Ally.io→OKIARBecame Viva Goals, retired December 31, 2025.

Migration guide · Ally.io

Ally.io migration: what you can still recover, and how to rebuild your OKRs in OKIAR

Facts checked October 27, 2026

Before you start: what's still recoverable

Microsoft's retirement FAQ says users had access to Viva Goals and their data "until December 31, 2025, or until their licenses expire, whichever comes first," and that it couldn't extend usage past that date. It doesn't say what happened to the data afterwards.

That leaves three places to look:

1. Mailboxes. Ally.io sent Explorer exports by email, so search for export emails from Ally.io, and later from Viva Goals, in the inboxes of the people who ran your OKRs.
2. Shared drives. Look for spreadsheets, Viva Goals admin exports, PowerPoint decks and Members CSV files.
3. Microsoft. The FAQ names your Microsoft representative and GoalsDecom@microsoft.com as contacts. Ask, in writing, whether any of your data still exists. The FAQ promises nothing on this.

If your team used Viva Goals after the move, read our Viva Goals migration guide. It covers the newer, fuller exports in detail.

Step 1: Work out which Ally.io export you have

The Viva Goals rows come from our Viva Goals guide, which links Microsoft's documentation for each one.

The Ally.io Explorer export

Ally.io's 2020 help article says you open the objective explorer, choose the "All objectives" view or filter by time period or owner, then click Actions, Export. "You will receive an email with your download shortly." It doesn't name the file type.

The default view showed top-level objectives only. In the 2020 version, you unchecked a box to add key results. By 2022, the updated article offered two choices: the flat-list view, or including child key results and projects in the export.

The Ally.io API

We couldn't find public Ally.io API documentation that still opens, even in archived copies. If a developer pulled data through an API, ask what they saved. Don't count on it.

If you have no file

Use the last quarterly review deck, an old PowerPoint export or notes people kept. Since goal import reads PDF, Word, text and Markdown as well as spreadsheets, most of those can go straight in. Or begin again with templates for 16 teams in OKIAR's OKR examples.

Step 2: Check what your file contains

Ally.io never published the columns in its export. Its exported reports FAQ does say two things:

• The file has a "last check-in" column, holding the last manual check-in date, and a "last updated" column, which can include automated check-ins and comments.
• Duplicates appear if the exporter picked both the flat-list view and "Include child key results". The flat list holds every OKR in the filter, while the other option adds only top-level child key results.

Before you plan the move, check four things:

1. Look for duplicate rows, and remove them before you import.
2. Count the objectives and key results, and check that key results are there at all. A default export held top-level objectives only.
3. Look for owners who have left the company.
4. Check the dates. Ally.io files are at least four years old, so current values will be stale.

Moving to a tool other than OKIAR

Have each vendor import your actual Ally.io or Viva Goals file as a test before you sign. On October 27, 2026 we found:

• Tability's AI importer handles XLSX or CSV with any columns, up to 10 MB, and leaves user and team setup to you.
• Perdoo's goal import names Viva Goals as a source but not Ally.io; otherwise it uses its CSV template or pasted text, under 5 MB and 10,000 rows.
• Atlassian Goals has no bulk upload for goals, though Atlassian will migrate an unmodified Viva Goals admin export sent through a support ticket.

Our Ally.io alternatives page compares the tools former Ally.io teams move to, and our Viva Goals alternatives page covers the same ground for Viva files.

Step 3: Rebuild your current quarter in OKIAR

OKIAR's goal import reads your Ally.io or Viva Goals file. Per the sign-up guide it accepts spreadsheets, CSV, PDF, Word, text or Markdown up to 5 MB as well. Owners, teams and parent links stay connected. It runs at sign-up or afterwards and gives you a draft; correct objectives, key results, starting values and targets, then accept.

If your newest file is a Viva Goals admin export, upload the JSON version as it is. The CSV version works too.

1. Open a free account on the beta, with no card and no cap on members.
2. Upload your newest file, cut down to goals you still want. Read every proposed objective and key result, then accept.
3. Hold the teams it created up to today's org chart, and invite people as Admin, Manager, Contributor or Viewer.
4. Set up company and team objectives the way your company works now, which may differ from the Ally.io tree.
5. Reset stale current values, and confirm each key result's start, target and unit.
6. Put ongoing metrics such as revenue or churn into KPIs.
7. Connect Slack.
8. Go through the result with each team lead and fix owners or links.

Where each Ally.io field goes in OKIAR

Statuses in OKIAR

Old Ally.io statuses can stay in the file. OKIAR derives a status from pacing, which its objective guide describes as how actual progress compares with progress expected by this point in the period. You can set one by hand instead.

Check-ins can include confidence, scored 0 to 10.

Step 4: Replace your Ally.io integrations

Ally.io's archived help center has setup articles for integrations with tools such as Jira, Salesforce, HubSpot, Google Sheets, Slack and Microsoft Teams. Microsoft says Viva Goals integrations stopped working on December 31, 2025, so none of them runs now.

For AI assistants there's OKIAR's MCP, which respects role and team permissions. Its 14 tools let Claude, for example, set a key result's current value or add a check-in, and create objectives, key results and KPIs.

Step 5: Run the first check-in

Start check-ins in your first OKIAR week.

• Teams each choose a day and a template.
• Every owner reports progress, confidence and blockers, in a voice note or text.
• Teams read the weekly summary at their next meeting.
• Some weeks later, Insights points out pacing, confidence and blockers that repeat.
• Change the plan at the mid-quarter review if needed.

Try the five prompts in our weekly check-in template.