KPIs and KPI Watchlists

Key Performance Indicators

KPI

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:

Evaluate metrics against their targets and alert the appropriate users through 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.
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 "Scorecarding."
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KPI Evaluation

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 the Sample Evaluation. Thresholds are the numeric values that separate the ranges.

Sample Evaluation

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	50	Warning	Light Red Square
Values less than 50 (x <= 50) indicate critical performance	50 and below	Critical	Dark Red Square

KPI Uses

KPIs are created with the KPI Editor, which can be accessed as a standalone 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 "Objectives". For information about initiatives, see "Initiatives".
As an analysis — You can generate an analysis from a KPI. When you do so, 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 objectives or initiatives 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 initiates 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 and Pinned Dimension Values

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, organization, job type, 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 and when a watchlist or scorecard is added to a dashboard. 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 or variable 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, from the variable prompt on a dashboard, or from the column prompt on the 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.

Creating a KPI

You must have one of the following user type permissions:

BI Author Developer
BI Tenant Administrator

Home > Oracle Business Intelligence

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 whether 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, Requisitions by Location and by Job Type) 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 "Candidates Currently Scheduled for Interview."
On the "KPI editor: States 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 score, and associate performance levels with actions.
On the "KPI editor: Related Documents page", add any external links or business intelligence objects to the KPI.
On the "KPI editor: Custom Attributes page", include as many as five custom columns. For example, you might add a column that shows units from a year ago.
Save the KPI. Note the following items:
- If you are creating a standalone 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".

Editing KPIs

Use the following procedures to open and edit a saved KPI. KPIs are stored in the catalog, but can be added to KPI watchlists, scorecards, and dashboards. When you edit and save a KPI, the changes propagate to wherever the KPI is displayed.

Editing a KPI from the Catalog

You must have one of the following user type permissions:

BI Author Developer
BI Tenant Administrator

Home > Oracle Business Intelligence

In the global header, click Catalog. The "Catalog page" is displayed.
Navigate to the KPI to edit and click the Edit link for the object. The "KPI editor" is displayed.
Make the desired changes.
Save the KPI.

Editing a KPI from a KPI Watchlist

You must have one of the following user type permissions:

BI Author Developer
BI Tenant Administrator

Home > Oracle Business Intelligence > Catalog

Edit a KPI watchlist.
Right-click the KPI that you want to open.
Select Open KPI Definition. The "KPI editor" is displayed.
Make the desired changes.
Save the KPI.

Generating Analyses from KPIs

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. 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.

Generating an Analysis from a KPI on a Watchlist

You must have one of the following user type permissions:

BI Author Developer
BI Tenant Administrator

Home > Oracle Business Intelligence > Catalog

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 saves the analysis to the catalog's Drills folder (/My Folders/Drills).

Outputting an Analysis from a KPI on a Scorecard

You must have one of the following user type permissions:

BI Author Developer
BI Tenant Administrator

Home > Oracle Business Intelligence > Catalog

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 saves the analysis to the catalog.

Creating Agents from KPIs

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 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 "Delivering Content".

Creating an Agent from a KPI

You must have one of the following user type permissions:

BI Author Developer
BI Tenant Administrator

Home > Oracle Business Intelligence > Catalog

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" .

KPI Business Owner Contact

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 content designer selects the business owner from the Oracle BI user list.

Oracle BI 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.

Contacting the KPI's Business Owner from a KPI Watchlist

You must have one of the following user type permissions:

BI Author Developer
BI Tenant Administrator

Home > Oracle Business Intelligence

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.

Contacting the KPI's Business Owner from a Scorecard

You must have one of the following user type permissions:

BI Author Developer
BI Tenant Administrator

Home > Oracle Business Intelligence

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.

Overriding Statuses of KPIs

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 content designer selects the business owner from the Oracle BI 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 "Status Overrides".

Adding Comments to KPIs

Any recipient of the KPI can add comments to a KPI's columns. 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 "Comments".

KPI Watchlists

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
Actual 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.

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.

Creating a KPI Watchlist

You must have one of the following user type permissions:

BI Author Developer
BI Tenant Administrator

Home > Oracle Business Intelligence

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.
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. For more information about pinning, see "Dimensions and Pinned Dimension Values"
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.

Editing a KPI Watchlist

You must have one of the following user type permissions:

BI Author Developer
BI Tenant Administrator

Home > Oracle Business Intelligence

In the global header, click Catalog. The "Catalog page" is displayed.
Navigate to the KPI watchlist to edit and click the Edit link for the object. The "KPI Watchlist editor" is displayed.
Make the desired changes.
Save the KPI watchlist.