Introduction to ABC analysis
The ABC analysis is a method of setting priorities. ABC analyses support you in separating essential from non-essential items and in finding out the ratio of effort and benefits in individual areas.For example, you can use ABC analyses to identify which products and services are most important for your company's sales, who are your most important customers, or which efforts have little economic effect. The goal of an ABC analysis is to focus the company on more important areas and to identify starting points for targeted actions.
ABC analyses are based on ABC classifications. ABC classifications are used to group the individual values of a dimension with regard to a particular numerical measure. The dimension values are assigned to the three segments A, B, and C. The segments have the following meanings:
A: important
B: less important
C: relatively unimportant
Different strategies are available for classification.
ABC classifications are displayed in the Dimensions bar. You can use the ABC classifications for your analyses in the same way as any dimension. ABC classifications make it easier for you to gain an overview, particularly for dimensions with a large number of different dimension values. Each time you use the ABC classification in an analysis, the individual dimension values are grouped with regard to the current measure values. In a dynamic ABC classification, grouping is based on all process instances in the current analysis. In a static ABC classification, you specify which process instances are to be included in the grouping when you create the classification.
The ABC Analysis Wizard provides you with a convenient way to create, edit, and delete ABC classifications and display them in movement analyses. Use movement analyses to display the changes in the assignment of the individual dimension values to the three segments over time.