Process Intelligence 2.1: November 2023

Process Intelligence now supports OpenID Connect (OIDC), a protocol that extends the OAuth 2.0 capabilities with an option to collect profile data of a user. Users can use this authentication to implement Single Sign-On in their infrastructure where the Identity Provider is Process Intelligence itself. For more information, see Use OAuth to access Process Intelligence.

Emails can now be used as an alternative method for multi-factor authentication, where previously, SMS was the only option to authenticate users. This allows the whole authentication process to be contained within the corporate structure, and avoid possible complications related to mobile numbers. For more information, see Account settings.

New formatting options are available in the Number charts configuration window, offering detailed font and number format customization. This enables users to add branding to charts.

Dashboard now has a significantly improved user interface, and introduces the following functionality:

• The Dashboard interface has been redesigned to be more intuitive to users, and can now link to more analysis modules. Dashboards now look and behave similar to the operational board embedded in the Process view module, but is used to assess the results of analysis performed outside Process Intelligence, or for continuous monitoring of process statuses.

• A new dashboard layout has been implemented, with additional tools for customization. Users can tailor the dashboard's display to their requirements, move and resize tiles separately, and adjust zoom settings for all tiles on the dashboard. A new auto-layout mode assists users with tile alignment.

• Users can now add diagrams to dashboards. These elements provide visual representations of different Process Intelligence modules, alongside metrics and charts. The following analysis modules are currently supported for dashboard display:

  • Side-by-side comparison – Displays a pre-configured comparison table as a tile.

  • Path preview – Displays a preview of paths in the project as a tile.

• Users can now add Static content tiles, which are tiles that contain customized text. These can be used to add important notes directly to the dashboard.

• The number of tile types available has been increased. Users can now add easily configurable histograms representing a large number of metrics supported by Process Intelligence, without manually creating charts based on them.

• An existing dashboard can now be cloned. Users no longer need to create and configure multiple similar dashboards manually, for example, if there are several common elements across dashboards.

For more information, see Dashboards.

Unattended installation is now available for Linux installs, and is supported by passing a configuration file to the installer script. The configuration file contains all the information that would be input by a user during attended installation. For more information, see Install Process Intelligence in unattended mode.

A new metric type, Attribute duration, has been added, which measures the time gap between attributes of an event. This metric makes it possible to calculate time spent on smaller and more detailed parts of a process, for example, when a working activity started, how long it continued, and when it stopped, within a certain event.

In addition, attribute durations can also help to reveal performance issues and potential causes contained within events. For example, if the wait time for work to start after the event occurrence is unexpectedly long, or if some event attributes are looped and do not allow the process to continue. These measurements can be displayed on a chart, so the conclusions made on these metric assessments are easy to illustrate and share.

As part of this functionality, the existing metric Time interval measurement has been renamed to Event duration.

The Task definition editor and the Forms editor are now contained in a single window, which has been named Definition editor. The common workspace makes it easier to switch between form and task editors, and allows users to check forms and define tasks simultaneously. As these actions are closely related, combining the editors streamlines the whole workflow, enabling users to make the required changes on different levels and apply them at the same time.

As part of this, the Task definition editor has been renamed to Task editor.

The name of the sender is now included in invitation emails along with their email address. This is only included if the First name and Last name fields are populated in the sender's account.

Email addresses used for registration can now contain special characters.

Logos are now uploaded correctly during the registration of clients using OAuth authentication.

The analysis modules in the dropdown list are now listed in alphabetical order.

The Process view module workspace has been updated with same new functionality as the Dashboard, with new tile types and configuration options available. For full details, see the Dashboard release note.

The Simulation module has been updated with the following improvements:

• New timelines can now be saved after a simulation has been run. Users can add timelines which were created after any changes were made to the project's simulation configuration. As a result, users get a new process image to analyze, which can be helpful for testing purposes, optimization decisions, or the monitoring metrics in the updated process.

• Schema validation has been improved, with the milestone schema now subject to additional checks. This ensures the simulation is only started after the schema is configured correctly, for example, with no nodes without transitions.

• The Results tab has been updated with fixed table headers, ensuring the header no longer disappears when scrolling.

For more information, see Simulation.

In the Time range module, the Standard deviation value is now clearly visible when hovering the mouse over a certain time range.

In the Breakdown module, columns containing numbers are now sorted correctly.

The Customize button in the Chart editor now becomes available immediately after the chart preview displays, and remains active until the preview is closed.

Favorited dashboards are now sorted alphabetically by default.

Regular expressions (RegEx) are now supported for manifest file names for SFTP uploads. This allows users to provide a naming convention for multiple files, and process several files at once. For more information, see Automated file upload via SFTP.

Exporting ETL data from a repository no longer consumes all available RAM.

The Derived metric now supports numbers, where previously only a metric name could be provided. The action defined by the selected operand is applied to the metric and the inputted number, treating the number value as if it were another metric. This allows users, for example, to multiply metric values for to visualize scaling expectations.

The timing of screenshot captures has been improved to make them more illustrative and informative in context, for example, screenshots for elements such as combo boxes. In addition, screenshot capturing has been optimized to consume less CPU when processing large amounts of data.

The mechanism for defining form instances has been updated to be more efficient, and improves the handling of complex forms.

The Recording Service now supports SSL connection to remote databases.

The Repository table has been updated to include a timestamp of the latest upload.

A search field has been added to the Task editor and the Forms editor (which are now contained in one window named Definition editor), enabling users to search for particular forms, controls, or applications, by name.

A new Sort by frequency option has been added to the Forms editor. Larger forms are occasionally split into smaller, separate forms, and this sort option will help users group these forms in the form list. Previously, the list could only be sorted alphabetically.

The Task editor now highlights the area related to a user action on the form's corresponding screenshot in the Task properties pane.

When viewing the control-based display, the Task editor now groups controls related to the same form.

In the Task editor, users can now expand or collapse forms using a new arrow icon next to a form header.

If a form is selected in either the Task editor or the Forms editor, the same form is now automatically selected in the other editor. This makes it easier for users to find forms when making configuration changes or including them in tasks.

Log management within the Definition editor has been improved. New options at the top of the Definition editor pane enable users to view the Log ID and related details, view all logs available in the project, and switch between logs as required. For more information, see Forms.

The ignore logic has been updated so that if all controls within a form or application are ignored, the entire form/application will now be marked as ignored.

The Discover task feature now analyzes the forms a user has selected, defines the start and end tasks, and considers all other forms as added. These other forms are checked by the Discover task logic when defining tasks, but they are no longer required. This means that the Discover task option now creates all possible task instances, using the forms the user defined, and skips those that are not present in the current log.

The ignored items list now includes more detailed event types, including control level options. This ensures that all ignored elements are grouped in one place.

Manual changes made to logs in a project are now applied to all new logs upon upload. For example, if an application or form has been renamed, this will now automatically be updated in new logs.

Navigating between forms and controls in the Task editor has been improved. Now, users can right-click a form instance or control to navigate to the previous or next entry using options in the context menu.

If a user opens a form's control level, and navigates to another form within the window, the form selection in the Task editor is now updated to the currently open form.

Users can now switch between forms and controls in the Definition editor using keyboard shortcuts. Pressing F opens the form level, pressing C opens the control level.

Timeline Sets are now automatically updated after data has been uploaded, removing the need to start the calculation manually. Recalculated Set values display in the Sets window immediately after uploading data.

If the Order of events configuration is updated, this is no longer considered when building queries.