Implementation Guide › Implementation › Business Logic Scripting (Business Logic Expert) › Inside the Business Logic › Separating Exceptions from Timeslots

Separating Exceptions from Timeslots

CA Business Service Insight Business Logic does not receive exception events. What it does receive is an OnTimeslotExit when an exception period starts and OnTimeslotEnter when an exception period ends. The Business Logic therefore cannot distinguish between exception times and times out of Timeslot. Furthermore, it cannot distinguish between exception types. As a result, it is not possible to implement different logic for exception time behavior and for 'out-of-timeslot' behavior.

One way to implement special exceptions (that is, an exception that does not behave as an 'out-of-Timeslot' period) is by defining dedicated event types, instead of using CA Business Service Insight's built-in mechanism for handling exceptions. These events are generated by reading them from a dedicated data source, using an Adapter.

An Excel spreadsheet (or any other data source) can store these exceptions, and an Adapter can then load the data and generate a response: Exception Enter and Exception Exit events. Alternatively, the exceptions may be added by using Corrections. In addition to the correction, a dummy resource should be defined and associated with these events for the purposes of registration. This resource does not serve a purpose other than a placeholder as it is required by the command.

In order to be able to handle the exception times reported by these dedicated events, the Business Logic formula should register with these Exception events in addition to the normally required Registration for Raw Data Events to use in the calculation.

It is recommended that the Business Logic Expert include a field for exception type in the event type, allowing for the different handling of various types of special exceptions.

This approach has the following characteristics:

• It separates two exception sets-the standard and the special.
• Special exceptions do not have a User Interface for maintenance.
• Reports based on the exceptions generated as Events by an Adapter do not comment on their existence. In cases where the correction mechanism was used, there is a comment. The use of the correction method is recommended to maintain the integrity of the results produced by the system.
• No "With/Without Exceptions" specification considers those exceptions.
• Where the correction mechanism is used, the With/Without correction applies.

Once implemented it is recommended that the Business Logic Expert applies the logic to all of the system Metrics.

There is another method of applying an exception on a single resource if required. This method involves using the resources 'Effective' status. Setting a resource's status to 'Not Effective' means that during this period the Calculation Engine will ignore all Raw Data events which are sent for that resource. By setting a period of time that the resource is not effective by creating new versions of the resource, one at the start of the exception period, and another at the end of the exception period.

However, if the resource is part of a Clustered Metric and the resource is becoming effective and not-effective in the same calculation period, only the last period where the resource was effective will be taken into consideration in the result as stated above. In that case it is advisable to use the custom attributes feature. An additional attribute for the resource stating the status of the resource can be managed and the business logic formula will query for the status of the resource in each relevant place in the script.