Understanding metric operations

Metric operations are computations performed with attribute values. The results of the computations, or metrics, are included in your report.

Metric operation options are available only on the Header, Footer, Attribute, and Grouping tabs.

The Report Builder has more than 30 metric operations. For more information about these operations, see "PTReport" Wslets in Rational® Change Customization Reference, Release 5.2, which is the most recent version of this document.

Metric operation types

The metric operation type is either Row or Row and Column. Rational Change performs Row operations on the specified attributes of each item (CR, task, or object) in a selection set. It also performs Row and Column operations first on each item attributes, and then across all items.

The following table shows a Rows and Columns example for a set of tasks. The last column, Attribute_M, represents the amount of time required to complete the task.

Table 1. Example of Rows and Columns
Item Attribute 1 Attribute 2 Attribute 3 ... Attribute_M
1 Task # 1 Assigned Date 1 Completion Date 1 ... attribute_M 1
2 Task # 2 Assigned Date 2 Completion Date 2 ... attribute_M 2
... ... ... ... ... ...
N Task # N Assigned Date N Completion Date N ... attribute_M N

Metric operation examples

The following are examples of Row and Row and Column metric operations based on the table.

The list of available metric operations depends on which tab is displayed. Header and Footer tabs define the content of sections at the top and bottom of each report, for all items in the report. Therefore, Column and Row and Column metric operations are available on these tabs because they are performed across all items. The Attribute tab defines content for the body of the report, where each item is listed individually. Therefore, only Row metric operations are available on this tab. The Grouping tab defines item groupings based on their attribute values. Therefore, Column and Row and Column metric operations are available on this tab.

Header and Footer tabs can group metric operations, thus spanning rows. An Attribute tab looks at individual rows only.

Note: If the attributes do not exist for the computation, define the attributes to report them in your CR process. To define attributes:
  1. Save, create, and install the updated CR process.
  2. On the Report Builder General tab, add the attributes to the Attributes in Report list.

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