The Variants component of the Metricus Process Optimizer has 3 sections; a grid for variant selection, a graph to enable selection of single variants within the process visualizer, and options to be applied to the process visualizer for variants selected
Variant Selection Grid
The Variant Selection Grid allows for the selection of 1 or more variants to be displayed in the Process Explorer. The default number of variants selected is 10. The fields available in the Variant Selector are;
Field | Description | Default |
ID | A unique indicator for Variants, order by tasks desc i.e. Variant #1 has the most amount of tasks | Y |
Tasks | The # of tasks in a variant | Y |
% Total Tasks | The % of total tasks that a variant represents | Y |
Avg Duration | The average duration of tasks in a variant, based on the timestamp of the first activity defined and the last activity (calendar time) | Y |
Loops | Indicates if the variant contains one or more loops i.e. a step that goes back to an activity that had previously occurred | Y |
Compliant | Indicates if the variant has one of more non-compliant steps | Y |
Automated | Indicates if a variant is fully automated i.e. all steps are flagged as automated | Y |
Avg Actual Cost | Displays the average actual cost of a task in the variant, based on costs allocated to steps within the variant | Y |
Min Duration | The minimum lifecycle duration of a task within the variant | N |
Max Duration | The maximum lifecycle duration of a task within the variant | N |
Std Deviation | The standard deviation of the duration of tasks in a variant (calendar time). This can be used to detect unstable variants i.e. variants where some tasks take very little time, and others take an extended amount of time to resolve/close | N |
Avg Target Cost | Displays the average target cost of a task in the variant, based on costs allocated to steps within the variant | N |
Avg Savings | Displays the average saving per tasks, based on the actual and target costs entered | N |
Total Savings | Displays the total saving for all tasks associated with the variant, based on the actual and target costs entered | N |
Events | The # of events in a variant | N |
% Total Events | The % of total events that a variant represents | N |
Steps | The number of steps in the variant | N |
To change the columns displayed, select the Columns tab to the right of the grid which will show all available columns:
To filter the grid, select the Filters tab to the right of the grid, select the column you wish to filter, and then enter the filter:
The following are capabilities of the variant selection grid.
Select Variants
To select variants to display in the Process Explorer, use the standard windows functionality for multi-select within the grid. You can also perform a range selection by click, drag, then release.
Note: The following capabilities are generic across all grids within the Metricus Process Optimizer
Sorting
Click the column header to sort by a column. An arrow will then appear in the column header indicating that the column is sorted as well as the sort direction
Context Menu
The context menu enables further analysis of a variant and is available by right clicking a variant row
Options include:
Option | Description |
Analyze -> Decompose | Opens the Decomposition Tree visual to allow analyse of the tasks associated with the selected variant (refer Decomposition Tree) |
Analyze -> Insights | Opens the Insights visual to allow analyse of the tasks associated with the selected variant (refer Insights) |
Analyze -> Influencers | Opens the Influencers visual to allow analyse of the tasks associated with the selected variant (refer Influencers) |
Histogram -> Tasks | Opens the histogram visual to display an issue duration histogram for the issues associated with the selected variant |
Histogram -> Events | Opens the histogram visual to display an event duration histogram for the events associated with the selected variant |
Detail - Issues | Navigates to the ‘Detail’ -> ‘Isseus’ pane and displays the issues associated with the variant selected |
Detail - Events | Navigates to the ‘Detail’ -> ‘Events’ pane and displays the events associated with the variant selected |
Issue Lifecycle | Opens the Issues Lifecycle visual to display the workflow of all issues associated with the variant |
Export | Export grid data to either CSV or XLS. Note that only visible columns will be exported |
Variant Graph
The Variant Graph will update with the variants selected in the Variant Selection grid. Clicking a variant in the graph will activate the ‘Variant Select Action’ option currently selected; Animate highlight the selected variant, Lifecycle to dynamically highlight the selected variant, and Isolate to remove all variants other than the selected variants. To turn off the selected ‘Variant Select Action’, re-click the selected Variant in the graph. The colours used for animation and lifecycle display can be set in the Settings -> Explorer pane
Highlight Steps
Checking the highlights options will highlight loops with the respective attributes. The colours used to highlight can be set in the Settings pane
Step Width
This allows you to select the metric that determines the width of lines between steps.
Filter
The Filter options can be used to only view variants that contain Loops, are Compliant or Automated. Note that these are indeterminate check-boxes. i.e. if Filter-Loops is unchecked, only variants that do not contain loops will display, if it is checked only variants containing loops will display, if it is neutral (default), no filter will apply