# Goals

Source: https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/participants/goals

> Store and track Participant goals and link them to tasks, plans, and implementations.

## Overview

Use Participant Goals to record desired outcomes and connect them to Plans, Implementations, Tasks, Supports, and case notes.

## Creating Goals

To create a Goal for a Participant, navigate to [their profile](https://app.astalty.com.au/participants) and click *Goals* in the sidebar.

![A Participant profile with Goals highlighted in the profile menu on the left and an arrow pointing to it.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/goals-1.png)

On this page, click *Add Goal* and you will see the Participant Goal form.

![The Add Participant Goal form with Goal Name, Goal Type and Status set to In Progress, a Support worker visibility drop-down showing its default of Not Visible, text boxes for Description, Achievement Strategies and Barriers, an Associated Plans table listing the current plan and a past plan, and a Create Goal button.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/goal-form.png)

Goal statuses are **In Progress**, **Achieved**, and **Unattainable**. Choose the status that reflects the Participant's current outcome.

## Editing Goals

There may be times where you need to edit, fine tune, update the status, or even delete and archive a goal. To edit a Participant's goals, navigate to their profile, click *Goals* in the sidebar and select the Goal that you would like to edit.

![The Goals page on a Participant profile, with Goals in the profile menu marked 1 and the list of goals highlighted and marked 2, showing each goal's Name, Goal Type and Status.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/edit-goal.png)

Once the Goal is opened, select Actions, then Edit, in the top right corner of the Goal Summary.

![The Goal Summary for a goal, showing its Name, Status, Goal Type, Description, Achievement Strategies and Achievement Barriers, with the Actions button highlighted and an arrow pointing to Edit in its menu.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/edit-goal-2.png)

The Edit Participant Goal page will slide open - here you can edit:

- Goal Name
- Goal Type
- Status of the goal
- Support Worker Visibility
- Description
- Achievement Strategies
- Barriers
- Associated Plans - Select one or more plans where that goal is associated to. Key things to note:
  - Plans that are current cannot be archived.
  - Implementations within the selected plan will only display the goals that have been associated to the plan.
  - Scheduled shifts will only display goals from the current plan period they are rostered within.

Once you've finished making your adjustments, select *Update Goal* to save your changes.

### Archiving Goals

To help keep Participant goal lists focused and clutter-free, you can use the Archive button to archive goals that are from past plans. This function can only be actioned if the goal doesn't sit within a current Associated Plan and is accessed via the Edit Participant Goal page.

![The bottom of the goal edit form, with only the past plan period 29/10/2024 - 29/10/2025 ticked under Associated Plans and the Current Plan unticked, and the Archive button highlighted next to Delete.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/archive-goal-2-guide.png)

The following example shows a Goal which is associate to a current plan - Only goals from past plans can be archived.

![The goal edit form with the Current Plan ticked under Associated Plans. The Archive button is greyed out and highlighted, with the message This goal is on a current plan and cannot be archived.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/archive-goal-3-guide.png)

An archived Goal is removed from:

- Goal selection lists on Tasks. See [Assigning Goals to Tasks](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/tasks/assigning-goals-to-tasks).
- Documents generated with the Participant Goals or Participant Goals Table placeholders. See [Template Settings](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/settings/template-settings).

### Unarchiving Goals

Archived Goals can be unarchived by navigating to the goal, accessing the Edit Goal page via Actions, then Edit, and then selecting Unarchive.

![The bottom of the goal edit form, with an Unarchive button in place of Archive, highlighted next to Delete.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/unarchive-goal.png)

### Delete Goals

Deleting Goals is permanent, and may be required if a goal has been created in error. Use the Delete button to remove the goal, but take care when using this as this cannot be undone.

![The bottom of the goal edit form, with the red Delete button highlighted in the bottom left, next to Unarchive.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/delete-goal.png)

## Attaching Goals to Tasks

Once Goals have been created for a Participant, you can attach them to a task from the task's **Goals** tab. Click **Add Goals**, tick as many of the Participant's Goals as apply, and add them in one go. See [Assigning Goals To Tasks](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/tasks/assigning-goals-to-tasks).

![The Add Goals drawer on a task, with one of three Goals ticked, 1 goal selected shown above the table, and the button reading Add 1 Goal](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/tasks-add-goals-drawer-guide.png)

## Attaching Goals to Supports

Goals can also be attached directly to Supports from the Support's **Goals** tab. If the Support is part of a recurring series, you can add the Goal to the current Support and selected future Supports in one action. See [Support Goals and Documents](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/support-goals-and-documents).

## Viewing Supports Linked to a Goal

A Goal's page lists every Support linked to it in a **Supports** table under its Tasks list, sorted newest first.

| Column         | What it shows                                                                                            |
| -------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Date           | The Support's date.                                                                                      |
| Time           | The Support's start and end time.                                                                        |
| Support Worker | Everyone rostered on the Support, including Group Support Workers. Shows a dash when nobody is rostered. |
| Notes          | How many of that Support's case notes are tagged with this Goal - not the note text.                     |

![The Supports table on a Goal's page, below the Goal Summary and Tasks, listing the Date, Time, Support Worker and a Notes count for each linked Support, with an arrow pointing to the Supports heading.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/goal-linked-supports-guide.png)

The list includes Supports the Goal was attached to directly, and Supports where a Support Worker tagged the Goal on a case note.

This table is read-only - click a row to open that Support, but add or remove a link from the Support's **Goals** tab. See [Attaching Goals to a Support](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/support-goals-and-documents#attaching-goals-to-a-support).

## Attaching Goals to Case Notes

Support Workers can tag Goals against a case note from the Astalty app, while writing or editing the note. Only Goals that are not archived and are visible to Support Workers are listed, and Goals cannot be tagged from the web platform. See [Case Noting in the App](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/support-worker-app/during-a-shift/case-noting-in-the-app#adding-goals-to-a-case-note).

## Attaching Goals to Implementations

When updating an Implementation, you can attach Goals from the Plan the Implementation has been created within by editing the Implementation and select the relevant goals at the bottom of the page.

![The Update Implementation form with the Goals section highlighted at the bottom, listing the Participant's goals with a checkbox, Name, Goal type and Goal status. Improve Communication Abilities is ticked.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/implementations-goals.png)

## Downloading Goals as a PDF

To print a PDF of the Goals, open the **Goals** page on the Participants profile, click **Actions** and select **Download as PDF**.

![The Goals page on a Participant profile, with Goals in the profile menu marked 1, the Actions button marked 2, and Download as PDF in its menu marked 3.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/goals-download-1-guide.png)

The PDF includes each listed Goal's name, status, type, description, achievement strategies, and barriers.

![A goal in the downloaded PDF, showing its name, Status, Type, Description, Achievement Strategies and Barriers.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/goals-download-2-guide.png)

If you have uploaded your Business Logo, it will also appear on the PDF.

### Downloading One Goal

Open a Goal and select **Actions** then **Download Goal Summary** to create a PDF for that Goal only. You can optionally include related Tasks and Notes in the summary.

## Using Goals in Document Templates

Two placeholders bring Goals into a document generated from a [Template](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/settings/template-settings), both limited to Goals that are **In Progress** and not archived:

- **Participant Goals** (`${Participant_Goals_List}`) - a single bulleted list of Goal names.
- **Participant Goals Table** (`${Participant_GoalsTable}`) - one row per Goal, with **Goal**, **Description**, **Achievement Strategies**, and **Achievement Barriers** columns.

Both work in Astalty and Word Templates, on Participant and Service Agreement usage types, and you can use either or both in the same Template. A Participant with no matching Goals leaves the placeholder blank rather than an empty table or list.

![A generated draft document on a Participant's Templates page showing the Participant's goals as a table, with Goal, Description, Achievement Strategies, and Achievement Barriers columns](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/participant-goals-table-placeholder-guide.png)

See [Available Document Template Placeholders](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/document-template-placeholders) for the full placeholder list.

## Visibility for Support Workers

To make a goal visible in the Support Worker app, set **Support worker visibility** to **Visible** when creating or editing the goal. Visible goals will display for the Support Worker, including the description, strategies, and barriers.

Leaving the field unset falls back to your organisation's default, set under Scheduling settings. That default is **Not Visible** until an Admin changes it.

![The Add Participant Goal form with Support worker visibility set to Visible and highlighted, below the Goal Name, Goal Type and Status fields.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/image1-1757975539.png)

> **Handy Hint**
>
> To make sure the goal shows up in the Support Worker App, select the correct current NDIS plan that the goal belongs to.

![The Associated Plans section of the goal form, with the period marked Current Plan ticked and a past plan period unticked.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/image2-1757975582.png)

Support Workers can then read the Goal's description, strategies, and barriers in the app.

![The Participant Details screen in the Support Worker app, showing the Participant's alerts and address above a Goals section that lists each goal's name and the start of its description.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/image3-1757975599.jpg)

## Video Walkthrough

This is a video walkthrough that explains the process of how you would store and track Participant Goals'

Video walkthrough: how to store and track participant goals.