Indicators

An indicator is a rule of a time counter creation that defines the conditions for starting, pausing, resetting, and stopping this counter. It also determines the time limit for declaring an indication as breached and contains time conditions of a commitment type implementation.

When an indicator starts, the system automatically creates an indication – a time counter that tracks current timings and time points of the target commitment.

Depending on your business needs, you can create different types of indicators:

• Standard – an indicator creates time indications that start and complete when specified conditions are met, or the indication is canceled. For example, the start time is when the task state changes to Assigned.
• Retrospective – an indicator creates indications that define the start and end time of the indication based on the Date/Time field defined manually. Indications are created for the records that meet the specified conditions. For example, the start time is the value of the Opened at field, and the indication is created when the task state changes to Assigned.

tip

Role required: service_level_manager

Create an indicator

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To create a new indicator, complete the following steps:

1. Navigate to Indication Management → Indicators.
2. Click New and fill in the form.
3. Click Save or Save and exit to apply the changes.

Indicator form fields

Field	Mandatory	Description
Name	Y	Specify the indicator name. When creating indicators for the same table, give them different names.
Agreement	N	Specify an agreement related to this indicator containing tracking metrics.
Commitment type	Y	Specify the commitment type for this indicator. Available options: Resolution Time – the time required to resolve an issue (the time from the moment the issue is created until the moment when its state changes to Completed). Response Time – the time required to process an issue in a non-automated way (the time from the moment the issue is created until the moment its state changes to In progress).
Table	Y	Specify a table to apply the indicator conditions to. After saving the form, the Table field becomes read-only.
Active	N	Select this checkbox to activate the indicator.
Indication start time	Y	Select one of the two options: Defined by condition – for standard indications. The standard indication start time is the time of the record saving that meets the Start Conditions. Defined by field – for retrospective indications. Retrospective indication start time is based on the value retrieved from the field specified in Start time field. The record must also meet the conditions defined on the Start Conditions tab. Unlike the standard indication, the time when the conditions were met is ignored.
Start time field	Y	The field appears if the Defined by field option is selected in the Indication start time field. Define a column of type Date/Time. The column is from the specified Table for which the indications are to be calculated. An indication retrieves the value for the start time from this column.  A retrospective indication counts the value relevant at the time of the indicator creation. If the value changes, the indications are not recalculated.
Indication breach time	N	Select one of the two options: Defined by duration – the indication breach time is based on the Duration value. The timing of the agreement breach also takes pause durations into account. Defined by field – the breach time indication is based on the value retrieved from the field specified in the Breach time field. After saving the form, the Indication breach time field becomes read-only.
Breach time field	Y	The field appears if the Defined by field option is selected in the Indication breach time field. Define a column of type Date/Time. The column is from the specified Table for which indications are to be calculated that is, an indication that retrieves the value for the breach time from this column. After saving the form, this field becomes read-only. If the time of the referenced field is less than Start time or Minimum duration, an indication is not created.  If the time of the referenced field changes, the value in the related indication record is changed, and related fields are recalculated. If the time of the referenced field changes, and it is less than Start time or less than Minimum duration, the indication is canceled.
Duration	Y	This field appears if the Defined by duration option is selected in the Indication breach time field. Set up a business time measure for the agreement to run before it is marked as Breached. The duration is counted according to the selected schedule.
Minimum duration	N	The Minimum duration field appears if the Defined by field option is selected in the Indication breach time field. Set a minimum duration that restricts the creation of an indication and its existence. Before creating an indication, its future duration from the start time to the breach is checked. If the total duration is less than the Minimum duration, the indication is not created. If the user changes the Breach time field after creating an indication, and the duration is less than the Minimum duration, the indication is canceled. The duration is counted according to the selected schedule. After saving the form, the Minimum duration field becomes read-only.
Schedule	Y	Specify a work schedule from the list. It determines the schedule that the system uses when calculating the actual time elapsed on the commitment implementation under certain conditions. To configure this timeline, use the Schedules feature. If the selected schedule is not valid (it consists of elements of the Excluded type), then the 24x7 schedule will be used by default.
Timezone	Y	Determine an indicator timezone. Only active timezones are available to choose from.
Timezone source	Y	Specify a source of the timezone. Available options: Indicator timezone Task location timezone Caller's timezone

caution

You must not create indicators for the following tables:

• Indicator (sys_indicator)
• Indication (sys_indication)
• Scheduled Script (sys_schedule_script)
• Scheduled Import (sys_schedule_import)
• History (sys_history)
• Email (sys_email)
• Attachment (sys_attachment)
• Search Index (sys_search_index)
• Activity Feed Items (sys_activity_feed_item)
• Main Log (sys_log)
• Log Archive (sys_log_archive)
• Exception Log (sys_log_exception)
• Script Log (sys_log_script)
• Record Deletion Log (sys_record_deletion_log)
• VCS Record (sys_vcs_record)

Use the following tabs to specify indicator conditions.

Start Conditions

Field	Mandatory	Description
Start conditions	Y	Specify the conditions with the condition builder for the creation of the indication. The system uses the selected Table fields as transactional data to set the conditions. When the transactional data changes, the system verifies these conditions.
When to cancel	N	Establish a condition to start cancellation: Start conditions are not met – the system cancels the indication when a record does not meet the conditions. Cancel conditions are met – this option enables additional conditions. If these conditions are met, the indication is canceled. Do not cancel – the indication is not canceled until the time specified in Breach time field.
Cancel conditions	Y	This option appears when the Cancel conditions are met option is selected in the When to cancel field. Define additional conditions to meet before the indication is canceled.

Pause Conditions

Field	Mandatory	Description
Pause conditions	N	Specify conditions with the condition builder to make the indicator pause. The system uses the selected Table fields as transactional data to verify the conditions. When the transactional data changes, the system checks these conditions.
When to resume	N	Set a condition to resume the paused indicator: Pause conditions are not met – the system resumes the indication calculation when the record does not meet the pause conditions. Resume conditions are met – this option enables additional conditions settings that resume paused conditions when met.
Resume conditions	Y	This option appears when the Resume conditions are met option is selected in the When to resume field. To resume the indication, define additional conditions to be met. In other words, if the record meets these resume conditions, it ignores the pause conditions.

Complete Conditions

Field	Mandatory	Description
Complete conditions	Y	Establish conditions with the condition builder to make the indication stop. The system uses the selected Table fields as transactional data to verify the conditions. When the transactional data changes, the system checks these conditions.

Reset Conditions

To make a condition run only once, use the Changes, Changes from, Changes to operators. When using other operators, there may be cases where the indication is reset each time the target record is changed.

Field	Mandatory	Description
Reset conditions	N	This field is unavailable for retrospective indications (Defined by field selected in the Indication start time field). Establish conditions with the condition builder to make the indicator reset. The system uses the selected Table fields as transactional data to verify the conditions. When the transactional data changes, the system checks these conditions.

caution

If an indication is not on pause when the reset conditions are met:

• The pause time and its duration are reset.
• The start time is set to the time reset conditions are triggered.
• The breach time and original breach time are recalculated.
• All specifications are recalculated according to the values defined.

If an indication is on pause when the reset conditions are met:

• The pause time is reset.
• The start time and pause time are set to the time the reset conditions are triggered.
• The breach time and original breach time are recalculated.
• All specifications are recalculated according to the values defined.

When you clear the Active checkbox or delete an indicator, the related indications are canceled. In the related indication records, the Updated at field displays the time the indication was canceled.

Duration calculations

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Example 1

Company A uses schedule "24x7", which means 24 working hours, 7 days a week, and around-the-clock shift-work. If you enter "2" into the days field, this value is converted to 48 working hours or 2 working days. 

Example 2

Company B uses "8x5" schedule , which means 8 working hours, 5 days a week, one of the most common working schedules. If you enter "2" into the days field, this value is converted to 48 hours (because there are 24 hours in a day), which gives 6 working days.