What the Target widget shows, when to reach for its line or gauge, and how to set it up from a target plan metric
A Target widget shows how one plan metric is progressing toward its goal on a dashboard: how far the metric has come against the target you set for it, and whether it’s pacing to reach it. It draws the metric, the periods, and the target from the target plan the metric belongs to, so it ignores the board’s date range, comparison period, and global filters. It comes in two displays, a line and a gauge, that you choose when you add it.
Choosing a display
Section titled “Choosing a display”Both displays answer one question: is this metric on track? They differ only in how much they show. A line plots the metric against its target across the plan’s periods; a gauge reduces the same progress to a single dial. They read from the same plan target and pacing, so they always agree. Pick the one that fits the space you have and the reader you’re building for.
The line variant shows a plan metric’s value across the plan’s periods, next to where it should be by now. Use it when the shape of progress matters and you have room for a chart.
The card fits several readings into a small space:
- the current value as a large number, with the target beside it
- a progress bar with a target tick and a dashed pace tick, marking where you’re expected to be today
- a % OF PACE caption, green when the metric is on track and red when it’s behind
- a small chart of the trend underneath
The line comes in two views:
Per period plots each period’s own value as a line, so you see the rises and dips period by period.
Cumulative plots the running total as a filled area climbing toward the target, so you see whether the sum is on course. You set the view in the widget’s settings; it changes only the chart, and the number, target, and pacing stay the same.
A gauge shows the same progress as a single dial. The arc fills as the plan metric approaches its target, and a full arc means the target is reached. A marker on the arc shows where you’re expected to be by now, and a status label and pace caption read out the same pacing as the line. Use it when you want the answer in one glance and little room; several gauges sit side by side on a board without crowding it.
When no metric is set
Section titled “When no metric is set”A Target widget is empty until you point it at a metric. Before you pick one, it shows a short placeholder, “This widget has no target”, with a View target plans link that opens your plans so you can see what’s there to track. Choose a metric in the widget’s settings and the placeholder gives way to the line or gauge.
A widget lands back here if its metric is later removed from the plan: with nothing to show, it returns to the same placeholder until you point it at another metric. (Deleting the whole plan removes its widgets instead of emptying them.)
Set up the widget
Section titled “Set up the widget”A Target widget draws from a plan, so it has fewer controls than other widgets: the plan already fixes the dataset, the periods, and the target. Two settings shape it:
- Target: the plan metric to track. The picker lists every metric across all your target plans, labelled by plan and metric name; choosing one is what fills the widget. If you haven’t built a plan yet, the picker points you to create one first.
- View (line only): Per period or Cumulative, as described above. The gauge has no view to set.
There’s no dataset, metric, or filter to choose here: those belong to the plan, and change only when you edit the plan itself. Opening the editor, setting a title, and saving work the same way for every widget, and are covered on the Dashboards page.