Process Discovery

Process Discovery

1. 1.1.Process Discovery Phases

   • 1. Defining the setting: This phase is dedicated to assembling a team in a company that will be responsible for working on the process
     • 2. Gathering information: This phase is concerned with building an understanding of the process. Different discovery methods can be used to acquire information on a process.
       • 3. Conducting the modeling task: This phase deals with organizing the creation of the process model. The modeling method gives guidance for mapping out the process in a systematic way.
         • 4. Assuring process model quality: This phase aims to guarantee that the resulting process models meet different quality criteria. This phase is important for establishing trust in the process model.

2. 1.2.Process Discovery Stakehlders

   • Domain Expert
   • Process Analyst

3. 1.3.Process Discovery Challenges

   • Challenge 1: Fragmented Process Knowledge
     • Challenge 2: Domain Experts think on Instance Level
       • Challenge 3: Knowledge about Process Modelling is rare

4. 1.4.Expertise of Process Analysts

   • 1.Problem understanding
     • •Episodic knowledge available to get to root of problem •Knowledge organisation helps to structure problem
   • 2.Problem solving
     • •Trigger identification (problem-related cues) •Hypothesis management (formulation and testing of hypotheses) •Goal setting (what needs to be achieved next) •Top-down strategy driven by analysis goals
   • 3.Modelling skills
     • •Well-structured and laid out •Systematically labelled •Explicit start and end points of a process •Appropriate granularity and decomposition

5. 2.1Techniques

   • Process Discovery Techniques
     • 1. Evidence-based
       • A- Document Analysis
         • 1. Documents point to existing roles, activities and business objects
           • 2. Formal documentation in terms of:
             • oOrganization chart oEmployment plan oQuality certificate report oInternal policies oGlossaries and handbooks
             • 3. Forms
               • 4. Work instructions
       • B- Observation
         • •Observe what people do at their workplace •Trace business objects in the course of their lifecycle •Inspect the work environment
       • C- Process Mining
     • 2- Interviews
       • interview >modeling >verification >validation
     • 3.Workshops
       • •Gather all key stakeholders together •One process analyst, multiple domain experts •Participants interact to create shared understanding •Often: software-supported, a model is directly created during the workshop (separate role) •Model is reference point for discussions •Alternative: brown-paper workshops

6. 3.1 Efforts

7. 3.2. Organizing the Gathered Material

   • 1. Identify the process boundaries
     • •Under which condition does the process start? •With which result does it end? •Which perspective do you assume?
   • 2. Identify activities and events
   • 3. Identify resources and their handovers
   • 4. Identify the control flow
   • 5. Identify additional elements.

8. Seven Process Modelling Guidelines (7PMG)

   • G1 Use as few elements in the model as possible G2 Minimize the routing paths per element G3 Use one start and one end event G4 Model as structured as possible G5 Avoid OR routing elements G6 Use verb-object activity labels G7 Decompose a model with more than 50 elements