Strategic briefs

A strategic brief is the plan behind a quarter’s communications work: what you’re trying to achieve, who you’re talking to, what you’re saying, and what would count as success. Everything else in HIVE can point back to one - planning cards, calendar events, and the measures that track how it went.

Where it lives

Open External from the top navigation and choose Strategic Briefs. Briefs are shown as cards, grouped under the objective each one sits beneath, with any that aren’t filed under an objective at the end.

Select a brief to open it in full - that’s where its detail, its KPI targets, and its Success Measures live.

What’s in a brief

Every brief covers a single quarter of a single year, and both are required. Beyond that:

Field	What it’s for
Brief Title	What this piece of work is called.
Focus	What you’re setting out to achieve.
Target Audience	Who you’re trying to reach.
Key Messages	What you want them to take away.
Risks	What could go wrong, and what to watch for.
Planned Activity	What you intend to do.
Objective	The objective this brief sits under, if any. Optional.
KPI Targets	The goals you’re holding yourself to, as free text - add as many as you need.

Only the title, year, and quarter are required. The rest can be filled in as the plan firms up.

KPI Targets and Success Measures are different things

KPI Targets are written in your own words - “double our LinkedIn reach”, “three case studies published”. HIVE doesn’t measure them; they’re the statement of intent.

Success Measures are the measured counterpart, on the same brief, just below. They carry a number HIVE keeps up to date from your connected channels.

You can use one, the other, or both. A KPI target you also want tracked is a good candidate for a measure alongside it.

Create a brief

1. On the Strategic Briefs tab, choose to add a brief. HIVE opens on the next quarter after your most recent one, so the usual case needs no picking.

2. Set the year and quarter. Only one brief can occupy a given quarter, so an occupied slot is refused.

3. Fill in what you know - title first, then focus, audience, messages, risks, and planned activity.

4. File it under an objective if you have one, or leave it unfiled.

5. Add your KPI Targets, one per line, in your own words.

6. Save.

Carry a brief into the next quarter

Most quarters aren’t a fresh start. Duplicate on a brief opens the create dialog pre-filled from it - the seven content fields, the KPI target titles, and the objective link - set to the next free quarter after the one you copied from. Adjust what’s changed and save.

Success Measures aren't copied

A duplicated brief gets its own new KPI targets, so measures counting against the old ones can’t come with it. Add measures to the new brief once it’s saved. The dialog says so when you duplicate.

Strategic objectives

An objective is the outcome several briefs are working towards together. It groups them and can carry measures of its own, covering everything underneath it rather than one quarter’s work.

Field	What it’s for
Title	What the objective is.
Starts and Ends	The period it runs over.
Description	Optional. What this objective is for, in a sentence or two.

The differences from a brief are worth knowing:

• An objective sets its own dates rather than taking a quarter, so it can run as long as the work does - a year, a campaign, a push.
• Briefs sit under it, and its header on the Strategic Briefs tab shows what’s grouped there.
• It can hold its own measures. Measure at the objective level for the overall outcome and at the brief level for a single quarter’s contribution.
• A brief doesn’t need one. Unfiled briefs work exactly the same and appear on their own.

Changing an objective’s start or end date changes what its measures cover, and their figures are recalculated to match.

Deleting an objective

Deleting an objective also deletes the measures attached to it. The briefs grouped under it are not deleted - they become unfiled, and keep their own measures.

What links to a brief

• Planning cards link to one brief, and can then carry KPI goals chosen from that brief. See Planning.
• Calendar events link to a brief and its KPI goals the same way. See External calendar.
• Success Measures attach to the brief and track it with real figures. See Success Measures.

A Linked Activity measure counts the planning items linked to one of the brief’s KPI goals, which is how planned work and measured progress meet.

Exporting

A brief’s Success Measures export to CSV or PDF from the brief itself. The brief’s own text isn’t part of that export - it covers the measures, their figures, and when they were read. See Success Measures.

Who can use it

• Editors create, edit, duplicate, and delete briefs and objectives.
• Anyone can open and read them.