Before You Start
Two fields on these objects cannot be changed once you save. Get them right the first time:- KPI Type — Numeric, Percentage, or Binary. Locked immediately after save. Changing your mind means creating a new KPI and archiving the old one.
- The Associated KPI on an Activity — an Activity is permanently tied to the KPI it was created under. Same rule: to move an activity to a different KPI, create a new one.
- Which project owns each KPI? A KPI belongs to exactly one project. Multi-project measurement rolls up at the Portfolio level.
- What’s the target and what’s the baseline? Baseline is optional but useful — it’s the starting measure before your intervention (e.g. “literacy was 40% before the project”) and it makes progress interpretable.
- Are you setting up one at a time or a batch? Both KPIs and Activities support bulk import from Excel, which is much faster if you’re setting up 15 KPIs at project kickoff.
Creating a KPI
1
Open the KPI form
Two entry points:
- Inside a project, open the KPI & Activities tab and click + KPI. The KPI is pre-linked to that project.
- Globally, go to KPIs in the left sidebar and click Add KPI. You’ll pick the project in the form.
2
Fill in Basic Info
3
Set Targets and Baseline
Which fields appear here depends on the type you picked.
4
Save
Click Save. The KPI appears in the project’s KPI & Activities tab with an empty progress bar, ready for activities to feed it.
Choosing a KPI Type
Because the type is locked after save, this decision is worth making deliberately.Bulk-Importing KPIs from Excel
Useful when you’re setting up several KPIs at project kickoff.1
Open the bulk import flow
From KPIs in the left sidebar, click Bulk Import and select the target project. All imported KPIs will belong to this project.
2
Download the sample template
Click Download Template to get the Excel file. Columns match the manual form: title, type, target, unit, frequency, and so on.
3
Fill KPIs row by row
One KPI per row. Keep the column names as they are — the importer matches by column name.
4
Upload and review errors
Upload the completed file. The system validates every row and shows row-level errors inline — for example, an invalid KPI Type, a missing Unit on a Numeric KPI, or a bad project reference. Fix the flagged rows in the file and upload again.
5
Confirm
Once all rows pass validation, confirm the import. Every valid row becomes a KPI on the target project.
Adding Activities to a KPI
An Activity is a specific, time-bound piece of work under a KPI — the actual thing your team is doing on the ground to move that KPI forward. Every Activity must be linked to a KPI. Think of it like this:- KPI: Vaccinate 500 children
- Activities: Outreach in Village A + Vaccination camp in Village B + Follow-up in Village C
1
Open the Activity form
Two entry points:
- Inside a project, open KPI & Activities, expand the KPI, and click + Activity. The KPI (and project) are pre-linked.
- Globally, go to Activities in the left sidebar and click Add Activity. You’ll pick the KPI in the form.
2
Confirm Strategic Alignment
3
Fill in Basic Info
4
Set Timeline and Resources
5
Save
Click Save. The activity appears under its parent KPI in the KPI & Activities tab, and starts contributing to the KPI’s progress as soon as its status moves.
Bulk-Importing Activities from Excel
One important difference from KPI bulk import: activities need to know which KPI they belong to.1
Get the KPI IDs you'll reference
From the KPI list, copy the KPI ID for each parent KPI. You’ll paste these into your Excel file so the importer can link every activity to the right KPI (and via the KPI, to the right project).
2
Download the Activity template
From Activities in the left sidebar, click Bulk Import and download the Activity Bulk Upload Template.
3
Fill activities row by row
One activity per row. Paste the KPI ID into the KPI column for each row — this is the field that ties the activity to its parent.
4
Upload and fix any errors
Row-level validation errors are shown inline, exactly like the KPI import. A common error here is a missing or misspelled KPI ID.
How Activities Move KPIs
Different KPI types accumulate progress differently. Knowing this helps you write activity titles and set completion values that actually move the needle.
Activity status auto-logic worth knowing:
- New activity → automatically Not Started.
- Planned End Date passes without Completed → activity is flagged overdue on the dashboard.
- Activity marked Completed → counts toward the parent KPI according to that KPI’s type (as above).
Dashboard and Reports
Once KPIs and Activities exist, they show up automatically in two places:- The project Dashboard — as KPI progress rings/bars with green/amber/red status, plus an Activity Timeline of what’s running. See KPI Dashboards.
- AI Reports — the KPI status section of every report is drawn from these values. Precise KPI titles (with numbers, target populations, and locations) produce noticeably better report narratives than vague ones. See Approving Reports.
Editing Later
What you can change after a KPI or Activity is saved, and what you can’t:
If you need to change any of the locked fields, the answer is the same in both cases: create a new KPI (or activity) with the correct value, and cancel or delete the incorrect one.
Next Steps
With your measurement layer in place, everything else falls into a familiar rhythm:- Field Officers collect data — approved submissions on Numeric and Percentage KPIs start moving the achieved value.
- Monitor progress — catch amber KPIs before they turn red.
- Generate and approve reports — KPI status is a headline section on every report type.