Spotlight Training Course Configuration of Spotlight

Chris Haines Technical Product Manager December 2007

Spotlight Platform
With the Seek-See-Solve approach, Spotlight is designed to allow you to follow your own investigations throughout the various analysis pages and reports. Starting from the Summary Dashboard, examine the summary map and then the appropriate report for the loaded data, which might indicate the presence of one or more problems. Cell coverage, interference problems and other visualization can be investigated from the Radio Network Explorer analyses. These might then point you to specific problem events which you can examine and diagnose using the Event Explorer.

Spotlight Platform
Radio Network Analyses
Non event based analysis (i.e. Coverage analysis) of data with high user interaction. These pages are not configurable, and require customization.

Event-based troubleshooting
Event based analysis with automated root cause diagnostics for the most common subscriber problems.

Reporting
Integrated, professional-quality reports including embedded maps.

Whats configurable in Spotlight?

Summary Dashboard. Spotlight Report(s) Event Investigation/Analyses Pilot Pollution Radio Network Page

The configuration process involves creating and editing XML configuration files and using advanced Analyzer features (such as writing queries and expressions) but does not require scripting or programming knowledge. The KPI configuration mechanism is similar to troubleshooter's but is more complex and consequently more powerful. However, if you have used the troubleshooter configuration mechanism, you will find you have a head start when learning to use the Spotlight configuration mechanism.

Spotlight naming vocabulary

Top information panel

Side information panel

Spotlight Layout XML

If you want to use this mechanism to control the height of the Spotlight top panels or the width of the side panels, you should create an XML file based on the schema described below, name it SizeConfig.xml and place it in the Tasks\Spotlight\Config folder within the Analyzer user data area.
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Actix\Analyzer\Tasks\Spotlight\Config

Note: You then need to restart Analyzer in order for the change to take affect. The following diagram provides a graphical representation of the relationship of the elements in the XML schema.

Spotlight Layout XML

SizeConfig
This is the root node in the Spotlight size configuration XML. Note that if you want to configure the size of only one of the panels, simply add the node for that panel and ignore the other one

TopPanel
Field
Height Unit

Type
Optional Optional

Description
An integer value that specifies the height of the top panel in the specified units. The unit in which the height is specified. Valid options are: Pixels Percent

SidePanel
Field
Width Unit

Type
Optional Optional

Description
An integer value that specifies the width of the side panel in the specified units. The unit in which the width is specified. Valid options are: Pixels Percent

Spotlight Layout XML Example

<!-- edited with XMLSPY v2004 rel. 4 U (http://www.xmlspy.com) by Chris Haines (Actix Ltd.) --> <SizeConfig xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="SizeConfig.xsd"> <TopPanel Height="50" Unit="Percent" /> <SidePanel Width="50" Unit="Percent" /> </SizeConfig>

Spotlight Reports
Although creating the Excel workbook and app pack XML for a Spotlight report is essentially the same as for a standard app pack, there are some special considerations that apply to app packs for use in Spotlight: The definitions of all of the queries that are used in tables and charts in the workbook must be added to the app pack XML using AttachedQuery elements. The queries must be a crosstab format (i.e Crosstab or Event queries only).

You must create the Excel report using repository data and not data that has been loaded into Analyzer in full load mode. This is because the query definitions that are embedded in the workbook are subtly different depending on whether the data is in a repository or fully loaded and they are not interchangeable. (New tool help development in classic analyzer the
convert to Spotlight)

Spotlight reports can contain maps. For this to work, you must define the maps using the Maps node in the app pack XML, then run the app pack to generate the initial image files and finally insert these into the workbook manually.

Spotlight Reports

Development of Queries and report from Analyser Pro

Generates the following files: An Excel workbook that defines the actual report. App pack XML that specifies the name and location of the Excel workbook and includes definitions of all of the queries that are used in the tables and charts in the workbook. Reports XML that specifies the name of the report and the location of the app pack XML.

Convert the report into Spotlight format

Spotlight Reports
Report XML
Specifies the name of our report and the location of the app pack XML to Spotlight

File location:C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Actix\Analyzer\Tasks\Spotlight\Config\Reports

Spotlight Reports
APP Pack XML
Specifies the Location/Name of the EXCEL report and the queries to be used be Spotlight

File location:C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Actix\Analyzer\Reports

Spotlight Reports
Changes in the XML schema:A ShowAllTabs field (which is set to True) to the Report element. This indicates that when users run the report we want them to see a tab for all of the worksheets in the workbook that are not hidden. A Maps element with its ImageDirectory field set to Analyzer://Reports/images. The maps are inserted into the report as bitmaps and this is where they will be stored. A single Map element, which has two child Layer elements. Each of these specifies a single attribute to be displayed on the map and for the ServRxQualSub attribute we have set the ZoomTo field to True, indicating that we want the map to zoom to this layer. This effectively results in a "best fit" operation on the drive test route within the map window.

Spotlight Reports

From the Insert menu, choose Object to open the Object dialog box

Select or deselect the Relative to original picture size option according to your requirements. Select the option if you want the map to be stretched and shrunk to fit the size of the current image. You should normally do this if you are placing several maps on the same worksheet. Deselect the option if you want the size of the map to vary according to the size of the image that is generated each time the report is run. This means that the map will vary in size. This option will generally provide a better quality and is useful when you have a single map on a page.

It is generally advisable to select the Lock aspect ratio option, because this reduces the amount of distortion when the image is resized.

If the map appears as an icon with the name and path of the linked file underneath, see Changing the Microsoft Office Picture Manager Settings.

Spotlight Dashboard Configuration

This section provides information and worked examples to help you get started configuring Spotlight KPIs. The configuration options that will be looked are: Initial map cell colouring and display attribute. Enable configuration of the initial information that is display to user on the map. Event KPIs. Full and flexible options are available for configuring the KPIs that are shown in the Event Explorer. Generally each one of these KPIs is based on a specific call or session failure event, such as a dropped call, handover, call setup or location update failure events, etc. Typically, a few event KPIs also show general events, such as the number of call attempts, in order to provide context for the failure events. For these KPIs, you would not normally define diagnostic information or implement drilldown.

Note: There are similarity to configuring spotlight event KPIs and Radio Network KPIs. However the Radio Network KPIs normal drilldown to a Radio network page this requires customisation and real understand of the analyser platform and scripting.

Spotlight Dashboard Configuration

In Spotlight, the map is an integral part of the interface. The Summary map is to help the user make quick decision about the logfiles their have loaded into spotlight. Spotlight map default, displays the drive route via a received power level attribute technology dependent and the cells are coloured depending whether they are seen during the drive. This can be change to suit the end user needs, via the spotlight KPI xml file. Note: This is the main xml that controller most of spotlight operation.

Spotlight Dashboard Configuration

KPI Node There are three main types of KPIs nodes: Event. These define KPIs that appear in the Event Explorer. Radio Network. These define issues that appear in the Radio Network Explorer. Internal. These are used internally (typically to color cell sector wedges on the Map in the Summary Dashboard) and are not displayed in the Event Explorer or Radio Network Explorer. DriveRoute Node Defines what is to be displayed on the map in the Summary Dashboard. Although you can add a DriveRoute node to any KPI, typically you should create one special KPI for each main category to be used specifically for defining what is to be displayed on the map in the Summary Dashboard for that category. CellsWithData Defines how the cell sector wedges are to be colored on the map in the Summary Dashboard. Like the DriveRoute node, it is possible to add a CellsWithData node to any KPI. However, this is not recommended. Typically you should create one special KPI node for each technology to be used specifically for defining what is to be displayed on the map in the Summary Dashboard for that technology.

File location:C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Actix\Analyzer\Tasks\Spotlight\Config\KPIs

KPI Node
Field Priority Type Required, Integer Description This is a numeric value that is used to group KPIs by priority and control the order in which the KPIs appear in lists and tables. Lower values are processed before higher values. KPIs that have the same priority value are processed in the sequence in which they appear in the file, if they are defined in the same file. However, when KPIs with the same priority value are defined in separate files, there is no way of controlling the order in they are processed. Typically, the most important KPIs would have a priority of 1, the next most important ones have a priority of 2, etc. Controls whether the KPI is visible to the user in the main dashboard (provided the display condition has been passed) and the Event Explorer or Radio Network Explorer. Note that with one exception all KPIs appear in the list of KPIs on the New Project Template Step, regardless of this setting. This is in order to make it possible to deselect KPIs that are not required. The exception is the internal KPIs that are used simply to define the initial drive route and the name of the KPI to be used to color the cell sector wedges on the Summary Dashboard. This is because provided these KPIs do not add any queries to the template, provided they do not include any other elements (such as a Summary element) that specify a query. The name of the KPI. This is used to identify the KPI internally and is how the KPI appears in the list of KPIs when you create a new template. The name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (including spaces) but it must be unique within Spotlight. Used to group KPIs in the Summary Dashboard side panel, the type can be one of the following: Critical Important Information The top-level category or group to which the KPI belongs. Generally (but not necessarily) this is the technology name. For Example: GSM HSDPA UMTS Controls whether the KPI is selected by default in the list of KPIs on the New Project Template page when you create a new template based on the default Spotlight template. As a consequence of this, the Enabled flag also controls whether the KPI is included in a project that is based on the default Spotlight template. If your KPI is designed for use in special circumstances only, it is recommended that you set this flag to False and then set up a custom project template to accompany the KPI in which it is selected. This means that the custom KPI will not be present to slow users down when they are working on projects in which it is not relevant. This applies to event KPIs only and is a text that is used in the label for the data layer in the Map legend when the KPI is used to color the cell sector wedges. The label is formed from the network element type (for example, WCDMA_Cell), the device name (for example, All) and the text specified here. This text must not contain any spaces, because they are not allowed in Map legend labels. This applies to event KPIs only and is the name of the KPI as it is shown to the user. For example, this text is used as the column heading for the KPI in the table in the Event Explorer's top panel. A second-level category for the KPI. For radio network KPIs, this should be "Radio Network". For event KPIs, this might be, for example, "Circuit Switched", "Packet Switched", or "Handover Issues". These are used as subheadings in the main dashboard side panel. In the Event Explorer, the top panel displays the events for the selected Category - SubCategory combination.

Visible

Required, Boolean

Name Type

Required, String Required, String

Category Enabled

Required, String Required, Boolean

LegendName

Optional, String

DisplayName SubCategory

Optional, String Required, String

DriveRoute Node
Field Query Type Required, String Description The binned data query that includes the attribute or binned query that is to be displayed on the map in the Summary Dashboard. You should specify this as the name of a binned data query that already exists within the default Spotlight template. To find the names of the binned data queries in the default template and what attributes they contain, create a new project template based on default Spotlight template and select all of the default KPIs in Step 3. Step 4 will then list all of the default binned data queries and when you select one, the names of the attributes it contains are displayed in the central pane. The name of the attribute or repository binned query that is to be displayed on the map in the Summary Dashboard. Typically this would be an attribute that represents a measurement of the signal level.

Attribute

Required, String

CellsWithData Node
Field
EventMapKpi

Type
Required, String

Description
The internal name of the KPI that is to be used to color the cell sector wedges on the map in the main dashboard. This KPI must have an EventMapExplorer node. Typically, this KPI would be created specifically for this purpose and would make the cell sectors opaque if there is no data for them. This would enable users to spot immediately any cell sectors for which there is no data when it would normally be expected (for example, in the center of an area that has been heavily drive tested. To make the cell sectors that have no data associated with them opaque, set the FormatGroup field on the EventMapExplorer node to the name of a format group in the XML definition for which the Range element for the "no data" value is set to 305419896. This acts a "magic number" that makes the wedges completely transparent.

Configuring the Dashboard Issue Text

Configuring the Dashboard Issue Text

Field Query Type Required, String Description The crosstab query to be used to generate the summary statistics shown on the dashboard. This is sometimes called the summary query. Note that it must contain only one dimension that is based on an expression of 1. Defines the text to appear in the Summary Dashboard's side panel for this KPI. You set up formulas to be inserted into the text by using one or more separate Expression elements. Then you specify where you want the results to appear in the text using a placeholder of the form E[ExpressionName], where ExpressionName is the name of the Expression element. A Boolean expression written in the Analyzer Expression Language that specifies the criteria (such as that the count of dropped calls must be greater than zero) that must be met in order for the KPI to be displayed on the Summary Dashboard's side panel. You can include the data from any of the statistics in the crosstab query specified in the Query field above, by enclosing the statistic name within quotation marks (for example, "Dropped Calls"). (The quotation marks must then be replaced by the &quot;.) If you want to insert a threshold, use the new threshold_value function.

IssueText

Required, String

DisplayCondition

Optional, String

Defines a formula to be used in the IssueText field of the Summary element.

Configuring the Event Table

These are from the KPI Node, with the same SubCategory.

Query dimension by Cell. In EventMapExplorer Node Drilldown feature as controlled by the Investigation node Node

Event on the Map & Side panel, as defined by the EventResolution Node

Configuring the Event Table

Field CellType Type Required, String Description The technology prefi x used for the cell sector network element in the DefNetworkData.ini file. Although Spotlight currently uses only four technologies (GSM, UMTS, CDMA, EVDO), it is theoretically possible that this could be any one of the following: CDMA EVDO GSM IDEN IS-54/IS-136 TETRA WCDMA Specifies the name of the field within the CellRefs file that provides the cell sector's SC/PN/BCCH number. For GSM this should be set to BCCH, for UMTS it should be set to SC, and for CDMA/EVDO it should be set to PN. The query to be used to generate the values shown in the table for t his KPI. This must be a crosstab query that is dimensioned on the serving sector handle. The binned data query that is used to populate the drop-down list of attributes in the Event Explorer wh en this KPI is selected in the table. A formula that defines the values to be displayed in the table for this KPI. When the user selects a KPI by clicking the or icon to its right, Spotlight uses its expres sion to color the cell sector wedges on the Map.

CellNumber

Required, String

Query

Required, String

AttributeSourceQuery

Required, String

Expression FormatGroup

Required, String Required, String

Configuring the Event Table

The UseStartTime field specifies whether the KPI supports session drilldown. When this is selected, the event query must include a statistic that returns the session or call start time, relative to the start of the stream and the name of this statistic must be entered in the StartTimeField. The LoadAllDevices, WindowBefore and WindowAfter fields provide default values for the options in the Drilldown section of the side panel and are used to repopulate these options when the user clicks the Reset button. The EventTimeField, FileNameField, DeviceIndexField, and TimeField fields specify the names of the dimensions or statistics within the KPI's event query that return the absolute time of the event, the full name and location of the log file, the zero-based index of the stream within the log file in which the event occurred, and the time of the event relative to the start of the stream, respectively. These statistics must be present within the KPI's event query for the drilldown to work. The ScannerDeviceIndexField relates to the option to merge scanner and handset data, which is controlled by the Merge Scanner and Handset Data preference. This feature is particularly useful during drilldown; for example, you could create a state form to show the difference between the measurements logged by the handset and those measured by the scanner. To enable the handset and scanner data to be merged when the data is loaded during drilldown, you need to specify the name of the statistic in the event query that returns the merged scanner device index. The ScreenLayout specifies the name and location of the investigation screen layout (.asl) file.

Configuring the Event Table

Expression
Field
Name

Type
Required, String

Description
The name of the expression. This must be unique within the Diagnosis node and must not contain brackets ( [ ] ), but can contain any alphanumeric characters or underscores, but not spaces. This is an optional field that can be used to specify the name of a format group that is to be used to format the evaluated results of the expression. Typically you should specify a format group if the expression is used to supply a value that is simply to be rendered. However, if the expression is to be used as a formula or condition within the diagnosis, you should normally leave this field blank: otherwise the formatted results will be used instead of the raw value. You can specify the name of any format group. The following are useful for rounding numeric values to a specified number of decimal places:

FormatGroup

Optional, String

Precision0 Precision1 Precision2 Precision3

Group
Field
Name Condition

Type
Required, String Optional

Description
The text for the subheading. The name of an Expression element within this Diagnosis node that controls whether the contents of this element are to be returned. If the expression evaluates to False, zero, an empty string, or Null, this node and all of its contents are ignored. If the expression evaluates to any other value, Spotlight processes the contents of this node.

SubGroup
Field
Condition

Type
Optional

Description
The name of an Expression element within this Diagnosis node that controls whether the contents of this element are to be processed. If the expression evaluates to False, zero, an empty string, or Null, this node and all of its contents are ignored. If the expression evaluates to any other value, Spotlight processes the contents of this

Item
Field
Name

Type
Required, String

Description
An internal name for the item. This is used by the logger to identify the item.

THE END

Configuring the Event Table Other features

Spotlight Reports
Changing the Microsoft Office Picture Manager Settings
There is a known problem that can result in maps that have been embedded in an application pack or Spotlight report not appearing correctly. When this happens, the maps may simply not appear in the report viewer and appear in the Excel workbook as icons with the name and path of the linked file underneath. This is a result of an interaction with a setting in Microsoft Office Picture Manager. This topic provides instructions for changing this setting so that the maps appear correctly. You can ignore this topic if you do not have the Microsoft Office Picture Manager or have never used it and have no problems with viewing the maps. To change the setting: Open the Microsoft Office Picture Manager from the main Windows Programs menu. (Generally this is Start | Programs | Microsoft Office | Microsoft Office Tools | Microsoft Office Picture Manager, but this might vary depending on your setup).

Sometimes the File Types dialog opens automatically. If not, open it by choosing File Types from the Tools menu

Deselect the BMP Windows Bitmap (*.bmp; *.dib) option. Click OK. Close the Microsoft Office Picture Manager. If necessary, close the report viewer and Excel.

The maps should appear correctly the next time your run your reports.

Calculating Standard Dev & Variance from Crosstab queries

There is a scalable workaround you can use today to calculate standard deviation and variance (as an example lets calculate them for ServRxLev) as long as you use Excel: 2.In your crosstab query add 3 statistics: a.Sum ( ServRxLev ) b.Count ( ServRxLev ) c.Sum ( ServRxLev * ServRxLev ) 3.If you display the results in Excel you can now implement the equation to work out variance for each row

Variance = ( Sum ( ServRxLev * ServRxLev ) ( (Sum ( ServRxLev ))^2 / Count ( ServRxLev) ) ) / Count ( ServRxLev) Standard Deviation = SQRT ( Variance )