Setting Personal Indicator Alerts :: SAS(R) BI Dashboard 4.31: User's Guide, Second Edition

Overview

A personal indicator alert is an alert that is sent only to you. This is different from an indicator alert, which is sent to a list of one or more alert subscribers. Indicator alerts are defined and attached to an indicator by a dashboard designer. A personal alert is in addition to any indicator alerts.

You can choose to receive a notification of an alert in the following ways:

in an Alert portlet in the SAS Information Delivery Portal
by e-mail

Note:

A dashboard designer must enable personal indicator alerts for an indicator before a business user can define a personal indicator alert on the indicator.
The alerts shown in the Edit Indicator Alerts window are only your personal indicator alerts. Indicator alerts created by a dashboard designer are not shown.

Understanding Alerts

The Alert Definition

When you define an alert, you specify the circumstance that causes that alert to occur. This circumstance is the trigger. To define the trigger, you must make the following selections:

the range to evaluate
the interval in the range in which the data point values must occur
the percentage of data points that must occur in that interval

How Alerts Are Triggered

An alert is triggered in the following way:

SAS BI Dashboard periodically checks for a change in the indicator data, updates to the indicator alert definition, or both. By default, this check happens every 3 minutes. A SAS BI Dashboard administrator can change this setting.
If an update is detected and the percentage of data points in the trigger interval has changed, the alert criteria are evaluated.
If the criteria are met, an alert is triggered and a notification is sent to the subscriber.

Note: If the alert criteria are met at the time that you create the alert, the alert is triggered immediately. Afterwards, the alert is triggered only when the data changes and the alert criteria are met.

Alert Criteria and Data Aggregation

If an indicator can aggregate data, it is important to understand that the percentage that is used by alerting is calculated by evaluating the underlying indicator data to determine the number of data points in the interval. The software does not evaluate the aggregated results presented in the graph view. For example, if a bar chart has three bars, each bar can represent an average of multiple data points. A given bar might fall within the alert interval. However, it is possible that none of the individual data points associated with that bar fall in the same interval. In this case, the three bars reflect the aggregated data, not the data points used in the alert calculation.

The following indicators support alerts and can aggregate data:

bar chart with bullet
bar chart with reference lines
interactive summary and bar chart
interactive summary and targeted bar chart
targeted bar chart
tile chart
waterfall chart

Changes That Can Affect Alert Calculations

In addition to underlying data changes, updates to any of the following indicator components can affect the interval percentage calculation and cause the alert to be reevaluated:

If the indicator source data is changed, the data available for evaluation can change. For example, if you update the filters defined in an information map, the new filter definition can cause a change in the number of data points that are evaluated.
If the indicator data definition is changed, the data available for evaluation can change. The following changes are examples of what can cause the data that is evaluated to change:
- updating the indicator data definition to modify an SQL query
- changing the selected items for an information map
- updating the Group by criteria for a table
If the range is changed, the calculated percentage can change. For example, if you change the upper limit of the range from 100 to 200, the percentage of data points that exist in the range and in its intervals can change.
If the indicator definition is changed, the data values that are evaluated can change. For example, if you change the Y-axis value setting from Height to Weight, the data that is evaluated is changed.

Create an Alert

Note: Due to customization by the dashboard designer, this feature might not be available.

To create a personal indicator alert, complete the following steps:

In the indicator title bar, click and then click Personalize Alerts. The Create Indicator Alerts window appears.
Note:
- If Personalize Alerts is not available, the dashboard designer has not enabled personalization.
- If the Options menu () is not available, the indicator is not displayed in a tile.
- Alerts can be used only with indicators that use a range. For information, see Indicator Types That Support Ranges.
Contact the dashboard designer for assistance.
In the Alert name field, type the name of the alert.
From the Gauge definition list, select the range to evaluate.
Note: Most indicators use only one range and this setting defaults to that range. However, the following indicators use two ranges. Therefore, you must select the range to evaluate:
- interactive summary and scatter plot
- range map
From the Trigger interval list, select the interval in which the value must occur to trigger the alert.
Specify how many values (that is, data points or gauges) must be in the selected interval to trigger the alert:
- Any gauge is in the interval
- % of gauges are in the interval
  
  Note: If you select this setting, type a value in the field next to the check box.
Select the delivery method for the alert: Alerts portlet or E-mail subscribers.
Note:
- You can select both methods.
- Alerts portlet presumes that the recipient has an Alerts portlet defined in the SAS Information Delivery Portal. If there is not an Alerts portlet, the alerts remain saved on the server. If a user adds an Alerts portlet to the portal, all previous alerts appear in the Alerts portlet.
- The business user's e-mail address must be available from SAS metadata. For more information, see the SAS Management Console: Guide to Users and Permissions.

(Optional) If you selected E-mail subscribers, complete the following steps:

From the E-mail template list, select the template to use for e-mail notifications of alerts.

Note: The items available in this list are controlled by the dashboard designer.

Template Type	Description
Link only	The e-mail includes a link that opens the affected indicator in the SAS BI Dashboard viewer. Note: All indicator types support this template.
Default	The e-mail includes an image of the affected indicator and a link that opens the indicator in the SAS BI Dashboard viewer. Note: The following indicator types support this template: bar chart with reference lines KPI line chart with reference lines range map scatter plot targeted bar chart

In the Subject field, type the subject. Type any additional message to include in the e-mail in the Add a message to the e-mail field.

Click Save Alert. The alert appears in the Alerts table.
If you want to create another alert, click New Alert. To exit the Create Indicator Alerts window, click OK.

Tip
For personal alerts, the alert is saved to the server when you exit the window.

Note: If the alert criteria are met at the time that you create the alert, the alert is triggered immediately. Afterwards, the alert is triggered only when the data changes and the alert criteria are met.

Edit an Alert

To edit an alert, complete the following steps:

Click and then click Personalize Alerts. The Manage Indicator Alerts window appears.

Note: When the Manage Indicator Alerts window appears, the first alert in the Alerts table is automatically highlighted and its properties appear in the left side of the window.
In the Alerts table, select an alert. The properties of the alert appear on the left side of the window.
Edit the properties as described in Create an Alert.
Click Save Alert.
Click OK to exit the Manage Indicator Alerts window.

Tip
For personal alerts, the alert is saved to the server when you exit the window.

Note: If the edit causes a change in the calculated interval percentage since the percentage was last evaluated and the alert criteria are still met, the alert is triggered.

Delete an Alert

To delete an alert, complete the following steps:

In the Manage Indicator Alerts window, select an alert in the Alerts table.
Click .
Click OK to exit the Manage Indicator Alerts window. The delete is saved to the server when you exit the window.