3243373 - Event Data import using XES sometimes blanks out existing Case Attribute data

Sometimes this sequence of upload...

1. Upload first xes file with one or two events record and case attributes.
2. Verify imported data in PI process it shows both events including case attributes.
3. Now upload only events attributes for the same case without any case attributes.

results in events data correctly being uploaded, however, all the case attributes have been overwritten with blanks.

Image/data in this KBA is from SAP internal systems, sample data, or demo systems. Any resemblance to real data is purely coincidental.

This occurs when the XES file contains Event data for a particular CASE_ID but no corresponding Case attribute data.

It will help to make a comparison of the difference between CSV uploads and XES uploads:

XES files contain all data from a process (both Event data and Case attribute data) . CSV files contain either an event log or a case attribute log. Each log type needs to be uploaded as a separate file. So they work somewhat differently.

https://help.sap.com/docs/signavio-process-intelligence/user-guide/data-file-types?locale=en-US

• With CSV uploads, consider this use-case:

Step1: Import Event and Case Attribute logs
Step2: Import additional events for a case without any case attributes in the CSV file
Step3: Verify imported data

it correctly shows all the case attributes data for all the events.

Note that no case attributes CSV file has been uploaded after step 1 in the preceding steps so the Case attributes remain unchanged.

• When it comes to XES files:

1. Upload an XES file that has both Event data & Case attribute data for a CASE_ID. All case attributes for all records (Activities) for that CASE_ID (any existing + new) are overwritten with the case attributes in the file when it is imported.
2. Upload an XES file that has Event data but no Case attribute data. All case attributes for all records of that CASE_ID (any existing + new) are overwritten with blank case attributes in the file when it is imported.
3. If in step 2, the XES file did not have any Event data for the CASE_ID, the existing records for that Case_ID will not have their case attributes overwritten (they will remain untouched).

As mentioned in the documentation linked to above, XES files contain both Event data + Case attribute data (All data). So, it follows that if there is Event data for a particular Case_ID but no corresponding case attribute data, it is assumed that there are no corresponding case attributes for that case. As case attributes are always overwritten/replaced they are replaced with blank data in this case.

KBA , BPI-SIG-PI-DS , Data Source (CSV, Connector) , How To