A blocked action appears disabled and cannot be selected. A pending action is waiting for approval. An unavailable action is not offered for that goal type or for your role.
Follow the goals process
1. Configure the module
The configuration defines how your company works with goals. It controls the available goal types, permissions, limits, and approval flow.
Who can configure the module?
General administrators, Performance administrators, and Talent Managers can access the configuration according to their assigned permissions.
Where can I find the settings?
- Go to Performance Management.
- Select Goals.
- Select the configuration icon at the top.
If you do not see the icon, your role does not have access to these settings.
What can the company configure?
In Goals > Settings review, in order: Goal types; Period and limits; Editing and approval; Notifications; Goal components. Key indicators and labels appear together under Goal components. Permission administration links keep distinct destinations for each goal type.
How do the minimum, maximum, and weights affect goals?
- The minimum can prevent you from deleting a goal if the person would fall below the required number.
- The maximum can prevent you from creating or duplicating another goal.
- Weight limits define how much each goal can weigh.
- The total weight of the goals applicable to a person cannot exceed 100%.
When a value does not meet these rules, Nala displays a warning so you can correct it before continuing.
2. Goals: configuration and creation
Goal settings define the company’s available goal types, periods, limits, permissions and components. The creation form separates properties, measurement and final assignment so you can review recipients before saving.
Administrators with the required permissions. Fields and options depend on company settings; this guide does not grant additional creation permissions.
Review the five Settings sections
In Goals > Settings review, in order: Goal types; Period and limits; Editing and approval; Notifications; Goal components. Key indicators and labels appear together under Goal components. Permission administration links keep distinct destinations for each goal type.
Complete properties and measurement
Open creation and choose an available type. For an individual goal, complete its name, description, period, dates, measurement and other required fields. When completion depends on the goal result, supporting indicators are optional and do not calculate it. When completion depends on indicators, complete at least one and make sure their weights total 100%. Indicators only appear when enabled.
Review final assignment
Select employees within your scope and check the summary. Select Assign this goal to me if you should also receive it; the general creation button does not automatically include you. For team goals, first define the team and organizational relationship. Check weights and recipients before creating: at least one assigned employee is required.
Periodicity is defined in Settings and cannot be changed within a goal. Labels, links and approval depend on the configuration and current process. If Approve and associate with the current performance process is available, review its effect before selecting it: association is not automatic.
3. Create and assign goals
Before creating a goal, define who will own the result and how it will be measured. This determines whether you should use an individual, team, or organizational goal.
What is the difference between the goal types?
| Type | What is it for? | How does the result work? |
|---|---|---|
| Individual | Defines an objective for one person. | Each employee maintains their own progress and result. |
| Team | Defines a shared objective for a team. | The assigned people share the result. |
| Organizational | Represents a company-wide priority. | It aligns team and individual goals with a broader objective. |
The post-evaluation rules described in this guide apply mainly to individual goals. Team and organizational goals may behave differently.
Who can create each type?
- An employee can create their own goal when the company allows it.
- A leader can create goals for people on their team when they have permission.
- Administrative roles can create goals within their scope.
- Team and organizational goals are available only when the company enables them and the role has access.
How do I create an individual goal?
Open creation and choose an available type. For an individual goal, complete its name, description, period, dates, measurement and other required fields. When completion depends on the goal result, supporting indicators are optional and do not calculate it. When completion depends on indicators, complete at least one and make sure their weights total 100%. Indicators only appear when enabled. Select employees within your scope and check the summary. Select Assign this goal to me if you should also receive it; the general creation button does not automatically include you. For team goals, first define the team and organizational relationship. Check weights and recipients before creating: at least one assigned employee is required.
What information do I need to complete?
The visible fields may vary, but usually include:
- Name or title.
- Description.
- Start and end dates.
- Period.
- Compliance rule.
- Weight.
- Target.
- Result or progress.
- Labels.
- A relationship with a team or organizational goal, when applicable.
- Key indicators.
How do key indicators work?
Indicators can support a goal or calculate its completion. Supporting indicators do not determine its result or need a weight for that calculation. If indicators calculate completion, at least one is required and their weights must total 100%. They only appear when enabled by the company.
What happens if I exceed the limits?
You cannot complete the creation or duplication until the issue is corrected. Review the number of goals, each goal's weight, and the applicable total for each person.
4. Track and update goals
An individual goal can be updated while it is not protected by a completed evaluation, provided that permissions, configuration, and process status allow it.
How do I update a goal?
- Go to Goals.
- Find the goal.
- Open the three-dot menu.
- Select Update.
- Edit the available fields.
- Save the changes.
Which actions might I see?
An individual goal that has not yet been evaluated may show:
- Update: opens the form to edit the goal.
- Duplicate: prepares a new goal based on the current one.
- Delete: deletes the goal or requests its deletion, depending on configuration.
These actions may appear disabled. The informational message explains why.
Why might an action be blocked?
- You do not have the required permission.
- The company disabled editing for your role.
- The goal has a pending request.
- The person already reached the maximum number of goals.
- Deleting the goal would leave the person below the minimum.
- A goal evaluation is active.
- The goal was already evaluated in a completed process.
Can I edit a goal while it is awaiting approval?
Yes. While the request is pending, you can continue editing the goal until the leader or an authorized administrator approves or rejects it. If it is approved and you later edit it again, the new changes go through the normal approval flow again.
Creating and editing goals is blocked for the people included in the process. This protects the information being evaluated.
5. Approve changes
The approval flow lets a leader or authorized role review changes that an employee requests for their own goals.
When is approval required?
- Without an approval flow: allowed changes are applied immediately.
- With an approval flow: a creation, update, or deletion request made by an employee for their own goal may remain pending.
- Change made by a leader: it is applied directly when the leader manages their team's goals and has permission.
- Change made by an administrative role: it is applied according to that role's permissions.
Who can resolve a request?
The direct leader and administrative roles with permission can approve or reject it within their scope.
What happens after the decision?
- 1The employee requests a change
- 2The goal remains pending and can still be edited
- 3The leader or administrator reviews it
- 4They approve or reject it
- If approved, the change becomes the current version.
- If an update is rejected, the goal returns to its previous information.
- If a creation is rejected, the goal is deleted and no longer appears.
- If a deletion request is rejected, the goal remains.
Email notifications depend on the company's configuration. Check the status directly in Nala even if you do not receive an email.
6. Evaluate goals
When a goal evaluation begins, Nala protects the information associated with the process to prevent changes during the review.
What happens when an evaluation begins?
Creating and editing goals is blocked for the people included in the process. The affected actions appear disabled.
Can an exception be enabled?
An administrator can exceptionally enable editing for a person from within the evaluation. If the company uses approvals, changes made by the employee during that exception also go through approval.
Which individual goals are included?
The selection considers:
- Whether the person is included in the process.
- Whether the goal falls within the evaluation's configured date range.
- Whether the goal is approved.
- Whether the goal is not archived.
Goals awaiting approval do not appear in the evaluation.
The application uses the start date to determine whether the goal falls within the configured range.
What happens to an archived goal?
An archived goal is not included in a new evaluation while it remains archived. Archiving a goal after it has been evaluated does not remove its historical result.
7. Manage evaluated goals
When does a goal move to its post-evaluation state?
The interface protects an individual goal when it has been answered in a completed process and has a definitive result. A draft does not trigger this change.
An evaluated goal no longer shows the Update or Delete actions. This preserves the historical information used in the evaluation.
Which actions are available?
An evaluated goal shows:
- Duplicate.
- Archive.
When it is already archived, it shows:
- Duplicate.
- Unarchive.
These actions are disabled if the person has an active evaluation.
How do I duplicate an evaluated goal?
- Find the evaluated goal.
- Open the three-dot menu.
- Select Duplicate.
- Review and edit the prefilled information.
- Select Save.
The action opens a form with the information from the original goal. The new goal is created only when you save it. Closing or canceling the form does not create a copy.
Duplication may require approval when performed by an employee and the company has enabled that flow. It may also be blocked if the maximum number of goals has been reached.
How do I archive or restore a goal?
- To archive it, open the menu and select Archive.
- To restore it, open the menu and select Unarchive.
Archiving does not delete the goal. The goal remains visible, keeps its result, and is excluded from new evaluations while it remains archived.
Archiving or unarchiving an evaluated individual goal is applied directly, even when the company has enabled the approval flow.
Summary by role
The exact actions depend on permissions and company configuration.
| Role | Own goals | Team goals | Approvals | During an evaluation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Employee | Creates or updates them when allowed. | Does not manage other people's goals by default. | Their requests may remain pending. | Cannot edit goals unless an exception is granted. |
| Leader | Manages them according to configuration. | Creates and updates goals within their scope when permitted. | Reviews requests within their scope. | Cannot edit goals unless the applicable exception is enabled. |
| General administrator | Manages them according to their access. | Manages company goals according to their access. | Can resolve requests when permitted. | Can manage exceptions. |
| Performance administrator | Manages them according to their permissions. | Configures the module and participates in evaluations. | Can resolve requests when permitted. | Manages evaluations and exceptions. |
| Talent Manager | Manages them according to their permissions. | Manages goals within their scope. | Can resolve requests when permitted. | Acts according to assigned permissions. |
Frequently asked questions
Why is an action missing or disabled?
It may be caused by the goal type or status, your permissions, configuration, a pending request, a goal limit, or an active evaluation. Review the action's informational message.
Why can't I update a goal?
You may be missing a permission, there may be a pending request or active evaluation, or the goal may be protected because it has already been evaluated.
Why can't I delete a goal?
It may be blocked by permissions, a pending request, or an active evaluation. It is also blocked if deletion would leave the person below the configured minimum. Evaluated goals do not offer this action.
Why can't I duplicate a goal?
It may be caused by permissions, a pending request, an active evaluation, or the maximum number of goals allowed.
Does a draft turn a goal into an evaluated goal?
No. The actions change when a definitive result exists within a completed process.
Is archiving the same as deleting?
No. Archiving preserves the goal and its history, but excludes it from new evaluations while it remains archived.
Can I restore an archived goal?
Yes. Open the three-dot menu and select Unarchive.
What happens when an evaluation is in progress?
Creating and editing goals is blocked for the people included. An administrator can enable an exception for a specific person.