more than a single check-in value on the progress chart. Refresh for a date range automatically creates check-ins either daily, monthly or annually over the period of time specified. Additionally, refresh for a date range allows organizations to recalculate their goal check-in values to account for changes in calculation methodology.