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Software Architecture Guide

Process Mining

Explanation

Section titled “Explanation”

Process mining is a group of techniques. They analyze event data to understand and improve operational processes.

Where the data comes from. Every step of a business process leaves a digital footprint in the systems that handle it. This is called event log data. Process mining software extracts it from those transactional systems.

What an event log needs. The minimum input is data linked to three things:

  • a case ID, which ties events to one run of the process,
  • the activities that happened,
  • timestamps, which say when they happened.

Reality, not belief. The main value is a view of how processes actually run. People often hold a different picture of how they think the process runs. Event data gives a factual basis for comparison.

Three classes of techniques. Process mining techniques fall into three main classes: discovery, conformance checking and enhancement.

Exchanging event data. The XES standard (IEEE 1849) defines a language to transport, store and exchange event data. Process mining is one example use. The standard was revised in 2023 as IEEE 1849-2023.

Community. The IEEE Task Force on Process Mining promotes the topic. It published the Process Mining Manifesto.

For related ideas, see the articles Process Analysis and BPM Life Cycle.

Example

Section titled “Example”

A support team handles customer tickets in a ticketing tool. Each ticket is a case with its own ID. Each status change is an activity with a timestamp. The team extracts these records from the tool. Analysts then study how tickets actually moved. They compare that with the flow the team believes it follows.

Trade-offs

Section titled “Trade-offs”

Process mining only works when the systems record events with a case ID, activities and timestamps. Without these three, the data cannot serve as input.

Process mining flow: from event logs in systems to a view of how the process actually runs.

Diagram source 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<definitions xmlns="http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/20100524/MODEL" xmlns:bpmndi="http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/20100524/DI" xmlns:dc="http://www.omg.org/spec/DD/20100524/DC" xmlns:di="http://www.omg.org/spec/DD/20100524/DI" targetNamespace="http://example.org/pm">
  <process id="pm" isExecutable="false">
    <startEvent id="s" name="Process steps run in systems">
      <outgoing>f1</outgoing>
    </startEvent>
    <task id="t1" name="Extract event log (case ID, activity, timestamp)">
      <incoming>f1</incoming>
      <outgoing>f2</outgoing>
    </task>
    <task id="t2" name="Apply process mining technique">
      <incoming>f2</incoming>
      <outgoing>f3</outgoing>
    </task>
    <task id="t3" name="Review how the process actually runs">
      <incoming>f3</incoming>
      <outgoing>f4</outgoing>
    </task>
    <endEvent id="e" name="Improvement insights">
      <incoming>f4</incoming>
    </endEvent>
    <sequenceFlow id="f1" sourceRef="s" targetRef="t1" />
    <sequenceFlow id="f2" sourceRef="t1" targetRef="t2" />
    <sequenceFlow id="f3" sourceRef="t2" targetRef="t3" />
    <sequenceFlow id="f4" sourceRef="t3" targetRef="e" />
  </process>
  <bpmndi:BPMNDiagram id="BPMNDiagram_pm">
    <bpmndi:BPMNPlane id="BPMNPlane_pm" bpmnElement="pm">
      <bpmndi:BPMNShape id="BPMNShape_s" bpmnElement="s">
        <dc:Bounds x="80" y="102" width="36" height="36" />
        <bpmndi:BPMNLabel>
          <dc:Bounds x="57" y="143" width="82" height="42" />
        </bpmndi:BPMNLabel>
      </bpmndi:BPMNShape>
      <bpmndi:BPMNShape id="BPMNShape_t1" bpmnElement="t1">
        <dc:Bounds x="216" y="80" width="100" height="80" />
      </bpmndi:BPMNShape>
      <bpmndi:BPMNShape id="BPMNShape_t2" bpmnElement="t2">
        <dc:Bounds x="416" y="80" width="100" height="80" />
      </bpmndi:BPMNShape>
      <bpmndi:BPMNShape id="BPMNShape_t3" bpmnElement="t3">
        <dc:Bounds x="616" y="80" width="100" height="80" />
      </bpmndi:BPMNShape>
      <bpmndi:BPMNShape id="BPMNShape_e" bpmnElement="e">
        <dc:Bounds x="816" y="102" width="36" height="36" />
        <bpmndi:BPMNLabel>
          <dc:Bounds x="790" y="143" width="89" height="28" />
        </bpmndi:BPMNLabel>
      </bpmndi:BPMNShape>
      <bpmndi:BPMNEdge id="BPMNEdge_f1" bpmnElement="f1">
        <di:waypoint x="116" y="120" />
        <di:waypoint x="216" y="120" />
      </bpmndi:BPMNEdge>
      <bpmndi:BPMNEdge id="BPMNEdge_f2" bpmnElement="f2">
        <di:waypoint x="316" y="120" />
        <di:waypoint x="416" y="120" />
      </bpmndi:BPMNEdge>
      <bpmndi:BPMNEdge id="BPMNEdge_f3" bpmnElement="f3">
        <di:waypoint x="516" y="120" />
        <di:waypoint x="616" y="120" />
      </bpmndi:BPMNEdge>
      <bpmndi:BPMNEdge id="BPMNEdge_f4" bpmnElement="f4">
        <di:waypoint x="716" y="120" />
        <di:waypoint x="816" y="120" />
      </bpmndi:BPMNEdge>
    </bpmndi:BPMNPlane>
  </bpmndi:BPMNDiagram>
</definitions>

Checks

Section titled “Checks”
  • The document states that event data for process analysis links to a case ID, activities and timestamps.
  • If event data is exchanged between tools, the document names the format used, such as XES (IEEE 1849).
Section titled “Related”

Sources

Section titled “Sources”