Applicability Rules enables administrators to define how Investigation data is matched against the Applicability entries of dictionary items. These rules help the runtime engine determine which Observations, Root Causes, or Solutions are applicable for a given Investigation, ensuring users view only relevant items.

Administrators create Applicability Matching by selecting Investigation fields as criteria for matching relevant Observations, Root Causes, or Solutions. These fields are pieces of information stored in an Investigation record and can include:

When setting up rules, administrators map Investigation fields to the corresponding fields in dictionary items. For example, a rule might match the Product Family field in the Investigation to the Product Family field in an Observation. This ensures that only Observations relevant to the specific product family are shown to the user.

In complex product environments, not all Observations, Root Causes, or Solutions are relevant for every investigation. For instance, an Observation related to an MRI scanner should not appear when investigating an issue with an ultrasound device. Applicability Rules solve this problem by allowing administrators to specify which dictionary items apply to which products.

When a user works on an Investigation, the system’s runtime engine checks the values in these fields and applies the rules in real time. Only items that match the rules are displayed, making the process accurate and efficient.

For more details on how applicability is determined for each type of dictionary item, see:

The key purposes of Applicability Rules are:

Suppose your organization services both MRI Scanners and Ultrasound Machines.You have an Observation called “Magnet Cooling Issue” that only applies to MRI Scanners.