How to Forecast and Set Custom Goals in Ninety
Ninety's Scorecard tool gives you three ways to adjust a Measurable's goal beyond the default target set at creation: you can change the goal permanently from a specific date forward, override it for a single reporting period, or enter forecasted values for future periods.
Owners, Admins, Managers, and Team Members can use all three features. Observers cannot edit Measurable data.
Important: Entering a value in a future cell creates a custom goal (a forecast), not actual data. Actual scores can only be recorded once that reporting period arrives. If your Scorecard totals look unexpected after entering future values, see the troubleshooting section below.
Setting a new permanent goal
Use the Set new future Goal feature to change a Measurable's goal to a specific date in the future. This preserves your historical data under the original goal while applying the new target to all future reporting periods. This feature is not available for smart Measurables.
When you save a new permanent goal, Ninety automatically converts all previous scores to custom goals to reflect the original target — so your historical performance is still measured accurately against what the goal was at the time.
To set a new permanent goal:
Click Scorecard from the left navigation.
Select your team from the Team dropdown.
Select a Scorecard tab (Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, or Annual).
Right-click the Measurable's row anywhere to the left of the reporting period columns.
Select Set new future Goal from the menu.
Enter the new target in the Goal field.
Optionally, update the goal orientation rule using the dropdown.
Click Save & Reload.
Setting a custom goal for a single reporting period
Use the Set custom Goal or note feature to override a Measurable's goal for one specific reporting period. This is useful for accounting for absences, holidays, seasonal variation, or other one-time exceptions that make the standard goal temporarily inappropriate. Additionally, custom goals can be used to preserve historical data integrity when updating global goals, ensuring that past performance is evaluated against the original targets.
To set a custom goal for a single reporting period:
Click Scorecard from the left navigation.
Select your team from the Team dropdown.
Select a Scorecard tab (Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, or Annual).
Right-click the cell for the reporting period you want to adjust.
Click Set custom Goal or note.
Enter the custom goal number.
Click Save.
Forecasting future values
You can enter projected values for future reporting periods to plan ahead and visualize expected performance. To see future cells on your Scorecard, change the Date Range dropdown to either Current Quarter or Current Year. Both options extend your Scorecard view to include blank cells for upcoming periods in the selected range.
To enter a forecasted value, click any cell representing a future date and type a projected value. If the Measurable uses a range goal, you'll enter a minimum and maximum value for that period.
Note: Values entered in future cells are custom goals (forecasts), not actual data. They will not be counted as recorded scores, and they won't affect your Scorecard totals the same way actual entries do. Once a forecasted period becomes current, you'll need to enter actual data in that cell to record the real score.
To forecast future values:
Click Scorecard from the left navigation.
Select your team from the Team dropdown.
Select a Scorecard tab (Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, or Annual).
Click the Date Range dropdown and select Current Quarter or Current Year.
Click a cell representing a future date.
Enter the projected value (or minimum and maximum values for range goals).
Video: setting goals ahead for seasonality
Watch the video below for how to enter a whole quarter or year of custom goals in one pass, rather than right-clicking week by week.
The video covers:
Finding the future weeks. Set the date range to the current year and switch the columns to chronological order, then scroll right. Future periods are marked with an italicized header and a dark bar underneath, so you can see exactly where past ends and future begins.
Entering goals in bulk. Anything typed into a future cell is saved as that period's custom goal. Most teams do a quarter at a time and reset each quarter, or set a full year when they already know their seasonal pattern.
Getting back to your working view. Switch the date range back to the last 13 weeks and return to reverse order. When the week arrives, the custom goal is already there, and you can still right-click it to adjust it or add a note.
Rolling weekly numbers up. The View By control aggregates weeks into months, quarters, or years and is read-only. For a percentage-based Measurable, open it and change Show Rollup As to Average rather than Total, so the aggregated view reads correctly.
One limitation worth knowing. Custom goals cannot be entered from an aggregated view. Switch back to the weekly view to set them.
Troubleshooting
My Scorecard totals are incorrect after I enter values in future cells.
Values entered in future cells are custom goals, not actual scores. They're treated as forecasts and aren't counted in your Scorecard totals the same way actual data is. To record actual data, wait until the reporting period begins and enter the score then.
The Set new future Goal option isn't appearing when I right-click.
This feature isn't available for smart Measurables (indicated by a lightning bolt icon). To check whether your Measurable is a smart Measurable, look for the lightning bolt icon to the left of the Measurable's title. For smart Measurables, edit the underlying formula or data source instead. Smart Measurables are those pulling data from an integration, which is why they cannot use the Set new future Goal feature.
I don't see future cells when I change the date range.
Future cells are only visible when Current Quarter or Current Year is selected in the Date Range dropdown. Other options (Custom, Last 13 Weeks, QTD, YTD) only display past or current periods. Confirm your selection and verify you're on the correct Scorecard tab.
I set a custom goal for a period, but the cell color doesn't look right.
Custom goals affect how Ninety evaluates performance for that period. If the color status (red, yellow, or green) looks unexpected, confirm that the custom goal value and goal orientation are set correctly. For more on how status colors work, see Customizing Your Team's Scorecards with Settings.
Historical cells turned red after updating a general goal. Updating a general or global goal recalculates all cells against the new target, which may cause earlier data to fall below the updated goal. To resolve this, use custom goals for specific cells or weeks to preserve historical accuracy.
If you need additional help, contact support.