How to Set Up OKRs That Track Themselves
Wire key results to live metrics so their progress updates automatically — while still allowing manual overrides where you need them.
Overview
Key results in Plenix can update their own progress. Rather than someone logging a percentage every week, you point a key result at a live metric and Plenix moves it as the underlying number moves. Manual values are still respected where judgement is needed.
Step 1 — Create an objective
- Go to OKRs & Goals.
- Click Create Objective.
- Give it a title, an owner, and a period.
Step 2 — Add a key result
- Click Add Key Result.
- Enter the title and the start and target values.
- Set the metric source.
The metric source dropdown is what makes a key result self-tracking. It defaults to Manual — leave it there for anything a person judges. Choose one of the live sources to wire it to a real number in the platform, such as tickets closed, revenue booked, or health score.
Step 3 — Let it update
Progress recalculates from the live metric on a daily schedule. To see the effect straight away — after adding a key result, or before a review — click Sync live metrics and the figures refresh immediately.
Manual values
- A key result on Manual is only ever what someone enters.
- Setting a manual value is deliberate and is kept; it is not overwritten by the next sync.
- Use it for qualitative goals no single metric captures.
How progress rolls up
Each key result contributes to its objective's overall progress, and the objective's status reflects the blend. Because live-metric key results update themselves, the board is current without anyone maintaining it.
Tips
- Wire the obvious quantitative key results to a metric source; keep qualitative ones manual.
- Set honest start and target values — progress is measured between them, so a start value of zero on a metric that is already at 40 reads as instant success.
- Check in at period end. Automatic tracking removes the mid-cycle admin, not the judgement.
Where to go next
- Understand the whole module → Setting Up OKRs and Goals
- Next in this module → OKRs — Automatic Progress from Live Metrics
- See where this fits in the bigger picture → How a New Hire Becomes a Paid Employee
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