This chapter explains Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and KPI watchlists and how to create and use them. It contains the following topics:
KPIs are measurements that define and track specific business goals and objectives that often roll up into larger organizational strategies that require monitoring, improvement, and evaluation. KPIs have measurable values that usually vary with time, have targets to determine a score and performance status, include dimensions to allow for more specific analysis, and can be compared over time for trending purposes and to identify performance patterns.
See the following list of specific uses for KPIs in Oracle BI EE:
Evaluate metrics against their targets and alert the appropriate users via agents when targets are not met.
Create an analysis from a KPI and add that analysis to a dashboard. An analysis that is created from a KPI can allow the user to drill into different levels of details based on the KPI's dimensions.
For example, to a KPI called "Product Sales," you can add the Region and Fiscal Time dimensions to view Product Sales figures by region and time periods such as financial quarters. This enables you to gather multi-dimensional subsets of data and evaluate the performance of objectives and initiatives that the KPI measures against the different target values of the dimensional metrics.
In Oracle Scorecard and Strategy Management, use KPIs to evaluate and monitor the performance of the objectives that form the strategy and the initiatives (tasks or projects) that are needed to meet your objectives. For information about scorecards and how to create them, see Chapter 12, "Scorecarding."
For example, use KPIs for "Average Customer Satisfaction Survey Score" and "Repeat Orders" to measure the performance of an "Improved Customer Satisfaction" objective.
A KPI's status and score are determined by comparing its actual value against the thresholds that you define. The performance status of a KPI is represented by the status icon that you assign to each range.
For example, for a product sales KPI in which high values are desirable, you can define the ranges that are described in Table 11-1. Thresholds are the numeric values that separate the ranges.
| Evaluation Range Rule | Threshold | Name | Status Icon |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Values exceeding 125 (125 < x) indicate ideal performance |
126 and above |
Ideal |
Blue square |
|
Values between 100 and 125 (100 < x <= 125) indicate good performance |
125 |
Good |
Green square |
|
Values between 80 and 100 (80 < x <= 100) indicate acceptable performance |
100 |
Acceptable |
Yellow square |
|
Values between 50 and 80 (50 < x < = 80) indicate a warning of poor performance |
80 |
Warning |
Light red square |
|
Values less than 50 (x <= 50) indicate critical performance |
50 and below |
Critical |
Dark red square |
KPIs are created with the KPI Editor, which can be accessed as a stand-alone editor or within the "Scorecard editor". After you create and save KPIs, you can use them in the following ways:
Building blocks of scorecards — You can create and assign KPIs to measure the progress and performance of your organization's strategies. Within a scorecard, you can define the objectives (goals such as "Decreased Operational Costs") and initiatives (processes or tasks such as "Form Cost Minimization Team") to which you assign KPIs to measure progress and performance. For information about objectives, see "What Are Objectives?". For information about initiatives, see "What Are Initiatives?"
As an analysis — You can generate an analysis from a KPI. When you do this, Oracle BI EE saves the analysis to the catalog. You can include the analysis on a dashboard or as a related document in a scorecard, KPI watchlist, or KPI. Any dimension values that you pinned to the KPI before you output it as an analysis are included in the analysis. Drill-down is available on the analysis. Oracle BI EE refreshes the data for the analysis every time a user opens the analysis.
Included in KPI watchlists — You can create a watchlist that contains a group of KPIs or to present one KPI several times with dimension values that are pinned to it. After you save the watchlist, it is available as a catalog object that you can add to dashboards or scorecards. When users access the watchlist, they can change the dimension values for the KPIs that are included in the watchlist.
Facilitate user interaction — If KPIs were added to a KPI watchlist or if they were added to strategy or initiative nodes inside a scorecard, then you can post comments to a KPI and read and reply to other users' comments. You can also contact the KPI's business owner with questions or comments about the KPI. And, if you are the business owner, you can override a KPI's status.
Initiate actions — You can add an action link that when clicked in the KPI runs an associated action. For example, if the performance of a KPI for Internal Spending is too high, indicating excessive spending, then you could create an action link that when clicked, sends an email to the appropriate employees.
Trigger agents — You can use a KPI's values, performance levels, and status to trigger a condition that will initiate an agent alert. For example, you can define an agent that notifies you when the value of a Internal Costs KPI exceeds a certain dollar amount.
Dimensions are categorizations of data, and the categorizations reflect how a business analyst wants to analyze data. When analysts say they want to see numbers "by" something or "over" something, they are identifying the dimensions of the data. Common dimensions are geography, product, customer, and time.
For KPIs, you can select any attribute column from the subject area as a dimension. When you design the KPI, you can either pin a specific data value to one or more dimensions (for example, Region = Central), or you can specify that you want all or some dimension values pinned when the KPI is added to a watchlist or scorecard. Pinning filters the data that the user sees, and after a value is pinned by the designer, the user cannot change the value.
When adding a KPI without a pre-pinned value to a watchlist, the designer can pin a specific value or specify a session or repository variable to set the dimension's value. If the designer does not pin a value to a dimension, then the KPI user can select a value at runtime from the point of view area in either the KPI watchlist, from the scorecard that contains the KPI, or from the variable prompt on a dashboard.
If a KPI with dimensions is output to an analysis, then the dimensions are displayed as columns and drills. If the dimension values are pinned, then the analysis is limited to the data that is determined by the pinned values.
Use the following procedures to open a saved KPI in the "KPI editor". KPIs are stored in the catalog, but can be added to watchlists, scorecards, and dashboards. When you edit and save a KPI, the changes propagate to wherever the KPI is displayed.
For information about creating a KPI, see "Creating or Editing KPIs".
Use the following procedure to open a KPI in the catalog.
To open a KPI in the Catalog:
In the global header, click Catalog. The "Catalog page" is displayed.
Search or browse for the KPI. For information, see "Searching with the Basic Search".
Click the Edit link for the object. The "KPI editor" is displayed.
Use the following procedure to open a KPI from a watchlist.
To open a KPI from a watchlist:
In a KPI watchlist, right-click the KPI that you want to open.
Select Open KPI Definition. The "KPI editor" is displayed.
Use the following procedure to open a KPI definition from a scorecard. KPIs can be located in a scorecard's strategy tree or initiatives. You can also open a KPI from a scorecard by using the "Catalog pane for Scorecard".
Note that you can modify the label or pinning for a particular usage of a KPI within a Scorecard strategy or initiative tree. However, if you want to change the underlying KPI definition, which affects all usages of the KPI, follow the instructions below to open the KPI editor.
To open a KPI definition from a scorecard:
Expand the strategy tree or initiative tree and double-click the KPI. Or, open a KPI watchlist from the "Scorecard Documents pane," right-click a KPI, and select Open KPI Definition. The "Scorecard editor" displays the KPI in a new tab.
Click Open KPI Definition on the tab's toolbar. The "Scorecard editor" opens a new tab that displays the "KPI editor".
Use the following procedure to create or edit a KPI. You can create or edit a KPI from the global header, the Home page, or from a scorecard.
To create or edit a KPI:
Open a KPI for editing or create a new KPI. For information about opening a KPI, see "Opening KPIs for Editing". To create a new KPI, do one of the following:
In the global header, hover the mouse pointer over the New menu, select KPI, and from the Select Subject Area dialog, select a subject area for the KPI. The "KPI editor" is displayed.
From a scorecard, go to the Scorecard Documents pane or the Catalog pane, click the New Object icon list, select KPI, and from the Select Subject Area dialog, select a subject area for the KPI. The "KPI editor" is displayed.
On the "KPI editor: General Properties page", specify the business owner, actual value, and target value, and indicate if you want to enable trending to determine performance patterns. Oracle recommends that you enable trending because trending enables Scorecard to automatically display historical trend charts.
On the "KPI editor: Dimensionality page", select the dimensions (for example, Sales by Region and by Financial Quarter) that you want to use to aggregate the KPI's actual and target values. Note that you should include a time dimension for most KPIs. Exceptions include constants or metrics that are defined as current snapshots, such as "Inventory on Hand" or "Current Phone Support Wait Time."
On the "KPI editor: Thresholds page", indicate the desired goal based on KPI values (for example, "High Values are Desirable"), define the ranges that evaluate KPI values to determine performance status, and associate performance levels with actions.
On the "KPI editor: Related Documents page", add any external links or business intelligence objects to the KPI.
Save the KPI. Note the following items:
If you are creating a stand-alone KPI, then click Finish to save the KPI.
If you are creating a new KPI, then the "Save As dialog" is displayed where you specify the KPI's name and where you want to save the KPI. If you want the KPI to display within a scorecard's "Scorecard Documents pane", then save the KPI to the scorecard object's folder within the catalog.
If you are creating a KPI from a scorecard, then click Save from the "Scorecard editor".
Use the following procedures to generate an analysis from a KPI. An analysis is a query against an organization's data that provides answers to business questions such as "What are my yearly regional sales of a specific beverage?" For more information about analyses, see Chapter 2, "Creating Analyses."
You can generate an analysis from a KPI that is included in a KPI watchlist, scorecard, or scorecard diagram view on a dashboard. After you generate the analysis, it is stored in the catalog's Drills folder (/My Folders/Drills). Note that because the My Folders/Drills folder is used for temporary storage, the analysis might not persist after your session ends. To preserve the analysis, copy it to another directory. For example, to preserve an analysis that you plan to use in a shared dashboard, copy it to a folder in /Shared Folders.
After the analysis is generated, the analysis can then be placed onto a dashboard, opened from the catalog as an analysis, or attached as a related document in a scorecard, KPI watchlist, or KPI. Every time a user opens the analysis, its data is refreshed.
To generate an analysis from a KPI on a watchlist:
Locate and open the KPI watchlist from the catalog, scorecard, or dashboard that contains the KPI watchlist.
Go to the Performance tab and within the New KPI Watchlist table, select the row that contains the KPI that you want to output to an analysis.
From the Objects list, select Analyze. A new browser tab opens and displays the analysis, and Oracle BI EE saves the analysis to the catalog's Drills folder (/My Folders/Drills).
To output an analysis from a KPI on a scorecard:
Expand the scorecard's strategy tree, initiative tree, Scorecard Documents pane, or Catalog pane and select a KPI.
Right-click the KPI and select Analyze. A new browser tab opens and displays the analysis, and Oracle BI EE saves the analysis to the catalog.
Use the following procedure to create an agent from a KPI using the Create Agent option. This option is available from the More list on the "Catalog page" and from the New Object list in the Scorecard Editor's "Catalog pane". When you create an agent using this method, Oracle BI EE does the following:
Uses the KPI dimensions, dimension values that you specify, and status to create a condition that is based on the KPI and adds the condition to the "Agent editor: Condition tab".
Outputs the KPI as an analysis, saves the analysis to the catalog, and attaches the analysis to the "Agent editor: Delivery Content tab".
For more information about agents, see Chapter 8, "Delivering Content."
To create an agent from a KPI:
Locate the KPI from which you want to create an agent using one of the following methods:
From the "Catalog page", browse for and locate the KPI. In the "Catalog area", click the KPI's More list and select Create Agent. The "Create New Agent dialog" is displayed.
From anywhere in scorecard (Strategy pane, Initiatives pane, Scorecard Documents pane, Catalog pane, or any tab within the Scorecard Editor), select a KPI, right-click, and select Create Agent. The "Create New Agent dialog" is displayed.
In the Name field, enter a name for the agent and complete the Create New Agent dialog. Click OK.
The "Agent editor" is displayed and the information that you specified in the Create New Agent dialog defaults into the "Agent editor: Condition tab" and the "Agent editor: Delivery Content tab".
Complete and save the agent. For more information, see "Creating Agents".
Use the following procedures to send a message to a KPI's business owner. The business owner is the person who is responsible for managing the KPI. Upon the creation or modification of the KPI, the KPI designer selects the business owner from the Oracle BI EE user list.
Oracle BI EE uses the delivery devices and profiles that the business owner has specified in the "My Account dialog: Delivery Options tab" to determine where to deliver the message (for example, email, phone, or pager).
To contact the KPI's business owner from a KPI watchlist:
Locate and open the KPI watchlist from the catalog, open a dashboard that contains a KPI, or open the scorecard that contains the KPI watchlist.
Go to the Performance tab and within the New KPI Watchlist table, select the row that contains the KPI whose owner you want to contact.
From the Objects list, select Contact Owner. The "Contact Owner dialog" is displayed.
In the Message field, enter a message to the KPI's owner.
Click Send.
To contact the KPI's business owner from a scorecard:
Expand the scorecard's strategy tree, initiative tree, or scorecard documents folder and select a KPI.
Right-click the KPI and select Contact Owner. The "Contact Owner dialog" is displayed.
In the Message field, enter a message to the KPI's owner.
Click Send.
A KPI's status can be overridden only by the business owner. The business owner is the person responsible for managing the KPI. Upon the creation or modification of the KPI, the KPI designer selects the business owner from the Oracle BI EE user list.
The business owner can override a status if the KPI's values are old, unavailable, or otherwise do not accurately reflect the true status of what the KPI is measuring. A KPI's status remains overridden until the business owner removes the override status. For example, if there is a scorecard that contains a KPI that measures a store's sales and a fire destroys the store, causing it to be non-operational, the business owner overrides the KPI's status so that the scorecard is not unbalanced. The business owner keeps this override in place until the store is again operational.
For detailed instructions about overriding a KPI's status, see "Overriding the Statuses of Initiatives, Objectives, and KPIs".
Any recipient of the KPI can add comments to a KPI's columns. Commentable columns are flagged by an asterisk (*). Recipients can also review and respond to comments entered by other users. When you access a KPI's comments, a cumulative, chronological list of comments is displayed.
For more information on adding and reviewing comments, see "Adding Comments to Initiatives, Objectives, and KPIs".
KPI watchlists are collections of KPIs that you build by adding the KPIs that are stored in the catalog. After you build and save a KPI watchlist, it is stored as a catalog object and can be added to dashboards and scorecards. Because KPIs cannot be viewed directly from the catalog by end users, KPI watchlists are one of the ways, along with outputting a KPI to an analysis and including a KPI on a scorecard, that KPIs are distributed to end users.
KPI watchlists provide the following KPI performance information:
Current status
Trend status that indicates if performance has increased, decreased, or remained the same, and if any changes are desirable
Current and target values
Variance value and percent by which the current value deviates from the target
Change value and percent identify how much the current value differs from that from the previous period
KPI watchlists are useful because you can quickly build formal or informal lists for specific uses and for specific users, or, if end users are given the proper privileges, they can build their own KPI watchlists that meet their specific information needs. For example, the KPI watchlist designer might create a KPI watchlist that contains KPIs that support a specific scorecard's strategy and initiatives. Or end users might create KPI watchlists to monitor their individual objectives. For example, a sales person can create a KPI watchlist that contains KPIs that monitor quarterly sales totals within a specific region.
The KPI watchlist designer can add one KPI several times to a KPI watchlist, and each time that the KPI is added, pin different dimensions to it so that the end user can quickly see the whole picture rather than having to specify dimensions and reloading the KPI.
The KPI watchlist also provides the end user with the ability to select a KPI from the watchlist and output it to an analysis, or to contact the KPI's business owner.
Use the following procedure to create or edit a KPI watchlist.
To create or edit a KPI watchlist:
To create a new KPI watchlist, do one of the following:
From the Home page, locate the global header, hover the mouse pointer over the New menu, and select KPI Watchlist. The "KPI Watchlist editor" is displayed.
From a scorecard, go to the Scorecard Documents pane, click the New Object icon list, and select KPI Watchlist. The "KPI Watchlist editor" is displayed.
To open an existing KPI watchlist, perform the following sub-procedure. Note that in most cases, a KPI watchlist that was created within a scorecard will be stored in the scorecard's catalog folder. For example, Shared Folders/Sales/2009 Sales Scorecard.
In the global header, click Catalog. The "Catalog page" is displayed.
Search or browse for the KPI watchlist. If you are searching or browsing for a KPI watchlist that is located within a scorecard folder, then you must search for and locate the scorecard object and then click the scorecard object's Expand link to find the KPI watchlist. For more information, see "Searching with the Basic Search".
Click the KPI watchlist object's Edit link. The "KPI Watchlist editor" is displayed.
If you are creating a KPI watchlist from the global header, then select any KPI from the catalog pane and drag it to the watchlist table.
If you are creating a KPI watchlist within the Scorecard Editor, then select a KPI from any pane within the Scorecard Editor and drag it to the watchlist table. The "Add KPI dialog" is displayed.
Enter a label for the KPI and if the KPI contains dimensions, then pin values to the dimensions as needed. Click OK.
To edit the KPIs included on the watchlist, edit the KPI's watchlist entry, or remove the KPI from the watchlist, select a KPI from the table, click Objects, and select an option. For more information, see "KPI Watchlist editor: Performance tab".
To add or remove columns from the watchlist table, click View and select Show More Columns.... The "Show More Columns dialog" is displayed.
Click the KPI Watchlist Editor's Details tab to provide a description of the watchlist, identify a business owner, and add links to related business intelligence objects or external links. For more information, see "KPI Watchlist editor: Details tab".
Click Save.
If you are creating a new KPI watchlist, then the "Save As dialog" is displayed where you specify the KPI watchlist's name and where you want to save the watchlist.
If you want the watchlist to display within a scorecard's "Scorecard Documents pane", save the watchlist to the scorecard object's folder within the catalog.