Collectors

Collectors are programs that define how to calculate KPIs. Each collector has different program logic through which it calculates and creates a different KPI. Without a collector, a KPI does not include any data.

There are two main types of collectors:

  • Default collectors: Default collectors usually create the default KPIs and are delivered with CrystalBridge® Monitoring. These delivered collectors start with the prefix /DVD/MON* and are preconfigured.

  • Custom collectors: Custom collectors are not delivered with CrystalBridge® Monitoring. They enable you to create a custom KPI. Customer collectors start with Y* or Z* and are created in the ABAP language. However, users require advanced knowledge of ABAP to create these collectors. 

Default collectors have the prefix /DVD/MON* and are further divided into the following types:

  • Default collectors with non-adjustable settings: These collectors collect the data necessary to build the default KPIs without the possibility to change the settings.

  • Default collectors with custom settings: These collectors include an input table, which enables you to change the settings of these collectors. They are further divided into the following subtypes:

    • Collectors with a custom rule: These collectors allow you to change which data is collected in the default KPIs assigned to them and therefore influence the resulting value of the default KPI. For more information, see the chapter Collectors with a Custom Rule.

    • Collector for user-defined SQL: This collector is a special type of default collector. You can create a custom KPI and set the rules for the KPI's data collection in this collector. For more information, see the chapter Collector for User-defined SQL.

    • Collectors with a custom KPI: These collectors include the same function as collectors with a custom rule, but you can also create a custom KPI and set the rules for the KPI's data collection in these collectors. For more information, see the chapter Collectors with a Custom KPI.

NOTE You can assign several KPIs to one collector, but you must not assign one particular KPI to more than one collector. In other words, one particular KPI is not allowed to be defined in multiple collectors. The reason is that collectors can be executed immediately, but one particular KPI can only be monitored at a specific time and only once for a particular system. Each KPI represents a specific value and each collector collects specific types of values, so it does not make sense to monitor two different values under one KPI. For more information about starting the monitoring, see the chapter Scheduling the Monitoring of KPIs.

For the custom collectors and the Collector for User-defined SQL, you can additionally define a detail table. For more information, see the chapter KPI Details Displayed in a Detail Table.

Some collectors have defined parameters whose values can be adjusted. For more information, see the chapter Parameters of Collectors.