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Oracle® Product Lifecycle Analytics User Guide Release 3.6.1 E83716-02 |
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# A Dimensions and Measures

For simplified interpretation, we recommend you to use dimension and measure combinations from same dimension/measure group. For example, Project dimensions with Project measures or Phase dimensions with Phase measures. For other combinations, interpretations may be necessary.

## A.1 Dimensions Library

Dimensions are columns that you want to analyze by, such as 'Complaints by Product Line'. The dimensions represent the organization of logical columns (attributes) that belong to a single logical dimension table. These dimensions are grouped into folders in Oracle Answers. Examples of dimensions are Time, Product lines, Customers, and Suppliers. This section briefly describes some important dimensions.

### A.1.1 Time Dimensions

You can use time dimension to limit the results of your query to a specific period of interest.

Time Dimension is categorized into the following groups:

- Calendar Time

- Fiscal Time

- Time Utility

### A.1.2 Calendar Time

This group of dimensions follows the Gregorian calendar starting January 1st.The various time buckets available in Calendar Time category are:

- Year

- Quarter

- Month

- Week

- Day

When you use this dimension in combination with a measure in a report, it returns results in the chosen calendar time buckets.

### A.1.3 Fiscal Time

This group of dimensions follows the company's Fiscal Calendar. The date is set during the installation.

The various time buckets available in Fiscal Time category are:

- Year

- Quarter

- Month

- Week

- Day

When you use this dimension in combination with a measure in a report, it returns results in the chosen fiscal time buckets.

### A.1.4 Time Utility

In analysis, there might be requirements to know the results from time periods such as the last quarter, the current week and rolling 6 months. The Time Utility group of dimensions enables you to obtain results specific to a Current, Previous or Rolling time bucket - Year, Quarter, Month, Week. All calculations that use these time buckets are based on the current date. All reports using Time Utility stay current.

Some of the Time Utility members are:

- Current Month,

- Previous Year

- Rolling 12 months

- Rolling 6 Quarters

Note Rolling time provides results for the last x quarters, months or weeks. By default the time utility members use fiscal calendar.

## A.2 Changes

This folder contains a list of most commonly used dimensions. You can use Change Number dimension to generate detailed reports on product changes. You can use Complaint number to generate the most granular reports.

## A.3 People

This folder contains user dimension that helps answer questions pertaining to the user role. For example, you can use People dimensions for questions such as, 'Who is the Originator or Change Analyst on the Product Changes?' The People dimensions also include a Sign-off user and Sign-off group that combine with Sign-off Measures.

## A.4 Workflow Status Cycle Time

This dimension returns cycle time within a status when used in combination with work flow status cycle time measure.

## A.5 Total Cycle Time Dimensions

This dimension returns average cycle time between two statuses when combined with workflow total cycle time measure.

This dimension works with workflow cycle time measure only.

## A.6 Flags

The flags enable you to constrain the queries. For example: Has CAPA flag indicates whether the Change has CAPA related to it or not.

## A.7 Defined Fields

These Defined fields work only when PLM source attributes are configured to Defined fields in MDS, using Configurator.

## A.8 Workflow Status Cycle Time Dimensions

This dimension returns cycle time within a status when used in combination with workflow status cycle time measure.

## A.9 Workflow Total Cycle Time Dimensions

This dimension returns average cycle time between two statuses when combined with Workflow Total cycle time measure.

## A.10 Affected Items Dimensions

There are Affected Items associated with any complaint (or NCR, CAPA, or Audit). The dimensions which analyze these affected items are termed as Affected Items Dimensions.

The counts from the dimensions may be misleading, especially when one complaint (or NCR, CAPA, or Audit) has more than one Affected Item.

## A.11 Item Dimensions

Item dimensions consist of categories of dimensions specific to Parts and Documents. These categories contain the attributes which are useful in the Item Analysis. Example dimensions are: Change Class Type, Overall Compliance and Supplier.

## A.12 Role-playing Dimensions in PPM

In PPM, the measures render results based on the chosen time dimension. The role-playing time dimensions in PPM Analytics are as follows:

### A.12.1 Scheduled Start Date

The data in reports using this dimension are based on the Scheduled Start Date of the projects. The value of the Scheduled Duration is computed as the average duration of the projects.

### A.12.2 Scheduled End Date

The data in reports using this dimension are based on the Scheduled End Date of the projects. The value of the Scheduled Duration is computed as the average duration of the projects.

### A.12.3 Actual Start Date

The data in reports using this dimension are based on the Actual Start Date of the projects. The value of the Scheduled Duration is computed as the average duration of the projects.

### A.12.4 Actual End Date

The data in reports using this dimension are based on the Actual End Date of the projects. The value of the Scheduled Duration is computed as the average duration of the projects.

## A.13 Measures Library

For simplified interpretation, we recommend you to use dimension and measure combinations from same dimension/measure group. For example, Project dimensions with Project measures or Phase dimensions with Phase measures. For other combinations, interpretations may be necessary.

Measures are the count or sum of columns such as Total Sales of Brand, Number of Complaints, and Number of Suppliers.

### A.13.1 Cycle Time Measures

Cycle Time measures help you to identify processes that took long time to complete. This helps the management team to identify the reasons and take necessary process improvement actions.

Cycle Time in-process measures enable you to identify processes that are running late and thereby help management team to allocate resources.

The Average Days Overdue measures provide the list of objects that are past the expected resolution or completion date. The calculations are as on the 'Current date' for 'Open' (or in-process) objects and as on 'Released Date' for objects in the 'Released' state.

Note The Cycle time calculations are based on System Dates. The PLM System auto-populates the Start dates (Originate or Submit) and End dates (Released or complete) on objects. Some of the measures enable you to obtain the Cycle time without including the 'Hold' duration.

### A.13.2 Workflow Measures

Workflow cycle time provides cycle time for each of the statuses and thereby help identify the bottlenecks in the process. Cycle time combined with volume measures helps assess if high volume is causing the cycle time to tangentially deviate from the usual time.

There are two types of Workflow Measures:

- Workflow Status Cycle time

- Workflow Total Cycle time

### A.13.3 Workflow Status Cycle Time

Workflow Status Cycle time returns cycle time within a status, when used in combination with workflow status cycle time dimension. The Workflow Status Cycle Time in-process considers only 'Open' objects calculated as on date. When you analyze the workflow status cycle time for one object, the aggregation rule used in the reports is Average. If your analysis involves the total time taken by all the statuses for an object, then you need to use SUM as the aggregation rule.

Workflow Status Cycle time measures are to be used with Workflow Status Cycle time dimensions.

### A.13.4 Workflow Total Cycle Time

Workflow Total Cycle time returns cycle time between two selected statuses when used in combination with workflow total cycle time dimension. The Workflow Total Cycle time in-process returns the cycle time between two selected statuses where the object is still in the second status. The aggregation rule used is the average of every combination of 'From' state and 'To' state. Use this measure to understand the cycle time between one 'From' state and multiple ' To' states. The report provides every valid combination of 'From' and 'To' state. You may want to use pivot table if you want to filter 'From' or 'To' by specific states.

The Workflow calculations are based on Workflow Dates. Workflow Total Cycle time measures are to be used with Workflow Total Cycle time dimensions.

### A.13.5 Risk Measures

Risk Measures help to quantify risk carried by Product Lines or Part Families on various sectors such as Cost, Quality and Compliance. New Product Risks can be analyzed by risks on preliminary items and items with pending change.

Item risk measures are classified as follows:

- Preliminary

- Released

Risks on Items and Manufacturer parts can be analyzed separately and together when they are a part of AML.

In the Item AML subject area, Item risk measures quantify risk in terms of the Mfr part association, the Mfr Part risk measures provide average manufacturer parts per item and number of manufacturer parts on items, and Mfr risk measures provide count of items that have only one approved manufacturer.

### A.13.6 Preliminary Measures

Preliminary measures provide count and percentage of Items in the 'Not Released' state that have or do not have a specific risk.

Example:

The percent of items with PR in a Product line.

### A.13.7 Released Measures

Released measures provide count and percentage of Items in the 'Released' state that have or do not have a specific Risk.

Example:

The percent of items with PR in a Product line.

### A.13.8 First Time Right Measures

First Time Right measures enable you to identify the number of objects that are currently in a 'Closed' state without a single rejection. When compared with the total number of objects in the 'Closed' state, this metric provides an insight on the agreement that the initiator and sign-off approver have on the routed document. Low FTR count indicates poor process adoption or training issues. The trend of FTR is an indicator of process adoption.

OPLA has the following types of FTR measures:

- Closed FTR

- Cumulative FTR

- Open FTR

### A.13.9 Closed FTR Measures

Closed FTR measures provide a count of the FTR objects in the 'Closed' state. You can obtain information about the 'Closed' FTR objects which are in the 'Complete' and 'Released' state.

### A.13.10 Cumulative FTR Measures

Cumulative FTR measures provide a cumulative count of the FTR objects. Cumulative counts are available for 'New', 'Complete', and 'Released' states.

### A.13.11 Open FTR Measures

Open FTR measures list the number of FTR objects which are in the 'Open' state. You can view the count of Open FTRs which are in the 'Not Complete' and 'Not Released' state.

### A.13.12 Redline Measures

The Redline Measures provide a count of row modifications in the Bill of Material or Approved Manufacturers List. These measures provide the number of BOMs and AMLs added, modified, and deleted for a specific dimension. You can also obtain an average of the number of items that change as a result of a redlining activity. These Redline Measures convey the magnitude of change very accurately.

### A.13.13 Sign-off Measures

Sign-off Measures enable you to identify the approval statistics on objects that are routed for approval in a workflow. These measures provide information on number of approvers, number of approvals, number of rejected objects, number of reviewers and percentage of sign-off that is complete.

### A.13.14 Number of Approvers

These measures help identify optimal number of approvers required to ensure process compliance without compromising on the turnaround time.

### A.13.15 Number of Rejects

The number of rejects helps study changes with high rejects for process changes or training issues.

### A.13.16 Sign-off Complete

The percentage sign-off complete enables you to understand the current sign-off status of Open changes. The calculations are based on the number of sign-off users who have signed off or the total number of sign-off users in the 'Review' or 'Released' status type.

### A.13.17 Sign-off Cycle Time

Sign off cycle time is the time taken for an object to be signed off. The time is calculated from the date on which the object in the workflow enters the signoff status. Sign off cycle time helps to identify sign off users and user groups that are taking too long to sign off and take necessary management actions. It takes into account, the sign-off users assigned to both 'Review' and 'Released' status types, even if objects are not currently in that status. Use Workflow status along with Sign-off Measures and Dimensions to understand the individual user sign-offs for an object. When you analyze sign-off cycle time of one object, the aggregation rule used is Average.

Note Sign-off cycle time measures are to be used with sign-off cycle time dimensions.

### A.13.18 Sign-off Cycle Time in Process

Sign off cycle time in process indicates the sign-off cycle time calculated for an object till it reaches the current state from any other state. The workflow is 'In progress' and the sign-off is 'Not Complete'. Sign off cycle time in-process helps identify sign-off users and user groups that are running late in signing off the currently open changes. This measure provides the average amount of time for which the object has been on pending sign-off with a specific sign-off user or user group.

Note Sign-off cycle time in-process shows value only when sign-off is pending from user. Sign-off cycle time in hours is simply converting days to hours. Sign-off cycle time = Sign-off cycle time (days) * 24

### A.13.19 Task Completion Rate

Task Completion Rate (TCR) measure is a ratio of number of tasks actually completed versus number of scheduled tasks for a Project. This gives you an idea of how well Projects are executing their tasks relative to each other.

Since these measures require you to combine Scheduled and Actual dates, which is normally not supported, special rules apply. When you use time dimension with these measures, you would always need to filter them by a Server variable such as 'CURRENT MONTH'.

Examples:

Use Scheduled activity end date and filter it by server variable = 'CURRENT MONTH'

Use Actual activity end date and filter it by server variable = 'CURRENT MONTH'

This measure does not provide right results unless you use these server variables.

### A.13.20 Volume Measures

This category of measures provides a count of the objects for a specific time period such as month, year, or quarter.

The following are the various types of Volume Measures:

- New - Provides count of newly reported objects for a time period.

- Open - Provides count of open objects at the end of a time period.

- Closed - Provides count of objects that closed in a time period.

Note Cumulative counts provide count of all objects until the time interval.

### A.13.21 New Measures

New Measures provide a count of newly reported objects in a specific time period such as week, month, quarter, year sorted by Originated date. These 'New' measures indicate the trend of reported objects such as Customer Complaints. An increasing or decreasing trend in your report is a sign that an action needs to be taken or an action taken was successful.

### A.13.22 Open Measures

Open Measures provide the count of number of objects in the Open state arranged by Originated date for a specific time period. The count of the Open objects is as on the current date if the time period is not complete at the time of the report. If the time period is complete, then the count is as on the last day of the time period. The count does not consider Originated Date for calculations.

### A.13.23 Closed Measures

The Closed Measures provide count of the objects that are marked 'Closed' in a given time period such as week, month, quarter, or year arranged by 'Release Date'. Cumulative Closed Measures provide the count of all the 'Closed' objects till a specific time interval. The count is calculated using 'Release Date' or 'Complete Date'. The trend charts of 'Closed' indicate if there is a rise or fall in the rate or closure of the objects. The count of the number of complaints closed in a month is an example.

### A.13.24 Ago Measures

These measures enable you to compare current volume to a previous period such as Quarter ago. The results help you decide if the trend is better than the past. Visibility to the trend is the purpose of these reports.

### A.13.25 To Date Measures

These measures enable you to assess performance in a specific time period such as Quarter, Week, or Year. These measures are used to compare results against a specific bench mark. For example, if you are expecting the number of customer complaints for a specific quarter to be 30, then at anytime during the quarter, the count of the customer complaints to date, informs you of the current count of complaints. You might decide to appoint more people for a specific product, if you see the number of complaints increasing at an alarming rate and you still have a whole month before the quarter ends.

### A.13.26 To Date Ago Measures

To Date Ago measures enable you to compare performance of a current period of time to the corresponding period of time in the past.

For example, Quarter to date, Quarter Ago helps to compare current performance to a previous time period of equal duration.

### A.13.27 Aging Measures

Aging measures enable you to identify objects (complaints or changes) that are in 'Open' state for long time periods. In comparison with other issues, there are chances of the Aging issues to be overlooked, primarily because of lower priority.

The Aging measures provide information on such issues with more focus on complex issues. The management can choose to take decisions that ensure closure of such prolonged issues.

The aging calculation is based on the difference between 'Current Date' and 'Originated Date'.

OPLA has the following types of Aging Measures:

- Open Aging

- Closed Aging

- Overdue Aging

Note Aging Measures cannot combine with Time Dimension.

### A.13.28 Open Aging

This measure provides count of 'Open' objects in each Aging bucket. Age is based on Duration calculated from object 'Originate' date to 'Current' date.

### A.13.29 Closed Aging

This measure provides count of 'Closed' objects in each Aging bucket. Age is based on the duration calculated from object 'Originate' date to 'Release' date.

### A.13.30 Overdue Aging

This measure provides count of the 'Overdue' objects in each Aging bucket. The age is based on duration calculated from object 'Originate' date to 'Current' date. Overdue aging measures are available only for Customer Complaints and NCR.