Developing monitor models

The IBM® Business Monitor development environment provides the tools for creating monitor models that can be transformed into executable code for Business Monitor. The Integration Designer includes the Monitor Model editor and the Business Monitor test environment. You can also have a development environment with Rational® Application Developer by installing Integration Designer on your Rational Application Developer system. For information about installing Integration Designer on your Rational Application Developer system, see the "Installing to a unique package group" section of "Test environment".

About this task

Monitor models are XML documents that specify how information should be extracted from events at run time and collected, combined, and stored for representation on a dashboard. The completed monitor model contains a monitor details model, key performance indicator (KPI) model, dimensional model, visual model, and event model. There are several ways in which a monitor model can be created:

  • Monitor models are automatically generated when you use IBM Process Designer to monitor your BPMN process applications in IBM Business Process Manager Standard.
  • You can generate a monitor model from a product, such as IBM Business Process Manager Advanced or IBM Operational Decision Manager, that provides monitor-model generation capability. You then refine and extend the monitor model by using the Monitor Model editor in Integration Designer.
  • You can create a monitor model from scratch in the Monitor Model editor.
  • Getting started
    Follow the links below to get started using the IBM Business Monitor development toolkit.
  • Creating monitor models
    To create a monitor model in the Monitor Model editor, you first create a business monitoring project and then create a monitor model. The monitor model contains a monitor details model, key performance indicator (KPI) model, dimensional model, visual model, and event model.
  • Versioning monitor models
    You can install multiple versions of a monitor model. Versioning refers to the situation where you modify aspects of a monitor model to fix problems or make enhancements (add a metric, monitoring context, and so on) and want to install this new version of the model for future event processing and dashboard reporting, while preserving the data collected from previous monitor model versions.
  • Testing monitor models in the test environment
    After you create a monitor model, you must test it on a running monitor model in the Business Monitor test environment. In the test environment, results of the tests are displayed in a Monitor dashboard space, where you can quickly verify that the metrics are being collected correctly and that your calculations are correct.
  • Debugging CEI monitor models (deprecated)
    If you find a problem while testing monitor models that use the Common Event Infrastructure (CEI) (deprecated) or if you just want to understand how a monitor model gathers information, use the debugger that is included with the IBM Business Monitor development toolkit.
  • Preparing a monitor model for a production environment
    After you have finished creating and testing your monitor model, you can deploy the monitor model application in a Business Monitor production environment. First, generate Java™ 6 Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) projects from the model and export the model as an Enterprise Archive (EAR) file.
Related information:
Test environment