Defining Dimension Hierarchies

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About this task

You define KPI hierarchies from the Dimension Hierarchies page. Dimension hierarchies illustrate relationships between KPIs. Optimize uses Dimension hierarchies to complete the following tasks:

  • Evaluate KPI relationships when performing trend analysis to determine how a lower-level, or child, KPI might affect its parent KPI.

    For example, suppose you define a profit KPI as a high-level KPI in a hierarchy and you create a rule that alerts you when that profit KPI is below normal. Then you define a second KPI to monitor revenue by customer region. You define that second (revenue) KPI as a child of the profit KPI, and you create a rule that alerts you when that revenue KPI is below normal. If a rule violation occurs for the parent (profit) KPI, Optimize then will evaluate the children of that KPI. Based on the relationship you defined, if Optimize discovers that a child KPI also has gone out of compliance with a rule (for example, if the revenue of a specific region is below normal), Optimize can suggest that the child KPI is a probable cause of the rule violation for the parent KPI.

  • Display KPI relationships on the Business Data (Optimize for Process) and System Data pages.
  • Build a monitor tree, which presents a structural view of the monitored systems and business processes on the Analytics Overview page.
Important: When Analytic Engine runs in Static DB Schema mode, you cannot create, edit, or delete dimensions, event maps, dimension hierarchies or KPI definitions. In addition, all respective buttons in the user interface will be unavailable. For more information about enabling and disabling Static DB Schema mode for the Analytic Engine, see the PDF publication Configuring BAM.

Viewing Existing Dimension Hierarchies

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About this task

To view existing Dimension hierarchies

Procedure

  1. In My webMethods, navigate the following path: Navigate > Applications > Administration > Analytics > KPIs > Dimension Hierarchies

    Optimize displays the Dimension Hierarchies page.

  2. Perform any of the actions that are described in the table below.
    To Do this
    Search or filter hierarchies in the list Use the Search bar. For more information about using the Search bar, see Working with IBM My webMethods.
    Edit an existing hierarchy Click the Edit icon next to the hierarchy and continue to Adding or Editing a Dimension Hierarchy.
    Add a hierarchy Click the Add Hierarchy button and continue to Adding or Editing a Dimension Hierarchy.
    Delete a hierarchy Select the check box beside the hierarchy and then click Delete.

Adding or Editing a Dimension Hierarchy

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About this task

To add or edit a Dimension hierarchy

Procedure

  1. In My webMethods, navigate the following path: Navigate > Applications > Administration > Analytics > KPIs > Dimension Hierarchies

    The Dimension Hierarchies page is displayed.

  2. Perform any of the actions that are described in the table below.
    To Do this
    Add a new hierarchy Click the Add Hierarchy button.
    Edit an existing hierarchy Click Edit icon Edit beside the hierarchy.

    Optimize displays the Add/Edit Hierarchy page.

    Note: System-defined hierarchies such as Station cannot be modified using the Add/Edit Hierarchy page.
  3. On the Hierarchy Information panel, in the Name field, type a name for the hierarchy.
  4. On the Hierarchy panel, do the following steps:
    1. From the first list on a row, select a dimension (such as Customer).
    2. From the second list on a row, select an attribute (such as Region).
  5. To add a child beneath a row, click Add Child. Repeat this step and the preceding one as often as necessary until you have created all of the desired children.
    The following table demonstrates a hierarchy in which Region is defined as a parent to Branch and Branch is a parent to SalesRep.
    Dimension / Attribute
    Customer / Region

    Customer / Branch

    Sales Rep/ Name

  6. Click Save.
  7. If you have not previously defined a KPI for this business process or system component, continue to Defining KPIs.

Deleting Dimension Hierarchies

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About this task

You can delete Dimension hierarchies as desired, with some restrictions. System-bound hierarchies are grayed out and cannot be selected for deletion. Also, you cannot delete a Dimension hierarchy if there are KPIs dependent upon that hierarchy.

To delete Dimension hierarchies

Procedure

  1. In My webMethods, navigate the following path: Navigate > Applications > Administration > Analytics > KPIs > Dimension Hierarchies

    The Dimension Hierarchies page is displayed.

  2. Click the check boxes to the left of the hierarchies you want to delete to select them, and then click the Delete button.

    A dialog is displayed asking if you are sure that you want to delete the selected hierarchies.

  3. Click OK to delete the selected hierarchies.

    A Dimension Hierarchy Deletion Results dialog is displayed. This dialog shows all hierarchies that were deleted, based on your selections, as well as any hierarchies that could not be deleted to due to system dependencies. Deleted hierarchies are marked with a square green icon, and hierarchies that could not be deleted are marked with a red circle icon.