Last Updated on November 19, 2022 by maximosecrets

This is the second article on Key Performance Indicators (KPI) in Maximo and follows on from the KPI Manager article, which you can find here – http://maximosecrets.com/2022/01/11/kpi-manager/.

This article reviews the KPI Viewer application, the Start Center’s KPI Graph and KPI List, the Create KPI action found in most applications and a Cron Task that will delete old historical KPI data records. It follows on from the first article on the KPI Manager and so I would recommend reading this first.

KPI Viewer

The KPI Viewer application is found in the Analytics module.

I am logged in as John Hunter (HUNTER) and I can see 34 of the 39 KPIs. The ones that are marked as Public (33) and KPI AJE01 which grants access to the SUPERVISOR security group, but not KPI AJE02 which is considered private to the creator (WILSON). HUNTER belongs to the SUPERVISOR security group.

Note. If a user has access to the KPI Manager application, they can see all KPIs in that application. If I log in as AJE (Andrew Jeffery) then I can see all KPIs in the KPI Manager application, but I can only see the Public KPIs in the KPI Viewer application, I cannot see KPI AJE01 in the KPI Viewer application as I am not a member of the SUPERVISOR security group and I cannot see AJE02 as this is marked as private (ISPUBLIC=0).

If we navigate into the main KPI tab for AJE01 we can see the main information and the KPI graph, all fields are read-only. 

You might wonder why there is a gap between the KPI Name and the Current section.

This is displaying the long description of the KPI. You can use this to provide guidance notes regarding the KPI. I had written:

This KPI is for measuring the number of work orders waiting at WAPPR status.

Target – The target is 150 work orders, zero is preferable but this is not realistic.

Caution – The yellow/amber zone will occur if the actual number of work orders is > 200 and < 250. This can occur in the summer months around the time of the annual shutdown.

Alert – The red zone will occur if there are > 250 work orders at WAPPR status. This is considered too many and is automatically highlighted to management.

If you are using Chrome of Firefox Browsers (not Safari, and I cannot test Microsoft browser), then right-clicking the image gives the option of Save Chart with Table or Save Chart Image Only.

Here is an example of the Save Chart with Table. The file is sent to your Download folder as Chart.png.

In the Historical Trends tab, we have a similar display to that in the KPI Manager application. With the Cron Task Instance Schedule set to run every 2 hours, we now have several additional KPIHISTORY data points all at the same value of 1364, overnight I have not been changing any work order statuses.

The user can put in a custom date range using the From/To and Show Details In fields, but notice there is no save button. However, if the user makes a change and goes back to the List tab, they will receive the common error message “BMXAA2300I – Do you want to save your changes before continuing?” and answering Yes will modify the KPI record for everyone else. You cannot remove the Save option from their Security Groups as this makes the whole application read-only and the user would not be able to adjust any of the fields that modifies the chart. I think this is an issue and I have reported it to IBM Support.

Log Tab

There is a Create Communication action is the KPI Viewer application, this is used to create an outbound email. There is also a Create Communication action in the KPI Manager application, but this is not normally enabled. This is the same dialog as you will see in the ticket and work order applications. The first of the Ticket Communication articles will be useful if you are new to this action http://maximosecrets.com/2021/12/02/ticket-communications-1/ . A Communication Template can be used as a template for the email communication, there is also an article on this which you can find here http://maximosecrets.com/2021/12/09/communication-templates/ .

The Log tab shows the results of the communications sent from within Maximo, I created a Test Communication, and a record was created in the Log tab, the message was “The number of work orders at WAPPR is too high, please review these and get the total down to 1200 by the end of the week.”.

KPI Graph and KPI List

The Start Center configuration allows you to add KPIs either as a graph or a set of KPIs (List) to a Start Center tab.

The Administration Start Center gives examples of the two KPI Graphs we have reviewed earlier in the article on the KPI Manager, Current User Sessions (KPI USERSESSIONS) and Current Number of Logged In Users (KPI CURRENTLOGIN). These were the two KPIs linked together, notice the Related KPI column has an icon which if clicked will open this KPI in the KPI Manager application and the Historical Trends tab. To go to the KPI that is the focus for the KPI Graph then click the Status icon, the down or up green arrows in the screenshot, the KPI Manager application is also opened in the Historical Trends tab.

A KPI Graph can show multiple KPIs as a barchart instead of a dial, as in the bottom example that is showing the number of Type 1, Type 2 and Type 3 Registered Users respectively. In this case there are no users for Type 2 or Type 3. 

If you edit the KPI Graph portlet you will come to the KPI Graph Setup application, which is a straightforward listing of the KPIs with a button to Select KPIs. The TYPE1REGUSER, TYPE2REGUSER and TYPE3REGUSER KPIs have been selected. Only the Display Name for the Portlet can be modified. There is no ability to order the KPIs, and so you will need to add them in the order that you want to display them. You might find it easier to add them one at a time to get them in the right order.

The Service Desk Manager Start Center shows a KPI Graph with the portlet name changed to SLA Incident Compliance and displayed on the narrow side of the Start Center, it looks similar to the display in the KPI Viewer application. This KPI has a link to a Related Report and clicking the icon opens the report’s Request Page.

The KPI List Setup application is very similar to the KPI Graph Setup application. Notice I have selected KPIs starting AJE and only AJE01 is shown this is because this time I am logged in as MAXADMIN and MAXADMIN belongs to the SUPERVISOR security group, AJE02 is not shown because only the creator WILSON would be able to see this. If you are using Security on KPIs, then when setting up Start Centers it is worth checking the setup against a user account that has access to the Security Groups where you have granted KPI access, don’t just do the configuration from the MAXADMIN account and expect it to pass User Acceptance Testing.

Both the KPI Graph and KPI List portlets are suggested to work from the Wide side of a Start Center but they also work from the Narrow side. The portlet called Work Order KPIs is a KPI List showing 5 KPIs (AJE01 is the top one). If you are not using KPI or Report Links then I prefer to use the KPI List over the KPI Graph and positioned on the narrow side of the Start Center, a lot of information can be conveyed with it taking up very little screen real estate. Don’t worry about the performance, remember with scheduled KPI calculations the data has already been calculated and effectively you are just displaying the data and from a query that will be very efficient.

Create KPI Action

There is a Create KPI action in most, if not all applications, with a List tab. The action is only visible from the List tab. When used a dialog opens with the Select and Where clause populated. The Select statement is – select count(*) from xxx – where xxx is the base table of the application. I am in the Work Order Tracking application and hence the Select statement is – select count(*) from workorder. 

The Where clause is the current query that you have made in the application from which you are using the Create KPI action. So, you first query for the records that you wish to make a KPI for, and then use the action Create KPI. In my case I wanted to create a similar query but where the status =APPR. As you can see the Where Clause is much longer than you might expect at – where (((status = ‘APPR’ or status = ‘WPCOND’ or status = ‘INPRG’ or status = ‘WAPPR’ or status = ‘WMATL’ or status = ‘WSCH’) and (woclass = ‘WORKORDER’ or woclass = ‘ACTIVITY’) and historyflag = 0 and istask = 0)) and ((status = ‘APPR’)). This is because it is adding in the default query’s Where clause, before that of the query you have made, the bit at the end which says and ((status = ‘APPR’)). You may think it better to use the All Records query first before making the query on which to base your KPI.

In the Create KPI dialog you will need to provide a KPI Name and Description and values for Target, Caution At and Alert At. The Created By and Created Date will be defaulted.

KPI History Cron Task

There is a Cron Task called KPIHISTORY which deletes old KPIHISTORY records after a parameter in days called KEEPDAYS which by default is set to 365. This Cron Task would need to be set active if you are creating a lot of KPI data through the scheduled Cron Task Instances.