Business rules overview

Article
07/18/2023

The Power Automate Process Mining desktop app allows you to define business rules that evaluate your key performance indicators (KPI). Business rules set thresholds that are associated with a category flag—Error, Warning, or OK—to help you quickly spot problems in your processes.

Thresholds apply to all business rules in the process context. However, each business rule can have its own calculation formula and filters. Because business rules are part of the process context, they're available in any view you create for that process.

View, duplicate, or delete business rules

You can view, duplicate, or delete business rules in the Process content screen.

On the upper-right in the top menu, select Process context.
On the panel to the left, select Business rules.

The Business rules screen lists all the business rules you've defined in the current context.
To delete or duplicate a business rule, select the ellipses (...) in the last column of the business rule row, and then select either Delete or Create duplicate.

Define business rules

You can define business rules in the Process content screen.

On the upper-right in the top menu, select Process context.
On the panel to the left, select Business rules.
Select Create new business rule.
In the Rule name field, enter a name for the business rule.
In the Scope field, select the calculation scope in the dropdown menu.
Add a filter:
1. Select Add filter, and then select the desired case or event.
2. On the Attributes screen, complete the field and select Save.
To learn more, go to Define filters detail in this article.
Define custom output:
1. Select the Output tab.
2. Select Number of cases or Custom result formula.
3. In the Custom result formula field, enter your formula and select Save.
To learn more, go to Define custom output detail in this article.
Add a severity:
1. Select the Severities tab.
2. Select Add new severity and select a type of severity from the dropdown menu.
3. Select an expression from the dropdown menu, enter a value, and select Save.
To learn more, go to Define severities detail in this article.
Select Save.

Define filters detail

Filters that you define in the business rule apply on top of any filters that you've applied to the process view. If no filters are defined in the business rule, the business rule data set is the same as the process view data set.

Additional options

To exclude a filter from the business rule without deleting it, turn off Enabled.
To delete all the filters in the business rule, select Remove all filters.
To save the filters to a file, or to import saved filters into another business rule, select the ellipses (...) and select Export Filter or Import Filter.

Indicators at the bottom of the business rule panel show you at a glance how much of the view data set the business rule will cover. Hover over an indicator to view the number of cases or events that will be covered out of the total number of cases or events.

Screenshot of business rule coverage indicators.

Define custom output detail

All business rule scopes, other than the process scope, have one default output. It's the count of cases, events, or edges that are in the business rule data set. You can also define a custom result formula output using custom metrics.

For all custom formulas in the business rule, you can specify a calculation context.

Define severities detail

Define severities, or thresholds and limits, to score the results of the business rule outputs and assign a performance category flag. Three categories are available: Error, Warning, and OK.

Thresholds and limits can include both constant values and custom expressions that are dynamically calculated. For example, you might assign an Error flag when the duration of a case is longer than the average case duration.

You must define severities before you can save the business rule. The simplest definition of a severity category is the expression Any.

If the business rule doesn't have a custom output defined, severities are applied over the default output, count.