# Understanding timeframes

Timeframes define when goals and OKRs are tracked in Databox. Unlike flexible date ranges, timeframes standardize reporting periods across your company, helping teams stay aligned while maintaining consistent progress calculations.

## Definition

Timeframes replace custom date ranges in goals and OKRs. You can choose from:

- **Fiscal Year (FY)**
- **Half-Year (H1, H2)**
- **Quarter (Q1–Q4)**
- **Continuous**


Timeframes make it easier to organize and review progress. They keep your goals and objectives aligned within the same reporting cycle, so you can quickly compare results across teams and track performance over time

## Progress calculation

Progress is no longer tied to a goal or objective's end date. Instead, it's defined by the **success criterion** you choose:

- *Reach* — achieve the target value.
- *Stay above* — maintain a minimum threshold.
- *Stay below* — remain under a set limit.


This makes progress tracking more accurate and keeps goals and objectives relevant throughout the selected timeframe.

The way progress is calculated depends on the type of progress source selected. See the sections below for details on how progress is measured for each source.

### Metric

`Progress = (current metric value / target value) * 100`

- The **reference value** (previous period) is used as the baseline for percentage or trend-based goals.
- For metrics where **trending down is positive** (such as bounce rate or churn), the logic reverses — progress improves as the metric decreases.


### Manual

Progress is updated manually by the goal owner or assigned users.

Updates are entered through the **Update progress** action and include a value, date, and optional note. A **progress history log** retains all updates, owners, and timestamps for reference.

### Sub-goals

Parent progress updates automatically as linked sub-goals are updated. Aggregation depends on the selected **measurement type**:

- **Percentage (%):** Average of sub-goal completion percentages
- **Number (#) or currency:** Sum of `sub-goal current values / total target * 100`


Only direct sub-goals contribute to a parent's progress (one-level rollup). Sub-goals themselves can be metric-based, manual, or sub-goal–driven.

## Changing a goal's timeframe

If you update a goal or objective's timeframe:

- The progress recalculates automatically.
- Goals remain grouped by the new period in all pages ([My Goals](https://app.databox.com/goals/my), [Team Goals](https://app.databox.com/goals/team), [Company Goals](https://app.databox.com/goals/company), [OKRs](https://app.databox.com/goals/okr-strategy)).
- Sub-goals outside a parent's timeframe stop contributing to its progress.


No. Custom date ranges have been replaced by timeframes. Existing goals were migrated to the *Continuous* timeframe by default, and you can reassign them to a specific cycle (for example, *Q1 2025* or *FY 2025*).

Timeframes standardize reporting periods across your organization (for example, *Q1*, *H1*, or *FY 2025*), while [date ranges](/select-date-ranges) are flexible filters used in Databoards and reports. Goals and objectives now use timeframes to ensure consistent alignment and aggregation.

 

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