Define Input Values

• Be sure that you understand the basic principles for working with a policy model.
• If you want the input value to be defined by a predecessor node, the nodes must be connected, either directly or indirectly.

1. Access the policy that contains the node for which you want to define an input value.
2. On the Properties window for the node, verify that the c icon appears next to the input text box.

3. In the input text box, enter or select the value that you want to use as an input.

   Note: If the input section supports multiple values, you must separate each value with a comma.

   The following image shows an example of a constant input value.

   

4. In the Policy section of the toolbar, select .

   The policy is saved.

1. Access the policy that contains the node for which you want to define an input value.

2. On the Properties window for the node, select the icon that appears next to the input text box.

   The icon changes to and the text box changes to a drop-down list. This list contains the node's predecessor nodes.

3. In the list, select the node that is associated with the value or collection that you want to use as the input.

   A second list appears. This list contains the output options that are associated with the selected predecessor node.

4. In the second list, select the field or collection that you want to use as the input.

   The following image shows an example of an input value that is defined by a predecessor node.

   

   In this image:

   • The input node is Equipment.
   • The input value comes from the value in the Criticality Indicator field in the Equipment record (the specific Equipment record will be defined by a policy instance).

   Some input fields allow you to map a specific value from a collection. In this case, a third list appears.

5. If applicable, in the third list, select the column in the collection that contains the values that you want to use as inputs.

6. In the Policy section of the toolbar, select .

   The policy is saved.

To illustrate the different ways to define input values, consider the following nodes and connections.

In this example, the Equipment Entity node is connected to an Equal Condition node. The Properties window for the Condition node, therefore, allows you to select the Equipment family and one of its fields. As shown in the following image:

• The icon appears in the first input section, indicating that the input is defined by a predecessor node.
• The icon appears in the second input section, indicating that the input is a user-defined constant value.

Together, the Equipment Entity node and the Condition node to which it is connected indicate that an email message should be sent when an Equipment record has a value of A in the Criticality Indicator field.

Note: You will use policy instances to identify the specific record(s) whose values you want to use in the policy.  For the example provided in this topic, you would use a specific Equipment record in each policy instance that is associated with the policy.