How to set Alerts and Notifications for KPIs with Visual KPI

GenKPI objects can be configured to send alerts via email when a KPI value reaches a specific state or when its value exceeds defined limits. This How to will show you how to configure these alerts in DataStudio and Visual KPI.

Before beginning it is necessary to have Visual KPI installed and running on your system. For details of how to install and configure Visual KPI with system:inmation, please visit the Installing Visual KPI Jump Start.

Users should also install Visual KPI Designer to configure alert templates and contact groups.

In this example, for the DataStudio part of the configuration we will use the DemoData simulation objects from the Using Lua Scripting Jump Start. Please use the Examples_DemoData MassConfig file to create these objects.

Configuring Visual KPI Server Manager

The first step is to configure the Visual KPI Server Manager.

  1. Open Visual KPI Server Manager and look for Visual KPI Alert Server (Visual KPI) under the System Services.

    Set Upt of Visual KPI Manager

  2. For Alert Server Settings compound, complete the following fields:

    1. SMTP Host: enter the name or IP address (Host).

    2. SMTP Port: enter the port of the SMTP server which will relay all Alert messages from the Visual KPI Sever.

      Please visit the How to Set Up the SMTP Host in Visual KPI tutorial of the Visual KPI documentation for more information.

  3. For Email Settings compound, complete the following fields:

    1. E-mail From: set the E-mail where the Notifications and Alerts will be sending from.

    2. E-mail Subject: set the E-mail subject.

    3. E-mail Body: also set E-mail Body.

  4. Click Apply to save the changes.

Configuring Visual KPI Designer.

To add contacts for the email notifications to be sent to, we need to create a Visual KPI contact using Visual KPI Designer. A Visual KPI contact can be a single person or group of people.

Make sure Visual KPI Designer is connected to your Visual KPI instance by checking the Instance Connections dialog in Visual KPI Designer. For the connection to work, the version of Visual KPI Designer must be the same as the version of Visual KPI Server Manger running on your system.

  1. Open Visual KPI Designer, click on Settings  Contacts&Alerts  Alert Templates

    Visual KPI Contacts

  2. Fill in the Contacts sheets the following mandatory fields:

    1. Name: Name of the contact (make a note of this as it will be used as the Primary Contact when configuring the notification settings in DataStudio later).

    2. Contact Name: you can add multiple names separated by a semicolon.

    3. Contact Email: you can add multiple emails separated by a semicolon.

      Contacts Configuration Designer

  3. Click the "Save" icon in Visual KPI Designer to save the Visual KPI contact to the server.

  4. To configure the Alert Template, click Settings  Contacts&Alerts  Alert Templates.

    Alert Template

  5. The Alert Template allows you to configure the frequency and circumstances of alert notifications and reminders.

  6. For this simple example we will use the Default template. If you decide to create a new template, click the "Save" icon in Visual KPI Designer to save the template to the server.

Alert Template Designer
For more information on how set up Alert Templates, please visit the Configure Alert Templates section of the Visual KPI documentation.

Notification Settings in DataStudio

Once the Visual KPI components have been configured, the Notification Settings for the GenKPI in DataStudio can be set.

  1. Open DataStudio, in the KPI Model search for the GenKPI object you want to receive notifications for and open the Object Properties panel.

  2. In the Notification Settings compound: set Notification Type to E-Mail Notifications.

  3. In the Primary Contact, set the Name of the Visual KPI contact you set in Visual KPI Designer earlier.

  4. In the Alert Template, either set the alert template to "Default" or set it to the one you have configured previously in Visual KPI Designer.

    Final Configuration in DataStudio

  5. Click Apply to save changes.

  6. You will receive an E-mail each time the previously established conditions are met. In the following image an example of an email, where they were configured to send a notification if the values change state, in this case changed from Good to High.

    VisualKPI E-mail Example