Indicators
An indicator is a rule for creating a time counter that defines the conditions for starting, pausing, resetting, and stopping this counter. The indicator also determines the time limit for declaring an agreement as breached and contains the time conditions for implementing a commitment type.
When an indicator starts, the system automatically creates an indication – a time counter that tracks the current time and time points of the target commitment.
Starting from version 1.29.0, indicators are pre-filtered before processing. Learn more in Indicator pre-filtering.
Depending on your business needs, you can create different types of indicators:
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Standard – an indicator creates an indication that starts and completes when specified conditions are met, or is canceled.
For example, the start time is the moment when the task state changes to Assigned.
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Retrospective – an indicator creates an indication that defines the start or breach time based on manually specified Date/Time fields. Indications are created for records that meet the specified conditions.
For example, an indication is created when the task state changes to Assigned, but the start time is the value of the Opened at field.
Create an indicator
Role required: service_level_manager
To create a new indicator, complete the following steps:
- Navigate to Indication Management → Indicators.
- Click New and fill in the form.
- 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. |
| Table | Y | Specify a table to apply the indicator conditions to. After saving the form, the field becomes read-only. |
| Agreement | N | Specify an agreement related to this indicator and containing tracking metrics. |
| Indication start time | Y | Select one of the three options:
|
| Start time field | Y | The field appears if the Defined by field option is selected in the Indication start time field. Select a Date/Time column from the table for which the indications are to be calculated. An indication retrieves the start time value from this column. A retrospective indication counts the value that was current at the time of the indicator creation. If the value changes, the indications are not recalculated. |
| Path to start time | Y | The field appears if the Defined by path option is selected in the Indication start time field. Specify a dot-walking path to the Date/Time column from which the indication start time value should be retrieved. The path must be relative to the table for which indications are created. If the path is set incorrectly or the target field is empty, the system creates an indication using the time of saving a record that meets the Start Conditions as the start time. |
| Use retrospective pause | N | Select the checkbox for the indication's Pause time to include all the periods in the record's history that meet the pause conditions following the rules. This total pause duration is used when calculating other indication parameters. The checkbox is deselected by default, leaving the retrospective pause out of the Pause time calculation. The field is available for editing if:
Changing the checkbox state applies to all new indications created for this indicator. The retrospective pause is calculated from the specified start point based on the History (sys_history) table data. The calculation is not performed if the indicator uses a record extended model (REM), as the REM data is not stored in the History (sys_history) table. |
| Indication breach time | N | Select one of the three options:
After saving the form, the 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. Select a Date/Time column from the table for which the indications are to be calculated. An indication retrieves the breach time value from this column. After saving the form, the Indication breach time field becomes read-only.
|
| Path to breach time | Y | The field appears if the Defined by path option is selected in the Indication breach time field. Specify a dot-walking path to the Date/Time column from which the indication breach time value should be retrieved. The path must be relative to the table for which indications are created. If the path is set incorrectly or the target field is empty, an indication is not created. When using dot-walking, the breach time is not recalculated when the target or related record is updated – it is calculated based on the previous values. |
| Duration | Y | This field appears if the Defined by duration option is selected in the Indication breach time field. Configure the working calendar for the agreement to run before it is marked as breached. The duration of the day according to the selected schedule is taken into account. |
| Minimum duration | N | The field appears if the Defined by field option is selected in the Indication breach time field. Set a minimum duration that restricts the creation and existence of an indication. Before creating an indication, its future duration from the start time to the breach is checked. If the resulting duration is less than the Minimum duration, the indication is not created. If the user changes the Breach time field after an indication is created and the resulting duration is less than the Minimum duration, the indication is canceled. The duration of the day according to the selected schedule is taken into account. After saving the form, the field becomes read-only. |
| Active | N | Select this checkbox to activate the indicator. |
| Commitment type | Y | Specify the commitment type for this indicator. Available options:
|
| Schedule source | Y | Specify the schedule source for business time calculation. Available options:
Changing this setting only applies to new indications – previously calculated ones remain unchanged. |
| Schedule | Y | Select the schedule to be used when calculating business time elapsed, pauses, and breach time of indications. Use one of the existing schedules in the system or configure your own using the Schedules module. If the selected schedule is invalid (consists of elements of the Excluded type), the 24x7 schedule is used by default. The field is hidden if the Another schedule option is selected in the Schedule source field. |
| Path to schedule | Y | The field appears if the Another schedule option is selected in the Schedule source field. Specify a dot-walking path to a column that contains a reference to a schedule record. The path must be relative to the table for which indications are created. If the path is set incorrectly or the target field is empty, the 24x7 schedule is used for indication calculation. |
| Timezone | Y | Determines the indicator timezone. Only active timezones are available. The field is hidden if the Another timezone option is selected in the Timezone source field. |
| Timezone source | Y | Specify the timezone source. Available options depend on the target table. The following options are available for all tables:
Two additional options are available for the Task table and its descendants:
Changing this setting applies to new and all active indications (in In progress, Paused states), including previously calculated ones. |
| Path to timezone | Y | The field appears if the Another timezone option is selected in the Timezone source field. Specify a dot-walking path to a column that contains a reference to a timezone record to be used for indication calculation. The path must be relative to the table for which indications are created. If the path is set incorrectly or the target field is empty, the indicator timezone is used for indication calculation. |
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 Item (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)
Configure conditions
Use the following tabs to specify indicator conditions:
Start Conditions
| Field | Mandatory | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Start conditions | Y | Using the condition builder, specify the conditions for creating an indication. The system uses the fields of the selected Table as transactional data to set the conditions. When the transactional data changes, the system checks these conditions. |
| When to cancel | N | Set a condition for canceling the indication:
|
| Cancelation conditions | Y | This option appears when the Cancelation conditions are met option is selected in the When to cancel field. Define additional conditions to meet before the indication is canceled. If a record meets the cancelation conditions, the start conditions are ignored. |
Pause Conditions
| Field | Mandatory | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Pause conditions | Y | Using the condition builder, specify the conditions for pausing the indication. The system uses the fields of the selected Table as transactional data to set the conditions. When the transactional data changes, the system checks these conditions. |
| When to resume | N | Set a condition for resuming the indication calculation:
|
| Resumption conditions | Y | This option appears when the Resumption conditions are met option is selected in the When to resume field. This field allows you to define additional conditions that must be met for the indication to resume. In other words, if a record meets the resumption conditions, the Pause conditions are ignored. |
Completion Conditions
| Field | Mandatory | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Completion conditions | Y | Set conditions using the condition builder to stop the indication. The system uses the fields of the selected Table as transactional data to check the conditions. When the transactional data changes, the system checks these conditions. |
Reset Conditions
The tab is only displayed if the Defined by condition option is selected in the Indication start time field.
To make a condition run only once, use the Changes, Changes from, and 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 (indications where Defined by field is selected in the Indication start time field). Set conditions using the condition builder to reset the indication. The system uses the fields of the selected Table as transactional data to check the conditions. When the transactional data changes, the system checks these conditions. |
If a record simultaneously meets both the start condition and the pause condition when an indication is created, the indication is created immediately in the paused state.
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 the reset conditions are triggered.
- The breach time and original breach time are recalculated.
- All specifications are recalculated according to the defined values.
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 defined values.
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
Example 1
Company A uses the "24x7" schedule, 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 the "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.
Indicator pre-filtering
When a record is modified, the system pre-filters indicators for the table and only the indicators that meet at least one of the following criteria are processed:
- At least one of the indicator's conditions (start, pause, resumption, reset, completion, or cancelation) contains an updated field from the record.
- The field specified in the indicator as the Breach time field was modified in the record, if the Defined by field option is selected in the Indication breach time field.
Filtering by RE model
If an RE model is used in the indicator's Start conditions, then, when a record is created or updated in the table for which the indicator is created, the following logic applies:
- If the record has no RE model, only indicators without REM attributes in the Start conditions field are processed.
- If the record has an RE model, only indicators are processed where the Start conditions:
- contain no REM attributes, or
- contain REM attributes that correspond to the RE model of the modified record.
- When a record with an RE model is updated, the indicators are processed regardless of the updated record fields.
If business logic requires changing the record's RE model, the indications previously created under one RE model will continue to work with the current record under the new RE model.
The system checks for the presence of an updated field in a condition by searching the condition string for the column's system name. For example, when the state column value is updated, an indicator with a condition on the custom_state column will be triggered for the current record.
When using an RE model, if the start condition is {re_model_id}:attribute=1^ORstate=1 and a record without an RE model meets the state=1 part of the condition, the indicator will still not be applied due to the REM part of the condition.
Retrospective pause
If the indicator has the Use retrospective pause checkbox selected, the total Pause time of an indication created on its basis is calculated from the record's history using the following rules:
| Pause start and end | Indication pause time |
|---|---|
| The pause started before the indication was created and continues after its creation. | The indication is created in the Paused state. The indication's Pause time in this case is the difference between the time the indication was last updated and the time of entering the pause. |
| The pause started before the indication was created and ended during its creation. | The indication is created in the In progress state. Its Pause time is the difference between the time the indication was created and the time the pause started. |
| The first pause started and ended before the indication was created, a new pause started after the indication was created. | The indication is created in the Paused state. The Pause time is the sum of the first pause's duration and the time that passed from the indication's creation to its next recalculation. |
| The pause started during the indication's creation and continues afterward. | The indication is created in the Paused state. The Pause time is the time that passed from the indication's creation to its next recalculation. |
| The pause started before the indication's start time and continues as long as the pause conditions are met. | The indication is in the Paused state as long as the pause conditions are met. The pause is calculated retrospectively from the moment the indication started to the moment the pause ended, even if the pause condition took effect before the indication started. |
| There were no pauses. | The Pause time equals 0. |