Strategy Governance

Overview

Strategy Governance shows the rhythm your strategy runs on. The year is divided into strategy periods (quarters, four-month periods or half-years, depending on your company's settings). Every period runs the same steps: the evaluation of one-pagers level by level from the bottom up, the review, and afterwards the update of the company one-pager, its approval (the anchor) and the cascade of the decisions down to the lower levels. One review a year is the annual review, and the update and cascade that follow it are longer.

The page answers three questions at a glance: which period the company is in, what is happening right now and for whom, and what comes next. Administrators and program managers can also move the dates of a period that has not started yet.

Where to find it

The page is not in the Manage menu yet while the cockpit is being finished; open it directly at /manage/strategy_governance. It is available to users whose role lets them view governance; administrators and program managers have it by default.

The page has three tabs: Calendar (the current period, the chart and the periods table), Versions (which strategy version each period runs on — see Versions below) and Schedule (administrators and program managers).

Set up the governance schedule

The Schedule tab (administrators and program managers) holds the rhythm the calendar is planned from. It comes prefilled with the Alaigned methodology defaults, so nothing has to be set for the calendar to work.

• Strategy period length — quarter, four months or half a year — and the month the fiscal year starts in.
• Evaluation — how many weeks each level gets to evaluate its one-pagers. Evaluation always runs one level after another, from L3 up to L0, and ends at the review.
• After a regular review — how long the L0 update runs until the anchor, and how many weeks each level gets to cascade the decisions.
• Annual review — which review of the year is the annual one (the last one by default), and its longer timing: the L0 update and the cascade weeks per level. The annual cascade may run into the period that follows.
• While a level evaluates — what happens to edits of a superior one-pager during a lower level's evaluation. Today they are flagged; locking comes in a later release.

The preview next to the settings redraws the year as you change them, so you see the effect before saving. If a value cannot be used, the field says why and the preview keeps the last settings it could draw.

Save schedule re-plans the periods that are still planned. Periods that have started and periods that are closed keep their dates. Reset to methodology defaults puts the Alaigned defaults back and re-plans the same way.

A planned period that already holds evaluation confirmations keeps its name and dates too. It holds them when its evaluation window opened while the review before it was overdue, and one-pagers were confirmed in that window (see Marking it done). If a new period length or fiscal-year start would change them, the field names that period as soon as you try the setting, and Save schedule is refused; Reset to methodology defaults is refused the same way, with a message naming the period. Change the rhythm once that period has started, or undo the confirmations on it first.

Exceptions to the schedule

One fiscal year may hold its annual review in a different period than the schedule says — for example because the group approves the plan in November. Under Exceptions to the schedule, pick the period for that year and write down why, then Save exception. The periods table then shows the annual review on the period you chose, with your reason under its status, and the longer annual update and cascade follow the moved review. Remove exception puts the schedule's own choice back.

The current period

The card at the top names the period the company is in and its dates, and says what is happening today: which level is evaluating and until when, or when the next evaluation opens and how many days remain to the review.

The row of steps on the right is the period's ladder: the evaluation of each level from the lowest up, the review that starts the next period, and then the update of the company one-pager, the anchor and the cascade deadlines per level. Steps already behind you are marked as done; the one running today is highlighted.

If a review date has passed and the next period has not been started, the card says so and counts the days. For those who can start it, the card also carries the button that starts the next period — see Start the next period.

Reading the calendar

The big-picture chart shows one fiscal year. Each row is a level of the one-pager hierarchy, L0 (the company) at the top.

• Evaluation windows are the bands in your company's accent colour (green by default): each level evaluates its one-pagers in its own window, L3 first and L0 last, ending at the review.
• Review dates are the diamonds on the top row. A filled diamond is a review already behind you.
• L0 update is the grey band on the L0 row after a review: the company one-pager is updated with the review's decisions until it is approved.
• Anchor is the day the updated company one-pager is approved. After the annual review it is marked with a vertical line.
• Cascade bars on the L1 to L3 rows show by when each level has to work the decisions from above into its own one-pagers.
• Today is the red dashed line.
• The current period is highlighted across all rows.

When the annual cascade runs into the next year, the chart extends to show it. Use the year links next to the chart's title to look at another fiscal year.

The periods table

Below the chart, every period is listed with its dates, its steps (when the evaluation runs, when the anchor is, by when the cascade finishes), its period evaluation — how many one-pagers have confirmed for the period and how many of them late, or, once the next period has been started, sealed and the day the record was sealed (see Start the next period) — and its status: planned, current or closed. The anchor and cascade shown on a period's row are the ones its review sets off; on the chart they are drawn where they happen, in the following period. The annual review is marked. If a period's dates differ from the company's usual schedule, the note explains why.

The Active version column names the strategy version the period runs on. Under the name, it can also say:

• planned, not yet active — the period is planned to run on this version, but the version has not been activated yet;
• archived · plan a version — the version planned for the period has been archived since; plan another one on the Versions tab;
• drafting: FY2027 strategy — the versions being prepared during the period.

A period that was closed before versions were recorded per period reads not recorded.

For administrators and program managers, the rows of periods that have not started yet also carry the edit controls: the review date is a field you can change and Save on the spot, and Edit dates opens the rest of the period's dates. Rows of periods that are current or closed are read-only.

Follow the cascade

Under the current-period card, a table shows where every level of the whole company stands in the cascade: how many one-pagers have accepted what was cascaded to them, have their structure and have their initiatives defined — the three stages — and, beside them as information, how many are requested for approval and approved, against each level's cascade deadline from this calendar. Click a level to see which one-pagers are not approved yet, grouped by superior one-pager, and copy the list to follow up.

It is the same table as the Completion Report, which one-pager owners use for their own part of the hierarchy. The guide there explains the three stages, the approval counts, the deadlines and the filters. When your organization has more than one strategy version, the Strategy version dropdown above the table switches between them.

Move a period's dates

A period that has not started yet can be moved. Administrators and program managers open it from the periods table with Edit dates, or by clicking the period on the chart. A period that is current or closed is history — its dates stay as they are.

The dialog is named after the period — Q4 2026 · move the dates — with the period's dates on the left and the fiscal year's chart on the right. The chart redraws as you change a date, so you see the whole year before you save. If a date cannot be used — or cannot hold together with the other dates you have set — the field says why and the chart keeps the last dates it could draw.

You can move:

• the review date — the day the period's review happens;
• the anchor — the day the updated company one-pager is approved;
• the cascade deadline of each level — by when L1, L2 and L3 have to work the decisions from above into their own one-pagers;
• the evaluation window of each level — from when to when each level evaluates its one-pagers.

A period whose cascade is still running from the annual review has no update or anchor of its own; the dialog then shows the review date and the evaluation windows only.

The period's first day is not among them: a period starts the day after the previous review. So moving a review date moves the start of the period that follows, and the periods after it are planned again around the new date. The update of the company one-pager always runs from the period's first day to the anchor, so it follows whatever you set.

Dates you leave alone follow the ones you move. Pull the review date a week forward and the evaluation windows come with it; move the anchor and the cascade deadlines follow. Only a date you set yourself stays where you put it — and only those have to hold together:

• the evaluation windows you set yourself run one level after another from the bottom up — L3 does not overlap L2, L2 does not overlap L1, L1 does not overlap L0 — and the last of them ends on or before the review date;
• the anchor comes before the first cascade deadline: the company one-pager is approved first, and the cascade runs from it;
• the cascade deadlines you set yourself run from the top down — L1 on or before L2, L2 on or before L3. They may fall after the review date; the annual cascade runs into the period that follows by design.

Save dates writes the new dates, and a message confirms that the periods after this one follow them. Cancel leaves the period as it was.

Dates you set by hand are yours to keep: when the schedule changes later, the calendar is planned again around them — see Set up the governance schedule. That holds for the periods after this one too. If your move would leave a date one of them has set by hand nowhere to go — the next period's anchor now before that period's first day, or the next period with no cascade of its own because this period's cascade runs past its start — the save is refused and the field names that period. Move or reset that period first, then come back. Reset this period to the schedule hands the period back: every date you set by hand on it is dropped and the period is planned from the schedule again. The button is there only while the period has dates you set by hand. The reset is refused on the same grounds as the save: when the schedule's dates would leave a date a later period has set by hand nowhere to go, a message names that period and the date, and nothing changes.

A planned period that already holds evaluation confirmations — made in its evaluation window while the review before it was overdue, see Marking it done — keeps its name and dates. Because the next period starts the day after this one's review, a review date that would move such a period — this one, or the one after it — is refused, and the field names that period. Reset this period to the schedule is refused with a message naming that period when the schedule's dates would move it. To move it, undo the confirmations on that period first.

Moving only the review date

For a small move you don't need the dialog. On the row of a period that has not started, change the review date in place and press Save. The effect is the same as in the dialog: the next period starts the day after it, and the periods after that are planned again. If the date cannot be used, a message at the top of the page says why.

Planning the next fiscal year early

The calendar reaches about a year ahead, so the fiscal year after that is not on it yet. Plan FY2028 now, above the periods table, plans the whole fiscal year following the calendar's last one and puts its periods on the calendar, ready to be moved. The button then names the year after that, so you can plan further still.

Start the next period

A period does not end by itself on its review date. It ends when someone confirms that its review was held, by starting the next period. Until then, the review is owed, and the next period's update and cascade do not run.

Who can start it

A Program Manager, or the owner of the company (L0) one-pager. Today the Strategy Governance page itself is open only to roles that view governance for the whole company, so owning the L0 one-pager is enough only when your role also opens the page. In practice the period is started by the Program Manager, or by an enterprise administrator or site administrator who owns the L0 one-pager. Other administrators can move dates but cannot start a period.

The Start button

The button sits on the card of the current period at the top of the Calendar tab and is named after the period it starts: Start Q4 2026. Only the next planned period can be started, so there is only ever one such button. While the running period's review date is still ahead, the button is a plain one. Once that date has passed, it turns green: the review is due, and starting the next period records that it was held.

What the dialog shows

Start Q4 2026 opens a dialog headed Start Q4 2026?, which shows what the click will do before anything changes:

• Holding the Q3 2026 review · today 20 Sep · planned 30 Sep: the review the click records, the day you are holding it and the day it was planned for. Next to it, a chip says how the two compare: 10 days early, 3 days late or on the planned day. On a calendar nobody has started yet there is nothing to close, and the line reads Nothing to close — the calendar starts with Q4 2026.
• A warning when the closing period's evaluation is incomplete, for example: Q3 2026's evaluation is not complete: 34 of 42 one-pagers confirmed (2 of 5 at L1, whose window is still open). Starting now seals it as it stands; one-pagers not confirmed stay unconfirmed in the record. The levels named in brackets are the ones still inside their evaluation window, so starting now closes that window early.
• The three things the start does, numbered in the order it does them:
  1. Seals Q3 2026's period evaluation as it stands · late entries are no longer possible
  2. Records the Q3 2026 review as held on 20 Sep
  3. Opens Update · L0 of Q4 2026 from 20 Sep — anchor 11 Oct · cascade L1 25 Oct · L2 8 Nov · L3 22 Nov. When the annual cascade from the period before is still running, the period has no update of its own, and the line reads Q4 2026 evaluates only — the annual cascade is still running.
• The version line: The active version stays Initial. or, when the started period is planned to run on another version, Q4 2026 runs on FY2027 strategy — starting it makes that the active version.
• The boundary line: Creates no version. The period boundary does not move: Q4 2026 still runs 1 Oct → 31 Dec 2026.

Not yet closes the dialog and changes nothing. Start Q4 2026 starts the period. A message then confirms it, for example Q4 2026 started · Q3 2026 review recorded for 20 Sep, and the card at the top moves to the period you started.

What sealing means

The closing period's evaluation record is fixed as it stands at the moment of the click. The statuses, narratives and confirmations it holds are the ones the review reads, and nothing can be added to it or undone in it afterwards. One-pagers that were not confirmed stay unconfirmed in the record.

The Evaluation done marks on the one-pagers are cleared at the same time. A confirmation made after the start counts for the new period, not for the one just closed (see Confirm your evaluation). So does one made before it in a late review, once the new period's window for that level had opened: that mark already belongs to the new period and stays.

Starting early or late

The review rarely happens exactly on the planned day, and the start follows the day it actually happened:

• Early — evaluation windows of the closing period that are still open are closed on the day of the click. A level whose window has not opened yet gets no evaluation window in that period.
• Late — nothing of the closing period moves. Its windows ended as planned; confirmations that came after a level's window ended are marked late, as always.

Either way, Update · L0 of the started period opens on the day of the click, and the anchor and the cascade deadlines follow from it with the schedule's durations. Dates you set by hand on that period are kept wherever they still fit. On an early start, the update therefore opens before the period's first day. The period boundary itself does not move: Q4 2026 still runs from 1 Oct to 31 Dec, and the periods after it are planned again as usual, a year ahead.

When the start switches the strategy version

If the period you start is planned to run on a different strategy version (see Versions), starting it makes that version the active one. This is the only thing besides Activate that switches the active version. Switching needs the right to manage strategy versions. If you do not have it, the dialog says Starting Q4 2026 activates FY2027 strategy, which needs the right to manage strategy versions. Ask a program manager. and the Start Q4 2026 button is disabled. Nothing is changed until someone who holds that right starts the period.

After the start

In the periods table, the closed period's status reads closed, and its Period evaluation column shows the day the record was sealed, for example sealed 20 Sep 2026, or no evaluations when nobody had confirmed an evaluation in it. The started period is current. Its dates are now fixed, so its row no longer has the edit controls.

If someone else starts the period while your dialog is open, your click is refused with That period has already started. and the page shows the calendar as it is now.

Versions

Each period runs on one active strategy version. The Versions tab lists your strategy versions against the periods, and administrators and program managers plan there from which period each version becomes active. Planning switches nothing by itself: the version becomes active only when someone activates it. When a version is activated, the periods that have not started yet move onto it, except a period planned for another version, which keeps its plan; periods that have already started keep the version they started on. See Strategy Versions.

Confirm your evaluation

The calendar says when your level evaluates. The one-pager says what that asks of you: open any one-pager and the Governance tab in the sidebar on the right shows where that one-pager stands in the current period, and lets you confirm that your evaluation of it is done. The tab is there both while you view the one-pager and while you edit it, for everyone whose role lets them see governance — one-pager owners, administrators and program managers. Seeing the tab is not the same as being able to confirm.

Reading the tab from the top:

• Period — the period the company is in and the day its review falls on, with a note when that review date has already passed. A review nobody has held yet keeps its period open: the tab goes on asking for that period's evaluation — late — until your level's window in the next period opens, and the next period's update and cascade don't start before someone starts it.
• My level now — the step this one-pager's level is in today and the dates it runs between, with the days left or how late it already is. While your level is updating or cascading, the line names that band and the date it is due by ("Cascade · L1 · by 14 Oct"); otherwise it names your level's own evaluation window ("Evaluation · L2 · 10 → 17 Dec"), whether it is open, has yet to open or is behind you. When the period plans nothing for the level, the line says so.
• What is expected — one sentence for that step: evaluate every initiative's evaluation status and confirm below; or, while your level is updating or cascading, get the updated one-pager approved, from which done follows; or nothing is due from this one-pager right now.
• Above — the superior one-pager, its status and its owner: the person to escalate to when your evaluation turns up something the level above has to decide. The company one-pager has nothing above it.
• Below — how far the level beneath you has got: "3 of 5 linked one-pagers done". A linked one-pager nobody is accountable for counts as not done.

Marking it done

Evaluation done sits at the bottom of the tab. It appears the day your level's evaluation window opens and stays until the period is closed — confirm after your own window has ended and the confirmation is marked late. Nothing is refused for being late; the review simply sees when it came.

Once you confirm, the button gives way to the line Done · 12 Dec by Jana Nováková — the day it was confirmed and who confirmed it — carrying the late pill when it came after the window ended, and What is expected reads "Evaluated and confirmed below". Undo below it takes the confirmation back for as long as the period runs, and the one-pager counts as not done again.

Confirming also writes the one-pager's evaluation statuses and narratives, as they are at that moment, into the period's evaluation record, which the review reads back later. Later edits to the one-pager don't change what was recorded. Undo removes the one-pager from the record again.

A confirmation belongs to the period whose window it was made in. When your level's window in the next period opens, the one-pager is not done for that period until you confirm again — a late confirmation for the period before doesn't carry over.

When there is nothing to confirm, the tab says why instead of showing the button:

• Evaluation opens 10 Dec — your level's window hasn't started yet.
• Only this one-pager's owner, an administrator or a program manager can confirm this evaluation — you can see the tab, but this one-pager is not yours to confirm.
• This period is closed — the period is history. What was confirmed on it stays as it is, and nothing more can be confirmed or undone.
• Not part of the active strategy — the one-pager belongs to a strategy version that isn't the active one. Only the one-pagers of the active version take part in the period; see Strategy Versions.

Who confirms, and what it means

The owner marked accountable on the one-pager is the one who confirms it — one name answers for one one-pager, as with everything else owners are accountable for (see One-Pager Owners). The owner also has to be allowed to edit the one-pager: confirming writes on it. Administrators and Program Managers can confirm any one-pager, including one that has no accountable owner at all. A one-pager nobody is accountable for is never done by itself: it counts as not done — in its own tab, and in the Below count of the one-pager above it — until an administrator or program manager confirms it.

Confirming says I have been through every initiative and enabler on this one-pager, and its evaluation status reflects where the work stands — including the ones you left exactly as they were. Nothing having changed is an evaluation too, and it is worth confirming: otherwise the level above cannot tell a reviewed one-pager from an untouched one. Done is not approval — the one-pager's status is a separate step, see One-Pager Status Lifecycle.

Adding phases of your own to a period will arrive in a later release.