Apparatus and method for calculating and visualizing targets

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions to cause at least one data processor to:

receive a target value for an absolute target metric;

receive an achievement boundary range;

receive specific values, for achievement boundary ranges;

receive an actual value for the absolute target metric;

calculate the specific boundary range values lines crossed between the absolute target metric target value and the actual value for the absolute target metric;

calculate a percentage placement for the actual value within the boundary range;

calculate an overall percentage placement value for the actual value; and

return a value representing the relationship between the target value and the actual value.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the executable instructions to receive the achievement boundary range include executable instructions to receive one or more boundary ranges associated with greater than 0% achievement on either side of the absolute target metric.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 2 , wherein the executable instructions to receive specific values for achievement boundary ranges include executable instructions to define boundary conditions with asymmetrical values.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the executable instructions to receive a target value for an absolute target metric include executable instructions to define a finite range of values that match the absolute target metric.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the executable instructions to return a value representing the relationship between the target value and the actual value return a percentage achievement value.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 5 , wherein the percentage achievement value is depicted using a graphical visual representation.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6 , wherein the graphical visual representation is selected from a chart visualization, a gauge visualization, a traffic light visualization and an alert visualization.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 5 , wherein the percentage achievement value for an absolute target metric is combined with other metric values to generate an aggregated metric.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions to cause at least one data processor to:

define an absolute target value;

define a plurality of percentage achievement values associated with the absolute target value;

define a plurality of specific numeric values, each specific numeric value corresponding to one of the plurality of percentage achievement values; and

combine the absolute target value, the plurality of percentage achievement values and the plurality of specific numeric values to form an absolute target metric object.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein defining the absolute target value comprises defining the absolute target value as a finite range of values.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein defining a plurality of percentage achievement values comprises defining one or more percentage achievement values associated with greater than 0% achievement on either side of the absolute target metric.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein defining the plurality of specific numeric values comprises defining the plurality of specific numeric values with asymmetrical values.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , further including executable instructions to store and retrieve a target metric object.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , further including executable instructions to edit the target metric object.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , further including executable instructions to receive an actual data value for the absolute target value and calculate a percentage achievement value for the absolute target metric object.