Associating the primary goal or target for work and planning items

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Associating the primary goal or target for work and planning items

    ServiceNow enables you to associate a primary goal or target to work and planning items to clearly define how these items contribute to achieving strategic objectives. This association helps in tracking alignment between projects, demands, programs, features, epics, and planning items with organizational goals or targets.

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    Different user roles and plugins are required depending on the type of work or planning item to set these associations. You can set both primary and non-primary goals or targets, providing flexibility in how relationships are managed and viewed.

    How to Associate Primary Goals or Targets

    Primary goals or targets can be assigned by populating the Primary goal and Primary target fields on forms for the following items:

    • Project
    • Demand
    • Program
    • Feature (including SAFe and Agile Development 2.0)
    • Epic (Scrum and SAFe)
    • Planning item (Project, Demand, Scrum/SAFe Epic)

    Additionally, non-primary goals or targets can be related through the Goal/Target Relationships related list on these forms. Associations can be viewed both from the goal/target perspective and from the work or planning item’s related lists.

    Roles, Plugins, and Practical Steps

    The ability to set primary goals or targets depends on specific roles and plugins associated with the work or planning item type. For example:

    • Project: Requires the PPM Standard plugin and projectmanager role.
    • Demand: Requires PPM Standard plugin and demandmanager role.
    • Program: Requires PPM Standard plugin and programmanager role.
    • Feature: Requires either Agile Development 2.0 plugin with rmfeatureadmin role or Scaled Agile Framework plugin with safeartuser or safeadmin roles.
    • Epic: Requires Agile Development 2.0 plugin with scrumstorycreator role or Scaled Agile Framework plugin with safeartuser role.
    • Planning item: Requires Strategic Planning plugin with snaligncore.apwuser role.

    To associate, open the required item’s form and enter the desired goal or target in the Primary goal and/or Primary target fields.

    Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Clear visibility into how individual work and planning items align with strategic goals or targets.
    • Improved governance and prioritization by associating relevant goals/targets directly on work items.
    • Role-based access ensures only authorized users can set these critical associations, maintaining data integrity.
    • Supports multiple frameworks and methodologies including PPM, Agile Development 2.0, and Scaled Agile Framework.

    You can associate a goal or target as the primary for the work and planning items where the items contribute to achieving the goal or target. You need different roles to set a goal or target as the primary for work and planning items.

    You can associate a goal or target as primary to work and planning items by populating the Primary goal and Primary target fields on the Project, Demand, Program, Feature, Epic, and Planning item forms.

    You can also associate non-primary goals or targets to work and planning items from the Goal/Target Relationships related list on the Project, Demand, Program, Feature, Epic, and Planning item forms.

    Once you associate work and planning items to goals or targets, you can check these relationships directly in the goal's or target's related list or in the respective work or planning item’s related list.

    The following table describes how the primary goal or target can be set for each work and planning item.

    Work / Planning item Plugin required Role required Steps to associate the primary goal
    Project PPM Standard project_manager
    1. Open the required project.
    2. On the form, enter the goal or target that you want to associate to the project in the Primary goal and Primary target fields respectively.
    Demand PPM Standard demand_manager
    1. Open the required demand.
    2. On the form, enter the goal or target that you want to associate to the demand in the Primary goal and Primary target fields respectively.
    Program PPM Standard program_manager
    1. Open the required program.
    2. On the form, enter the goal that you want to associate to the program in the Primary goal and Primary target fields respectively.
    Feature Agile Development 2.0 rm_feature_admin
    1. Open the required feature.
    2. On the form, enter the goal or target that you want to associate to the feature in the Primary goal and Primary target fields respectively.
    SAFe Feature Scaled Agile Framework safe_art_user or safe_admin
    1. Open the required feature.
    2. On the form, enter the goal or target that you want to associate to the feature in the Primary goal and Primary target fields respectively.
    Scrum Epic Agile Development 2.0 scrum_story_creator
    1. Open the required epic.
    2. On the form, enter the goal or target that you want to associate to the epic in the Primary goal and Primary target fields respectively.
    SAFe Epic Scaled Agile Framework safe_art_user
    1. Open the required epic.
    2. On the form, enter the goal or target that you want to associate to the epic in the Primary goal and Primary target fields respectively.
    Planning item (Project, Demand, and Scrum/SAFe Epic) Strategic Planning sn_align_core.apw_user
    1. Open the required planning item.
    2. On the form, enter the goal or target that you want to associate to the planning item in the Primary goal and Primary target fields respectively.