Target Viability Assessment

Target Viability assessment is the process of using the best available evidence to define and measure the health of your conservation targets. If your indicators of target health are in their acceptable range, then your target is healthy. If your indicators are not in their acceptable range or are headed out of the acceptable range, then there are problems that need to be addressed.

Miradi supports two methods of conducting a Target Viability assessment:

• KEA-based Target Viability involves identifying a target's Key Ecological Attributes (KEAs), defining at least one indicator for each attribute, and establishing an acceptable range of variation and a current and desired future status for each indicator.
• Simple Target Viability is useful in cases where not enough information is available to develop useful KEAs. Simple viability mode allows development of indicators directly for targets without requiring development of KEAs.

This article covers basic information on completing Target Viability assessments in Miradi:

• Access Target Viability information in Miradi
• Complete Simple and KEA-based Target Viability assessments
• View Target Viability information in Data Views

See also Defining Target Viability for a thorough explanation of the theory behind target viability assessments and guidance on completing assessments with a team.

Access Target Viability information in Miradi

The viability information for Targets can be developed and edited in any diagram (Situation Models or Results Chains) or in the Target Viability table under Situation Assessment.

To access target viability information from the diagram view, select the Target (green oval) and navigate to the factor properties using the Factor Properties button (1) or by clicking on the Indicator symbol (2) if indicators already exist for the Target. Select the Viability Mode (KEA or Simple, 3) and click the Indicator icon (4) in the Factor Properties panel to begin adding KEAs and/or Indicators. 

To access the same viability information in the Target Viability table,  go to SITUATION ASSESSMENT > Target Viability. All Targets are listed in the left-hand menu, and the details for each Target, including the viability information can be found in the details panel on the right. Just as in diagram mode, you have the option to choose the Simple or Key Attribute-base viability mode.

Complete Simple or KEA-based Target Viability assessments

The following video provides an overview of how to conduct simple or KEA-based target viability assessments in Miradi, including the following:

• setting the Viability Mode,
• adding KEAs and Indicators,
• defining the Viability Rating Categories for Indicators, and
• rolling up Indicator ratings to the overall Target Viability status.

Simple viability mode

If a target’s viability is assessed via the simple mode, current and future status ratings are entered directly at the target level for each target.  Targets using the simple mode may have indicators; however, unlike KEA-based viability ratings, these indicators are not rated and so do not contribute to a numeric calculation of the target viability rating. 

Target ratings must be entered manually in simple mode, for example in the Target Viability view:

1. Select a Target from the list on the left
2. Choose Simple mode
3. Expand the Viability Status panel to view the viability information, or Edit if you have Project Editor access
4. View the Target Viability, Current Status and Future Status in the panel on the left
5. View the overall project rating

Project rating calculation:

Each project rating (Current Status and Desired Future Status) is derived from the numeric average of the ratings of each target, converted into a viability rating for the project.  This calculation uses the following numeric values and ranges:

Poor:              1.0 - 1.745

Fair:                1.75 - 2.995

Good:             3.0 - 3.745 

Very Good:    3.75 - 4.0

Key Ecological Attribute (KEA) viability mode

In the KEA mode, a target’s viability is defined by key ecological attributes (KEAs) of three types: size, condition or landscape context.  NOTE: A KEA must be given a type to be included in the ratings calculations. 

KEAs are measured by indicators, which contain measurement and future status entries.  

• The latest measurement provides the indicator’s current status rating 
• The latest future status provides the indicator’s future status rating  

Each indicator also has viability ratings fields that define the range of measurements that constitute each rating: Very Good, Good, Fair, or Poor. 

KEA rating calculations: 

There may be multiple indicators measuring one type of KEA for a target; if so, a numeric value is given to each graded indicator: Very Good = 4.0, Good = 3.5, Fair = 2.5 and Poor = 1.0.  The KEA rating is derived from the average of these numeric values, using the following ranges: 

Poor:              1.0 - 1.745

Fair:                1.75 - 2.995

Good:             3.0 - 3.745 

Very Good:    3.75 - 4.0

There may also be multiple KEAs for each type of KEA in a target (example: a grassland target may have two “condition” KEAs: “characteristic plant species” and “characteristic soil features”).  If so, the following describes the scoring method for getting the rating of the type from the ratings of multiple KEAs:

• If any KEA of the type = Poor, the type is Poor.  
• If any KEA of the type = Fair, the type is Fair.
• If all KEAs of the type are rated Good and/or Very Good:
  • If Good ratings => Very Good ratings, the type is Good 
  • If Very Good ratings > Good ratings, the type is Very Good

Target rating calculation: 

Each target rating is derived from the numeric average of the ratings of each type of KEA in a target, converted into a viability rating for the target.  This calculation uses the same numeric values and ranges shown above for the indicators.

Project rating calculation:

Each project rating (Current Status and Desired Future Status) is derived from the numeric average of the ratings of each target, converted into a viability rating for the project.  This calculation uses the following numeric values and ranges:

Poor:              1.0 - 1.745

Fair:                1.75 - 2.995

Good:             3.0 - 3.745 

Very Good:    3.75 - 4.0

View Target Viability information in Data Views

Target Viability information for single Miradi projects can also be viewed and exported under Data Views / Target Viability Assessment (Latest or All). The latest Viability Assessment data for multiple projects in a Miradi program space can be viewed under the program-level Data Views. Learn more about working with Data Views.

To access Data Views, go to REPORTS & DATA > Data Views,

or use the Data Views dropdown menu in the upper right of the project window.