A metric is the value of a certain process parameter that does not affect the process status. In the list on the Metrics and KPIs tab, a metric is depicted with the icon. In Web Application, metrics are displayed as numeric values. Unlike KPIs, metrics do not have plan values or scales. You cannot specify its status or use it to set up the status indicator of a process instance.
A KPI is the value of a certain process parameter that affects the process status. In the list on the Metrics and KPIs tab, a KPI is depicted with the icon. A KPI can have plan, minimum and maximum values and a display scale. In Web Application, next to a KPI you can see its status indicator: red, yellow or green. You can set the status indicator of the process instance based on the KPI statuses.
In ELMA, you can calculate the KPIs of a process instance and the KPIs of the process itself. The process KPIs are based on the instance KPIs.
The execution time of the entire process instance, its stage or a task are time values (Time Interval type) and can be calculated automatically.
Other process instance KPIs are technical and are calculated with scripts.
KPIs of a Process
A KPI of a process is based on the KPIs of all the instances of this process. They are aggregations of values across many instances, where the aggregation function can be the average, maximum, minimum or sum. You can write your own C# script to calculate KPIs.
Apart from KPIs and metrics of a business process, there is another type of KPIs. They are configured in the KPI section and are not related to business processes by default. But the metrics and KPIs of a process can be linked to these KPIs.
Context menu of metrics and KPIs of a business process
To open the context menu, right click on a metric/KPI or on the free space in the list of metrics and KPIs (Fig. 2).
Fig. 2.Metrics and KPIs tab of the process page. Context menu.
Edit - launches the Process Instance KPI Creation Wizard or Process KPI Creation Wizard. It depends on the area to which the selected element belongs.
Delete - deletes the selected element. The system does not check if this element is used in scripts and calculations.
Up, Down - moves the selected element in the list for better readability.
Activate, Deactivate - activates or deactivates the selected element. If a metric or a KPI is deactivated, their values are not considered when the business process is executed. Deactivated elements are grey.
Link to KPI - links the selected element to a KPI of the KPI tab of ELMA Designer. Only process KPIs can be linked to a KPI. For metrics and process instance KPIs this option is not available.
Delete Link to KPI - allows you to delete the previously created link to a KPI.
Toolbar
The toolbar contains common blocks of buttons that are available on any process tab, and blocks specific to the Metrics and KPIs section.
Fig. 3. Process instance page in Web Application. It shows the value of the "Average Payment Time" process instance KPI.
Values of the process metrics and KPIs are displayed on the process page when the process instance is completed. You can open this page via the process page mentioned above or via the My Processes section (Fig. 4).
Fig. 4. Process page in Web Application. It displays the value of the "Payment Time" KPI.