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Strategic Cycles

Audience: Admin, Strategy Manager, CEO
Page Type: How-To Guide
Phase: Phase 1 — Setup
Duration: 15–30 minutes

What is a Strategic Cycle?​

A Strategic Cycle is the time-bound container for your strategy. Everything in COS — OKRs, analyses, BSC, themes, KPIs, reviews — belongs to a cycle.

Think of a cycle as a fiscal year or strategic planning period. Common examples:

Cycle TypeExampleDuration
Annual2025 Corporate Strategy12 months
Bi-annualH1 20256 months
QuarterlyQ1 20253 months
Multi-year3-Year Transformation (2024–2026)36 months

Why Cycles Matter​

  • All OKRs, themes, and analyses are scoped to a cycle — this prevents old data from polluting current views
  • Cycles have a status (Active / Completed / Archived) — only Active cycles can receive new OKRs and KPI updates
  • Multiple cycles can exist simultaneously (e.g., an Annual cycle and a Quarterly cycle running in parallel)
  • The Dashboard always shows data for the currently selected cycle

Creating a Strategic Cycle​

  1. Go to Context → Strategic Cycles
  2. Click + New Cycle
  3. Fill in the form:
FieldDescriptionExample
NameDescriptive label"2025 Annual Strategy"
Start DateWhen the cycle beginsJanuary 1, 2025
End DateWhen the cycle endsDecember 31, 2025
UnitOrg unit this cycle belongs to (leave blank for company-wide)—
TypeAnnual / Quarterly / CustomAnnual
DescriptionOptional context or goals"Focus on market expansion"
  1. Click Create

Cycle Status Flow​

Draft → Active → Completed → Archived
StatusWhat it meansWho can change it
DraftBeing set up — not yet visible to all usersAdmin / Strategy Manager
ActiveCurrent cycle — OKRs and KPIs can be enteredAdmin / Strategy Manager
CompletedCycle ended — data is read-only, final scores visibleAdmin
ArchivedHistorical record — removed from default viewsAdmin

Activating a Cycle​

  1. Open the cycle
  2. Click Activate
  3. Confirm — the cycle is now Active and available for OKR creation
Only one active cycle per unit

Each organizational unit can have only one Active cycle at a time. You must Complete the current cycle before activating a new one.

Managing Multiple Cycles​

Some organizations run cycles at different levels simultaneously:

  • Company-wide annual cycle (2025 Corporate)
  • Business unit quarterly cycles (Q1 2025 – Sales Unit)

Each unit's cycle is independent. The Strategy Dashboard shows the selected cycle for each unit.

Switching the Active Cycle on the Dashboard​

  1. On the Dashboard or any strategy page, find the Cycle selector (top of the page)
  2. Click the dropdown and select a different cycle
  3. All views refresh to show data for the selected cycle

Closing a Cycle (End of Period)​

At the end of a cycle period:

  1. Ensure all OKR scores are entered for the period — see OKR Scoring & Quarterly Close
  2. Navigate to Context → Strategic Cycles
  3. Open the cycle
  4. Click Complete
  5. Confirm — the cycle moves to Completed status

The completed cycle's data remains fully accessible for historical reporting.

How Cycles Relate to the Phase Workflow​

Each cycle starts at Phase 1 and progresses through the phases:

Phase 1: Setup (org, users, mission) → Phase 2: Analysis → Phase 3: Current State → Phase 4: OKRs + Execution

The cycle's phase status is tracked separately per cycle. Archiving an old cycle does not affect the current cycle's phase status.

See also​