A method of aligning a new goal of an entity ensures that the new goal is a child goal of a parent goal. The method also ensures that a group is linked to the parent goal, and ensures that the entity is subordinate to the group. In one embodiment, selection lists constrain the available values for the group and/or the parent goal. In another aspect, a method of facilitating contextual alignment of a new goal recognizes an organizational role for an entity and customizes content of a user interface, based on the organizational role of the entity. The user interface with the customized content provides goal creation guidance according to the organizational role. In one embodiment, the customized content includes specialized instructions and sample content for characteristics of the new goal, such as a goal-objective characteristic, a goal-measure characteristic, and a goal-activity characteristic.