Active Investigation Page

This page applies to business users. This page describes what actions are available during an active investigation.

Overview

In Process HQ, the active investigation page lets you take a closer look into specific patterns and issues in your process, so you can uncover insights that lead to improvements. To access this page, start an investigation or continue a saved investigation.

Elements

The following image highlights the elements of the active investigation page:

#	Element	Actions Available
1	Navigation bar	View the Process HQ overview page, the Process Insights page, the Data Catalog page, or the Data Governance page. Switch to another workspace like Appian Designer. The workspaces you can access depend on your user role and other security settings. Change settings for your user profile.
2	Breadcrumbs	Navigate to the Process Insights page or the process view page associated with the investigation.
3	Investigation header	View the investigation name. When you start an investigation, a system-generated name displays by default. This name reflects what you're investigating: Reduce Duration if you're investigating average durations, or Reduce Occurrence if you're investigating how often an attribute, sequence, or activity occurs. You can rename your investigation when you save your first insight. View the time range for the investigation. View the filters that define the view where you started the investigation. Save changes to the insight by clicking SAVE INSIGHT. If this is your first time saving the insight or investigation, you'll be prompted to name those properties.
4	Process diagram	Review a process diagram constructed only from cases in the investigation. The elements of this process diagram update to reflect the choices you make while building an insight.
5	Comparison KPI	Review the key performance indicator (KPI) for the current investigation. To calculate potential savings or potential reduction, Process HQ compares the cases or occurrences related to the current finding against this KPI. The KPI also includes a trend chart representing changes in the KPI over the date range of the investigation. You can hover over the chart to see more details for each data point. Note: In duration investigations, this value updates with each finding you add to the insight.
6	Investigation pane	Review and interact with process data: Review a list of attribute values that are potentially impacting the KPI for this investigation. Click an attribute value to see a detailed analysis of the attribute details. The analysis includes: Visualizations of important aspects of the analyzed data. A list of cases with the selected attribute value or sequence. Next steps you can perform in the investigation.
7	Insight pane	Track important findings in a tree format and view the cumulative effect of those findings on the potential savings or potential reduction. See the description for a full list of actions.

Understanding the investigation display

During an active investigation, adding a finding to an insight is the equivalent of applying a filter to the cases you're investigating. The focus of the investigation will narrow to the context of cases affected by the finding you add. Learn more.

In addition, the type of finding included in the insight affects the unit of analysis that displays in the investigation. The following sections describe how these units of analysis are used:

• Unit of analysis: cases
• Unit of analysis: occurrences

The investigation page also displays calculations of potential improvement for each finding. The following sections describe how these numbers are calculated:

• Calculation: potential savings
• Calculation: potential reduction

Unit of analysis: cases

If the comparison KPI for the insight involves an attribute value, the investigation displays the analysis in terms of affected cases. For example, the attribute value details will show you the number of cases affected by the attribute value.

Cases in the attribute values list

Cases in the attribute value details

Unit of analysis: occurrences

If the comparison KPI for an insight involves a process part, the investigation displays the analysis in terms of occurrences of the process part. For example, the process part details will show you how many times a sequence occurs in cases in the investigation.

Occurrences in the process part details

If the comparison KPI for an insight involves a process part, any findings you review or add to the insight will display in terms of occurrences.

Occurrences in the attribute values list

Occurrences in the attribute value details

Calculation: potential savings

This calculation displays in duration investigations only.

This number represents the time you could save each year if the average duration of cases or occurrences with this attribute value could match the average duration of all cases in the investigation.

Process HQ calculates this number based on the average duration of all cases or occurrences with the findings in the insight—excluding the most recently added attribute finding. By default, potential savings is calculated per year, but you can adjust the calculation on a saved insight.

More specifically, Process HQ uses the following formula:

potential savings = (finding duration - target duration) x count

This formula contains the following elements:

• Finding duration: The average number of days that cases with the selected finding and related to the KPI take to complete.
• Target duration: The average number of days that cases related to the KPI take to complete.
• Count: The total number of cases or occurrences with the selected finding in the insight.

Example

Let's say your KPI counts the average duration of closed cases. Your investigation is now looking closer at cases related to this KPI that have the attribute Spain (Country).

Here are the values Process HQ uses in its calculation:

• Finding duration: When cases related to this insight have this attribute, they take 30 days on average to complete.
• Target duration: When cases not related to this insight have this attribute, they take 15 days on average to complete.
• Count: There are 100 cases related to this insight that have this attribute.

In this scenario, the potential savings for closed cases in Spain is 1,500 days per year:

(30 - 15) * 100 = 1500

Calculation: potential reduction

This calculation displays in occurrence investigations only.

This number indicates the potential for eliminating unwanted occurrences of an attribute. The higher the number, the greater the potential.

To calculate this number, Process HQ compares how often this attribute occurs in cases related to the KPI or insight to how often this attribute occurs in cases not related to the KPI or insight.

More specifically, Process HQ uses the following formula to calculate:

potential reduction = attribute occurrences related to KPI - (target occurrence rate x cases related to KPI)

This formula contains the following elements:

• Attribute occurrences related to KPI: How many times the attribute occurs in cases related to the KPI.
• Target occurrence rate: The percent of cases not related to the KPI in which the selected attribute occurs.
• Cases related to KPI: The total number of cases related to the KPI.

Example

Let's say your KPI counts cases with the Request for More Information activity, where employees must ask customers for additional information. This activity wastes resources, so you want to reduce its frequency. You see there's a high potential to reduce occurrences of the activity when cases have the attribute Spain (Country).

Here are the values Process HQ uses in its calculation:

• Attribute occurrences related to KPI: The attribute occurs in 500 out of 1000 cases related to this KPI.
• Target occurrence rate: The attribute occurs in 100 out of 3000 cases not related to this KPI, or on average 3% of the time.
• Cases related to KPI: There are 1000 cases related to this KPI.

Realistically, you're unlikely to improve the occurrence rate lower than the target rate, so Process HQ calculates the potential reduction to account for that. To achieve the target occurrence rate (3%) in cases related to this KPI, Requests for Information in Spain should occur in only 33 cases, instead of 500 cases:

3% x 1000 = 33

Process HQ then subtracts the number of target occurrences from the number of total occurrences related to the KPI:

500 - 33 = 467

The potential reduction score is 467. If you focus on reducing the occurrence of Requests for Information activity for cases with the Spain (Country) attribute, your overall Requests for Information could be reduced by 467 cases.

Attribute values list

This list contains attribute values that Process HQ has identified as potentially impacting cases in the investigation. These attribute values are associated with either longer durations or higher occurrence counts, depending on the investigation type.

Attribute values that have the greatest impact are listed at the top of the list.

Each item in this list includes the following elements:

#	Element	Description
1	Attribute Value	The attribute value. For example, for an attribute named Country, this value would be the name of an individual country, like Spain.
2	Attribute Name	The attribute name. For example, Country.
3	Statement	A short statement describing Process HQ's analysis of this attribute in the current context: (Duration investigations) How much slower the average duration of cases or occurrences with this attribute value is than the average duration of cases or occurrences without this attribute value. (Occurrence investigations) How many occurrences with this attribute value are related to the KPI or insight.
4	Case/occurrence count	The number of cases or occurrences with this attribute value in this investigation.
5	Potential savings/reduction	The potential improvement that Process HQ has calculated for cases or occurrences with the attribute, displayed as either potential savings or potential reduction depending on the investigation type.
6	Bar graph	The bar graph shows how the potential improvement for this attribute value compares to the potential improvement for other values of this attribute. The longer the bar, the more significant the potential improvement in comparison to other values.

All Attributes list

When you're investigating attributes, you'll see the attribute value list by default, which displays only those attributes that are associated with the longest case or occurrence durations.

You can switch to a list of all attributes, however. This list of all attributes can be useful if you already have an idea of an attribute you need to look into.

To view a list of all attributes of the process, click Browse All at the end of the list. The All Attributes list displays.

For example:

This table includes the following columns:

Column	Description
Attribute	The name of the attribute, and a count of the unique values for that attribute. Click an attribute to view the Duration Comparison for the attribute's values.
Attribute Values	A list of values for that attribute in the cases in the investigation. The SUGGESTED tag displays next to attribute values associated with the longest case or occurrence durations. Click an attribute value to view the attribute value details.

Attribute value details

When you click on an attribute value in the attribute value list or all attributes list, the investigation displays a detailed analysis of that attribute value.

For example:

Attribute value details include the following elements:

• Finding: A sentence describing Process HQ's analysis of the attribute value. The content of this finding depends on the type of investigation you're conducting:

  Type	Description
  Duration	How much slower cases or occurrences with the attribute value are than the average duration all cases or occurrences related to the KPI.
  Occurrence	How many occurrences with the attribute value that you could reduce to improve cases related to the KPI.

  Click ADD TO INSIGHT to look closer at other characteristics of cases with this attribute value or toshare this finding with others.
  
  

• Potential Savings/Reduction: The potential improvement that Process HQ has calculated for cases or occurrences with the attribute, displayed as either potential savings or potential reduction depending on the investigation type.
  
  

• Metrics: Relevant statistics for this attribute value:

  Metric	Description
  Duration Investigation
  Cases/Occurrences in investigation	A two-part value specifying (1) the total number of cases or occurrences with this attribute value in the investigation, and (2) what percent of total cases or occurrences in the investigation is represented by cases or occurrences with this attribute.
  Cases/Occurrences in insight	A two-part value specifying (1) the total number of cases or occurrences with this attribute value in the insight, and (2) what percent of total cases or occurrences in the insight is represented by cases or occurrences with this attribute.
  Duration (Average)	The average duration of cases or occurrences with this attribute value in this investigation.
  Occurrence Investigation
  Activity/Sequence Occurrence Count	How many times the activity or sequence with the attribute value occurs in cases related or not related to the KPI or insight, as indicated in the section header. This field is only present if the comparison KPI counts occurrences of an activity or sequence.
  Case Count	How many total cases are related or not related to the KPI or insight, as indicated in the section header.
  Cases with <Attribute Value>	How many cases with the attribute value are related or not related to the KPI or insight, as indicated in the section header.
  Percent with <Attribute Value>	The percent of total cases that are related or not related to the KPI or insight, as indicated in the section header. This field is only present if the comparison KPI counts cases with a specific attribute.

• Visualizations: Charts displaying relevant statistics in relation to each other:

  Investigation Type	Visualization
  Duration	Duration Comparison Duration Distribution Duration Trend
  Occurrence	Value Comparison Occurrence Comparison Occurrence Trend

• Cases: A list of cases with this attribute value in this investigation.

Process part details

To view the details of Process HQ's analysis of each sequence, repetition, or activity, click that process part in the process diagram on the Summary tab of a view.

For example:

Process part details include the following elements:

• Finding: A sentence describing how much slower activities or sequences with the attribute value are than activities or sequences without the attribute value. To share this finding with others, click ADD TO INSIGHT.
  
  

• Potential Savings: The potential improvement that Process HQ has calculated for the process part, displayed as potential savings.
  
  

• Metrics: Relevant statistics for this part of the process:

  Metric	Description
  Cases	The total number of cases that include this part, along with the percentage of cases in this investigation that those cases represent.
  Occurrences	The total number of times the part occurs in the cases you're investigating.
  Avg. Occurrences	The average number of times the part occurs in each case you're investigating.
  Duration (Average)	The average duration of this part when it occurs in the cases you're investigating.
  Total Duration	The total duration of all occurrences of this part in the cases you're investigating.

• Visualizations: Charts displaying relevant statistics in relation to each other:

  Investigation Type	Visualization
  Duration	Duration Comparison Duration Distribution Duration Trend
  Occurrence	Value Comparison Occurrence Comparison Occurrence Trend

• Cases: A list of cases in this investigation that include this process part.

Cases

This list displays all cases with the selected attribute value or process part.

For example:

This section contains the following elements:

#	Element	Actions Available
1	Case list	Sort cases by duration or recency. Scroll to see cases in this investigation with the selected attribute value or process part. Click a case to see information about the case in the case details pane.
2	Case details pane	Review details about the selected case: Case Metrics: Metrics for the case, including: Start: The timestamp of the starting activity in this case. End: The timestamp of the ending activity in this case. Duration: The total duration of the case. Unique activities: A count of the unique activities that occurred in the case. Executed activities: A count of all activities that occurred in the case, including repetitions. Case Attributes: The names and values of attributes associated with the case. Activity Details: A chronological list of activities that occurred in this case. Use the dropdown menu to select which activity attributes display in the list, or click a column header to sort by that attribute.

Next Steps

As you add findings to your insight, you can use the steps below to continue your investigation:

Step	Description
Continue Investigating	Click this step to review additional findings.
Save New Insight	Click this step to save the current findings as a new insight. Insights with 2 to 3 findings usually have the right level of detail to discuss with your team.

Insight pane

As you add individual findings to an insight, the Insight pane displays those findings in a hierarchical format to represent the cumulative filtering of cases in the insight.

The following image highlights the elements of the Insight pane:

#	Element	Actions Available
1	Header	View a count of cases or occurrences affected by the insight. Clear all findings from the insight and start from scratch by clicking CLEAR.
2	Findings section	View the findings that have been added to the insight: The findings are listed in the order in which they were added to the insight, as indicated by the arrow symbol. A full circle appears next to the last finding added to the insight, and an empty circle appears next to any finding added prior to that finding. View details for the last added finding by clicking the menu for that finding, then selecting View Details. As appropriate to the finding, the attribute value details or process part details displays in the investigation pane. Remove the last added finding in the insight by clicking the menu for that finding, then selecting Remove. You cannot remove a finding for a process part in a duration investigation, because the removal would significantly alter the definition of the investigation.
3	Potential Savings/Reduction section	View the potential improvement that Process HQ has calculated for combined findings in this insight, displayed as either potential savings or potential reduction depending on the investigation type.

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