Check-ins are updates that team members make to the Objectives and Key Results they are responsible for at a regular cadence. Regular check-ins prompt a constant, rhythmic review of OKRs, which helps your team stay on track, course-correct, make necessary changes to outdated or unachievable Objectives, and most importantly, ensure they are spending time on the tasks that really matter.

The fact that all check-ins are visible to everyone in the organization maintains transparency and accountability in the OKR process.

To make a quick check-in, you can also navigate to the list of Objectives and hover over the Objective or Key Result you want to update. Select the check-in option:

In the Check-in sidebar that appears:

Keep it short and crisp; the OKR process does not require long-winded explanations on every check-in; you could be spending that time on the tasks that really matter. 

At the same time, remember that anyone in the Organization can read your updates, so add just enough information for them to clearly and quickly understand the status of your Objective.

After you make a check-in, you’ll notice that the statuses and progress of all parent Objectives get updated automatically. This roll-up reflects and maintains the alignment between different levels of OKRs.

One exception is Objectives tracked by custom KPI: Ally can’t know how the progress of the Key Result will impact the aligned Objectives, and hence Ally will not automatically update the progress. It will have to be updated manually with a check-in. 

If there is just one owner or multiple owners assigned to an OKR and you would want a user within the organization to check-in and update the progress of the OKR, you can use the ‘check-in responsibility’ feature. The check-in owner will be able to check-in on the OKR (manual check-in) as well as set-up a data link on the OKR (to auto-check-in). This user will be receiving the check-in reminders. In the case of multiple owners, this will prevent all of the owners from receiving reminders, only the user set as 'check-in responsible owner' will receive the reminders.

Steps to assign responsibility for check-ins:

By default, the owner (the first owner in the case of multiple owners) is set as the person responsible for check-in and users need not explicitly choose unless necessary

OKRs and ongoing feedback make a great team. Leverage Ally’s social features to foster a culture of ongoing feedback around your OKRs by liking and commenting on your team’s check-ins. To comment on a check-in, navigate to the check-in on the objective page or find it in the feed. Use ‘@’ followed by the name of a team member to mention them in a comment. This sends them an email or Slack (if enabled) notification - perfect for drawing attention to critical updates or opportunities. 

If you need to change a check-in or remove one made in error, you may find the check-in on the objective page or feed, and select edit or remove to make the necessary changes. 

Ally sends reminders as notifications via email and Slack. To learn more about check-in notifications and how you can customize them, click here. 

Q: Why does the check-in required alerts/reminders include the updated OKRs as well?

A: The updates needed warning or reminder emails depend upon the Notification preferences configured in your Ally instance. There's a setting under Admin > Notifications > Check-in Rhythm > Change Schedule > Do not include OKRs and Projects updated within the last x days.

When this is not enabled, Ally will send check-in reminders and display in-app alerts asking to make a check-in irrespective of the last check-in that was made.

Example: If an OKR's progress was updated 2 days ago and when this setting is not enabled, you will receive alerts asking you to update these OKRs. If you configure this and set "Do not include OKRs and Projects updated within the last 5 days", the OKR updated 2 days ago will be excluded from the reminders/alerts.

Upon modifying these settings, select “When saving, apply this schedule to teams” setting if you want the same to change for all the team's objectives checkin reminders.

You can read more about check-in reminders here.

Q: Who is responsible for check-ins?

A: If there is just one owner or multiple owners assigned to an OKR and you would want a user within the organization to check-in and update the progress of the OKR, you can use the ‘check-in responsibility’ feature. The check-in owner will be able to check-in on the OKR (manual check-in) as well as set-up a data link on the OKR (to auto-check-in). This user will be receiving the check-in reminders. In the case of multiple owners, this will prevent all of the owners from receiving reminders, only the user set as 'check-in responsible owner' will receive the reminders.

Steps to assign responsibility for check-ins:

By default, the OKR owner (the first owner in the case of multiple owners) is set as the person responsible for check-in and users need not explicitly choose unless necessary.

Once a check-in owner is assigned to an OKR, users can see a visual indicator that shows the check-in owner details under the objective/ key result.

The difference between a delegate and a check-in owner

A delegate gets permissions to edit all aspects of an OKR except the ownership, whereas a 'check-in' owner can only check-in manually or set up an auto integration. A delegate works on behalf of the OKR owner on a specific objective while the check-in owner only updates the progress of an objective on behalf of an owner.

Q: Can I edit or delete a check-in?

A: If you need to change a check-in or remove one made in error, you may find the check-in on the objective page or feed, and select edit or remove to make the necessary changes.

Q: Can I send reminders to do check-ins?

A: Ally sends a notification to all team members reminding them to check-in every Monday at 9:00 AM in the user’s time zone. If the user’s time zone is unknown, the default is PST. If Slack integration is enabled, the notification will be sent through Slack instead of email.

If you would like to customize the frequency or timing of these notifications, you can do so from Admin -> Notifications. To learn more about customizing notifications, click here.

Q: Why can't I see certain OKRs in my bulk check-in window?

A: The bulk check-in only displays the OKRs that have not had any check-ins since the last check-in reminder that was sent to the user for the given OKR.