This technical guide explains how to use Strategic Themes to track organisational initiatives. It provides a walkthrough of the setup process, access controls, and the analytical tools used to monitor progress and completion rates across teams.
Interface Controls & Global Navigation
The Themes & Portfolios page serves as the central repository for your strategic initiatives.
View Selection: You can toggle to the All Themes tab for a full list or use the Favorites tab for pinned items.
Search and Filters: Use the integrated Search bar to find themes by title or owner, and apply Filters to sort by status, type, and time period.
Actions: Each theme entry includes icons to View the dashboard, Edit settings, or Delete the item.
Table Settings: The Settings menu allows you to choose which metadata columns, such as Progress, Status, or Teams, are visible in the main table.
Strategic Theme Setup and Configuration
Tracking begins with the creation modal, where you define the logic, identity, and security for each workstream.
Creating a New Strategic Theme
The Strategic Theme serves as a focused initiative within your organisation. You can get started by clicking the + New Theme button on the main hub.
Within the Basic Details tab, you can enter a mandatory Title and Short Summary in the designated fields to clarify the theme's purpose.
You also get the option to provide a detailed Description using the rich-text editor, which helps stakeholders understand the business case and success criteria.
Define the current Status (e.g., Draft or In Progress), set the Priority level, and categorise the theme by Type.
Select a specific Time Period and enter Start and End Dates. This data is critical because it acts as the primary input for the system's automated health and variance calculations.
It is also important to link the theme to a specific Portfolio, define the Owner (Collection), and assign a Responsible individual. Additionally, you can select which Collections and Teams are associated with this workstream to ensure team-level progress rolls up correctly.
Creating Theme’s Visual Identity
Scroll to the Appearance section to customize how the theme appears in the hub:
Icon and Color: Select a unique Icon (e.g., "Conveyor" or "Folder") and a Background Color.
Pattern: Apply a Pattern to the card for easier recognition.
Preview: View the Preview box to see how the theme card will look before saving.
Access Management & Security
The Users & Permissions sub-tab manages who can view or edit strategic data.
Grant Access: You can search for individual users or groups in the directory and click Add to move them into the authorised list.
Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Once a user is added, you can assign roles to define their access levels:
Role | Technical Description | Access Level |
Admin | Full architectural control | You can edit settings, manage permissions, and delete data. |
User | Standard operational access | You can edit details, manage objectives, and update key results. |
Read-Only | Viewing rights only | You can access dashboards, tree views, and roadmaps without editing. |
Demo | Restricted preview access | You have view-only access, typically used for presentations. |
Strategic Theme Intelligence Suite
Opening a theme reveals a 5-tab suite for tracking execution.
List View: This list view provides a tabular breakdown of all objectives linked to the theme.
The Strategic Dashboard:
The dashboard focuses on real-time health and progress metrics. In this dashboard, you can view the Theme Health Status, where the system compares actual Progress (e.g., 36%) against Expected Progress (e.g., 19%). If progress lags behind the timeline, you will see an automated "Delayed" flag. Otherwise, it marks the theme as "On Track".
The dashboard visualises how progress is distributed across various organisational layers.
Completion Distributions: Interactive bar charts show the status breakdown for both Objectives and Key Results, identifying how many are "On Track" versus "Completed".
Status by Collection: Users can analyse performance at the ART or business unit level, seeing which groups (e.g., ART 2, Release Train Finance) are successfully hitting their targets.
Performance Rates: The dashboard provides precise Completion Rates for each collection, such as showing 75% completion for specific active groups.
Tree View: You can use this structural map to trace the alignment from the Theme down to Collections (ARTs) and specific Objectives.
Each node within the tree displays its current progress percentage and automated health status (e.g., "ON TRACK"), allowing you to identify exactly where in the hierarchy a delay might be occurring.
You can use the Start from toggle to re-center the visualisation on a specific level, such as a specific Collection or Objective.
Use the Search and Filter controls to isolate high-priority data points within a complex enterprise map.
Progress Tracking: You can view detailed charts surfacing Current Progress, Total Change, and Avg Velocity per day.
The system calculates average output to provide an Est. Completion date (e.g., 19 days remaining), removing the need for manual projections.
Progress Percentage Over Time: A detailed graph plots your progress toward the Target: 100%.
Custom Intervals: You can select specific intervals (e.g., 6W, 12W, 6M, 1Y) to analyze trends over various time horizons.
OKR Roadmap: This helps manage your strategic milestones on a timeline and allows you to visualise dependencies across quarterly horizons.
Maintenance & Transparency
The Updates Log: Click the Updates button (top-right) to access a chronological audit trail of all activity within the last 30 days.
Linked Item Settings: Use the Settings button within a theme to choose which technical KPIs, such as Children Count or Estimate (SP), appear in your OKR views.
By centralising initiatives, you ensure every team deliverable is explicitly linked to high-level organisational goals.