KPI or Metric Configuration and Calculation Details

Changes in the STUDIO have impacts on the display in Dashboard and EXPLORER. For details, see Synchronization of Changes in the Studio with Display in the Dashboard and the EXPLORER tab.

In this section, you will learn how to modify a KPI configuration. Click the Studio to open the Studio.

1. Click the Studio button (top right corner) to open the Studio.
2. In the Active KPIs pane, select the KPI you'd like to modify.

3. In the Configuration Details pane:

   1. In the General – KPI area, you can change the KPI name, you can select a different unit or enter a custom unit. You can change the Calculation period.

   2. In the Result Threshold area, you can change the threshold direction, include the marginal status, and set the threshold boundaries by dragging the handles.
   3. In the Additional Details area, you can add to the KPI, additional information that will be shown in the Dashboard and the Explorer tab. In the Business Motivation enter the relevant motivation.

   4. In the Additional Info area, you can add information that will be displayed with the KPI. It can be a URL, a Dashboard page, or a report.

      You can also set an owner for the KPI. The owner will receive the annotations set for the KPI in the Dashboard page or in the Explorer tab.

   5. Save your changes.

4. In the right pane, click the Calculation Details tab.

   1. Click Open Formula Builder to modify the KPI formula.

      How to modify the formula is detailed in another section.

   2. Click Open Formula Filter to modify the KPI filter.
   3. In the Comments field, add any additional information.
5. Remove the current formula and start creating your own formula.
6. Click Save to save your changes.

7. Use the Test KPI button to check if the result you are getting according to the configuration, meets your expectation. If not, modify it and check it again.

In this section you will learn how to create a new Metric.

1. Click the Studio button (top right corner) to open the Studio.
2. In the Active KPIs pane, select the Public Metrics and KPIs directory and click the Create a new entity icon and select Metric.

3. Name the new Metric, enter a description, set the units and the calculation period. Click Create to complete the Metric creation.

   For more details, see KPI or Metric Configuration and Calculation Details.

4. Click the Calculation Details tab to select the relevant Business Context and to set the formula and filter. Once you are done, click Create .
5. To find out the expected result for the Metric you created, click the Test Metric button. If the result does not meet your expectations, modify the Metric formula and check again to check the expected result.

6. Once the Metric you created is ready to be calculated, launch the Engine by clicking Calculate now. For more details, see Calculation.

   The engine will calculate the new Metric result and you will be able to view it in the Dashboard.

The calculation result of an Objective is based on its KPIs, so the Calculation Period of an Objective and of its KPIs must be the same. If an Objective has KPIs you cannot change its Calculation Period and you cannot change its KPIs Calculation Period directly. To change the Calculation Period of the Objective or of its KPIs, go to STUDIO:

1. In the Active KPIs, unassign the KPI from the Objective as follows:

   1. Right-click the KPI and select Delete.

   2. Select Un-assign this specific KPI from the Objective, and click Yes.

      The KPI is then moved to the Public Metrics and KPIs folder.

2. Change the Calculation Period of either the Objective or of the KPI to match.
3. Click the Objective and click Add KPI. Select the relevant KPI and click the arrow to move the KPI to Assigned KPIs, and click OK.

User interface elements are described below (when relevant, unlabeled elements are shown in angle brackets):

UI Element	Description
Navigate to the source template	Moves the cursor to the template that was used to create the current KPI, in the KPI Library pane. The details of the template are displayed in the Configuration Details pane.
Test KPI	After you make changes to the KPI configuration, click Save to save your changes. The Test KPI button is enabled. Click it to test the changes you made to the KPI configuration. The KPI value is calculated and displayed in a popup window. The window displays the new value, score, and status of the modified KPI. The result is not saved to the database. The button is disabled for KPI Breakdowns.
Save	Click to save the changes.
Discard	Click to discard the changes you have made since the last Save operation.
	Click to refresh the display.
Business context	The box displays the Context you selected. You can use additional variables and entities by creating Contexts using Context Designer. For details, see Semantic Layer - Context Designer Note If you have assigned to a KPI a Context created with the Context Designer, and then you modify the Context name in the Context Designer, make sure that you assign the modified Context to the KPI in the Studio otherwise the KPI becomes invalid as it uses a Context that does not exist.
Select business context	Click to open the Business Context dialog box, where you select the Business Context. That selection determines the business entities that are the basis of the calculation of the KPI value and defines the entities used in the formula. For details, see SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise Contexts (Universes) This link is displayed only when no KPI Breakdown has been defined for the KPI. If the KPI already has a Breakdown KPI then a message indicates why you cannot change the Context.
Formula	The formula used to calculate the value of the KPI.
Open Formula Builder	Click to open the Formula Builder dialog box where you can build the relevant formula to calculate the value of the KPI. For user interface details, see KPI or Metric Formula
Validate	Click to validate the formula that appears in the Formula box.
Filter	Specify the filter to limit the range of data used for the KPI's calculation.
Open Filter Builder	Click to open the Filter Builder dialog box where you can build the relevant filter that limits the range of the data the KPI calculation is based on. For user interface details, see KPI or Metric Filter
Validate	Click to validate the filter.
Comments	Enter a description of the formula and its purpose in your own words.

User interface elements are described below (when relevant, unlabeled elements are shown in angle brackets):

UI Element	Description
Navigate to the source template	Moves the cursor to the template that was used to create the active KPI/Metric, in the KPI/Metric Library pane. The details of the template are displayed in the Configuration Details pane.  This option is disabled for KPI/Metric Breakdowns.
Test KPI/Metric	After you change the KPI/Metric configuration, click Save to save your changes. The Test KPI/Metric button is enabled. Click it to test the changes you made to the KPI/Metric configuration. The KPI/Metric value is calculated and displayed in a popup window. The window displays the new value, score, and status of the modified KPI/Metric. The result is not saved to the database. Note The button is disabled for KPI/Metric Breakdowns. For details on calculations, see Activate Scorecards, Perspectives, Objectives, Metrics, or KPIs Using Templates.
Save	Click to save the changes.
Discard	Click to discard the changes you have made since the last Save operation.
	Click to refresh the display.
General - KPI  Name	Name The name of the KPI/Metric or of the KPI/Metric template. Limitations: The characters: \ / : * ? " < > | are not supported. The maximum number of characters is 240. Tip   If you change the name of a KPI that has KPI Breakdowns or the name of a Metric that has Metric Breakdowns, you must perform a new calculation to update names of their overrides. For details about overrides, see KPI and Metric Breakdown Overrides. The names of the KPI or Metric Breakdowns are not automatically updated after you change the name of the KPI or Metric parent even after a new calculation.You must access the Studio and manually change the names of the KPI or Metric Breakdowns to match the new parent KPI or Metric names. Unit The unit of the KPI/Metric value. Description The description of the KPI/Metric. Limitations: The maximum number of characters is 1000. Calculation Period The time period used to calculate the value of the KPI/Metric (using the formula specified in the Calculation details tab). It can be: Yearly, Quarterly, Monthly, Weekly, or Daily. If you select Daily for the Calculation Period of a KPI/Metric, and if the KPI/Metric formula contains in_period(-XX), end_period(-XX), or Period_entity = Period (-XX), XX must be less than or equal to 365. The calculation result of an Objective is based on its KPIs, so their Calculation Period must be the same. To change the Calculation Period of an Objective or of a KPI when the Objective is assigned the KPI, see KPI or Metric Configuration and Calculation Details. Id The ID of the KPI/Metric. It is automatically assigned. This information is displayed only when in debug mode. To set the debug mode, click ADMIN > Settings > BA Settings, and in Debug Mode, select the Application Debug Mode setting.
Result Threshold	Note This section is not relevant for Metrics. Direction Select: Centralize. When the status of the KPI is best when it has either a specific value or its value is in a specific range, and higher or lower values are worse. Minimize. When the status of the KPI is best when it is low. Maximize. When the status of the KPI is best when it is high. Example If you are measuring the Employee Attrition rate, the lower the value the best the attrition rate, so you would select Direction=Minimize. If you are measuring revenue, the higher the value, the best the revenue, so you would select Direction=Maximize. Threshold Slide the arrows to select the relevant thresholds in the boxes attached to the arrows. The threshold is used to assign a status to the KPI. For details on statuses, see Activate Scorecards, Perspectives, Objectives, Metrics, or KPIs Using Templates. You can also enter the value by typing text in the box. The slider adjusts automatically. You can leave the lowest and highest ends empty to indicate an infinite value (minus infinity and plus infinity). In such a case, the threshold uses the lowest and highest historical values of the KPI or of the KPI template.  All the threshold values use of the lowest and highest ends uses float precision (Java Floating Point), so for example, a value of 999999 is rounded to 10000000. Example As the measurement unit of the Employee Attrition rate is a percentage, the limits of the threshold are 0 and 100. You can decide that a good attrition rate for your company or group is between 0% to 5% (green), a warning rate is between 5% and 10% (yellow), and a bad rate is between 10% and 100% (red). The Threshold fields are validated when you enter values. The values must increase from left to right. For details about the decimal precision, see KPI and Metric Formulas, Filter, Threshold, Value, Trend, Score, and Decimal Precision. Include marginal status (Warning) Select when the status of the KPI can be Good, Warning, or Error. Clear when the status of the KPI is either Good, or Error.  When you select Direction=Centralize and the Include marginal status (yellow) option, the thresholds include two warning areas as follows: The Threshold fields are validated when you enter values. The values must increase from left to right.
Additional Details	Business Motivation Enter the business motivation of the KPI. This section is not relevant for Metrics. Additional Info Lists the additional information available for the KPI. It can be links to BO or Xcelsius reports, external links, or links to Dashboard pages. The table includes: Name.The name of the link or the reports. URL. The hyperlink to access additional external information. Click the link to open the Edit Info Link dialog box where you can edit the selected additional information. For details, see KPI or Objective Additional Information. Click to delete the selected additional information. Owner The owner of the active KPI.  The list of available owners corresponds to the users that were defined in ADMIN > Users and Roles > User Management. For details, see Users and Roles - User Management Total number of digits This is used to specify the decimal precision of the value of the KPI or Metric. It represents the total number of digits. It overrides the default value specified in Total number of digits displayed for KPI/Metric results in Admin > Settings > Dashboard Settings. For details, see KPI and Metric Formulas, Filter, Threshold, Value, Trend, Score, and Decimal Precision. Max decimal digits This is used to specify the decimal precision of the value of the KPI of Metric. It represents the total number of digits after the decimal point. It overrides the default value specified in Max number of digits after decimal point in Admin > Settings > Dashboard Settings. For details, see KPI and Metric Formulas, Filter, Threshold, Value, Trend, Score, and Decimal Precision. Add Click to open the Add Info Link dialog box where you can add additional information for the KPI. For details, see KPI or Objective Additional Information.