Any rule that changes over time can be made timeline aware. Not every expression used in the derivation of a rule needs to be timeline aware. For example if we were calculating a person's income and we needed to deduct a fixed percentage of that income the fixed percentage would not need to be timeline aware but the person's income would.
In this scenario we can make the rule timeline aware and use timeline markers to mark the values that should be treated as timeline data. In the next example the rule "Total income for a person" is made timeline aware by setting up timeline markers.
- Open the rule diagram for the "Person Income" rule.
- View the diagram in technical view. Remember this is the icon in the top right corner of the diagram.
- In the Rules Outline View select the rule context menu and select Make Timeline from the menu. This rule is now timeline aware.
- Next we need to mark the expressions in the rule diagram that need to be timeline aware. Open the menu on the rule "All the incomes for this person" and select Make Timeline Interval. Do the same for the rule "The countable amount for this income". Notice the timeline icon appear on the element icon on the right.