Tracking
Tracking measures the time an entity spends in each value of a discrete field: the duration of a refund in pending, the interval of a transaction between two steps, the elapsed time of an account under block.
Tracking is a capability of the field, not a separate kind of metric. When a field is marked as trackable, the platform starts recording every change of value per entity and provisions two derived fields, available like any other field of the event type:
| Derived field | Type | Content |
|---|---|---|
Previous <field> | dimension | value the entity was in before the change |
Time in previous <field> | measure | duration of the most recently closed period |
Closed periods
A closed period is measured with an ordinary metric: use an Average, Maximum, Minimum, or Sum aggregation over the Time in previous <field> field and group by the Previous <field> dimension.
The resulting metric expresses the latency of the process: the average time spent in each value and the longest period observed.
Open periods
An open period has not closed yet: the entity remains in the value. The platform samples this set periodically and offers two measures:
| Measure | Content |
|---|---|
| Open count | number of entities currently in the value |
| Open time | age of the oldest entity still open |
The tracked field must have a fixed set of values (list or boolean), because each value is followed separately.
Without a filter on the tracked field, the metric follows every value, final ones included, whose count grows until the data expires. Filter the tracked field to follow only the relevant values.
Restrict by open time
An open metric accepts an additional restriction, Tracking scope, which limits the count to entities open for longer than a given time.
The restriction distinguishes a stuck process from a slow entity. Without it, Open count includes entities that have just arrived at the value. With more than 2 days, the measure counts only the entities that exceeded the expected deadline.
The value must be lower than the tracking retention configured on the field. Below the given threshold, Open time records zero instead of the real age of the oldest entity.
The alert threshold is not part of the metric: it is configured as a condition on the monitor.
Restrictions on open metrics
- An open measure supports only one grouping dimension. To break it down by more than one dimension, create one metric per dimension.
- The chosen dimension must be among the breakdown dimensions configured on the trackable field.
- An open measure cannot share a metric with ordinary measures.
- Breakdown dimensions added later apply only to entities entering the value from that moment on. Those already open remain without the breakdown until they change value.