Be explicit about how the indicator will be used.

As stat­ed above, the pur­pose of mea­sur­ing each indi­ca­tor should be spec­i­fied, includ­ing the intend­ed audi­ence and use. In par­tic­u­lar, it is use­ful to spec­i­fy the sta­tus or quan­ti­ta­tive val­ues of the indi­ca­tor that would sig­ni­fy ade­quate progress in activ­i­ties, com­plet­ing out­puts, achiev­ing inter­me­di­ate results, lever­age through gen­er­at­ing influ­ence and progress toward goals, or unac­cept­able impacts, or lack of progress that would trig­ger adap­tive man­age­ment or oth­er deci­sions. If this can­not be done, con­sid­er whether you have select­ed the wrong indi­ca­tor, or whether it would actu­al­ly be use­ful to mea­sure that indicator.