KPI editor: General Properties page

Use this page of the "KPI editor" to specify the actual value (collected or calculated value) and the target value (desired value) of the KPI. You can enter, insert, or calculate these values.

Also use this tab to assign the business owner responsible for the KPI and specify if the KPI should support trending. Trending enables you to compare previous values to current values. For example, you can compare your December 2009 sales to the current year's sales.

To analyze KPIs by multiple dimensions (for example, Product, Geography, and Time), ensure that the data you use to calculate actual and target values is also dimensioned by Product, Geography, and Time.

For more information, see:

This page is also displayed as:

Scorecard editor: KPI tab

Components

Description

Use this field to enter a description of the KPI.

Business Owner

Use this field to view and select the user ID of the person responsible for the business performance of the KPI. Business owners have the ability to override the KPI's statuses. If you do not set a business owner, then you cannot override the status.

Click the Set User button to search for and select a business owner.

Set User

Use this button to open the "Select Business Owner dialog", where you can search for the person whom you want to assign as the KPI's business owner.

Actual Value

Use this field to specify a value to compare to the target value. Consider the following options:

Click the down-arrow button to access the subject area list and select a measure. For example, "Sales Measures"."Dollars".

If you are working with a writeable Essbase data source, you must specify the filter. For example, FILTER("Basic2"."Basic - measure" USING "Scenario"."Gen2,Scenario" = 'Actual' AND "Measures"."Gen4,Measures" = 'Marketing').
Place the cursor in the field and enter the actual value.
Click Edit Actual Value Formula to access the "Edit Column Formula dialog: Column Formula tab" to create a formula that calculates the actual value. For example, ((Sales - Cost)/Sales) * 100.

If you are working with a writeable Essbase data source, you must modify the filter. For example, FILTER("Basic2"."Basic - measure" USING "Scenario"."Gen2,Scenario" = 'Actual' AND "Measures"."Gen4,Measures" = 'Marketing').

Target Value

Use this field to specify the value that you want the KPI to achieve. The target value is a quantifiable goal for each measure. Consider the following options:

Click the down-arrow button to access the subject area list and select a measure. For example, "Sales Measures"."Dollars".

If you are working with a writeable Essbase data source, you must specify the filter. For example, FILTER("Basic2"."Basic - measure" USING "Scenario"."Gen2,Scenario" = 'Budget' AND "Measures"."Gen4,Measures" = 'Marketing').
Place the cursor in the field and enter the actual value.
Click Edit Target Value Formula to access the "Edit Column Formula dialog: Column Formula tab" to create a formula that calculates the actual value. For example, ((Sales - Cost)/Sales) * 100.

If you are working with a writeable Essbase data source, you must modify the filter. For example, FILTER("Basic2"."Basic - measure" USING "Scenario"."Gen2,Scenario" = 'Budget' AND "Measures"."Gen4,Measures" = 'Marketing').

Writeable

Use this option to specify whether, if you are working with an Essbase data source, the corresponding Actual Value or Target Value field is writeable. At runtime, the changes that the user makes to these fields are saved to the repository. If you select this option:

You must also use the Post-update Business Rule list to specify how you want the system to recalculate the data.

Post-Update Business Rule

Use this list if you have selected the Writeable option for either the actual value or target value. This list displays the calculation scripts that the administrator created in Oracle Essbase. The calculation script that you select determines how the system recalculates the data after the user modifies the actual value or target value.

For more information about creating KPIs with writeable actual and target values, see "Overview of Setting Up Target Settings in KPIs".

Down Arrow

Use this button to access the subject area list for Actual Value, Target Value, and Compare to Prior. From this list you can browse for and select a column for the value.

Edit Value Formula

Use this button to access the "Edit Column Formula dialog: Column Formula tab" to create a formula that calculates the Actual Value or Target Value.

Enable Trending

Use this option to indicate the direction in which change occurs (up or down), the extent of the change (as a value and percentage), and if the change indicates an increase or decrease in performance. If trending is enabled, then users see a trend icon (see "Trend" for additional information on trend icons) on nodes in Scorecard diagrams, in KPI watchlists, and in other tables within Scorecard that reference this KPI. Users also see a history chart on the KPI Details and KPI Overview tabs in Scorecard. See "Creating KPIs" for additional information.

To use trending, ensure that a time dimension is defined in the subject area.

Data Format

Displays an example of how the numeric data displays in the KPI. Click Edit to access the dialog where you specify the data format settings for the KPI.

Compare to Prior

Use this option to select the period of time to use for trend analysis. The period that you select determines the time periods displayed in history charts on the KPI Details tab and KPI Overview tab in Scorecard. See "Creating KPIs" for additional information.

For example, to compare Units Shipped quarterly, select "Fiscal Time"."Quarterly". In this example, the KPI trends upward, downward, or unchanged based on the KPI values from one quarter to the next. Any KPI change values are computed using "Quarterly" as the period of analysis.

Tolerance

Use this field to enter the tolerance value for the trend. This field enables you to prevent reporting non-significant trends, such as expenses being over-budget by $100.

The tolerance value that you enter must be a literal and can be expressed either as a percentage or absolute value (for example, 5,000 or 5%). The tolerance level must be met before the KPI displays the performance as improving or worsening.

Tolerance Down Arrow

Use this field to specify how to measure tolerance value that you entered in the Tolerance field. Choose % Change to measure it by percent or Change to measure tolerance by the actual value.