Work with Insight Models

Bring real-time visibility and analytics into your process applications by linking to an activated Insight model in a structured process.

How Insight models work in process applications

As an integral feature of Oracle Integration, Insight simplifies modeling and extracting meaningful business metrics. For background about Insight and its capabilities, see Introduction to Integration Insight in Using Integration Insight in Oracle Integration Generation 2.

After you link an Insight model to a process application, you can drag the corresponding Insight element in the structured process editor to key points in the process application flow. For each element inserted into the process application, you select the pertinent milestone at that point, define an identifier to correlate the activities for each instance of the process, and define the data to extract. At runtime, you can easily monitor and analyze your business processes in real time using Insight dashboards that reflect the data you choose to extract, and react quickly to business demands and problems. For example, dashboards can generate graphical visualizations of how many orders have been received, how many had discounts approved or rejected, the details about a single order, or where failures occur in a business transaction.

Key steps

1. In Insight, configure and activate a model.
2. In Processes, link the Insight model to a process application.
3. In the structured process editor, drag the corresponding Insight element to points in the process application where you want to extract data for analysis in Insight dashboards.
4. Define the properties for each Insight element, selecting the milestone that maps to the activity in the process flow at that point.
5. Define the data association for each Insight element, specifying a correlation identifier and a unique instance identifier that is guaranteed to be non-null to track the activities for each instance of the business process (which may span multiple processes and integrations), and the data to extract from the process application for the unique instance identifier and the indicators that are associated with the milestone selected in the Insight element. See details in Step 4 below.
6. Activate the process application, run process instances, and analyze the results in Insight dashboards.

Important points

• An Insight model must be activated to be available for linking it to a process application.

• Insight models can be used in structured processes. They are not supported in dynamic processes.

• In the structured process editor, use data association to map input from the process to define extraction criteria for a model's unique instance identifier and indicators. Do not map output from the process.

• This topic addresses the use case of mapping values from a process application to an Insight model. You can also implement a use case for a business process implementation that spans one or more integration flows (in Integrations) and process applications, and then maps to an Insight model. For information, see Associate a Model to a Business Process Implementation in Using Integration Insight in Oracle Integration Generation 2.

  When you map a model's milestones to an integration, the mapping details are reflected in the model definition in Insight. However, when you link a model to a process application and select model milestones at points in the process application flow, the model definition does not reflect the milestone, identifier, and indicator associations in Insight. They are shown only in the process application flow in the structured process editor.

Detailed steps

To configure an Insight model in a process application:

1. In Insight, configure and activate a model.

   In the Oracle Integration navigation pane, click Insight, then Models. See Create a Model in Using Integration Insight in Oracle Integration Generation 2.

2. In Processes, link the model to the process application.
   1. In the Oracle Integration navigation pane, click Processes, then Process Applications.
   2. Create a new process application or click the name of an existing process application to which you want to link an Insight model.
   3. In the Processes navigation pane, click Insight.

      If you do not already have a linked model, the Link to Insight page is displayed.

      
      

      

      
      
   4. Click Link. If you already have a linked model and want to link another, click Create, then Link an Insight Model.

      The Link to Insight Models dialog is displayed, listing activated Insight models available for linking.

   5. Select an activated model to link to your process application, and click Link. You can link multiple models to a process application.
      
      

      

      
      

      After you link one or more models to the process application, they're listed when you select Insight in the Processes navigation pane.

      
      

      

      
      
      If you make changes to a model and reactivate it, the linked Insight model shows that an update is available.

      Note:

      If an Insight model is updated, you may need to adjust the properties or data association based on the model's changes. It is important to confirm that the configuration of the model in the process application is valid based on the latest version of the model, and make necessary adjustments to avoid potential errors and loss of data.
      
      

      

      
      
3. In the structured process editor, place the corresponding Insight element on the flow:
   1. In the Processes navigation pane, click Processes. Open or create the process application to which the required Insight model is linked.
   2. In the structured editor's BPMN palette, notice an Insight category is listed after linking an Insight model. Click to expand it, and you'll see an Insight element corresponding to each model linked to the process application.
   3. Drag the Insight element to a point on the process flow where you want to extract data for analysis in Insight dashboards.
   4. Double-click the default name of the Insight element to rename it. This is highly recommended to reflect the milestone to which each Insight element is mapped.
   5. Repeat dragging the Insight element to all points on the process flow where you want to extract data.
   
   

   

   
   
4. For each Insight element on the process flow, set the properties and data association (the data you want to extract for the metrics you want to analyze):
   1. Click the Insight element, then click and select Open Properties to open the properties pane.
      
      

      

      
      

      In the properties pane:

      • Ignore the Is Draft checkbox. It does not apply to Insight models.
      • From the Insight Model list, leave the selection as the current model, select a different linked model, or click Link an Insight Model to link to a new model if required.
      • From the Milestone list, select the milestone applicable to the position of the Insight element in the flow.

        Note:

        For any business process implementation, the Initial milestone must be assigned to the first activity, and the Terminal milestone must be assigned to the last activity. If a business process is implemented across multiple sources (for example, the initial milestone is in one process application and the terminal milestone is in another, or milestones span between an integration and a process), the model's Initial and Terminal milestones must be assigned accordingly to map to the first and last activity in the business process. For more information, see Milestones in Using Integration Insight in Oracle Integration Generation 2.

        If you change the milestone selection from a previous selection, be sure to also redefine the data association pertinent to the new milestone.

      • Click below the BPMN pane to close the properties pane.
   2. Click the Insight element, then click and select Open Data Association to open the Data Association editor.

      • In the Data Objects pane, expand the process application's data objects and predefined variables. If your process uses a form start, for example, the form's data objects are listed. You'll pass values from these objects.

        
        
        
        
        
      • In the element pane on the right, expand the Insight element's data objects, which are those data objects that pertain to the selected milestone. You'll pass values to these objects.
        

        

        
        

        identifier	A value that correlates the various milestones of the same instance (business transaction) of a business process together to allow Insight to track each instance throughout the business process implementation. If the business process is implemented in only Processes (one or more process applications), associate this value with a process variable that is unique and guaranteed to be non-null for every instance of the business process (for example, instanceID when implemented in a single process application, or a value that identifies the same instance when implemented in mutiple process applications). If the business process is implemented in both Integrations and Processes (for example, an integration calls a process application), you must set the identifier value using a special syntax: "model-id:identifier-id:" + identifier-value where: model-id and identifier-id are the model ID and unique instance identifier ID, static values specified in the Integration Insight console manifest identifier-value is the unique instance indentifier for the model, a dynamic value that resolves to a unique value for each business transaction For example: "Orders_PKdkqDWS:OrderNumber_dQRnmibl:" + orderNumber At runtime, this expression resolves to a unique value for each instance. For example: Orders_PKdkqDWS:OrderNumber_dQRnmibl:100201
        unique instance identifier	The unique instance identifier defined by the model (for example, travelRequestID in the example screenshot above). Associate this value with a process variable that is unique and guaranteed to be non-null for every instance of the business process (for example, instanceID when implemented in a single process application, or a value that identifies the same instance when implemented in mutiple process applications). This value is extracted at runtime every time the associated milestone is passed and correlates the actions and data that belong to the same instance (business transaction) of the business process. For more information, see Unique Instance Identifier in Using Integration Insight in Oracle Integration Generation 2.
        indicators	The indicators (dimensions and measures) that are associated with the milestone selected in the properties pane. Associate these values with the business process data objects that extract the expected data. For example, drag and drop to associate the data object estimatedCost with indicator requestAmount. For more information, see Indicators in Using Integration Insight in Oracle Integration Generation 2.
        eventTime	Ignore this object. It is automatically set by Processes.

      Note that the Output tab in the Data Association editor does not apply to Insight models.
5. Validate, save, publish, and activate the process application. Add users to interact with the activated process and run process instances.

   In the Processes navigation pane, click My Apps, select the process application,provide any required information (for example, fill in a form), and click Submit.

   As the process application progresses, you can immediately begin to monitor your business process using Insight dashboards, either in Oracle Integration or in an external application where the dashboards are embedded. See Work with Consoles and Dashboards in Integration Insight and Embed Insight Dashboards in Other Applications in Using Integration Insight in Oracle Integration Generation 2.