Alignia Online Business Services v5 · It is a big responsibility, which is why IT departments need a tool that controls in real time, all the online services that your critical external

Configuration Guide

5.0OBS-SRV

Alignia for Online Business Services Configuration Guide

The software described in this book is furnished under a license agreement and may be used only in

accordance with the terms of the agreement.

Copyright Notice

Copyright © 2017 Tango/04 All rights reserved.

Document date: November 2017

Document version: 1.0

Product version: 5.0

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Tango/04 Computing Group S.L. Avda. Meridiana 358, 5 A-B Barcelona, 08027 Spain

Tel: +34 93 274 0051

http:\\www.tango04.com

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Table of Contents .............................................................................. iii

How to Use this Guide........................................................................vi

Chapter 1

Introduction ...................................................................................... 11.1. How it Works...................................................................................................1

1.1.1. Defining the Business Elements ...............................................................2

1.2. What it Does ...................................................................................................3

Chapter 2

Before you begin ............................................................................... 62.1. The Online Business Services Configurator ...................................................6

2.2. Using the Configurator Home page ................................................................7

2.2.1. The Information bar...................................................................................8

2.3. Importing & Exporting Services.......................................................................9

2.4. Enabling Services .........................................................................................10

Chapter 3

Using the Online Business Services Configurator ................................. 123.1. Configurator Main Display.............................................................................12

© 2017 Tango/04 Computing Group Page iii

Table of Contents

Chapter 4

Working with Alignia for Online Business Services............................... 154.1. Navigating the Configurator ..........................................................................15

4.2. Creating a Service ........................................................................................16

4.3. Configurator - Summary................................................................................18

4.4. Adding a Business Instance to the Service...................................................18

4.5. Business Instance Levels .............................................................................22

4.6. Configurator - Definition ................................................................................23

4.7. Definition Tab - Information Page .................................................................24

4.8. Definition Tab - Attributes Page ....................................................................25

4.9. Calendars......................................................................................................26

4.10. Defining Metrics: Business Activity Indicators.............................................27

4.10.1. Specifying the level at which the Business Activity Indicator is applied 27

4.10.2. Managing Products ...............................................................................29

4.10.3. Selecting the data to be collected and level propagation......................30

4.10.4. Specifying how the Activity Indicator Data is calculated .......................33

4.10.5. Displaying the Activity Data - Points of View.........................................34

4.11. Defining Metrics: Real User Experience Metric ..........................................35

4.11.1. Creating a Real User Experience metric...............................................35

4.11.2. Managing Transactions.........................................................................36

4.11.3. Specifying how the Transaction Data is calculated...............................36

4.12. Defining Metrics: Simulated User Experience.............................................37

4.12.1. Managing Locations ..............................................................................38

4.13. Configurator - Rules....................................................................................39

4.13.1. Adding a Rule........................................................................................40

4.13.2. Infrastructure Types of Rule..................................................................41

4.13.3. Activity Types of Rule............................................................................43

4.13.4. User Experience Types of Rule ............................................................46

4.14. Configurator - Notifications .........................................................................49

4.14.1. Notifications at Service, Consumer and Channel Level ........................50

4.14.2. Notifications for Business Issues ..........................................................50

4.14.3. Notifications for All Issues .....................................................................52

Chapter 5

Viewing the Online Business Services Dashboards............................... 545.1. Viewing the Online Business Services in Dashboards .................................54

5.1.1. Aspects of the main display ....................................................................54

5.2. Overview tab .................................................................................................56

5.3. Analysis tab...................................................................................................58

5.3.1. Available Analysis views .........................................................................59

5.3.2. Filtering results........................................................................................60

5.4. Issues tab......................................................................................................61

© 2017 Tango/04 Computing Group Page iv

Table of Contents

5.4.1. Reset Criticality .......................................................................................62

5.5. Dependencies tab .........................................................................................63

Appendix A: ThinkServer ThinAgents .................................................. 65A.1. KM Online Services - Alerts..........................................................................65

A.2. KM Online Services - DEMO - Generate Service History - #SERVICE#......66

A.3. KM Online Services - SmartConsole Autoprovisioning ................................66

A.4. KM Online Services - DEMO - Generate Real-time Service metrics - #SERVICE#67

A.5. KM Online Services - Service Control Point Overview Monitor (This Month)68

A.6. KM Online Services - Service Control Point Overview Monitor (Today).......69

A.7. KM Online Services - Service Control Point Overview Monitor (Last 60 Minutes)69

Appendix B: SmartConsole Business Network...................................... 70B.1. IT Services....................................................................................................71

B.2. External Services..........................................................................................72

B.3. Online Services ............................................................................................73

B.4. Services Catalog ..........................................................................................75

B.5. Online Services KM Notifications .................................................................76

B.6. KM Templates ..............................................................................................77

B.6.1. Monitored Functions in SmartConsole....................................................78

B.6.2. Business Activity Indicators in SmartConsole.........................................79

B.6.3. Real User Experiences in SmartConsole ...............................................80

B.6.4. Simulated User Experiences in SmartConsole.......................................81

B.6.5. IT Dependencies.....................................................................................82

Appendix C: Troubleshooting ............................................................. 83

Appendix D: Contacting Tango/04 ..................................................... 88

About Tango/04 Computing Group .................................................... 90

Legal Notice .................................................................................... 91

© 2017 Tango/04 Computing Group Page v

© 2017 Tango/04 Computing Group Page vi

How to Use this Guide

This chapter explains how to use Tango/04 User Guides and understand the typographical conventions

used in all Tango/04 documentation.

Typographical Conventions

The following conventional terms, text formats, and symbols are used throughout Tango/04 printed

documentation:

Convention Description

Boldface Commands, on-screen buttons and menu options.

Blue Italic References and links to other sections in the manual or further documentation containing relevant information.

Italic Text displayed on screen, or variables where the user must substitute their own details.

Monospace Input commands such as System i commands or code, or text that users must type in.

UPPERCASEKeyboard keys, such as CTRL for the Control key and F5 for the function key that is labeled F5.

Notes and useful additional information.

Tips and hints that will improve the users experience of working with this product.

Important additional information that the user is strongly advised to note.

Warning information. Failure to take note of this information could potentially lead to serious problems.

Introduction

Chapter 11 Introduction

Alignia for Online Business Services is a unique and powerful tool designed specifically to tackle the

problem that many IT departments face today: how to manage the quality of your online services.

Today online services are at the core of every business from banking to the entertainment sector.

Services such as providing quotes for personal loans or insurance plans, online banking transactions,

purchasing tickets for events, checking in to a hotel, or simply ordering the weekly groceries can often

be a customers first, only, or most common interaction with a business. Therefore the experience of the

customer during these transactions greatly affects their perception of the business as a whole and their

likelihood to repeat their custom. Which is why the business heavily depends on its IT department to

ensure these online transactions work smoothly every time.

It is a big responsibility, which is why IT departments need a tool that controls in real time, all the online

services that your critical external and internal customers are using. With Alignia for Online Business

Services you can identify which user has real problems, why, and if the problem is in the infrastructure,

at the application level, or even on the side of the user. So when the user says the service is not working

but your IT team says it is, you have a tool to enable you to find out why and most importantly quickly

and easily.

1.1 How it WorksTraditionally IT monitoring tools have lacked a business vision, they have lacked the vision of the user,

instead choosing to focus on the technical side of things and therefore inevitably having blind spots

when it comes to monitoring the business.

Alignia for Online Business Services successfully aligns IT with the business by identifying the key

business elements to be included in the solution as well as the IT infrastructure:

• Service consumers

• Delivery channels

• Business functions

• External services

So what you get is one tool that provides visibility of the IT infrastructure alongside all the business

elements that are relevant to the online services being monitored. This means the IT department doesn’t

miss a thing because you have a complete vision as never before of your online business services.

© 2017 Tango/04 Computing Group Page 1

Introduction

1.1.1 Defining the Business ElementsIdentifying the business elements and then making them visible is the key to the success of Alignia for

Online Business Services.

Figure 1 – The business elements that are given visibility in Alignia for Online Business Services

We can only successfully measure the quality of service delivery by identifying the business elements

involved in the service: so we must show how the business functions impact on the delivery channels

and in turn how they affect the service consumers.

So let’s take a look at how we define each of these elements using an online consumer loans company

as an example.

A simple business model could look something like Figure 2, including several online channels through

which it interacted with its customers:

Figure 2 – Consumer loan company business model


Introduction

Now let’s break down this model into the relevant business elements as follows:

• Service consumers: electronic store; furniture store; direct customers

• Delivery channels: Web page; call center; business to business platform

• Business functions: quotations; applications; assessments; printing

• External services: credit reports

Figure 3 – Business element examples

1.2 What it DoesUsing our example we can see the benefits of incorporating the business elements into the solution, let’s

say a customer has a problem getting a quotation from the electronic store, we can instantly identify the

elements involved and check where the problem could be. Furthermore we can see if an issue is

affecting all the consumers of the service or just one specific type of consumer.

Figure 4 – Identifying the elements in an online service and where a problem may lie


Introduction

The strength of Alignia for Online Business Services lies in its ability to show everything you need to see

in one view, providing total visibility of your online services, out-of-the-box, including:

Availability:

Service status

Today Unavailability

Third-party services

Status of the critical business elements of the service:

Service Consumers

Delivery Channels

Business Functions

Business activity and user experience:

Real User Experience

Simulated User Experience

Business Activity

Affectations: detected issues impact and cause (internal and external)

Business dependencies

IT dependencies

Service Model: every element impacting on health in a tree-like structure

Detected problems


Introduction

Figure 5 – Everything in one view

Providing all this information together, enables users to pinpoint immediately where a problem may be

occurring or more usefully where it may be about to occur. Alignia for Online Business Services can

identify if a critical function of a service is working correctly; determine if an issue is related to IT or a

third party; or even compare business activity to previous days to consider if it is normal.

Such information makes sure you are one step ahead of any potential damaging impact on the service.

Furthermore Alignia for Online Business Services harnesses all of Tango/04’s more than 10 years

experience of working with BSM projects, in a format that is easily and quickly deployed to ensure

instant results and value from the solution.

This configuration guide will explain exactly how to configure the Online Service Designer in conjunction

with VISUAL Message Center ThinkServer and SmartConsole in order to get Alignia for Online Business

Services up and running and to ensure you get the most from this powerful solution.


Before you begin

Chapter 22 Before you begin

This configuration guide provides detailed instructions regarding the configuration and setup of Alignia

for Online Business Services.

Before you start working with Alignia for Online Business Services it is important that you ensure that all

the installation steps have been implemented successfully including ODBC connections and the manual

configuration steps required to setup ThinkServer and SmartConsole.

Please refer to the Alignia for Online Business Services - Installation Guide for further details.

There is a separate Alignia for Online Business Services - User Guide available for end-users providing

details of how to use the dashboards and reports produced by Alignia for Online Business Services.

2.1 The Online Business Services ConfiguratorThe Online Business Services Configurator, is the desktop interface used for defining the services to be

monitored by Alignia for Online Business Services.

Access the Configurator by clicking the tools icon in the bottom right corner of the Alignia Online

Business Services Panel:

Figure 6 – Online Business Services Configuration option

The Online Business Configurator is now displayed. This allows you to add, edit and delete online

services. Services can be imported and exported, enabled and disabled and cloned.

Note The Online Business Services Configurator is blank the first time it is opened as no services

have yet been defined.


http://customers.tango04.com/content/422847

Before you begin

Figure 7 – Online Business Services Configuration panel

The Online Business Services configuration panel displays summary information for each of the

services that have been defined. The following columns are displayed:

• Business Service: The uniquely named business service as it is identified within Alignia.

Enabled services are shown in bold typeface.

• Tenant:The name of the business unit that owns the service (currently in development).

• Criticality: The impact severity on the overall business if there is a problem with the service.

• Type: The type of business service.

• Enabled: A slider bar indicates whether the service is currently enabled for data collection.

2.2 Using the Configurator Home pageWhen deciding on actions to invoke on the available online business services can be selected

individually, in multiples or all together. This enables you to perform enable, disable, delete and export

actions against multiple services with a single mouse-click.

Tip If there are a lot of online business services defined, use the Search option to locate the

service you require. Type in the partial (complete word) or full name of the service and click

the magnifying glass icon.

Note Clone and View options can only be undertaken on single business service selections.


Before you begin

Selecting services individually

To select an indvidual service, click in the checkbox in the far left column. A blue square appears in the

box to indicate that the service is currently selected.

Selecting multiple services

To select multiple services, repeat the same process as for an individual service but against as many

services as you want to select for the intended action.

Selecting all services

To select all services, click in the selection box in the blue header of this panel. All services are then

selected for the intended action.

2.2.1 The Information barWhen services are selected, either single, in mutiples or collectively, an information bar is displayed at

the botton of the configurator panel. This displays the current number of assets that are currently

selected and provides alternative options for enabling (or disabling) depending on the current status of

the assets, deleting or exporting the selected services.


Before you begin

Figure 8 – Asset information bar.

From within the Information bar, click:

• Enable All: to enable all the currently disabled services

• Disable All: to disable all the currently enabled services

• to delete the selected services

• to export the selected services

• Clear Selection: to reutn the Configurator panel to the orignial state with no sevices selected

2.3 Importing & Exporting ServicesServices in the Services list can be imported from other Alignia for Online Business Services

configurations, or exported to a .xml file.

To import services to the Services list:

Step 1. Click the Import button and navigate to the folder that contains the .xml files for the

service or services you wish to import. The default folder for exported .xml files is the

download folder specifed in the settings for the Browser which you are using to access

the Configurator.

Figure 9 – Importing services to the Services list

Step 2. Select the file to be imported and click Open.The individual business services in this

files are now displayed.


Before you begin

Step 3. Select the individual services to be selected or click in the selection box in the blue

header of this panel to select all services. Select Overwrite if Exists to overwite any

existing service with the same name with the imported service.

Figure 10 – Selecting Online Buisness Services to Import

Step 4. Click OK to import the selected online business services.

The services are now added to your list of Online Business Services as shown within the home page of

the Configurator.

To export a service:

Step 1. Select the service or services you wish to export in the Services list (hold down the

SHIFT key to select multiple services), or click in the selection box in the blue header of

this panel to select all services.

Step 2. Click the Export button. The selected files are now exported to the folder specifed in the

Download settings of the Browser you are using to access the Online Business

Services Configurator.

Click OK.

Step 3. An .xml file for the exported services is created in the designated download folder.

2.4 Enabling ServicesOnline Business Services that have been created or imported are disabled by default. Until services are

enabled they do not collect any data or return any information regarding their impact on your business.

To enable a service for Alignia for Online Business Services:

Step 1. From the Online Business Services Configurator home page, click to the right of the

slider bar in the Enabled column against the service you want to enable. The slider bar

moves to the right and the service is now enabled.

Warning Before exporting any services, ensure that you have any pop-up blocker disabled, otherwise

you will not be able to see the exported file.


Before you begin

Figure 11 – Service currently disabled

Note Enabled services are shown in Bold typeface and the available options displayed in blue.


Using the Online Business Services Configurator

Chapter 33 Using the Online Business Services Configurator

The Online Business Services Configurator is used to add Business Services and Business Instances

then define Business Activity Indicators, Real and Simulated User Experiences, Rules and Notifications.

Figure 12 – Online Business Services Configurator

3.1 Configurator Main DisplayThe main display panel of the Online Business Services Configurator shows the following information

within the columns:

• Business Service: Lists, in descending alphabetical order, the business services that have

been added and defined

• Tenant: Displays that type of tenant for which the business service is configured.

• Criticality: Displays the level of criticality that the business service has on the overall business

should it fail.



• Type: Displays the type of business service that has been configured, which will be one of:

• Online Business Service

• Internal Online Service

• External Service

• Enabled: Indicates whether or not the business service is enabled for activity. Click the slider

control to Enable and Disable the business service as required.

• Clone Asset: Click Clone Asset icon to create a copy of the business service and edit the

details to create a unique entity.

• Delete Asset: Click Delete Asset icon to remove the business service from the

Configurator. This action needs to be confirmed before the business service is permanently

removed

• View Asset: Click View Asset to open the visualization display for this business service

and from where you can drill-down into business instances and activity indicators. This option

is only available for business services that are enabled. See 5 Viewing the Online Business

Services Dashboards on page 54 for more information.

Adding a Service

Click Add New Service to open the display needed to add a new business service to

Alignia Online Business Services. See 4.2 Creating a Service on page 16 for more information.

Searching for Business Services

To search for specific instances of Online Business Services use the Search option to display just those

services that match the entered criteria.

Use the arrow to the right of the search box to display a list of valid attributes that can be used in the

search.

Click the magnifying glass to initiate the search with the selected attributes.

Importing Business Services

Use the import function to be able to import a set of online business services from

another configuration of Alignia. The file needs to have been created using the Export option on a

different machine before it can be imported to the current configuration. This is useful if you need to

transfer or move between machines. Upon initialization you are prompted to select the file containing the

data to be imported.

Exporting Business Services

Use the export function to create a file of online business services from the current

configuration which can they be imported to a different configuration running on another machine.

Multiple or single online business services can be exported.



Batch Operations

Batch operations can be used to perform the same action on multiple business services simultaneously.

From the column heading bar, click the empty box next to Business Service.

All of the Business Service assets are now selected. The bottom of the display now reveals the total

number of assets selected and the actions that can be performed.

Click to delete all of the selected business service assets (subject to confirmation).

Click to export all of the selected business service assets.

Click ENABLE ALL to enable all of the business assets that are currently disabled.

Click DISABLE ALL to disable all of the business assets that are currently enabled.

Click CLEAR SELECTION to cancel the request and return to the previous view.


Working with Alignia for Online Business Services

Chapter 44 Working with Alignia for Online Business Services

This chapter presents a workflow to consider when working with your Alignia for Online Business

Services. After following the instructions in this chapter you will have an online business service fully

setup and monitored.

The workflow is as follows:

• Create a service

• Add business instances to the service

• Define Business Activity Indicators

• Define Real User Experience (RUE) metrics

• Define Simulated User Experience (SUE) metrics

• Add Business Service Rules

• Configure Notifications

4.1 Navigating the ConfiguratorIn addition, to the initial home page which shows details of all the online business services that have

been defined, the Configurator is comprised of four tabs.

• Summary - Shows the details of all the business instances that have been configured for the

selected service. Also allows you to see at-a-glance, which Business Instances have rules, real

user and simulated experiences defined. See 4.3 Configurator - Summary on page 18 for more

information

• Definition - Allows you to define the characteristics and attributes of the online service,

manage and assign calendars under which the service runs, create Business Activity Indicators

and define Real and Simulated User Experience metrics. See 4.6 Configurator - Definition on

page 23 for more information.

• Rules - Allows you to set up rules which specify thresholds for periods of activity or error

tolerance and define IT and other service dependencies on which this service relies. See 4.13

Configurator - Rules on page 39 for more information



• Notifications - Allows you to define email addresses to where notifications are sent in case of

an issue with the service. Additional configuration options allow you to define alarms and add

notifications for status changes. See 4.14 Configurator - Notifications on page 49 for more

information.

Figure 13 – Alignia Online Business Service Configurator

4.2 Creating a ServiceOnline services are essentially a set of business functions delivered to consumers through various

delivery channels. So in order to create an online service each of these elements need to be configured

in the available tabs in the Service Details panel.

To create an online service:

Step 1. From the Online Business Services Configurator Home Page, click Add New Service.

Figure 14 – Add new service button

The Create A New Online Service window is displayed.



Figure 15 – Create a New Online Service window

The following fields are available on this display:

• Business Service Name: Enter the name of the new service as it will be identified and

displayed throughout Alignia.

• Service Type: From the drop-down menu, select the type of Business Service that this new

service represents:

• Online Business Service: This type of service represents business functions that

occur between your company and customers, suppliers or Business Partners.

Examples on these type of services include e-commerce transactions, authorizations

of credit card payments or online loan applications. Online services are delivered

through various channels such as e-commerce portals, ATMs, branches and call

center applications.

• Internal Online Service: These services are not accessed directly by the end user.

Typically they perform internal functions to support the online business services that

are accessed by the end user, and therefore their impact is just as critical. An

example of an Internal Online Service could be the processing of loans received,

whereby the service would be providing vital information for internal use only, but of

course this service could have a major impact on a customer waiting for a loan if it

were to fail.

• External Service: These are any services not provided internally that impacts on the

delivery of your business services. Examples include background credit checks, or

network provision.

• Tenant: This field is currently in development for use in a later version of Alignia. Only My

Company is available for selection in this field.

Step 2. Click OK to create the new business service. The new service is opened in the

Configurator at the Summary tab, ready for a business instance to be created. See 4.4

Adding a Business Instance to the Service on page 18 for more information.

Note You are not allowed to enter duplicate names (each service name is a

unique identifier).



4.3 Configurator - Summary The Summary tab of the Online Business Service Configurator displays all of the business instances

that have been defined for the selected online service. From this display you can:

• Enable or disable the Online Business Service: Use the slider bar in the top right of the

display to enable or disable the service as required .

• Add a Business Instance to this service: Click Add Business Instance(s) at the bottom -left

of the display to add a business instance to this service. See 4.4 Adding a Business Instance to

the Service on page 18 for more information.

• View ‘at-a-glance’ what has been configured for each business instance that has been

defined for this online business service: Any icon displayed in bold indicates that a

configuration exists:

• Indicates that at least one rule exists for activity indicators for this instance.

• Indicates that at least one rule exists for real user experience transactions for

this instance.

• Indicates that at least one rule exists for simulated user experience

transactions for this instance.

• Indicates that this business instance is enabled.

• Delete a Business Instance from this service: Click next to the business instance to

permanently remove it from this online business service. You are prompted to confirm the

request prior to deletion.

Following any changes made to the contents of this tab, click Save to confirm and save the changes to

the database.

4.4 Adding a Business Instance to the ServiceOnce your online service has been created and defined, the next step is to begin the configuration of

every business instance of this service that you want to monitor.

A Business Instance, also known as a Delivery, is a combination of:

• a Consumer who completes Delivery of the Service

• a Delivery Channel over which the Service is delivered

• a Business Function that must be completed in order for the Service to be delivered

Business instances have two uses. One is to describe what the data represents, and the other is to

determine where it is going to be displayed.

Note A ‘catch-all’ business instance of All Business Consumers - All Channels -All Functions

is pre-defined and available to be applied to the new business service.



Before you can create a Business Instance you need to define at least one Delivery Channel, Business

Function, and Service Consumer.

To create a Business Instance:

Step 1. From the Summary tab of the Business Service, click Add Business Instance. The

New Business Instance window is displayed.

Figure 16 – New Business Instance window

Step 2. Define a Business Consumer:

• Click the Add icon in the Business Consumers panel heading to open the Add

New Consumer panel

• Enter a unique value (duplicate consumer names are not allowed) in the field and

click the tick mark to add this value to the Consumers.

• Repeat the above process until all the required Consumers for this service have

been added

Step 3. Define a Delivery Channel:

• Click the Add icon in the Delivery Channel panel heading to open the Add New

Channel panel

Note Multiple consumers can be added in one process. Separate each consumer instance you

want to add with a comma. For example; Agents, Brokers, Direct Channel.



• Enter a unique value (duplicate channel names are not allowed) in the field and click

the tick mark to add this value to the Delivery Channels.

• Repeat the above process until all the required Delivery Channels for this service

have been added

Step 4. Define a Business Function:

• Click the Add icon in the Business Function panel heading to open the Add New

Function panel

• Enter a unique value (duplicate business function names are not allowed) in the field

and click the tick mark to add this value to the Business Functions.

• Repeat the above process until all the required consumers for this service have been

added

A complete set of Consumers, Channels and Functions have now been defined for this service.

Note Multiple channels can be added in one process. Separate each channel instance you want to

add with a comma. For example; Direct Interface, Web, Call Center.

Note Multiple functions can be added in one process. Separate each function instance you want to

add with a comma. For example; Calculate Rate, Prepare Quote, Issue Quote.

Note Consumers, Channels and Functions only have to defined once. Once they exist, they are

available for use in subsequent Business Services that may be created.



Figure 17 – All the Consumers, Delivery Channels and Business Functions defined

Step 5. Combine the elements to create a Business Instance.

Now that you have defined Channels, Functions and Consumers, you can create a

specific Delivery that is the combination of one of each of them.

• Select a Delivery Channel, a Business Function and a Service Consumer. They will

remain highlighted. Click on the instance again to deselect it. The selected

components are shown in the bottom panel of this display

Figure 18 – Selecting the elements to create a Business Instance



• Click OK to create a Business Instance which appears in the Business Instance list in

the Summary panel for the business service.

Figure 19 – Business Instance defined in the Summary tab

4.5 Business Instance LevelsAs mentioned before, Business Instances represent the collaboration of up to three components:

• the consumer,

• the channel, and

• the function

Figure 20 – Business Service Levels

Tip You can create multiple Business Instances at once by selecting several

items in each element, an individual Business Instance will be created for

each combination.

You can create new Business Instances at any time as new channels,

functions and consumers are added creating further possible

combinations.

Important In order to be able to monitor any specific combination of channel, function, and consumer, a

Business Instance for that combination must be created here first.



In the previous diagram, at level 0 of an Online Business Service, no delivery components (channels,

functions, or consumers) are selected. At level 1 you have one delivery component selected (a

consumer in our example). At level 2 you have two delivery components selected. At level 3 you have all

three delivery components selected

Monitored Functions may or may not have an impact on the service. For example, if the Applications

Business Instance is down for the B2B interface Channel this doesn’t necessarily mean that our service

is impacted. The Business Instance may still be “up” on another channel.

Note – Impact on a Business Instance only affects that Business Instance. It does not affect any non-related Channels, Functions, Consumers, or Business Instances. Also note that even though we’ve

put OK, when one of the components (Channel, Consumer, Function) or one of the Business Instances is down, the service is not down, however it is impacted, because if you have two channels where you sell your product and suddenly lose one of them, you'll sell half the product. You still are

offering service, so you're not experiencing total business impact, but you have a problem that needs to be urgently assessed

4.6 Configurator - DefinitionThe Definition tab is used to add basic information about the online business service, such as name,

description and display characteristics. Additional pages allow you to define and manage attributes,

calendars, activity indicators and real and simulated user experience metrics.

• Information page - Used to provide basic information about the online business service. See

4.7 Definition Tab - Information Page on page 24 for more information.

Business Instance

Web-Application-

Direct Customer

failure

Web-Assessment-

Direct Customer

failure

Call Center-Application-

Direct Customer

failure

B2B Interface-Application-

Direct Customer

failure

Web-Application-Direct Customer

business impact OK OK OK

Web-Assessment-

Direct CustomerOK business impact OK OK

Call Center-Application-

Direct CustomerOK OK business impact OK

B2B Interface-Application-

Direct CustomerOK OK OK business impact

Web Channel OK OK OK OK

Call Center Channel

OK OK OK OK

Applications OK OK OK OK

Assessment OK OK OK OK

Direct Customer OK OK OK OK

Partner company OK OK OK OK



• Attributes page - Used to define the operating attributes of the online business service. See

4.8 Definition Tab - Attributes Page on page 25 for more information.

• Calendars page - Used to assign and manage calendars to define the periods of activity for

the online business service. See 4.9 Calendars on page 26 for more information.

• Indicators page - Used to define Business Activity indicator metrics for the online business

service. See 4.10 Defining Metrics: Business Activity Indicators on page 27 for more

information.

• Real User Experience page - Used to define Real User Experience metrics for the online

business service. See 4.11 Defining Metrics: Real User Experience Metric on page 35 for more

information.

• Simulated User Experience page - Used to define Simulated User Experience metrics for the

online business service. See 4.12 Defining Metrics: Simulated User Experience on page 37 for

more information.

4.7 Definition Tab - Information PageThis page of the Online Business Service Configurator is used to provide basic information regarding

the service.

Figure 21 – Configurator Definition Tab - Information page

The following fields are available for completion.

• Service Name - Enter the unique name of the online business service to define how it is

identified throughout Alignia.

• Description - Enter a meaningful textual description of the online business service.



• Icon - Select an icon by which the online business service will be represented in any

visualization within Alignia. Use the vertical scroll bar to view further icons if a suitable one is

not initially displayed.

• Business Instance Definitions - If required, enter alternative naming conventions for the

default definitions of Business Consumer, Delivery Channel and Business Function.

Following any changes made to the contents of this page, click Save to confirm and save the changes to

the database.

4.8 Definition Tab - Attributes PageThe Attributes page of the Online Business Service Configurator is used to define the operating

attributes of the online business service.

Figure 22 – Configurator Definition tab - Attributes page

The following attributes can be defined:

• Environment - Use the drop-down menu to specify the environment in which this online

business service is operating

• Criticality - Use the drop-down menu to specify the default level of criticality for this online

business service. This setting reflects the importance of this service to the business. The

possible choice are:

• Critical

• High

• Medium

• Low

• Business Value - This functionality is not available in this release of Alignia Online Business

Services



Add Attributes

Click Add Attributes to be able to define the following additional attributes for this business process,

stage or task.

• Technical Responsible - Add the name, email and phone number details for the person who

is technically responsible for this process.

• Functional Responsible - Add the name, email and phone number details for the person who

is functionally responsible for this process.

• Facility - Add the name, region, sub-region and type of facility in which this business process is

running.


the database.

4.9 CalendarsThe Calendar page of the Online Business Service Configurator is used to set specific calendar options

(run times) for the online business service.

Figure 23 – Configurator Definition tab- Calendars page

The following calendar options can be assigned on this display.

Select the Service Calendar to be associated with this element.

• None - The service is always active, 24/7.

• Select a specific calendar - Select a calendar from the list of defined calendars to apply to

this online business service and indicate the times at which it runs.



Selecting calendars

As soon as the Select a specific calendar option is selected, a drop-down menu of all available

calendars is displayed.

Calendars can be specified for periods of normal and high activity.

• Activity Calendars - From this list, select the calendar that you wish to use for the periods of

normal activity.

• High Activity Calendars - From the list of calendars, select the one that should be used to

cover periods of peak activity.

From this page, you can also edit an existing calendar or create a new calendar directly from this option

if required.

Click Refresh to update the current calendar list with any new calendars you have created.

Additional Calendar Options

• Preparation Time - Specify the time, in minutes, at which monitoring of this business process

begins prior to the process actually starting. This time period acts as an ‘early-warning’ system

and ensures that you catch any problems that are likely to impact the business before they

occur.


the database.

4.10 Defining Metrics: Business Activity IndicatorsService quality is measured using Business Activity Indicators and both Real and Simulated User

Experience metrics (Response Time, Transaction Volume, Errors).

Business Activity Indicators are a parameterized combination of:

• Delivery Channels

• Business Functions

• Business Consumers

Business Activity Indicators are like Business Instances in that they are a combination of these three

elements. You can, if you wish, create a Business Activity Indicator and not specify a channel, function

and/or consumer.

Previous versions of Alignia Online Business Services allowed you to create the Business Activity

indicator first and then apply it to any given level. In this version, you can determine the level at which

you want to apply the Indicator prior to selecting or creating it.

4.10.1 Specifying the level at which the Business Activity Indicator is appliedSetting the Activity Indicator that includes a combination of Business Consumers, Delivery Channels

and Business Functions determines that all these Business Instances are impacted by the selected

indicators and products.

Note Please refer to the SmartConsole User Guide for more information on how to create and

manage Calendars.



However, it maybe that you have an activity indicator that only impacts a single or several components

of the business service, for example, an exclusive portal into your system that is solely used by Brokers.

In these instances, it is possible to select a single, or combination of consumers, channels and functions

to which the activity indicator can be applied.

Click on a single element or combination of elements from the Business Consumers, Delivery Channels

and Business Functions and then create and apply the required Business Activity Indicator.

Once an element is selected, the other elements in the relevant section are removed from view. It is

therefore not possible to create a single Business Activity Indicator for two elements from the same

Business Instance.

Figure 24 – Combination of Business Definitions selected

Creating a Business Activity Indicator metric

To create a Business Activity Indicator:

Step 1. Set the Business Activity Indicator basic properties.

• From the Online Business Services Configurator home page select a Service in the

Services list.

• Select the Definition tab.

• From the listed options, select Indicators.

• Click the Add icon next to Manage Indicators to open the Manage Indicators

window

• From within this window, click the Add icon to create a new Business Activity

Indicator.



Figure 25 – Adding a new Business Activity Indicator

• Enter the name of the new Business Activity Indicator

• Activity Representation:

− Enable the checkbox to define this indicator as representing an instant workload.

For example, the average number of users connected. This was known as an

Indicator in Legacy versions).

− Leave the checkbox blank to define this indicator as number of occurrences

counter. For example, the number of quotes completed in an hour. This was known

as a Counter in Legacy versions).

− Click the tick mark to add this value to the Business Activity Indicators which

are then available for selection.

4.10.2 Managing ProductsProducts represent the business lines or activity in which the business is engaged. For example, an

Insurance Company may have three different product lines for Life, Home and Motor Insurance. You can

set the same Business Activity Indicators for each product or assign different ones, depending on how

the product is processed within your business. For instance, Life Insurance may not have a web

interface due to the complexities involved in selling this product.

To assign products to this business instance, click the Add icon next to Manage Products in the

Products section of the Indicators tab. The Manage Products window is displayed.

Figure 26 – Manage Products

If products already exist and are applicable to this business instance, they can be selected from this

window. Highlight the required products and click OK.



Adding Products

If the required product does not already exist, click the Add icon on this window. You can now enter

the name of the new product that you want to apply to this business instance. Multiple products can be

added at once by using commas to separate the product names.

Click the tick mark to add this value to the Products which are then available for selection.

4.10.3 Selecting the data to be collected and level propagationThe next stage in the process is to specify from which products the data is collected and to what level

the information is propagated.

The following section uses the example of:

• Online Business Service = Quotes

• Business Consumers = Brokers

• Delivery Channel = Call Center

• Business Function = Create Quote

Selecting All Products and propagating the data to the higher levels

In the following example, the Business Activity Indicator is selected as the Number of Quotes and all

available products are shown.

Figure 27 – Example 1 - Number of Quotes - All products

In the Number of Quotes attributes section, select All Products. This indicates that all the products

within this Activity Indicator are important when data is collected. Upon selection, a prompt is displayed

confirming that a new indicator has been created and whether not the collected data should be

propagated to the upper levels.



Figure 28 – Confirmation message

Click Yes to create the Business Activity Indicator for all products for the Number of Quotes. A quick

check in the Business Consumer and Delivery Channel elements show that this Indicator has also been

added at these levels.

Selecting a single product and propagating the data to the higher levels

This example takes a single product from the list, Life, and again propagates the indicator to the upper

levels.

Using the same line up of Brokers, Call Center and Create Quote for the Number Of Quotes Business

Indicator, we now just select Life from the list of available products.

Figure 29 – Example 2 - Number of Quotes - Life

Click Yes to create the Business Activity Indicator for the Life product for the Number of Quotes. A quick

check in the Brokers and Call Center elements show that the Number of Quotes Indicator has also been

added at these levels (see screen shot below).



Figure 30 – Life Product added to Upper Levels

Selecting a single Product and retaining the data at that level

The final example takes another product, Motor, which has a lot less value to the business. In this case,

we are not so worried about the potential impact on our business, although we still want to be notified if

there is a problem. Therefore, we want to keep the data collection at the lower level only.

Using the same line up of Brokers, Call Center and Create Quote for the Number Of Quotes Business

Indicator, we now just select Motor from the list of available products.

When prompted, click No to create the new indicator but choose not to propagate the data to the upper

levels. A quick check shows that Motor has been added to the Business Function lower level. Click on

Create Quote to remove the Business Function view and confirm that it has not been added to the

upper Channel and Consumer levels.



Figure 31 – Example 3 - Motor added at Business Function Level

External URL

The External URL box, available for individual of all products can be used to enter the URL of a third

party tool (if one exists) which can then be used to provide more detail and information which can be

accessed during the analysis of the selected indicator.

4.10.4 Specifying how the Activity Indicator Data is calculatedThe next part of defining the Business Activity indicator is to decide on how the data is calculated.

Figure 32 – Activity Indicator Data Calculation metric

There are three options available:

• Automatically: The underlying business instance activity indicators are added together to

create the calculated data.

• None: No data is displayed for this level

• Specific data collection: A data collector needs to be externally configured at this specific

combination of Consumer - Channel - Function in order for the data to be calculated and

reported for this level.



4.10.5 Displaying the Activity Data - Points of ViewFinally, you must determine how the activity data for the business indicator will be displayed.

Figure 33 – Determining how the activity indicator will be displayed

There are three Points of View (POVs) available for the Business Activity Indicator Counter type chart:

• Instant: the default view displays the evolution of the Business Activity in real time by showing

data for every five minutes

Figure 34 – Instant POV

• Incremental: an Incremental chart displays the progression of your Business Activity Indicator

Counter during the day. For example, at 10 AM you will see the total amount of quotations done

today up until 10 AM, this value will progressively increase and at 10 PM you will see the total

amount of quotations done today up until 10 PM. The clock resets at midnight.

Note Displaying the Activity Data is not required for Workload Activity Indicators as these

represent an average rather than a total. For example, if you had an workload indicator set

for Users Connected, it is not important to know the total number of users that were

connected throughout the day but you need to know the average number that were

connected on an hourly basis.



Figure 35 – Incremental POV

• Trend: requires a time window for it to work, for example if 30 minutes is set as the time

window, it will constantly use the last 30 minutes information to give you a more accurate idea

of whether your business is having issues or not as opposed to using the Instant Point of View

of 5 minutes which may not be a relevant indicator.

Figure 36 – Trend POV

Each of these Points of View can be accessed from within the visualization for the Business Instance.

See 5.1 Viewing the Online Business Services in Dashboards on page 54 for more information

4.11 Defining Metrics: Real User Experience Metric The Real User Experience (RUE) option provides the tools required to define metrics to evaluate Real

User Experience which measure data on real transactions for each user by monitoring the following:

• number of transactions (activity)

• average response time

• number of errors

4.11.1 Creating a Real User Experience metric

To create a RUE:

Step 1. From the Online Business Services Configurator home page select a Service in the

Services list.


• From the listed options, select Real User Experience.



• In the left-hand panel for the Business Service select the Business Consumer,

Delivery Channel and/or Business Function elements to create the Business

Instance to which this Real User Experience applies.

• Click the Add icon next to Manage Transactions to open the Manage

Transactions window

• From within this window, select an existing transaction from those already defined or

click the Add icon to create a new Transaction type.

4.11.2 Managing Transactions

To assign products to this online business service, click the Add icon next to Manage Transactions

in the Real User Experience panel. The Manage Transactions window is displayed.

Figure 37 – Manage Transactions

If transactions already exist and are applicable to this business instance, they can be selected from this

window. Highlight the required transaction and click OK. Only one transaction can be added per

business instance.

Adding Transactions

If the required transaction does not already exist, click the Add icon on this window. You can now

enter the name of the new transaction that you want to apply to this business instance. Multiple

transactions can be added at once by using commas to separate the transaction names.

Click the tick mark to add this value to the Transactions which are then available for selection.

4.11.3 Specifying how the Transaction Data is calculatedThe next part of defining the Real User Experience is to decide on how the transaction data is

calculated.

Note A Business Instance does not have to contain all three elements to be

valid.



Figure 38 – Transaction Data Calculation metric

There are three options available:

• Automatically: The underlying business instance activity indicators are added together to

create the calculated data.

• None: No data is displayed for this level.

• Specific data collection: A data collector needs to be configured at this level in order for the

transaction data to be calculated.

External URL

The External URL box can be used to enter the URL of a third party tool (if one exists) which can then be

used to provide more detail and information for this metric which can be accessed during the analysis of

the Real User Experience metric.

4.12 Defining Metrics: Simulated User ExperienceThe Simulated User Experience (SUE) tab provides the tools required to define metrics to evaluate

Simulated User Experience Transactions performed by robot script to provide:

• Simulated Transaction Availability

• Simulated Transaction Response TIme

A simulated user experience also makes use of different locations to ensure that integrity is maintained

across the network regardless of the location of the point of entry into the online business service. See

4.12.1 Managing Locations on page 38 for more information

Creating a Simulated User Experience metric

To create a SUE:

Step 1. From the Online Business Services Configurator home page select a Service in the

Services list.


• From the listed options, select Simulated User Experience.

• In the left-hand panel for the Business Service select the Business Consumer,

Delivery Channel and/or Business Function elements to create the Business

Instance to which this Simulated User Experience applies.

Note A Business Instance does not have to contain all three elements to be

valid.



• Click the Add icon next to Manage Transactions to open the Manage

Transactions window

− From within this window, select an existing transaction from those already defined

or click the Add icon to create a new Transaction type. See 4.11.2 Managing

Transactions on page 36 for more information

Step 2. Create a Simulated User Experience Transaction Definition.

• In the Simulated User Experience Transaction Definition panel, select the Business

Consumer, Delivery Channel and Business Function to define the Business Instance

for this Simulated User Experience.

4.12.1 Managing LocationsSimulated User Experiences can be defined for multiple locations across your business enterprise. This

provides a localized view as an application may be unavailable at a regional office but may be available

at all other locations in the business. By being able to view this information at a local level means that

you are aware of any potential issues that might have otherwise been invisible to the business.

To assign locations to this business instance, click the Add icon next to Manage Locations in the

Locations section of the main panel. The Manage Products window is displayed.

Figure 40 – Manage Locations

Note A Business Instance must be defined for a specific Channel, Function

and Consumer combination before you can use that same combination to

define a Simulated User Experience.

If the Business Instance combination you wish to use has not been

created you will receive the following message:

Figure 39 – Information message warning that you cannot create the transaction

See section - The Summary tab of the Online Business Service

Configurator displays all of the business instances that have been

defined for the selected online service. From this display you can: -

Step 5 on page 21 for further information.



If locations already exist and are applicable to this business instance, they can be selected from this

window. Highlight the required location and click OK.

Adding Locations

If the required location does not already exist, click the Add icon on this window. You can now enter

the name of the new location that you want to apply to this business instance. Multiple locations can be

added at once by using commas to separate the location names.

Figure 41 – Add Locations

Click the tick mark to add this value to the Locations which are then available for selection.

You can now assign a single, or multiple locations, to this business instance and determine if the selection should be propagated to the upper levels.

See 4.10.3 Selecting the data to be collected and level propagation on page 30 for more information.

4.13 Configurator - RulesRules are defined to check that a Business Service is performing properly. The rules monitor the

underlying infrastructure, activity and check the running of the service through both the real and

simulated user experience.

Rules can be defined at Business Service Level, individually at Business Consumer, Delivery Channel

or Business Function Level or for any Business Instance combining a mixture of these elements.

Different rules are available depending on the level and the element for which they are being defined.

INFRASTRUCTURE Rules

The rules defined in this category ensure that the dependencies, both Service and IT related that

support this service are running properly.

• Service Dependencies: Checks that another service, on which this service relies, is working

properly.

• IT Dependencies: Checks that the IT Infrastructure (Business and Standalone applications)

supporting a service element are working properly.

ACTIVITY

The rules defined in this category ensure that items are flowing through the service as expected. These

rules can be configured at service level or at business consumers level for services specific to that

group.

• No activity: Checks if there is a minimum of activity in the service element.



• Activity Limit: Checks if the activity is at the capacity limit for this service element.

USER EXPERIENCE

The rules defined in this category ensure that the service elements within the real and, if required, the

simulated, user experience mechanisms are running without errors.

• High Response Time: Checks if the service element response time is within expected

thresholds.

• No Activity: Checks if there is a minimum of activity in the service element.

• Activity Limit: Checks if the activity is at the capacity limit for this service element.

• Errors: Checks that the number of errors for this service element are within expected

thresholds

• %Errors: Checks that the percentage of errors for this service element are within expected

thresholds.

4.13.1 Adding a RuleTo begin adding rules to your business service or individual elements or business definitions you must

first determine the selection to which the rule will apply.

From the left-hand navigation panel, select either the top level Business Service, individual Business

Consumer, Delivery Channel or Business Function or combination of the three elements to make a

Business Instance. Ideally, Rules should follow the Definitions that you have previously created.

Once the selection has been made, click the Rules tab in the main panel of the configuration display.

Figure 42 – Rules tab

The current rules defined for the elements of the Business Service selection are displayed. If this is the

first time that rules are being configured for this selection, ‘No rules are defined’ is displayed.

Figure 43 – No Rules Defined for current selection

Tip It is recommended that the rules are configured at the highest possible level. If possible, at

least at service or business consumer level to avoid micro-management (if all the elements

in a channel or business function are using the same infrastructure, they can share the same

rule).



Click the Add icon in the Rules header to add a rule to the selection.

Figure 44 – Rules available for selection

The rules available for selection depend on the level at which the rule is being created.

4.13.2 Infrastructure Types of RuleThe following infrastructure rules are available when creating rules for business services and their

elements.

IT Dependencies Rules

IT Dependency rules check that the IT Infrastructure (Business and Standalone applications) supporting

a business service, element or business definition are working as expected.

Every business service that can be monitored is based on IT systems and applications that perform

actions to maintain the service. These rules allows the configuration of the IT Dependencies that may

impact the service if they are not working.

The rule checks the status of the selected dependencies (as previously defined in Alignia Online

Business Applications) and sets the IT Dependencies status as the health of the dependency with the

lowest health status.

Any issues discovered with IT dependencies (Availability and Performance) only impact the service

during its hours of operation (as defined by the Calendars).

Add a rule as previously described in section 4.13.1 Adding a Rule on page 40 and from the available

rules, select IT Dependencies.

You can now search for and select the IT Dependencies that have been defined in Business

Applications that may affect this service if they are not working.



Figure 45 – IT Dependencies at Business Service Level

Click the magnifying glass icon to search for all IT dependencies that have already been defined with

Alignia Business Applications. Alternatively, if you know which IT dependency you require, type the

name in the search box then click the magnifying glass icon.

A list of all matching IT dependencies are now displayed.

Figure 46 – Retrieved IT Dependencies

Click Add next to the IT dependency which you want to add to the rule.

With the IT dependency open, you can now select the individual elements on which your business

instance relies. If the selected IT Dependency has elements defined within it, you can select which of

those elements is critical to your service. Multiple elements can be added at this point if they are all

critical to the service. Alternatively, leave the check boxes unchecked to select the actual dependency in

its entirety.

IT Dependencies that have defined elements within can be edited at a later point in time should the initial

configuration prove incorrect.

Note Please see the Alignia Business Applications User Guide for more information on creating

and using IT Dependencies.



Figure 47 – Select Dependency Elements

Once the elements of the IT dependency have been selected, click OK to confirm and save the

configuration to this rule.

Click Save to save this rule to the Online Business Service, element or selected business instance.

Service Dependencies Rules

Service Dependency rules check that the other services in your enterprise on which this service, or

business instance relies, are working as expected. For example, a Quotations service may require an

external credit checking service to be available and the Policy Lines service to be running.

Business Services must have already been created in Online Business Services to be available as a

Service Dependency in Rules.

Service Dependency rules are created and implemented in the same way as IT dependency rules.

Please see IT Dependencies Rules on page 41 for more information.

4.13.3 Activity Types of RuleThe following activity rules are available when setting service rules within a Business Service.

No Activity Rule

Checks if there is a minimum of activity in the service element by comparing the service activity in the

last # minutes or hours with a defined threshold.

Most of the issues in a service can be associated with infrastructure problems but sometimes the only

way to detect if something is wrong is to check the service activity indicators. Normally, the result of this

rule check will impact the business, rather than just being a technical rule.

Note At least one indicator must be set against the selected Business Service in order to define

activity rules against the service.

Activity rules can only be set at the Business Service level.



Add the rule as described in the section 4.13.1 Adding a Rule on page 40. When prompted, select the

No Activity rule. A list of Indicators for this business service are displayed. Click the Indicator against

which you want to apply this rule.

Figure 48 – Indicator filter

Once the Indicator has been selected you can then select the Products of which this indicator is

comprised. You can select All Products to check activity across all products for this indicator or you can

select individual products. This might be ones that are particularly important to your business or ones in

which you know problems may arise.

Figure 49 – Product Lines for the selected Indicator

Select the Products against which you want to apply the No Activity Rule. Click OK.

You are now prompted to complete the following fields to define how the rule is controlled.

• Description: Enter a textual description of what this rule is actually monitoring.

• Criticalness: Set the level of criticality for this rule.

• Critical - Issues caught by this rule are considered to be critical to the business

• Warning - Issues caught by this rule just provide a warning that something is wrong

• Does this rule affect availability?: Click the checkbox to specify that this rule affects

availability of the service, i.e. if the number of transactions being executed within the specified

time period falls below defined thresholds, the service is impacted as a result.

• Does this rule affect business?: Select the impact of the issues found by this rule on the

business.

• No, this is just a technical rule - Issues found by this rule do not directly impact

other business activity

• Yes, it affects business too - Issues found by this rule have a negative impact on

the business.

• Settings:

• During the last # time period...at least how many items should be processed?:

Select the time period and measurement (minutes or hours) over which the count of

items should occur. There are different settings to take account of the periods of high

activity (using the High Activity Calendar) and normal time periods (using the Activity

Calendar).



Move the colored slider controls to specify the when the number of items processed is defined to be in

OK, Minor, Warning and Critical Status during periods of High Activity (as defined by the High Activity

Calendar).

The further the number of items processed falls beneath the defined thresholds the greater the severity

status level.

Figure 50 – Elements processed slider control

Repeat the above process for the periods of normal activity (as defined by the Activity Calendar).

Advanced Settings

Click Advanced Settings to display further options for this rule.

• Active data latency: Specify the period of time (in minutes) to cover the time from the item

actually being processed to the activity being recorded in the system.

Click Save to save this rule to the selected Online Business Service.

Activity Limit Rule

Checks if the process element activity is as expected by comparing the items processed with a defined

threshold taken at a specific instant.

This rule uses the same settings as the No Activity Rule on page 43 with the exception of:

• At specified time what is the maximum number of elements that can be processed?:

Specify an exact time, within 30 minute tolerance periods at which the maximum number of

elements that can be processed. Move the colored slider controls to specify the number of

elements that should have been processed in the specified time to register OK, Minor, Warning

and Critical Status indicators. In the instance below, anything higher than 100 elements being

processed in a 30 minute interval causing a change of severity from OK to Minor. The higher

the number, the more critical the issue.

Figure 51 – Maximum umber of elements that can be processed slider control



4.13.4 User Experience Types of RuleUser experience rules can be set to trigger notifications if defined thresholds for transactions in either

the real or simulated user experiences are exceeded.

All of the User Experience Rules are added using the instructions found in 4.13.1 Adding a Rule on

page 40

The difference between Real and Simulated User Experience rules

Real User Experience rules allow you to apply the rule directly at the business service top level,

whereas for Simulated User Experience rules, you can specify Locations to which the simulated user

experience applies.

User Experience Rules that define activity levels can only be specified for Real User Experiences.

High Response Time Rule

The High Response Time rule is designed to inform you if there is a higher than expected response time

from the transaction (or location for simulated user experiences).

When adding the rule, select whether you want this to apply to a Real or Simulated User Experience.

If you have selected the Simulated User Experience, select All Locations (or a Specific Location if one

has been defined) and click OK.

You are now prompted to complete the following fields to define how the rule is controlled.






availability of the service, i.e. if the response time is found to be breaking acceptable

thresholds, the service is impacted as a result.


business.




the business.

• Settings:

• During the last # time period...what is the response time tolerated for this

transaction?: Select the time period and measurement (minutes or hours) over

which the count of items should occur using the Activity Calendar).

Move the colored slider controls to specify the when the response time in seconds is defined to be in

OK, Minor, Warning and Critical Status.

Note User Experience rules can only be set at the Business Service level.



In the example shown below, any response time within the last 30 minutes that was under 6 seconds

was deemed as acceptable. Response times of more than 10 seconds are deemed critical. The longer

the response time the greater the severity status level.

Figure 52 – Response Time slider control

Advanced Settings





No Activity Rule

This type of rule can only be applied to Real User Experiences and uses the same fields as the No

Activity - Activity Type rule. Please see No Activity Rule on page 43 for more information.

Activity Limit Rule

This type of rule can only be applied to Real User Experiences and uses the same fields as the Activity

Limit Activity Type rule. Please see Activity Limit Rule on page 45 for more information.

Errors Rule

Checks if the number of errors in the service is acceptable by comparing the number of errors raised

during a specified time period is within a defined threshold.






availability of the service, i.e. if the number of errors is found to be breaking acceptable

thresholds, the service is impacted as a result.




business.




the business.

• Settings:

• During the last # time period...how many errors are expected to be found?:


items should occur using the Activity Calendar).

Move the colored slider controls to specify the number of errors found in this service to be in OK, Minor,

Warning and Critical Status during periods of High Activity (as defined by the High Activity Calendar).

In the example shown below, any less than 100 errors recorded in the last 30 minutes is deemed as

acceptable. More than 300 errors in the same time period is deemed critical. The higher the number of

errors the greater the severity status level.

Figure 53 – Error tolerance slider control


Advanced Settings





%Errors Rule

This works in the same way as the Errors rule except that the definition compares the expected errors

against the transaction ratio and expresses it as a percentage.

Complete the rule using the same fields used as using an Errors Rule on page 47.

• Settings:

• During the last # time period...what is the expected errors/transaction ratio?:


items should occur using the Activity Calendar).



Move the colored slider controls to specify the percentage of errors against the number of transactions

found in this service to be in OK, Minor, Warning and Critical Status during periods of High Activity (as

defined by the High Activity Calendar).

In the example shown below, any less than 40% errors recorded against all of the transactions

completed in the last 30 minutes is deemed as acceptable. More than 80% errors in the same time

period is deemed critical. The higher the percentage of errors against the number of completed

transactions the greater the severity status level.

Figure 54 – Error tolerance slider control


Advanced Settings





4.14 Configurator - NotificationsNotifications can be configured for any of the following Online Business Service elements:

• Online Service

• External Services

• IT Services

• Business Consumers

• Delivery Channels

Note Notifications cannot be defined for an individual business function or business instances (a

combination of Business Consumers and Delivery Channel).



4.14.1 Notifications at Service, Consumer and Channel LevelYou can configure notifications at the top level in case any of your services (online, online internal and

external), consumers or delivery channels change their criticality level.

To set the notification each of these levels:

Step 1. With the required Business Service selected from the Configurator Home page, select

the Notifications tab.

Step 2. For Consumers and Delivery Channels only: Select either the Business Consumer

or Delivery Channel for which the new notification will be created.

Figure 55 – Top Level Online Services

Step 3. At the top of the main panel, use the slider to enable Notifications for the selected

service, consumer or channel. Once enabled, the slider bar is shown in green. Any

change in criticality level will generate a notification.

Figure 56 – Top level Notifications enabled

4.14.2 Notifications for Business IssuesIf you enable the notifications for Business Issues setting, any rule that has been marked as affecting

business will generate a business issue notification when the rule status equals critical. Use the slider

control to enable this setting.



Figure 57 – Business Issues

When using notifications with business issues, you must supply at least one recipient email address to

which the notification is sent in the event of a problem. This is usually the person or person(s) who have

responsibility for the part of the service where the issue has arisen.

Enter the email addresses of the recipient for any issues that arise as part of this business service.

Multiple email addresses can be entered at once provided they are separated by a comma.

Figure 58 – Business Issues Email Notification added

Business Issues Advanced Settings - Change Notification Action

Advanced Settings allow you to change the notification action. Click on the Change notification action

link next to Advanced Settings to open the Change Notification Action and Trigger dialog.

Figure 59 – Advanced Settings - Change Notification Action

The default notification action is for OSKM - Precycle. From the drop-down choice menu select an

alternative action on which to be notified.



Figure 60 – Change Notification action and Trigger dialog

To change the notification action and trigger, click the Advanced Settings: Change notifications action

and trigger link. This opens SmartConsole at the Manage Alarms and Action Sets menu option,

allowing you to configure existing or add new options. See the Alignia SmartConsole user

documentation for more information on how to use this feature.

Once complete, click Apply to confirm and save the changes.

Back on the Notifications display, click Save to apply these Notifications.

4.14.3 Notifications for All IssuesTo be notified for all issues affecting this business service, enable the All Issues notification setting. Any

rule (technical or business) that impacts this element will generate a notification. As with Business Issue

notifications, enter the email address(es) of any recipients that should be advised on any issues with this

service.

All Issues - Advanced Settings

Advanced Settings allow you to change the notification action. Click on the Change notification action

and trigger link next to Advanced Settings to open the Change Notification Action and Trigger dialog.

Figure 61 – Change Notification Action and Trigger (Full) dialog

This allows you to set the precise details of when different elements cause notifications to be used and

at which level of criticality throughout the process. Notification Action and Trigger definitions can be

changed for:

• All - All issues are notifiable when there is s change in health status



• IT Availability - Notifications are raised on a change of IT Availability health status

• IT Performance - Notifications are raised on a change of IT Performance health status

• User Experience - Notifications are raised on a change of User Experience health status

• Activity - Notifications are raised on a change of Activity health status

• IT Errors - Notifications are raised on a change of IT Errors health status

To change the default settings, click once in the criticality column against the required element to set the

notification to Notify when entering this health. Click again to change to Notify only when leaving

this health. Again to change to Always Notify and finally click again to change to Never Notify.

Enable the When the root causes change option to be able to send notifications when the root causes

of the problem have changed even though the health of the process remains the same. For example,

leaving this box unchecked, if you have an issue caused by high CPU usage and subsequently the

memory usage also reaches a critical level you will only receive one notification for the original CPU

issue. With this box checked, you will receive two notifications, one of the original CPu issue and

another for the subsequent memory problem. This is because the health status has not changed but the

root cause of the problem is different.

In the Run this custom action instead parameter, the default notification action is for Critical Changes

to Business. From the drop-down choice menu select an alternative action on which to be notified.

To change the notification action and trigger, click the Advanced Settings: Change notifications action

and trigger link. This opens SmartConsole at the Manage Alarms and Action Sets menu option,

allowing you to configure existing or add new options. See the Alignia SmartConsole user

documentation for more information on how to use this feature.

Once complete, click OK to confirm and save the Notification changes.


Viewing the Online Business Services Dashboards

Chapter 55 Viewing the Online Business Services Dashboards

5.1 Viewing the Online Business Services in DashboardsOnce all of the Business Instance metrics and activity indicators have been defined for a business

service, it is possible to access the visualization of the different aspects of the service, the issues

affecting it and any dependencies on which it relies.

Figure 62 – Business Service Visualization Overview

5.1.1 Aspects of the main displayThe following aspects of the main visualization display are ever-present when switching between tab

views.



Time Period bar

The time period bar at the top of the display is used to display the timeline of the currently selected time

period. This defaults to the last 60 minutes.

Figure 63 – Time period selection bar

The color of the bar changes to reflect to the level of criticality reached over the specified time period.

The available periods of time that can be selected, by clicking the arrow and selecting from the drop-

down menu are as follows:

• Last 60 minutes - Displays data for the last 60 minutes from the current time

• Last 12 hours - Displays data for the last 12 hours from the current time

• Today (Activity Calendar) - Displays data for today according to the period of activity from the

activity calendar

• Today - Displays data for today as beginning at midnight

• Last 24 hours - Displays data for the last 24 hours from the current time

• Yesterday (Activity Calendar) - Displays yesterday’s data according to the period of activity

from the presiding activity calendar

• Yesterday - Displays yesterday’s data for a 24 hour period beginning and ending at midnight

• This Week - Displays data for the past week from the defined week start day to the current day

• Past 7 days - Displays data for the past 7 days from today’s date

• Past Week - Displays data for the calendar week prior to the current week

• This Month - Displays data for the current month from the 1st to the current date

• Last 30 Days - Displays data for the last 30 days from today’s date

• Past Month - Displays data for the calendar month prior to the current month

• This Quarter - Displays data for the last calendar quarter from today’s date

• Past Quarter - Displays data for the previous quarter prior to the current quarter

• Last 6 Months - Displays data for the last 6 months from today’s date

• Last 12 Months - Displays data for the last 12 month’s from today’s date

• Custom - Define your own custom time period

Levels Selection

By default, the visualization is set at the top level of the business service. However, it is possible to drill

down into the lower levels to obtain more specific data about a Business Consumer, Delivery Channel or

Function or combination of these elements.



Figure 64 – Business Service - Business Instance selection

Click on any individual element to display just the overview and analysis data for that element or click on

an individual element from Business Consumers, Delivery Channel an Business Function to view the

data for the selected combination. For example, using the screen shot above, you could select Brokers -

Call Center - Create Policy to view the data for all Quotes via Brokers through the Call Center that were

to create a policy. Alternatively, select just Call Center and Create Quote to see the data for all Quotes,

regardless of Business Consumer identity, that passed through the Call Center and created a quote.

To return to the original view, click on the ‘x’ beside the selected element name to remove it from the

current selection.

Click to toggle between hiding and showing this panel on the main display.

5.2 Overview tabThe graphical display within the overview tab shows three main graphical displayed:

• The Elements Status graphic shows the statuses of the elements within the Business Service

at the selected level during the chosen time period.

• The Issues Summary shows the current Business and General Issues that are currently

affecting this Business Service level.

• The Elements Summary shows the number and details of any Business Element that are

currently being affected by the status of this Business Service or those elements that depend

on this asset.



Elements Status

The Element status over the specified time period is displayed as the main graphic in the Overview tab.

This shows:

• The icon assigned to the Business Service, displayed in the color of the current level of

criticality affecting this service.

• The Name and Type of Business Service and the current environment in which it is operating.

• The status at any given point in the selected time frame of each of the following elements:

− IT Availability

− IT Performance

− User Experience

− Activity

− IT Errors

Position the mouse pointer over any of the status bars in this panel to obtain a specific date and time

reference for when the status was in force.

Issues Summary

The issues statuses panel shows both the open Business and General issues that are currently affecting

this service.



Click on any of the listed summaries to open the full description of the issue within the Issue tab of this

display. See 5.4 Issues tab on page 61 for more information.

The final area of the Overview tab shows the relationship between this asset and any other defined

business elements.

• Business Elements affected by this asset - Displays the names of any business elements

that is directly affected by any issues with this asset.

• Business Elements that depend on this asset - Displays the name of any business elements

that have a direct dependency on the performance of this asset.

Click on any asset listed in either of these two panels to open the selected asset in a new tab of Online

Business Services so further analysis can be undertaken.

5.3 Analysis tabClick the Analysis tab to display an analytical view of the Business Service. The default is a summary of

the Real User Experience, Simulated User Experience and Business Activity Indicators of the business

Service over the specified time period.



Move the mouse pointer across any of the displayed graphs to view timeline snapshots of exactly what

was happening with the service at any given time point.

5.3.1 Available Analysis viewsWhen viewing business service data in the Analysis tab, there are four options that can be used to

display an alternative view of the data. These options are accessed from the menu ribbon of the

Analysis tab.

Analysis view

Click the magnifying glass icon to open a detailed analysis of the summary view. This provides

detailed analytical information for each of the Real User and Simulated User Experiences and Business

Activity Indicators. The screen shot below shows the extended view of the Real User Experience.



Metrics Drill-down view

The metrics drill-down view, accessed by clicking from the menu ribbon, provides a drill-down

view of every combination of Business Consumer - Delivery Channel - Business Function beneath the

Business Service. This view can be amended by selecting a different combination of Consumer-

Channel-Function or by omitting one or more elements from the selection. See Filtering by Business

Instance on page 61 for more information.

Compact view-mode

Select the Compact view mode to display the same information in panel format rather than shelf

format as shown in the screen shot below.

Metrics Analysis

Click the icon to open another Browser tab from where a more detailed analysis of the metrics on

the Business Service can be performed.

5.3.2 Filtering resultsTo limit the display to the specific result, a range of filtering options can be deployed. From the menu

ribbon of the Analysis tab, the following options are available:

Option Result

Metrics SimulatedUse the drop-down menu to remove or add real and simulated user experiences and business activity indicators from the metrics

Indicator Filters the metrics display by the selected indicator



Filtering by Business Instance

The initial display is by Business Service. The left-hand panel of the Analysis tab shows all of the

Business Consumers - Delivery Channels and Business Functions that are defined for this service.

Click on any single, or combination of business instance to display just the metric analysis for the

chosen element.

5.4 Issues tabThe Issues tab provides a view of all the outstanding and sorted issues affecting the asset that was

selected by clicking the Smartcard in the Alignia for Online Business Services Smartcard panel. The

default view is the Asset Overview. Click the Issues tab to view detailed issue analysis of the selected

asset.

Figure 65 – Alignia for Business Applications - Issues tab

This opens the Issues display for the selected asset.

Figure 66 – Online Business Services - Asset Issues display

Transaction Filters the display by the selected transaction type

Product Filters the metrics display by the selected product

Location Filters the metrics display by the selected location

Option Result



From this display you can view, for the selected time period:

• A summary of all issues currently outstanding

• General issues by criticality level

• Issues that have been sorted

You can also reset the criticality level by closing issues and providing the reason as to why the issue is

no longer a problem.

The default view for this display shows the issues that are outstanding against this asset for the last 60

minutes. You can change the time period for this display as explained in 5.1 Changing the Time Period

on page 34.

The following Information available for each issue (whether outstanding or resolved):

• Start - Displays the time at which the issue was raised and length of time for which the issue

has been outstanding.

• End - For resolved issues, this displays the time and date at which the issue was sorted.

• Criticalness Change Reason - Displays the reason why the issue was resolved

• Location - Displays the name of the location that is causing the issue on this asset. This might

not necessarily the same as the asset due to dependencies. Click the location name to be

taken to the Overview page for the listed asset.

The following views can be chosen from this display:

• All Issues - Displays any issue that has affected this asset in the given time period. This is the

default setting when the Issues tab is opened.

• General Issues - Classifies all the issues affecting this asset in the given time period into

specific areas such as IT Availability or IT Performance. This allows you to see at-a-glance

which areas are giving the most cause for concern.

• Sorted Issues - Select this option to display a list of all the issues affecting this asset that have

been resolved during the given time period. If nothing is displayed as expected, amend the

time period accordingly.

5.4.1 Reset CriticalityWhen an issue has been resolved and you no longer want it to appear in the issues list, you can reset

the criticality.

Click the Reset Criticality icon of the issue that you want to resolve. You are now prompted to enter

the reason for the reset.

Figure 67 – Reset Criticalness window



Once the reason for the criticalness reset has been entered click OK.

The issue is no longer listed unless the Sorted Issues option is selected.

5.5 Dependencies tabThe Dependencies tab shows the dependencies on which this business process runs and their current

status level. Click on a dependency in order to drill-down into the root cause analysis for the selected

item.

Figure 68 – Online Business Services - Dependencies tab

The default view is to display all the dependencies for the selected business service. This view can be

amended in any of the following ways:

From the left hand pane of this display click any of the individual elements to display just the

dependencies for the selected element. See Group by... (below).

Group by...

Click the Group by button in the menu ribbon to reveal the Group By Options panel.

Click on an group element in the Available list to add it to the Selected list.

Optionally, click on further group elements to add them to the Selected list, Dependency smartcards will

be grouped by the top element and then grouped again by the following elements. Group elements in

the Selected list can be rearranged using the arrange buttons to move them up or down in the list, or

removed from the list by clicking on the delete ‘x’.

A Group By column is added to the Smartcard panel containing the groups that have been created. Click

on a group in the column to limit the Smartcards displayed to only that group, and click All to display all

groups.



Order by

Click the Order by button in the menu ribbon to reveal the Order By Options panel.

Click on an ordering element in the Available list to add it to the Selected list.

Optionally, click on further ordering elements to add them to the Selected list, Dependency smartcards

will be ordered by the top element and then ordered again by the following elements.

Ordering elements in the Selected list can be rearranged using the arrange buttons to move them up or

down in the list, or removed from the list by clicking on the delete ‘x’ .

Dependency smartcards are re-ordered in the Smartcard panel according to the selections made.


Appendix A : ThinkServer ThinAgents

Appendix AAppendix A: ThinkServer ThinAgents

Several VISUAL Message Center ThinkServer ThinAgents are included with Alignia for Online Business

Services in order to monitor the configured services and send messages to SmartConsole. Their

purpose is described below.

A.1 KM Online Services - AlertsThis monitor is responsible for triggering SmartConsole alarms according to the thresholds that you

have defined for a service. It should stay running all the time.

Figure 1 – The KM Online Services - Alerts monitor showing messages for Activity, Number of errors, and Response time



A.2 KM Online Services - DEMO - Generate Service History - #SERVICE#This is a monitor template for testing/demo purposes. It creates random historical data and has a long

refresh time. It can be multiple copied, substituting #SERVICE# for the name of a service.

Figure 2 – Use multiple copy to generate monitors for testing/demo purposes, replacing #SERVICE# with the exact names of services created in the Online Services Designer

Figure 3 – A copy of the KM Online Services - DEMO - Generate Service History - #SERVICE# monitor generating random historical data for the Consumer Loans service

A.3 KM Online Services - SmartConsole AutoprovisioningThis monitor is responsible for creating the SmartConsole model.

When this monitor is refreshed it will check that the SmartConsole model matches the services created

and enabled in the Online Services Designer. It will detect any new service and update SmartConsole,

accordingly.



Figure 4 – KM Online Services - SmartConsole Autoprovisioning messages

A.4 KM Online Services - DEMO - Generate Real-time Service metrics - #SERVICE#This is a monitor template for testing/demo purposes. It creates random real-time data. It can be multiple

copied, substituting #SERVICE# for the name of a service.

Figure 5 – Use multiple copy to generate monitors for testing/demo purposes, replacing #SERVICE# with the exact names of services created in the Online Services Designer

Important The KM Online Services - SmartConsole Autoprovisioning monitor does not delete services

from the Business Network in SmartConsole when they have been deleted or disabled in the

Online Services Designer.

If you wish to delete any service from SmartConsole this must be done manually.

Please note also that if a service is renamed in the Online Services Designer, the existing

service in SmartConsole will not be updated with the new name when the monitor is

refreshed, rather a new version will be created, therefore the old version should be deleted

manually (see section 10.2 - Deleting an Online Service on page 117).



Figure 6 – A copy of the KM Online Services - DEMO - Generate Real-time Service metrics - #SERVICE# monitor generating random real-time data for the Consumer Loans service

A.5 KM Online Services - Service Control Point Overview Monitor (This Month)This monitor calculates monthly SLA data for Service Control Points.

Figure 7 – The KM Online Services - Service Control Point Overview Monitor (This Month) monitor collects data for Service Control Points



A.6 KM Online Services - Service Control Point Overview Monitor (Today)This monitor calculates daily SLA data for Service Control Points.

A.7 KM Online Services - Service Control Point Overview Monitor (Last 60 Minutes)This monitor calculates hourly SLA data for Service Control Points.


Appendix B : SmartConsole Business Network

Appendix BAppendix B: SmartConsole Business Network

Alignia for Online Business Services, in VISUAL Message Center SmartConsole, is comprised of nine

distinct sections. In this chapter we will explain the purpose of each of these sections and how to

configure the sections that require configuration.

Figure 8 – Online Business Services in the SmartConsole

Configuration and the Service Model

The first four sections of the Alignia for Online Business Services Service Model require configuration,

while the last four sections require no configuration. The table below provides a brief summary of

configurator functions for the service model, per folder:

Note The Online Services IT Dependencies folder is discussed in section - Data collection in

VISUAL Message Center (ThinkServer 1.6) uses a Python API for data collection. This will

be replaced by actual ThinkServer monitors in the next release of ThinkServer. on page 51.

The Calendars folder is discussed in Chapter 9 - Using Activity Calendars on page 110.

Folder Configuration Required

1. Online Services IT Dependencies

IT dependencies (see section - Data collection in VISUAL Message Center (ThinkServer 1.6) uses a Python API for data collection. This will be replaced by actual ThinkServer monitors in the next release of Think-Server. on page 51)

2. IT Servicesassigning calendars (see Chapter 9 - Using Activity Cal-endars on page 110)

3. External Servicesassigning calendars (see Chapter 9 - Using Activity Cal-endars on page 110)



B.1 IT ServicesWhen a new IT service is created in the Online Services Designer it will be available but will not appear

in the SmartConsole IT Services folder until the KM Online Services - SmartConsole Autoprovisioning

ThinAgent has been refreshed in ThinkServer. For more information regarding this ThinAgent please

see Appendix A: ThinkServer ThinAgents on page 129.

Each IT service that you add has the following SmartConsole structure within the 2. IT Services folder:

• Activity Calendar: calendars that apply to the IT service are copied to here (see Chapter 9 -

Using Activity Calendars on page 110)

• IT Dependencies: the IT components that the IT service depends on are copied to here (see

section - Data collection in VISUAL Message Center (ThinkServer 1.6) uses a Python API for

data collection. This will be replaced by actual ThinkServer monitors in the next release of

ThinkServer. on page 51)

Figure 9 – There is an Activity Calendar business node as well as an IT dependencies node for each IT Service we have defined

4. Online Servicesassigning calendars (see Chapter 9 - Using Activity Cal-endars on page 110)

5. Services Catalog none

6. Online Services KM notifications

none

8. Calendarsnone (see Chapter 9 - Using Activity Calendars on page 110)

99. KM Templates none

Folder Configuration Required

Important The KM Online Services - SmartConsole Autoprovisioning monitor does not delete services

from the Business Network in SmartConsole when they have been deleted or disabled in the

Online Services Designer.

If you wish to delete any service from SmartConsole this must be done manually.

Please note also that if a service is renamed in the Online Services Designer, the existing

service in SmartConsole will not be updated with the new name when the monitor is

refreshed, rather a new version will be created, therefore the old version should be deleted

manually (see section 10.2 - Deleting an Online Service on page 117).



The IT Dependencies node is a link to the IT Dependencies folder for that service within the folder 1. Online Services IT Dependencies.

Figure 10 – Double-clicking the IT Dependencies node (underlined) in the main 2. IT Services folder causes the IT Dependencies folder to be highlighted above

B.2 External ServicesWhen a new External service is created in the Online Services Designer it will be available but will not

appear in the SmartConsole External Services folder until the KM Online Services - SmartConsole

Autoprovisioning ThinAgent has been refreshed in ThinkServer. For more information regarding this

ThinAgent please see Appendix A: ThinkServer ThinAgents on page 129.

The 3. External Services folder has the following structure for each external service that is defined:

• Activity Calendar: the calendars that apply to the external service are copied to here (see

Chapter 9 - Using Activity Calendars on page 110)

• IT Dependencies: the IT components that the external service depends on are copied to here

(see section - Data collection in VISUAL Message Center (ThinkServer 1.6) uses a Python API

for data collection. This will be replaced by actual ThinkServer monitors in the next release of

ThinkServer. on page 51)

• KPIs: all of the Business Activity Indicators you define for your external service appear in this

folder (once they have thresholds) (see section 7.1.1 - Creating a KPI on page 74)

• User Experience

− Real User Experience: all the real user experience transactions that you define for your

external service appear in this folder with three Business Views—activity, errors/timeouts,

and response time (see section 7.2.1 - Create a Real User Experience Transaction on

page 77

− Simulated User Experience: all the simulated user experience transactions that you

define for your external service appear in this folder with two Business Views—availability

and response time (see section 7.3.1 - Create a Simulated User Experience Transaction on

page 81)



Figure 11 – Each External Service that you create will have this structure here in the 03. External Services folder

The IT Dependencies node is a link to the IT Dependencies folder for that service within the folder 1. Online Services IT Dependencies.

Figure 12 – The IT Dependencies node (underlined) is a link to the IT Dependencies folder in the 1. Online Services IT Dependencies folder

B.3 Online ServicesWhen a new Online service is created in the Online Services Designer it will be available but will not

appear in the SmartConsole Online Services folder until the KM Online Services - SmartConsole

Autoprovisioning ThinAgent has been refreshed in ThinkServer. For more information regarding this

ThinAgent please see Appendix A: ThinkServer ThinAgents on page 129.

For each online service that you define it will have the following SmartConsole structure:

• Activity Calendar: the calendars that apply to the online service are copied to here (see

Chapter 9 - Using Activity Calendars on page 110)

• Monitored Components

− IT Dependencies: this is a link to the IT Dependencies folder within the folder 1. Online Services IT Dependencies

− KPIs: all of the Business Activity Indicators you define for your online service appear in this

folder (once they have thresholds) (see section B.6.2 - Business Activity Indicators in

SmartConsole on page 79)

− User Experience



• Real User Experience: all the real user experience transactions that you define for

your online service appear in this folder with three Business Views—activity, errors/

timeouts, and response time (see section 3.6 - Defining Metrics: Real User

Experience Metric on page 38)

• Simulated User Experience: all the simulated user experience transactions that you

define for your online service appear in this folder with two Business Views—

availability and response time (see section 3.7 - Defining Metrics: Simulated User

Experience on page 42)

• Monitored Functions: all the Business Instances that you define for your online service

appear in this folder (see section 3.3 - Adding a Business Instance to the Service on page 21)

• Service Delivery

− Channels: all the channels that you define for your online service appear in this folder

− Consumers: all the consumers that you define for your online service appear in this folder

− Functions: all the Business Functions that you define for your online service appear in this

folder

Figure 13 – Notice that for each Business Activity Indicator that you define for an Online Service, that Business Activity Indicator will appear in the KPIs folder here. User Experience Transactions also

show up here under User Experience. Business Instances show up as Monitored Functions



Figure 14 – We have expanded the following folders: KPIs, User Experience, Monitored Functions, Channels, Consumers, Functions. Everything we have defined for our service appears in these

folders

B.4 Services CatalogWhen a new service is created in the Online Services Designer it will be available but will not appear in

the SmartConsole Services Catalog until the KM Online Services - SmartConsole Autoprovisioning

ThinAgent has been refreshed in ThinkServer. For more information regarding this ThinAgent please

see Appendix A: ThinkServer ThinAgents on page 129.

When the services appear in the SmartConsole they are organized by category in the Services Catalog:

Category 1 > Category 2 > Category 3 > Service

In Figure 15 for the Consumer Loans online service we can see that:

• Category 1 (Country) = Spain

• Category 2 (Business Unit) = Loans

• Service = Consumer loans

Figure 15 – Consumer Loans online service in the Online Services Designer

The same structure is reproduced in the Service Catalog in the Business Network tree in SmartConsole

as shown in Figure 16 below:



Figure 16 – Services appear under their Category Names

The Service Catalog dashboard reflects the same categories as present here in the Services Catalog,

which come from the Online Services Designer.

Figure 17 – Our categories are Country and Business Unit

B.5 Online Services KM NotificationsThe following two Business Views, which retrieve notification-triggering events, exist within this folder:

• OSKM - Business Elements events: here you will see events that cause notifications for any

downed service or Business Instance (see section 7.1 - Alarms and Notifications Overview.

• OSKM - Components events: here you will see events that cause notifications based on

infrastructure components.

Figure 18 – These two Business Views will change color depending on the severity of the events that cause notifications

With these Business Views you can see events that can possibly cause notifications to be triggered.



Figure 19 – A change in calendar activity has spawned an event that has arrived to our Business View

B.6 KM TemplatesThis folder (99. KM Templates) is meant as a holding place for the templates that Alignia for Online

Business Services uses to create the entire SmartConsole structure. You don’t have to configure

anything in this folder.

External, IT, and online services are modeled in SmartConsole based on the first three folders in the KM

Templates folder.

Figure 20 – Services get their SmartConsole structure from the first three folders

The 1. Online Services IT Dependencies folder is modeled based on the IT Dependencies folder

here.

Business Activity Indicators are also named based on the KPIs folder here.

Important We strongly advise that you do not change anything in this folder.



Figure 21 – IT dependencies and Business Activity Indicators get their naming conventions from these folders

The structure of the Service Catalog is reflected in the Service Catalog folder.

Business Instances are modeled according to the Service Delivery folder.

User Experience transactions that appear in the SmartConsole are named according to the User

Experience template folder here.

Figure 22 – The Service Catalog, Business Instances, and User Experiences are named according to these conventions

B.6.1 Monitored Functions in SmartConsoleBusiness Instances must be enabled in the Business Instance list to appear in the SmartConsole and in

turn Dashboards. Remember for each Business Instance enabled, one Business Instance credit will be

used.



For each Business Instance that you create for a Service, that Business Instance appears in the

Monitored Functions folder in SmartConsole.

Figure 23 – Seven Business Instances defined for the Consumer Loans Service

Figure 24 – The seven Business Instances are represented in SmartConsole as seven Monitored Functions

B.6.2 Business Activity Indicators in SmartConsole

Important Remember if you wish to delete a service from SmartConsole this must be done manually.



Each time you add a Business Activity Indicator to a service in Alignia for Online Business Services it

appears within the SmartConsole tree under that service.

Figure 25 – Business Activity Indicators, once completely defined in the Online Services Designer, appear in the SmartConsole in the KPIs folder. In the example above we can see the Business

Activity Indicators defined for our Consumer Loans service.

B.6.3 Real User Experiences in SmartConsoleFor every Real User Experience added to a service in Alignia for Online Business Services, a folder

appears within the SmartConsole tree in the User Experience folder for that particular service.

Each Real User Experience folder contains three Business Views: Activity; Errors/Timeouts; and

Response TIme.

Note Business Activity Indicators need thresholds in order to appear in SmartConsole.

Remember if you wish to delete a Business Activity Indicator from SmartConsole, it must be

done manually.



Figure 26 – Real User Experiences, once completely defined in the Online Services Designer, appear in the SmartConsole in the User Experience folder with three Business Views for each. In the example above we can see the two Real User Experiences defined for our Consumer Loans service: A Loan Application transaction for the Call Center; and Web. Each of these has a separate Business

View for Activity; Errors/Timeouts; and Response Time.

B.6.4 Simulated User Experiences in SmartConsoleFor every Simulated User Experience added to a service in Alignia for Online Business Services, a

folder appears within the SmartConsole tree in the User Experience folder for that particular service.

Each Simulated User Experience folder contains two Business Views: Simulated Transaction

Availability; and Simulated Transaction Response TIme.

Note Real User Experiences need thresholds in order to appear in SmartConsole.

Remember if you wish to delete a Real User Experience from SmartConsole, it must be done

manually.



Figure 27 – Simulated User Experiences, once completely defined in the Online Services Designer, appear in the SmartConsole in the User Experience folder with two Business Views for each. In the example above we can see the two Simulated User Experiences defined for our Consumer Loans service: A Loan Quotation transaction for the Call Center; and Web. Each of these has a separate

Business View for Simulated Transaction Availability; and Simulated Transaction Response Time.

B.6.5 IT DependenciesPlease refer to Chapter 8 - Understanding Dependencies and Propagation on page 105 for detailed

information regarding IT dependencies.

Note Simulated User Experiences need alarms enabled in SmartConsole in order to appear in

SmartConsole, see Chapter 7 - Alarms and Notifications on page 91.

Remember if you wish to delete a Simulated User Experience from SmartConsole, it must be

done manually.


Appendix C : Troubleshooting

Appendix CAppendix C: Troubleshooting

This appendix provides some useful guidelines for troubleshooting specific problems.

C.1 I have defined my services and business instances in the Designer but they don’t show up in Dashboards (totally or partially, for example the channels).

# Check How

1Validate that the inven-tory configuration is correct in every product

1. Designer setup connection (open the Designer and check)

2 [ThinkserverPath]/PythonLib/Lib/KMBSM/TS_KMBSM_Config/KMBSM.cfg

3. [DashboardsPath]/Web/T04Custom/DS_KMBSM_Config/KMBSM.cfg

4. The DSN you have created

Validate all of the above point to the same data-base, the one you created for OBS.

2Validate that the Auto-provisioning monitor is running

Check if the ThinkServer Monitor for Autoprovi-sioning is running and capturing the OBS inven-tory configurations.



3SmartConsole Auto-provisioning (AP) checks

Warning: if an online service in SmartConsole is incomplete or erroneous due to this issue, before running AP again, you must delete this service and its IT dependencies in order for Autoprovisioning to work properly.

1. NiceLink is running properly 2. OBS Tree, Autoprovisioning alarms and

actions are imported 3. OBS global variables are properly configured

(path must not include root) 4. Precycle and Postcycle are properly

configured 5. SmartConsole receives events (also check if

the events date is correct, there are some

errors derived of local hour changes in the

machine) 6. Check the 99.Templates subfolders for

faulty autoprovisioned elements (everything

that is not a template = everything that doesn’t

have # in it). If any, delete them and run the AP

monitor again 7. Make sure that, due to faulty autoprovisioned

elements in your 99.Templates folder, all the

names of the created elements are correct (i.e:

they don’t contain a trailing number indicating

that they are duplicated). If any, delete them

and run AP again

4Dashboards configura-tion

1. OBS DSN 2. SmartConsole connection configuration 3. OBS global variables in Dashboards are

properly configured (contrary to SmartConsole,

path must include root) 4. User access rights

5 Check the logs[ThinkServerPath]\Python-Lib\Lib\KMBSM\TS_KMBSM_logs

# Check How



C.2 I have defined my services, business instances and indicators (Business Activity Indicators, RUE, SUE) in the Designer but the charts in Dashboards are empty.

C.3 I have defined some monitoring rooms but my Monitoring Room is empty or the tab displays N/A.

# Check How

1

Validate that the OBS Level you are looking at in dashboards corre-sponds to the metric defined

If your metric is, for example:

Online Service: Quotations, Channel: Web,

Consumer: All, Function: Create Quote then your level is: Quotations>Web>Create

Quote. If your metric is: Online Service: Quotations, Channel: All,

Consumer: Unspecified, Function: Create

Quote then your level is: Quotations>Create Quote

2Check the monitors you have used to insert the data

1. Check all the names you are using for proper

spelling and capitalization 2. If you are using Demo monitors, make sure

you have one configured for your Service and

that it’s running 3. Check the monitors for errors 4. Check the logs

[ThinkServerPath]\PythonLib\Lib\KMBSM\TS_

KMBSM_logs 5. Do the PMDB checks indicated later in this

document

# Check How

1If the tab displays N/A check PMDB

Perform the PMDB checks described later in this document

2Validate that the inven-tory configuration is correct in every product

1. Designer setup connection (open the

Designer and check) 2. [ThinkserverPath]/PythonLib/Lib/KMBSM/

TS_KMBSM_Config/KMBSM.cfg 3. [DashboardsPath]/Web/T04Custom/

DS_KMBSM_Config/KMBSM.cfg 4. The DSN you have created

Validate all of the above point to the same data-base, the one you created for OBS

3

Validate that the moni-toring rooms you are expecting to see have real configurations

Open the Designer and go to your monitoring

rooms configurations

Make sure at least one of the sections is prop-erly configured (points to a real service)



C.4 My Monitoring Room is not showing data for the charts.

C.5 Alignia for Online Business Services’ Dashboards don’t work at all when trying to access the Online Business Services catalog.

C.6 PMDB checks.

# Check How

1The section is not an IT service

IT services don’t have metrics associated with them

2The response time or activity selectors point to real metrics

1. Open the Designer and go to the Monitoring

Room configuration 2. Select the section 3. Make sure the selectors for response time

and activity don’t show as Not yet defined or

None

3Are you inserting data where you are trying to read it from?

Some of the metrics you have configured will

be aggregations: e.g: if you only choose online

service>channel your metrics may be an

aggregation for all channels and all consumers

If you don’t insert data in those channels and

consumers there will be no data aggregated

and it won’t show on your section

Make sure you are inserting the data correctly

# Check How

1 Check PMDBPerform the PMDB checks described later in this document

2

Validate that your keys are properly installed and that you have the necessary Nice-Codes.dat files

The easiest way to check is in the Designer Also, check how many Nicecodes.dat you have

and if they all contain the OBS Codes

3 Check AccessServerYou may have issues with AccessServer’s security administrator or database connection

# Check How

1The PMDB service is running

Run: services.msc

2PMDB DSN is config-ured

Open your SharedObjects Url for PMDB

It should be in Start Menu > Programs > VISUAL Message Center > PMDB > Online Services Knowledge Module

3 PMDB database exists Check in your database server

4PMDB version is 1.0 SP05

[PMDBPath]\Version.ini



C.7 I have defined my internal services, they appear in the SmartConsole but not in Dashboards.

C.8 The SLA monitors are not working correctly.

5PMDB is properly con-figured in the configu-ration files

1. [ThinkserverPath]/PythonLib/Lib/KMBSM/TS_KMBSM_Config/KMBSM.cfg

2. [DashboardsPath]/Web/T04Custom/DS_KMBSM_Config/KMBSM.cfg

6PMDB database has enough space

Check the properties of the database to see if there is enough space available.

7 View PMDB logs [PMDBPath]\logs

# Check How

1Check business attri-butes

In your SmartConsole, find one of the IT ser-vices that you can’t see in Dashboards.

Right-click and check its business attributes.

The attribute AssetClass - Business Application should be assigned to the IT service.

Repeat for all your IT services.

Find the folder 99.KM Templates/#IT_Service# and add the attribute there also (so the next IT service you configure automatically receives the correct business attribute list).

# Check How

1 Register .net codebase

1. Open a cmd prompt (start menu > run > cmd.exe)

2. Execute the following command: (the paths may differ in your installation. C:\Win-dows\Microsoft.NET\Frame-work\v4.0.30319\RegAsm.exe "C:\Program Files (x86)\Tango04\Think-Server\libs\Bsm\ThinkServerBsm.dll" /codebase

# Check How


Appendix D : Contacting Tango/04

Appendix DAppendix D: Contacting Tango/04

EMEA (European, Middle-Eastern & African) Headquarters

Tango/04 Computing Group S.L.

Avda. Meridiana 358, 12 B-C

08027 Barcelona Spain

Phone: +34 93 274 0051

Fax: +34 93 345 1329

[email protected]

www.tango04.com

Latin American Headquarters

Barcelona/04 Computing Group SRL

Avda. Federico Lacroze 2252, Piso 6

1426 Buenos Aires Capital Federal

Argentina

Phone: +54 11 4774-0112

Fax: +54 11 4773-9163

[email protected]

www.barcelona04.com

North America (USA & Canada)

Tango/04 Computing Group USA

PO Box 3301

Peterborough, NH 03458 USA

Phone: 1-800-304-6872

Fax: 858-428-2864

[email protected]

www.tango04.com

Sales Office in Brazil

Tango/04 Computing Group Brasil

Rua Turiassú, 591 - 5º Andar

Perdizes

Cep: 05005-001 São Paulo

Brasil

Phone: +55 (11) 3675 6228

Fax: +51 1 211-2526

[email protected]

www.tango04.com.br

Sales Office in Chile

Barcelona/04 Computing Group Chile

Guardia Vieja 255, Of. 1601

Providencia

Santiago

Chile

Phone: +56 2 234 0898

Fax: +56 2 234 0865

[email protected]

www.barcelona04.com

Sales Office in Columbia

Barcelona/04 Computing Group Colombia

Calle 125 nº 19-89, Piso 5º

Bogotá, D.C.

Colombia

Phone: + 57(1) 658 2664

Fax: +51 1 211-2526

[email protected]

www.barcelona04.com


Mailto:[email protected]

www.tango04.com


www.barcelona04.com


www.barcelona04.com


www.tango04.com


www.barcelona04.com

www.tango04.com.br


www.barcelona04.com

www.barcelona04.com

Appendix D : Contacting Tango/04

Sales Office in Peru

Barcelona/04 Computing Group Perú

Calle Isaac Albeniz 555, Dpto 201 Urb

Las Magnolias

San Borja

L 27 Lima

Perú

Phone: +51 1 640-9168

Fax: +51 1 211-2526

[email protected]

www.barcelona04.com

Sales Office in Italy

Tango/04 Computing Group Italy

Viale Garibaldi 51

13100 Vercelli VC Italy

Phone: +39 0161 56922

Fax: +39 0161 259277

[email protected]

www.tango04.it



www.barcelona04.com


www.tango04.it

About Tango/04 Computing Group

Tango/04 Computing Group is one of the leading developers of systems management and automation

software. Tango/04 software helps companies maintain the operating health of all their business

processes, improve service levels, increase productivity, and reduce costs through intelligent

management of their IT infrastructure.

Founded in 1991 in Barcelona, Spain, Tango/04 is an IBM Business Partner and a key member of IBM's

Autonomic Computing initiative. Tango/04 has more than a thousand customers who are served by over

35 authorized Business Partners around the world.

Alliances

Awards

Partnerships IBM Business Partner

IBM Autonomic Computing Business Partner

IBM PartnerWorld for Developers Advanced Membership

IBM ISV Advantage Agreement

IBM Early code release

IBM Direct Technical Liaison

Microsoft Developer Network

Microsoft Early Code Release


Legal Notice

The information in this document was created using certain specific equipment and environments, and it is limited in

application to those specific hardware and software products and version and releases levels.

Any references in this document regarding Tango/04 Computing Group products, software or services do not mean

that Tango/04 Computing Group intends to make these available in all countries in which Tango/04 Computing Group

operates. Any reference to a Tango/04 Computing Group product, software, or service may be used. Any functionally

equivalent product that does not infringe any of Tango/04 Computing Group's intellectual property rights may be used

instead of the Tango/04 Computing Group product, software or service

Tango/04 Computing Group may have patents or pending patent applications covering subject matter in this

document. The furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents.

The information contained in this document has not been submitted to any formal Tango/04 Computing Group test

and is distributed AS IS. The use of this information or the implementation of any of these techniques is a customer

responsibility, and depends on the customer's ability to evaluate and integrate them into the customer's operational

environment. Despite the fact that Tango/04 Computing Group could have reviewed each item for accurateness in a

specific situation, there is no guarantee that the same or similar results will be obtained somewhere else. Customers

attempting to adapt these techniques to their own environments do so at their own risk. Tango/04 Computing Group

shall not be liable for any damages arising out of your use of the techniques depicted on this document, even if they

have been advised of the possibility of such damages. This document could contain technical inaccuracies or

typographical errors.

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manner, serve as an endorsement of these web sites.

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