12 Handling Data in Your Business Processes

This chapter describes how to handle different types of data used within an Oracle BPM application. It provides information on using data objects and business objects to define the data structures used within your BPM project. It describes how to manipulate data using expressions and data associations. This chapter also provides information on how to define the data used by Process Analytics.

This chapter includes the following sections:

12.1 About Handling Data Used by Your Business Processes

Most business applications require users to create and manipulate data. In the Sales Quote example project, application users enter the data related to the quote which includes information about the customer, quote, and other types of data. Additionally, an application may need to create and manipulate other data that is only used internally as part of the overall function of the application.

When creating business processes you must define the data the application uses. In Oracle BPM, data is stored using data objects. Data objects can be defined based on simple types that are similar to those found in most programming languages.

Data objects can also be defined based on a business object. Business objects enable you to group together related data. For example, if you were creating an application that needed to store information about an employee, you may need to create a business object that stored the name, address, salary, and other information about the employee. Business objects are similar to the concept of classes used in object-oriented programming languages like Java.

12.1.1 How to Define the Data Used by an Oracle BPM Application

Defining how data is stored and manipulated is part of the overall design and development of an Oracle BPM application. The following high-level task outlines the typical process for defining the data used within an Oracle BPM application.

To Define the Data Used by Your Oracle BPM Application

  1. Define the business objects required by your project.

    The first step in defining the data used within an Oracle BPM application is to define the required business objects. Business objects enable you to define the data structures used within your application. See Section 12.4, "Introduction to Business Objects" for more information.

  2. Create the data objects used within your project

  3. Define the expressions used to manipulate the data in your process.

  4. Define how information is passed between BPMN flow objects using data associations.

  5. Define the inputs and output for your process.

12.2 Introduction to Data Objects

Data objects are the variables used to store the information used by your business processes and Oracle BPM application in general. They are defined during the design and implementation stage of a process. Before deploying a BPM project you must define all of the data objects that the running application will need.

At runtime, new data objects are not created, but the value of the information they store is altered as users interact with your application. Running processes can store, access, and manipulate data. The values of data can also determine process branching.

12.2.1 Introduction to Basic and Complex Data Objects

Oracle BPM supports two types of data objects: basic and complex. Which type of data object you use depends on the type of data it needs to handle.

  • Basic data objects

    Basic data objects are based on simple data types. These are the core data types common in most programming languages. Table x-x lists the basic data types supported by Oracle BPM.

    Table 12-1 Simple Data Objects

    Type Description

    Bool

    Represents the logical values true or false.

    Int

    Represents an integer. For example: 23, -10, 0

    Decimal

    Represents a number than can be expressed in decimal notation. For example: 3.14, 62, 0.023.

    Real

    Represents a floating-point numeric value. For example: 2e-1, 2.3E8.

    String

    Represents a sequence of characters. For example: "This is a string."

    Time

    Represents a specific time expressed as: year-month day hour:minute:second. For example: 1995-02-03 13:30:28-08:00

    Interval

    Represents a duration of time expressed as a number in years, months, days, hours, minutes, and seconds. For example: 1d3h30m.

    Binary

    Used to store binary data, including images or videos.


  • Complex data objects

    Complex data objects enable you to create data structures that group together different types of data. Complex data objects are based on business objects. Business objects enable you to create data structures based on basic data objects.

    For example, you can create a complex data object called employee that contains different types of data for employee like id, name, and age. The relationship between business objects and complex data objects is analogous to the relationship between classes and instances in the Java programming language.

Figure 12-1 shows the relationship between basic and complex data objects.

Figure 12-1 Relationship Between Basic and Complex Data Objects

Description of Figure 12-1 follows
Description of "Figure 12-1 Relationship Between Basic and Complex Data Objects"

Before creating a complex data object, you must first define the business object that defines the data structure. See Section 12.4, "Introduction to Business Objects" for more information.

12.2.2 Introduction to Process and Project Data Objects

In addition to defining data objects based on type and complexity, you can also define data objects based on scope. In Oracle BPM, the scope of a data object refers to where in the process or project it can be accessed from.

In Oracle BPM, there are two types of data object scope: process and project. Process data objects are data objects that are defined for a specific process. Similarly, project data objects are defined for an entire BPM project. Both project and process data objects can be created from both basic and complex types.

12.2.2.1 Process Data Objects

Process data objects enable you to define data objects that are only used within a single process. Process data objects can only be used within the process where they are defined.

When designing a process-based application, if you know that a data object is only required within a single process, it is better to define it as a process data object in order to conserve system resources.

12.2.2.2 Project Data Objects

Project data objects allow you to share data between processes. For example, within an Oracle BPM application, both a purchase order process and an approval request process may track the data of the employee that created the request. The data created or modified in one process can be accessed by the other.

Project data objects can be used to ensure that all processes within an application have access to the same data. However, each process must assign and update the value of its data.

Note:

Although project data objects allow you to define data objects that are used by all processes in a project, they are not global data objects. Each process within your project uses its own version of the data object. Project data objects are not used to share data between processes.

Another benefit of defining project data objects is that after publishing your project you can configure Oracle Business Process Management Workspace views to display the values of the variables. This is only possible when using project data objects.

12.3 Working with Data Objects

This section describes the procedures for working with data objects, including how to create new data objects and edit or delete existing ones.

12.3.1 How to Create a Data Object

The procedures in this section describe how to create a new process or project data object. If you need to create a data object based on a business object, you must create the business object first. See Section 12.5, "Working with Business Objects" for more information.

To create a data object from the Project Welcome Page:

  1. Ensure that you are editing your project.

  2. Go to the Project Welcome Page.

  3. If you are creating a process data object, ensure that you have created a process in the project.

  4. In the Data Objects panel, right-click the name of the project or process, then select Add as shown in Figure 12-2.

    Figure 12-2 Adding a New Data Object

    Description of Figure 12-2 follows
    Description of "Figure 12-2 Adding a New Data Object"

  5. Enter a unique name for your data object.

    • If you are creating a basic data object, select any of the basic types from the drop-down list.

    • If you are creating a complex data object, select <component> from the drop-down list, the select the business object the complex data object is based on.

    See Section 12.2.1, "Introduction to Basic and Complex Data Objects" for information on the data object types supported by Oracle BPM.

  6. Click OK.

To create a data object from the process editor:

  1. Ensure you are editing the project.

  2. Open the business process where you want to create the data object.

  3. Click the data objects icon in the process editor toolbar as shown in Figure 12-3.

    Figure 12-3 The Process Editor Toolbar Showing the Data Object Icon

    Description of Figure 12-3 follows
    Description of "Figure 12-3 The Process Editor Toolbar Showing the Data Object Icon"

  4. Click Add, then select either Project data object or Process data object as shown in Figure 12-4.

    Figure 12-4 The Data Object Editor

    Description of Figure 12-4 follows
    Description of "Figure 12-4 The Data Object Editor"

  5. Enter a unique name for your data object.

    • If you are creating a basic data object, select any of the basic types from the drop-down list.

    • If you are creating a complex data object, select <component> from the drop-down list, the select the business object the complex data object is based on.

    See Section 12.2.1, "Introduction to Basic and Complex Data Objects" for information on the data object types supported by Oracle BPM.

  6. Click OK.

12.3.2 How to Edit or Delete a Data Object

You can edit or delete process or project data objects.

To edit a data object from the Project Home Page:

  1. Open your project.

  2. In the Data Objects pane of the Project Welcome Page, the name of the project or process whose data object you want to edit.

  3. Right-click the name of the data object, then click Edit.

  4. Change the name or type of the data object as required.

  5. Click OK.

To edit or delete a data object from the process editor:

  1. Ensure you are editing the project.

  2. Open the process where you want to delete a data object. If you want to delete a project data object, you can open any process in the project.

  3. Click the data objects icon in the process editor toolbar as shown in Figure 12-3.

  4. In the list of data objects, select the project or process data object you wan to delete or edit, then:

    • To edit the data object, click Edit, then provide new name and change the data type as necessary.

    • To delete the data object, click Delete.

  5. Click OK.

12.3.3 What Happens When You Delete or Edit a Data Object

After editing or deleting data objects, validate your project to verify that there are no references to changed or deleted data objects.

After editing a data object, you must ensure that all references to it are still valid. For example, if you change a data object from type int to type string, you must verify that all of the expressions that use the data objects will still function correctly.

After deleting a data object, you must ensure that all references to it are removed. This includes any data associations and expressions that use the data object. If you do not remove references to the deleted data object, the project does not validate.

12.4 Introduction to Business Objects

You can use business objects to create the data structures required in your Oracle BPM application. Business objects enable you to group related types of data together. This can help make your processes more manageable and readable to other users.

You can use Business Process Composer to create business objects manually or based on an XML schema.

The structure of a business object is composed of three components:

  • Modules

    Modules are containers that enable your to create a hierarchical structure in you business object. Each business object must contain one top-level module. Within a module, you can create business objects or other modules.

  • Business objects

    Within a module you can define one or more business object. Can contain other business object or modules.

  • Attributes

    Attributed are the lowest level component of a business object. Attributes define the data types of the business object.

You can also add documentation to your business objects and attributes. Adding documentation makes your data structures more understandable to other users who are collaborating on your BPM project.

The Sales Quote example process defines two different business objects to handle the required data. Figure 12-5 shows how these appear in the business objects editor.

Figure 12-5 The Business Objects Defined in the Sales Quote Example Project

Description of Figure 12-5 follows
Description of "Figure 12-5 The Business Objects Defined in the Sales Quote Example Project"

12.5 Working with Business Objects

Using Business Process Composer you can create, edit, and delete business objects and their modules and attributes.

12.5.1 How to Create a Business Object Manually

You can manually create business objects from the business objects editor. When manually creating a business object, you can define the hierarchical relationship between modules and objects and the attributes used in the business object. A business object can include the following:

  • Simple data types

  • Arrays of data types

  • Complex data types that use other business objects as a component

Note:

After creating a module, business object, or attribute, you cannot change their names.

To create a new business object manually:

  1. From the Project Welcome Page, click the Business Objects tab as shown in Figure 12-6.

    Figure 12-6 The Business Objects Tab

    Description of Figure 12-6 follows
    Description of "Figure 12-6 The Business Objects Tab"

  2. Click New BO, then enter a name.

  3. Select a parent module from the drop down list.

    You must select a parent module when creating a new business object. If no module currently exists, you must create a new one. To create a new module:

    1. Click the "+" icon.

    2. Enter a name for the new module, then click OK.

  4. Click Create.

    The new business object appears in the Business Objects tab.

  5. In the Business Object tab, click business object you just created.

    The business object editor opens.

  6. If necessary, create a new module within the business object:

    1. Right click on the business object, then select New Module.

    2. Enter a name for the new module, then select OK.

      After creating a new module, you can create additional sub-modules if necessary.

  7. If necessary, create a new business object:

    1. Right-click on a module, then select Add New Business Object.

    2. Enter a name, then click OK.

      The new business object appears within the list of business objects. You can create additional business objects or sub-modules within the business object if necessary.

  8. Add a new attribute.

    1. Select a business object, then select Add New Attribute from the menu.

    2. Enter a name for the attribute and select a type from the drop down menu.

  9. Click OK.

12.5.2 How to Create a Business Objects Based on an XML Schema Definition (XSD)

You can create a business object based on an XML Schema Definition. Like a business object, an XSD provides a hierarchical definition of a data structure.

To create a business objects based on an XSD:

  1. From the Project Welcome Page, click the Business Objects tab, then click New BO.

  2. Enter a name for the new business object.

  3. Expand Advanced, then click From XSD.

  4. Select an XSD from the drop down list as shown in Figure 12-7.

    Figure 12-7 Creating a New Business Object from an XSD

    Description of Figure 12-7 follows
    Description of "Figure 12-7 Creating a New Business Object from an XSD"

  5. Click Create

The new business object appears in the Business Objects tab. You can edit the new business object as required. See Section 12.5.4, "How to Edit and Delete a Business Object" for more information.

12.5.3 What Happens When You Create a Business Object

After you define a business object, it appears in the list of business objects in the business objects editor. You can use the business object to create new complex data objects that are based on it. You can also use the business object to define other business objects.

12.5.4 How to Edit and Delete a Business Object

After creating a business object, you can change the type of its attributes or add documentation. You can also delete a business object or its modules or attributes.

To Change the attribute type of a business object or add documentation:

  1. From the Project Welcome Page, click Business Objects Editor as shown in Figure 12-6.

  2. Select the attribute you want to edit or add documentation to in the business objects tree.

    When you select the attribute, the attribute editor pane appears in the right-hand pane as shown in Figure 12-8.

    Figure 12-8 The Attribute Editor Pane of the Business Object Editor

    Description of Figure 12-8 follows
    Description of "Figure 12-8 The Attribute Editor Pane of the Business Object Editor"

  3. To change the data type of the attribute:

    1. Click Change Type, then select a new data type from the drop-down list.

    2. Click OK.

  4. To add documentation:

    1. Click Edit. The documentation editor opens in the lower portion of the application.

    2. Add the required documentation in the documentation editor.

      See Section 5.7.1, "The Documentation Editor" for more information.

    3. Click Apply Changes.

To Delete a Business Object, Module, or Attribute:

  1. From the Project Welcome Page, click Business Objects tab as shown in Figure 12-6.

  2. Hover the cursor to the right of the business object you want to delete.

  3. Click the Delete icon, then click OK.

    Note:

    When you delete a business object, module, or attribute it cannot be recovered. When deleting a module or business object that contains other components, the components are also be deleted. However, if the deleted business object or module contains an attribute based on a business object, that business object is not deleted.

12.6 Introduction to Data Associations

Data associations determine how information stored in data objects is handled in the following contexts:

  • To and from another process or service invoked from a BPMN process

  • To and from a Human Task service

  • To and from an Oracle Business Rule

  • To and from a script task. This BPMN flow object is used to pass data objects through data associations.

Table Table 12-2 lists the flow objects where you can define data associations. It also lists the objects implemented.

Table 12-2 Flow Objects that Accept Data Associations

Flow Objects Implementation

Message start and end events

Services and other BPMN processes

Message throw and catch events

Services and other BPMN processes

Send and receive tasks

Services and other BPMN processes

Script tasks

Do not contain an implementation, are used to pass data objects through data associations.

User tasks

Oracle Human Tasks

Business rule tasks

Oracle Business Rules

Service Tasks

Services and BPMN processes


Data associations are used to define the input and output arguments from a flow object to an external service or process. Figure 12-9 shows the relationship between a flow object, its corresponding implementation, and external processes or services.

The blue arrows represent the input and output arguments to the external process or service. These are defined using data associations.

Figure 12-9 Relationship between a Flow Object, Implementation and an External Service or Process

Description of Figure 12-9 follows
Description of "Figure 12-9 Relationship between a Flow Object, Implementation and an External Service or Process"

It is important to note that although the inputs and outputs are defined in the data associations for a flow object, they define values that are passed to the systems or services being called. These systems and services exist outside of the business process as shown in Figure 12-11.

Figure 12-10 Data Associations between a process

Description of Figure 12-10 follows
Description of "Figure 12-10 Data Associations between a process "

You can use expression to evaluate and change the input and output values

12.6.1 Introduction to the Data Associations Editor

The data associations editor enables you to configure the input and output values passed between a flow object and a its implementation.

Figure 12-11 The Data Associations Editor

Description of Figure 12-11 follows
Description of "Figure 12-11 The Data Associations Editor"

Table 12-3 describes the different areas of the data associations editor.

Table 12-3 The Data Associations Editor User Interface

UI Area Description

Inputs

Contains text boxes that display the data objects assigned as inputs to the service or process implemented in the flow object. Next to each text box is an icon that launches the expression editor

Flow Object Interface

Lists the expected input arguments for the service or process implemented. The flow object interface also contains an expandable list of the data objects supplied as input and output. Within the flow object area, you can expand complex data objects to map to specific basic data objects within a complex data object.

Outputs

Contains text boxes that display the data objects assigned as outputs from the service or process implemented in the flow object.

Data Objects

Displays a list of all the data objects. This list is divided between process and project data objects.


12.6.2 How to Configure Data Associations for a Flow Object

You can configure data associatons for flow objects.

To configure a data association for a flow object:

  1. Open the process where you want to configure data associations.

  2. Right-click a flow object that enables data associations, then select Data Associations.

    See Table 12-2 for the list of sequence flows that allow data associations.

  3. From the data objects column on the right, select the data object you want to map as an input argument.

  4. Click and drag the data object to an input text field.

12.7 Introduction to Expressions

Expressions allow you to perform calculations on data objects.Using Business Process Composer, you can define and edit expressions in the following contexts:

  • Conditional sequence flows

  • Complex gateways

  • Timer events

  • Data associations

  • Notification tasks

Expressions do not allow you to directly reassign the values to data objects. However, you can use expressions to change the values passed to and from the implementation of a sequence flow. See Section 12.6, "Introduction to Data Associations" for more information.

12.7.1 Introduction to the Expression Editor

The expression editor provides a simple way of creating expressions by allowing you to select data objects and operators from a list and insert them into your expression. You can also enter the expression manually if necessary.

Figure 12-12 shows the expression editor user interface.

Figure 12-12 The Oracle Business Process Composer Expression Editor

Description of Figure 12-12 follows
Description of "Figure 12-12 The Oracle Business Process Composer Expression Editor"

Table 12-4 The Expression Editor User Interface

Area Description

Expression field

Contains the text of the expression. You can edit this field directly, or use the Insert Into Expression tool.

Insert Into Expression

Inserts the selected data object or operator into the expression.

Data Object and Operator Chooser

Contain tabbed panes that allow you to select the data object or operator you want to insert into the expression.

Description tab

Provides a description of the selected operator.

Errors

Displays errors in the current expression.


12.7.2 Types of Expressions

Oracle Business Process Composer supports the following types of expressions:

  • Simple

  • Plain text

  • XML Literal

12.7.3 Simple Expressions

Simple expressions are defined using a basic expression language supported by Oracle BPM.

12.7.3.1 Operator Types

Simple expressions support the following operator types:

  • Arithmetic Operators

  • Unary Operators

  • Equality and Relational Operators

  • Conditional Operators

You can use these operators to write expressions and conditions to define your process flow. Generally these expressions perform their calculations based on the data objects in your process. You can write expressions and conditions using the value of the data objects, but you cannot modify their value.

The following examples of expressions use operators:

  • totalAmount - discount

  • activationCount > 3

  • unitsSold <= 1200

Table 12-5, Table 12-6, Table 12-7, and Table 12-8 describe the supported operators in the simple expression builder.

Table 12-5 Arithmetic Operators

Operator Name Description

+

Addition

Adds numeric data types.

Concatenates Strings.

-

Subtraction

Subtracts numeric data types.

*

Multiplication

Multiplies numeric data types.

/

Division

Divides numeric data types.

rem

Remainder

Calculates the remainder of a division in which the divisor does not exactly divide the dividend.

( )

Precedence

Indicates the order of evaluation of an arithmetic expression.


Table 12-6 Unary Operators

Operator Name Description

+

Plus

Has no effect in the value of the numeric operand. Use it to indicate explicitly that a certain value is positive.

-

Minus

Negates an arithmetic expression.

*

Not

Logical complement operator. Negates the value of a boolean expression.


Table 12-7 Equality and Relational Operators

Operator Name Description

= or ==

Equal

Returns true is the first operand equals the second operand.

!=

Not Equal

Returns true is the first operand is not equal to the second operand.

>

Greater Than

Returns true if the first operand is greater than the second operand.

>=

Greater Than or Equal to

Returns true if the first operand is greater than or equal to the second operand.

<

Less Than

Returns true if the first operand is less than the second operand.

<=

Less Than or Equal to

Returns true if the first operand is less than or equal to the second operand.


Table 12-8 Conditional Operators

Operator Name Description

and

Conditional And

Returns true if both operands evaluate to true.

or

Conditional Or

Returns true if either operand evaluates to true.


12.7.3.2 Operator Precedence

Operator precedence indicates the order in which the compiler evaluates them. You can change operator precedence in an expression by using parenthesis.

In Oracle BPM the operator precedence is:

  • Addition, Subtraction

  • Multiplication, Division, Remainder

  • Plus and Minus

  • Less than, Greater Than, Less Than or Equal to, Greater Than or Equal to

  • Equal, Not Equal

  • Not

  • Conditional And

  • Conditional Or

12.8 Working with Expressions

The following sections describe how to define expressions using Business Process Composer.

12.8.1 How to Define a Simple Expression for a Conditional Sequence Flow

Using Business Process Composer, you can create and edit expressions for conditional sequence flows. Conditional sequence use expression to determine the flow of your process.

To define an expression for a conditional sequence flow:

  1. Open your process.

  2. Ensure that the project is in edit mode.

  3. Click the edit icon for the conditional sequence flow you want to edit.

  4. Click Implementation.

  5. Click Edit.

    The expression editor window displays.

  6. Add any required data objects and operators.

    To add a data object to an expression:

    1. Select the Data Objects tab.

    2. Select a data object from the list.

      If you add a basic data object that is part of a complex data objects, expand the complex data object and select the basic data object.

    3. Click Insert Into Expression

    To add an operator to an expression:

    1. Select the Operators tab.

    2. From the expandable list, select the operator you want to add.

    3. Click Insert Into Expression.

  7. Click the Error tab, then verify that there are no errors in your expression.

  8. Click OK.

  9. Click Apply Changes in the Implementation tab.

12.8.2 How to Define a Simple Expression in Data Associations

Using Business Process Composer, you can create and edit expressions for Data associations. Data associations use expression to alter the values data objects passed as inputs. and outputs.

To define an expression within a data association input or output:

  1. Open your process.

  2. Ensure that the project is in edit mode.

  3. Right-click a flow object within your process then select Data Associations.

  4. Click Launch Expression Builder.

  5. Add any required data objects and operators.

    To add a data object to an expression:

    1. Select the Data Objects tab.

    2. Select a data object from the list.

      If you add a basic data object that is part of a complex data objects, expand the complex data object and select the basic data object.

    3. Click Insert Into Expression

    To add an operator to an expression:

    1. Select the Operators tab.

    2. From the expandable list, select the operator you want to add.

    3. Click Insert Into Expression.

  6. Click the Error tab, then verify that there are no errors in your expression.

  7. Click OK.

12.9 Working with Business Indicators and Counter Marks

This section describes how to create business indicators and counter marks using Business Process Composer.

12.9.1 Introduction to Business Indicators and Counters

Business Indicators are project data objects you use to store the value of the key performance indicators of your process. Although Oracle BPM allows you to create business indicators using different types of data objects, within Business Process Composer you can only create business indicators used as counter marks.

Counters keep track of the number of times an instance completes a certain activity. You must use them with counter marks. The counter variable does not store the actual value, its value is always 1. The value that specifies the number of times an instance completes an activity is updated directly in the Process Analytics databases. To monitor the value of a counter business indicator, you must create a dashboard based on a counter mark that is configured to track this counter business indicator.

12.9.2 Introduction to Counter Marks

Counter marks enable you to update the value of the counter business indicators defined for your process. A counter mark may update multiple counter mark business indicators. When a token arrives at an activity that has a counter mark defined, the BPM Service Engine updates the value of its associated counters in the Process Analytics databases. Each time the BPM Service Engine updates a counter business indicator, it adds one unit to the current value.

Note:

The actual value of the counter variable is stored in the Process Analytics databases. You must not use the counter variable in your process to perform any calculations because its default value never changes. The value of the counter variable is always equal to 1.

You can use counter marks for the following:

  • Auditing: The number of activities the instance completed combined with other performance measurements are important information for auditing the process.

  • Identifying performance issues: You can use a counter to identify performance issues within your process. Your process might be taking longer than expected because the instances are following a different path than expected or because the loop in an activity is running more times than it should. You can identify these situations by comparing the actual number of completed activities to the number you expected.

  • Identifying the process path the instance followed: You can mark different paths using different counter business indicators. When the instance reaches the end of the process, the path the instance followed has the greatest number of completed activities.

Typically you define one counter business indicator for each of the process paths you want to monitor. Then you add counter marks in all the activities that are part of that process path. Finally you associate the counter business indicators that correspond to the paths that activity is part of, to the counter mark.

12.9.3 How to Add a New Counter Mark to a Process

You can add new counter marks to activities and tasks within your process.

To add a new counter mark to a process

  1. Right-click on the task or activity where you want to add a counter mark.

  2. Select Implement.

  3. If required, create a new business indicator.

    1. Click the Add button.

    2. Provide a name for the business indicator.

    3. Click OK.

  4. In the list of business indicators, select the check box next to the indicators you want to use for this flow object.

  5. Click Apply Changes.

12.9.4 How to Delete a Counter Mark

You can delete the counter marks you have defined for a project.

To delete a counter mark:

  1. Right-click on the activity or task where you want to edit a counter mark.

  2. Select Data Associations.

  3. In the list of Data Objects, expand the name of the project. This contains a list of all the project data object.

  4. Select the counter mark you want to delete.

  5. Click Remove Data Object.

  6. Click Yes.

  7. Click Apply.

12.10 Measuring Process Performance Using Measurement Marks

You can measure process performance using measurement marks. Measurement marks enable you to measure a business indicator of type measure at a certain point in the process or in a section of the process.

For more information on using measurement marks and the Process Analytics database, see "Using Process Analytics" in the Oracle BPM Modeling and Implementation Guide.

A measurement mark stores the following data into the Process Analytics databases:

  • The value of the process default measures

  • The value of the measure business indicators associated with that measurement mark

  • The value of the dimensions defined in the process

You can use one measurement mark to measure multiple business indicators.

When storing the value of a measure business indicator, the BPMN service engine also stores the value of the dimensions you defined in your process. Later on, when you build the dashboards to monitor your process, you can use these dimensions to group the values into different categories. For example, in the Sales Quote example you might want to view the total number of quotes approved by region.

The types of measurement marks you can define are:

  • Single measurement

  • Interval start

  • Interval stop

12.10.1 How to Add a Measurement Mark to a Process

You can add measurement marks to your business processes by dragging the from the component palette to the process editor canvas.

To add a single measurement mark to a process:

  1. Open the BPMN process.

  2. In the Component Palette, double-click the Measurement icon, then click and drag one of the following.

    • Measurement mark (Snapshot)

    • Start measurement mark

    • End measurement mark

  3. Place the measurement mark near the sequence flow where you want to add a business indicator. When the sequence flow turns blue, release the mouse measurement mark.

  4. Right-click the measurement mark and select Properties, then click Implementation.

  5. In the Name field, enter a name to identify the measurement mark.

  6. In the Business Indicators section, select a business indicator from the list of available business indicators and move it to the Selected list using the arrows between the two lists.

    Note:

    You can measure multiple business indicators in the same measurement mark.

    Note:

    If you do not select a business indicator, the measurement mark only stores the value of the default business indicators. If you want to add a business indicator without leaving the Measurement Mark Properties dialog, then click the New button under the Selected list.

  7. Click OK.