20+ Frequently asked questions (FAQ): OGSM Software
Looking for help? You are in the right place. On this page, you will find answers to the most frequently asked questions (FAQ) about OGSM Software. Should you find your question missing from the FAQ, please contact us.
1. Access & permissions
Follow the steps from the invitation e-mail to activate and set up your account. Also check your spam email folder. If in spam, then add the sender to your contact list to ensure you do receive future emails. If no invitation e-mail arrived, please check with your supervisor or contact person for OGSM Software. After activating your account, use your password and username or your e-mail address to log in via https://login.ogsmsoftware.com/
You can change your personal settings by clicking your name at the top right of the screen and going to the My settings menu. If you click on the OGSM Software logo in the top left menu, you will always return to the OGSM page.
OGSM software supports Single Sign On for Microsoft Azure, Outlook, Google and OKTA. Click on the logo of your preferred service and log in through Single Sign On. Check the “Remember me” box to remember your username and password.
OGSM Software has three different user roles:
- Admin: can see and edit everything
- Manager: can edit and add elements freely. Cannot invite new users or set user rights.
- User: can only edit elements he/she is owner of. They cannot add new elements to the OGSM.
A Manager can also be made OGSM Owner. As OGSM Owner, a Manager will have Admin rights for this specific OGSM.
| Role name | Activities | Updates via email | Visual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Person without email | none (reference only) | No |  |
| Person with email | Action or step owner, updates via web form, notified via email | Yes |  |
| User = Person + login activated | Usually action owner who creates steps and updates action weekly | Yes |  |
| Manager often is OGSM owner | Monthly report on OGSM, interacts with other OGSM owners for dependencies | Yes |  |
| Admin | User administration, checks activity on all OGSMs, transfer ownership actions/OGSMs when required | Yes |
They can only do so with the appropriate edit rights. Please refer to the “Permissions” section of the user guide for further information.
In OGSM Software, you can set different permission levels – public, read-only, and private. Not only for the whole OGSM but also for individual elements. This ensures secure access and collaboration while allowing the right stakeholders to contribute effectively. It’s a powerful way to streamline strategic planning and execution within your organization.
An OGSM has 3 main modes and 1 advanced mode.
An owner of an OGSM can change the settings/visibility of the OGSM.
- Open/public (to users) (default): OGSM can be edited by Admins, Managers, and Users where they are the owner of the object.
- ReadOnly: All users can see the OGSM and it’s contents but cannot open or edit any object within the OGSM
- Private: Admins see that the OGSM exists, but cannot see it’s contents. Other user roles do not see that the OGSM exists
If you want limited people to be able to edit your OGSM in Readonly or Private mode, the OGSM owner needs to grant users special privileges here.
- Open/public (to users) (default): OGSM can be edited by Admins, Managers, and Users where they are the owner of the object.
Click on the three dots in the top-left corner of your workspace, then click on “Go to OGSM list” and download the sample you want to view.
2. Creating your OGSM with OGSM Software
Click on the “Objective” to edit it. Click under “Name OGSM” to edit the OGSM name.
Click on the plus sign or on the “add new” pop-up to add a new goal set. Select whether it is a ‘what’ (lagging indicator) or ‘how’ (leading indicator) set. Click on the red trash can to delete a goal (set) and on the yellow pencil to edit the goal (set) or add additional goals to the set. You can edit the text by clicking on it.
Split goals into sub-KPIs by adding sub-KPIs that directly affect the Goal. Or use existing goals or dashboard measures as sub-KPIs by clicking the “select” button under the sub-goals or sub-KPI heading, and selecting from the list those KPIs that directly affect the Goal or Dashboard Measure.
Click on the plus sign to add a new strategy. Click on the red trash can to delete the strategy and on the yellow pencil to edit it. Or you can edit the text directly in the overview by clicking on it.
In the edit menu, you can assign the owner responsible for this strategy and its status updates. By opening Dashboard measures or Actions via the arrow button, you can add measures and actions, as well as check and edit their status.
Adding, editing and deleting works the same as with Strategies (see the above Q&A). But for Dashboard Measures, if you click on the yellow pencil, the “Graph” or “Details” pop-up opens. This will show the values entered so far. You can switch between these pages via the tabs:
Details
Here, you can enter whether the Dashboard Measure is a ‘what’ (lagging indicator) or a ‘how’ (leading indicator) measurement. You can also submit the start and end date and corresponding values here. The graph is generated based on these values. Determine the measurement period and update frequency. Based on this, the KPI owner receives automatic requests to update the status.
Graph
The graph shows the actual progress (based on entered values) relative to the forecast (based on start / end date). You can check the entered values via the arrow button and enter a new value (progress) manually.
Click on the plus sign or on the “Add new” pop-up to add a new action set. Fill out the fields. The owner responsible for this action will provide status updates and receive the update requests. You can add additional team members by clicking on the arrow button next to ‘Team’.
Yes! You can activate the option to add Risks to your Actions via the “MENU” button in the top left. Then click on ‘Administration’ → ‘Workspace settings’ → ‘Workspace settings’ → Other. Check the “OGSM contains Risks” option.
Then open the Action Measure where the Risk applies. Scroll all the way down in the action edit menu. The “Risks” function button is now displayed at the bottom. Click on this “Risks” button and add the desired content.
3. Managing your OGSM with OGSM Software
In the top right menu of the OGSM use the “Print OGSM” menu option. Note: the print dialog has options like “print background graphics”, zoom, landscape/portrait all of these options will have effect on how your OGSM prints. These are your PC’s print options and not OGSM software changeable.
You can specify the frequency of status update reminders to owners in the ‘status update frequency’ text box in the details section of the relevant Goal or Dashboard Measure. You can also send an ad hoc project status update request by clicking the ‘send status update request’ button in the Details sections of an Action Measure. The action owner will receive an email with a direct link to an update form to update the requested action.
Yes, in your settings you can enable or disable the email updates for all items allocated to you in one go. For more information, refer to “User settings” in the user guide.
After you have updated a goal, strategy, measure or action, please save the activity and refresh the page. Also make sure the start and end date of the updated action are set correctly, to make sure you are not updating an action that has already ended.
You can filter the actions (top left in Measure Action Plans), for example to hide all actions that are done. A warning sign appears when the filter is on.
When hovering with your mouse over the actions, you will see a “filter” button. Select this, go to “advanced”, then choose the person you want to filter by. This will reduce the amount of items shown and speed the loading of your page. Note! Don’t forget to turn off your filter when you no longer want it.
⚠️ Important: an Admin will need to manually enable/disable the email reminders.
How to enable/disable status update emails:
- Log in to OGSM Software
- Click on ‘Settings’ in the left-hand menu
- Select ‘Workspace settings’
- Click on the ‘Reminders’ tab (third menu tab)
- Ensure the following checkboxes are ticked when enabling (they should appear blue). If you wish to disable the emails, simply untick these boxes:
- Mailing enabled?
- Measure/Goal mailing
- Action status updates e-mails.
🟥 Note: If you disable status updates, it’s possible that some status indicators will appear red, as the system still expects updates for the measure moments that have already been set. This is purely visual and not a problem.
4. Advanced settings
In the top right corner use the 3 dot menu to reorder children of an OGSM
Under the users list, select OGSM mode and the user will only see OGSMs where they are part of the team. Add a user to the team via OGSM tree 3 dot menu
In your admin settings you can enforce that users can only access the tool via single sign on for two factor authentication. This is recommended for all users.
Is your question not answered in this FAQ?
If you have a question that is not included in the FAQ or OGSM Software User Guide, please contact us.