Exploring KPI Signals
Summarize
Summary of Exploring KPI Signals
KPI Signals is a ServiceNow feature that alerts you when a process's performance indicator exhibits significant behavioral changes, distinguishing abnormal variations from normal fluctuations. It applies statistical Process Behavior Charts with standard 3-sigma parameters to Performance Analytics indicators, helping you detect special cause variation early and efficiently without continuous manual monitoring.
Show less
Key Features
- Statistical Monitoring: Utilizes Process Behavior Charts and 3-sigma limits to identify signals indicating abnormal variation in KPI scores.
- Automated Notifications: Sends alerts to designated users when significant changes occur, enabling timely investigation and action.
- Signal and Anti-Signal: Generates signals upon detecting abnormal variation and anti-signals when performance remains stable, confirming process control.
- Role-Based Workflow: Involves distinct roles—process owners request KPI Signals, administrators configure and enable monitoring, and responsible users receive and act on notifications.
- Configurable Monitoring: Allows setting start dates and assigning multiple responsible users to ensure appropriate oversight.
Practical Workflow
- Setup: Process owner requests KPI Signals enablement; administrator activates monitoring and assigns responsible users.
- Notification: Responsible users receive alerts when abnormal KPI behavior is detected.
- Response: Users determine if the change is temporary (requiring problem resolution and signal dismissal) or long-term (requiring baseline reset).
What Customers Can Expect
By implementing KPI Signals, you will gain automated, statistically sound monitoring of critical performance indicators, enabling proactive management of process changes. This results in early detection of issues before they become visually apparent, improved process control, and focused attention only when necessary, reducing the burden of continuous manual trend tracking.
KPI Signals notifies you when the behavior of a process changes significantly. This feature applies standard statistical Process Behavior Charts to Performance Analytics indicators.
KPI Signals overview
Every process undergoes variation. Most of this variation is normal, or 'common cause' variation, such as the small differences between each time you sign your name. What you need to know about is abnormal, or 'special cause' variation, such as when you sign with your off hand. KPI Signals lets you know when abnormal variation is occurring. KPI Signals incorporates Process Behavior Charts. These charts use standard statistical methods to pick out the signal of special cause variation from the noise of common cause variation.
KPI Signals uses standard 3-sigma parameters. "Three-sigma" means that the indicator scores for the process are expected almost always to remain within three standard deviations of the norm. The charts require at least five consecutive scores to calculate parameters.
KPI Signals users
| User | Description |
|---|---|
| Process owner | Requests signals monitoring on an indicator in the following circumstances: The indicator is important enough that the process owner wants to know if the trends deteriorate significantly and wants to be notified of this off-platform. However, the process owner does not want to track the trends continuously. Instead, they want the system to inform them when they need to look more closely. Alternatively, the process owner wants to catch the trend early in the process, before it is bad enough to be obvious to the human eye. |
| KPI Signals administrator | Sets up KPI Signals for an indicator at the request of the process owner. Also assigns responsible users for the indicator, generally also at the request of the process owner. |
| Responsible user | Receives signal notifications and acts upon them. The process owner is usually the key responsible user, but they can delegate this responsibility to other users as well. |
KPI Signals workflow
The following diagram shows the workflow for setting up KPI Signals for a Performance Analytics indicator, and the workflow for responding to a signal notification.
- Process owner requests an administrator to enable KPI Signals for an indicator.
- Administator makes themselves a responsible user for the indicator. Doing so activates KPI Signals monitoring for the indicator.
- Administrator sets start date for monitoring indicator.
- Administrator adds other responsible users.
- Responsible user receives a notification from KPI Signals that an indicator should be examined.
- Responsible user decides whether the signal is showing a temporary change, possibly due to a problem that can be corrected, or the signal is showing a long-term change in process behavior.
- If the change is temporary, the responsible user addresses the underlying problem, if appropriate, then dismisses the signal.
- If the change is long-term, the responsible user resets the baseline for generating the signal appropriately.