Tripwires

Tripwires graphically depict when a particular metric threshold is reached.

Acumen tripwires are flexible with regards to the:

• Number of thresholds per metric that can be defined.
• Type of thresholds (absolute and gradient).
• Formulas against which thresholds can be based (primary and secondary).

Tripwire Formulas

The tripwire formula is used to determine the individual exceptions that are listed in the Activity Browser. Tripwire formulas must ultimately return a Boolean in the form of either a True or False value. The most commonly used function to return this Boolean is an AND statement.

• AND(ActivityType="Normal", ActivityStatus="Planned")

AND functions can contain an unlimited number of conditions.

Tripwire formulas get applied to each activity separately whereas primary and secondary formulas get applied to groupings of activities (depending on the ribbon, phase, or intersection context).

Creating Tripwire Formulas

There are two ways to create tripwire formulas:

• Auto Calculated by Primary Formula

  If the primary formula was created using the basic mode, you can opt to automatically create the tripwire formula without defining any inclusions, filters, or formulas for the tripwire definition. Instead, Fuse will automatically create a tripwire formula based on the inclusions and filters defined in the primary formula. This mode cannot be used if the primary formula was created in Advanced mode. In Auto Calculated by Primary Formula mode, the tripwire inclusions and filters options are disabled because they are automatically inherited from the primary inclusions and filters.

• Advanced

  This mode enables you to manually create inclusions, filters, and advanced functions that together return the required set of activities.

Tripwire Thresholds

Each metric includes an optional set of tripwire thresholds. You use these thresholds to graphically show when a defined threshold is exceeded. Tripwire thresholds can be based on either the primary or secondary formula.

If you enable the secondary formula by selecting the checkbox for the secondary metric, then the tripwire threshold is automatically associated with the secondary metric. If you do not select the checkbox, the tripwire threshold is automatically associated with the primary formula.

Normal and Gradient Scales

You can define threshold intervals as either normal or gradient. By default, scales are defined as normal. All threshold intervals within a single metric are either normal or gradient-based (they cannot be mixed within a metric).

Normal scales behave in an absolute or binary manner - that is, a metric result either does or does not trigger a threshold.

A gradient scale behaves differently, in that a metric result, while falling within a given interval, can be represented as being close to an interval boundary. This type of scale is useful when determining how close a metric result is to a tripwire boundary. When using gradient scales, instead of discrete colors for the intervals being used, gradient scales of color are used (based on where the metric falls in the scale).