Meet the new BigPicture navigation
A faster, smarter, and more intuitive way to work is here. We’ve redesigned BigPicture navigation to give you a smoother experience and better access to what matters most.
→ Discover what’s new, explore key improvements, and review feature name updates on the New navigation page.
→ The rollout will happen gradually, and the previous navigation will be retired in September 2026.
Objectives & Key Results (OKR module)
In the OKR module, you can create and manage OKRs throughout their full lifecycle and then update and track their progress in a single or multiple boxes.
The OKR module features its own configuration and security/permission settings. Administrators and authorized users can manage these through a dedicated Settings page.
OKR attributes
The Strategic Themes, Objectives, and Key Results (OKRs) have a set of characteristics that define their purpose and let you manage OKRs effectively. Think of them as the data you provide and assign at different stages as you manage your OKRs.
Strategic Themes and sub-Strategic Themes
Strategic Themes and sub-Strategic Themes share the same attributes, such as Name, Owner, and Period. But the sub-Strategic Theme has one attribute that the Strategic Theme doesn’t have: the Contribution. Just like sub-objectives and Key Results, they contribute to the parent Strategic Theme’s success. And the higher the weight they are assigned, the greater their contribution.
Visit the Strategic theme attributes page for more information.
Objective and sub-objective attributes
Objectives and sub-objectives share the same attributes, such as Name, Owner, and Period. But the sub-objective has one attribute that the Objective doesn’t have: the Contribution. Just as Key Results contribute to the parent Objective’s success, they do so as well. And the higher the weight assigned to them, the greater their contribution.
Visit the Objective attributes page for more information.
Key Result attributes
The set of Key Result attributes differs slightly between manual KRs (updated manually) and auto-KRs (updated automatically). All KRs have the value fields (Start, Current, and Target) that define their progress, but you can update the Current value only for the manual KR; this value for the auto-KR exists but is unavailable since it is automatically updated.
Visit the Key Result attributes page for more information.
OKR progress
The progress of OKRs (Strategic themes, Objectives, and Key Results) can be calculated and updated automatically or manually.
OKR statuses
OKR update statuses
The OKR status reflects an OKR's success at a given moment. There are four statuses you can assign when updating an OKR:
Not started
On track
At risk
Off track
Statuses cannot be customized and must be updated manually—even if your OKR reaches negative progress or a successful 100%, its status will not be updated automatically.
Refer to the update an OKR page for more information.
OKR closure statuses
When you close an OKR, you can assign it a status to better reflect the reason for its closure. There are five closure statuses:
Success
Incomplete
Failed
Rescheduled
Cancelled
OKRs across multiple boxes
All OKRs created in the OKR module are global. This means that once you or another permitted user creates an OKR in their box, you can link it to your box or boxes. This is especially useful when specific OKRs are assigned to a higher-level box, such as a project, program, or portfolio, and you want to distribute them to the respective boxes.
The progress the OKRs achieve in individual boxes is also reflected in their parent box/boxes.
OKRs in other modules
Dedicated columns in the Gantt module
If you have linked your Jira work items to Key Results for specific Objectives, you can show these KRs and Objectives in the Gantt module by adding the Objectives, Key Results, and OKR Type columns.
This will let you visualize which work items contribute to which OKRs. For better visibility, you can group the tasks by any (or both) of those columns.
OKRs as structure builders
Like tasks, OKRs also form a structure, with an Objective as the top element. You can use the parent-child relationships between OKRs and tasks to automatically build a task structure in your box.
Field synchronization (OKR fields vs BigPicture fields)
Note that the field names in the OKR module differ from those in other modules. Despite these naming differences, the fields still synchronize with corresponding fields in the Gantt and other modules.
Import/Export OKRs
It is possible to import and export OKRs to and from a box through a .csv file.