You can use the Business Metric rule wizard to enable managers (or other users with manager permissions) to define business metrics for a specific Activity workstep in a process. Business metrics are numeric values that can be computed or aggregated based on the value of a dataslot in the process template. You can carry out an aggregation over multiple instances of the process template. Examples of business metrics include “TotalSales” figures or “InventoryCount” for an item or “NumberofDefects” for a product component. You can monitor and measure these values across process instances and distribute them over time or other criteria. You can also define certain action rules that will be executed based on the values of a specific metric.
Business metric values are stored in BPM Events Infopads and persisted in the database. Managers (or other users with manager permissions) can view these values from the Infopads viewer applications in the Management module in Business Process Portal.
You can invoke the Business Metric rule wizard multiple times on the same process template to create different metrics, but each metric must be defined on a different workstep.
To apply the Business Metric rule to an Activity workstep that contains a numeric dataslot:
1. From the Metrics category, drag the Business Metric () icon to the Activity workstep in the process template to which the rule is to be applied, to open the Business Metric wizard.
2. From the Description page, review the description of the rule wizard, then click Next to continue. Click Cancel, at any time, to exit the wizard.
3. From the Business Metric Period Definition page, you can specify the time period when the defined rule is activated.
a. Select the appropriate Rule filter condition option to set the rule filter condition by filtering for process template name (filters for a specific process) or for application name (filters for all versions of an application).
b. Select the period when the business metric rules are active, by selecting either of the following options:
No time constraints option where the business metric monitoring starts immediately upon rule execution and continues indefinitely.
Period option, where you can set the start and end date (and time) for the active period. Click the ellipsis button next to the Start and End boxes to display the Calendar dialog box, where you can define the date and time.
c. Click Next to continue.
4. From the Metric Definition page, you can define the business metric name as well as aggregate functions that generate rules to compute these measures.
a. Enter the name of the metric rule in the Name box.
b. Select a dataslot from the Select Dataslot drop-down list to be used for monitoring and computing the value of the business metric. This list contains all available numeric dataslots.
c. Select any of the following metric options from the Compute Measures drop-down list, then click Add.
Average, which computes the running average of the selected dataslot across all process instances during the active time period when the selected workitem completes.
Sum, which computes the additive value of the selected dataslot across all process instances during the active time period. This computation is based on the workitem completion event for the selected worksteps.
Maximum, which tracks the maximum value of the selected dataslot across multiple process instances during the active time period when the selected workitem completes. Click Add to open the Maximum dialog box. Enter the maximum value and click OK.
Minimum, which tracks the minimum value of the selected dataslot across multiple process instances during the active time period when the selected workitem completes. Click Add to open the Minimum dialog box. Enter the minimum value and click OK.
d. After adding all the options, click Next to continue.
5. From the Report Measures Distribution page, you can define how the business metric is distributed across time periods or based on the value of a dataslot in the process.
No distribution: creates an undistributed business metric.
By time periods: distributes the data by a specified time period, based on the starting time of the instance. For more information, see 5.
By attribute: distributes the data based on values specified for a selected dataslot. Click the adjoining ellipsis button to display the By attribute dialog box.
Click Next to continue.
6. From the Business Rules page, you can define business rules and conditions for the business metric.
a. Click Add to open the Business Rule Editor dialog box, where you can define conditions and actions for the selected metric.
b. Enter a name for the rule in the Rule Name box.
c. To add a condition, click Add in the Condition(s) section, opening the Business Rule Conditions dialog box.
d. To define the initial clause of a condition, click the ellipsis button on the left side, to open the Business Metric Attributes dialog box. Click the Dataslot option to select a INTEGER or INT64 dataslot as the attribute, or the Metric option to select any of the available metrics (as selected in the Metric Definition page), or the Value option to enter a specific value.
e. From the Business Rule Conditions dialog box, select an operand from the drop-down list in the middle, and complete the condition by clicking the ellipsis button on the right side, to define a second clause using the Business Metric Attributes dialog box.
f. Click OK to return to the Business Rule Conditions dialog box, and click OK to add the condition to the Condition(s) panel.
g. From the Action(s) section, you can specify the actions to be taken in the case if the condition is satisfied. You need to define at least one action.The procedure for all these actions are similar to as described in Step 5 for Process Path Wizard.
h. When you have finished defining the conditions and actions for the business rule, click OK to add the new rule condition to the Business Rules page.
i. Click Next to continue.
7. From the Summary page, review the summary of the parameters you have selected for the Business Metric rule wizard. Click Next to continue, or click Back to return to previous pages if you need to return to previous pages and make corrections.
8. From the Save As page, modify (if required) the name of the rule file in the File name box, or click the adjoining ellipsis button to change the location of the rule file.
9. Click Finish to create the new Business Metric rule file in the specified location. The rule wizard also creates another rule file in the same folder with the name of BM_<WS_Name>_param.rtp. Progress Developer Studio for OpenEdge automatically compiles the rule file and creates a *.bpo file when you click Finish. You must, however, separately install the compiled rule file on the BPM Events server before it becomes active.
) icon to the Activity workstep in the process template to which the rule is to be applied, to open the Business Metric wizard.
No time constraints option where the business metric monitoring starts immediately upon rule execution and continues indefinitely.