Understanding the Simulation View

Using Process Analytics 11-1 11 Using Process Analytics This chapter describes how to use and configure BPM Process Analytics to monitor the activity of the processes in your project. Process Analytics enable you to obtain performance and workload metrics of the processes in your project. You can use this metrics to make decisions about your process. This chapter includes the following sections: ■ Section 11.1, Introduction to Process Analytics ■ Section 11.2, Typical Process Analytics Workflow ■ Section 11.3, Configuring Projects, Processes and Activities to Generate Sampling Points ■ Section 11.4, Adding Business Indicators to Projects ■ Section 11.5, Adding Measurement Marks to Processes ■ Section 11.6, Adding Counters to the Activities in a Process ■ Section 11.7, Configuring Cubes Generation in a Project ■ Section 11.8, Enabling Oracle BAM in a Project

11.1 Introduction to Process Analytics

Business Process Analytics enables you to monitor the performance of your deployed processes. It measures the key performance indicators in your project and stores them in a database. Process analysts can view the metrics stored in the Process Analytics databases using WorkSpace dashboards or Oracle BAM, depending on the database you select to store the information. Process analysts can monitor standard pre-defined metrics and process specific user-defined metrics. Process developers can define process specific metrics using Business Indicators. Business Indicators are a special type of project data object that the BPMN Service Engine stores to the Process Analytics databases when it runs the BPMN processes. Process developers define the key performance indicators you want to monitor while developing your process. After publishing the application business analysts can use the default dashboards BPM WorkSpace provide or create custom dashboards to view the metrics the BPMN Service Engine gathered while running BPMN processes. Process Analytics track: ■ Process and Activity Performance Metrics ■ Workload Metrics 11-2 Modeling and Implementation Guide for Oracle Business Process Management ■ Human Resource Metrics You can store the key performance indicators in your process using business indicators. By default the BPMN Service Engine stores the values of pre-defined measures and dimensions that are common to all BPMN processes. The supported pre-defined measures are: ■ Number of active instances by activity, process, and participant ■ Average time to complete an activity ■ Average time to complete a process The supported pre-defined dimensions are: ■ Process ■ Activity ■ Participant You can also define custom measures according to your needs. To define custom measures you use business indicators. The different types of business indicators enable you to measure specific values, keep track of categories or count the times an instance completes one or more activities. Oracle BPM provides you with a set of pre-defined cubes you can use to store the Process Analytics data. Cubes are a structure used to organize a database so that it enables you to analyze data in real time and view it from multiple perspectives. You can also choose to store these data to Oracle BAM or use both systems simultaneously.

11.1.1 Process and Activity Performance Metrics

Process analytics track the time a process takes to complete and the average time each of the flow objects in that process take to complete. Process performance metrics track the time an instance takes to run that process from the start to the end event. Activity performance metrics track the time that passes from the moment the process instance arrives at a flow object until it moves to the next flow object in the process. Note that when the flow object invokes a synchronous service operation, activity performance metrics include the time it takes to run the synchronous service operation because the process instance does not leave the flow object until it receives an answer from the service. However when the invoked service operation is asynchronous, activity performance metrics do not include the time it takes to run the service operation because the process instance leaves the process after invoking the service without waiting for the service to complete.

11.1.2 Workload Metrics

Process analytics track the number of instances sitting in each activity at a certain time. You can view the workload for a certain process, activity or instance. Oracle BPM takes snapshots at fixed intervals and stores the number of instances and the value of the business indicators at that moment. To obtain the current workload in the process you must select the information from the most recent snapshot.