Result
Understand how to use the Toolbox section in the Config tool to create limits and utilize the limits on measures to indicate exceptions.
Tutorial steps
- Create a new Limit - in the Limits section of the toolbox view in the config tool
- Add the limit - to the Steam Temperature measure
- Backfill the limit - to apply the setting on Historical measure data
- Add the limit configuration to the Chart - to highlight limit exceptions on the table chart
Limits
Now that you have a simple report and dashboard, let’s use some visualization best-practice and indicate an "out of limit" value using color.
In the Flow "Tools", under "Limits", right-click on "Simple" and select "New" > "Limit". Name the new limit "Site Target".
Open the new limit’s editor …
You will notice the only thing that can be edited on the limit is the "High", "Low" and "Target" colors that will be used in the reports.
Add the Limit to a Measure
Open the hourly "Steam Primary.Temperature (°C)" measure from the Model View. Now that the "Site Target" limit has been defined, you will notice a new section called "Limits" in the measure editor. Expand this "Limits" section, right-click on the correct calendar context, and select "Add Limit" > "Site Target". Alternatively, you can drag the "Site Target" limit into the measure’s "Limits" definition.
Right-click the "Site Target" and click "Add Instance" …
The instance of a Limit is defined as a Date and Time from which the Limit is valid. Additional instances of this Limit can be added, as long as they have a different Date and Time. This mechanism provides the ability to change Limits over time, but not lose the ability to backfill a measure to a time when a different Limit was used.
The instance of the Limit in the Measure is where you will define your Target, High, and Low values for this specific Measure. Flow will evaluate each value retrieved or calculated for the Measure against the High and Low values. If the High and/or Low values are exceeded, an "exception" will be generated. The Target value is used for reporting only.
For this "Temperature (°C)" measure, set the Target to 94.5, set the Low to 94.5, and set the High to 101.0. If Flow detects any values below 94.5 (i.e. the Low setting) or any values above 101.0 (i.e. the High setting), an exception will be generated.
A High or Low setting can be left blank to exclude it from being evaluated.
Right-click the Limit instance and select "Backfill". Flow will start evaluating existing summary values for this measure.
Repeat this step for all three Steam metrics' hourly Temperature measures, adding limit evaluation on all three.
Add the Limit to a Chart Measure
In the background (i.e. in the database), Flow flags a measure’s values when they exceed a limit. To "see" these exceptions, you will need to configure the measure on a chart to "show" this Limit’s exceptions. Open the "Engineering Report Hourly", expand the "Steam Primary" section, and select the "Temperature (˚C)" measure. Update its "Limit" property to "Site Target" …
Do this for all three of the Temperature Measures.
Now we need to tell the chart to use the Limit colors to format the columns in the table chart based on the limit exception conditions.
Add a "Limit" color provider to the color section of the Temperature measure:
Do this for all three of the Temperature Measures.
Now open your "Engineering Dashboard" from the "Reporting" View …
Notice the High and Low colors coming through on the report. Notice the Target displayed as well.
Add a Measure Color Provider to a Chart Measure
The Steam Production measure does not have a limit configured. What if we wanted to visualize a heat map of the hourly steam production? Flow allows you to add a heat map to a chart measure – this is called a Measure Color Provider.
To add a Measure Color Provider to a chart measure, right-click on the "Color" property of each of the Steam Production measures, and "Add" a "Measure" color provider. Leave the default settings as configured and refresh your chart.