Concept evolution
The first workflow management systems (called "office automation systems") were implemented in ‘70, cf. Petri - net-based systems such as Officetalk (Xerox Parc, Skip Ellis) and SCOOP (Wharton, Michael Zisman).
In the mid ’90 there was an "explosion" of workflow products, with a shift from workflow automation to business process management.
Then, in the late 90-ties, started the workflow patterns initiative:
- 43 control-flow patterns (process/routing)
- 40 data patterns
- 43 resource patterns (work distribution and organization)
Exception, flexibility, service interaction ... patterns. Frequently used as a tool in selection processes, the concept influenced standards (BPMN, BPEL, etc.) and systems.
Motivation
The problem is not the automation of structured processes. The challenges of workflow/ process management are:
- Alignment (avoiding “PowerPoint reality”)
- Ensuring compliance
- Supporting flexibility.
Three common pitfalls emerge:
- Modeling from scratch
- Incorrect modeling of resources
- Focus on design rather than operational decision making
The solution is that we can address 1) and 3) by
- integrating existing artifacts that can be extracted from a workflow system
- incorporating the current state of a workflow system
Software systems are the mirror image of the “world”. Analysis of models only makes sense if they are an adequate reflection of reality.
Event logs are a reflection of reality through systems. Logs are everywhere and there will be more. Process Mining links events to process models.
The use of Process Mining and conformance checking helps to find out what is really going on in the system. This concept offers comprehensive support for real process analysis. The challenge is mining less structured processes: the more unstructured, the more important it is to know what is going on!
In terms of a BPM workflow, introduce Process Mining in the phase of diagnosis (as is) and process design (to be).
Note that process mining includes (automated) process discovery (extracting process models from an event log), conformance checking (monitoring deviations by comparing model and log), social network/organizational mining, automated construction of simulation models, case prediction, and history-based recommendations.
What to discover:
- process models (Petri nets, EPCs, BPMN, etc.),
- organizational models,
- social networks,
- sequence diagrams,
- business rules,
- bottlenecks,
- simulation models.
How to discover? Using the wisdom collected from 3 types of information, through YAWL and ProM. Discovery techniques are based on data mining statistical models.
- Design information (obtained from the workflow and organizational model used to configure the workflow system)
- control and data flow (activities and causalities);
- organizational model (roles, resources, etc.);
- initial data values;
- roles per task.
- Hystoric information (extracted from the event logs containing information on the actual execution of cases)
- data value range distributions;
- execution time distributions;
- case arrival rate;
- availability patterns of resources.
- State information (based on information about cases currently being enacted using the workflow system)
- progress state of cases (state makers);
- data values for running cases;
- busy resources;
- run times for cases.
Where Process Mining Was Applied?
– Municipalities (e.g., Alkmaar, Heusden, Harderwijk, etc.)
– Government agencies (e.g., Rijkswaterstaat, Centraal Justitieel Incasso Bureau, Justice department)
– Insurance related agencies (e.g., UWV)
– Banks (e.g., ING Bank)
– Hospitals (e.g., AMC hospital, Catharina hospital)
– Multinationals (e.g., DSM, Deloitte)
– High-tech system manufacturers and their customers (e.g., Philips Healthcare, ASML, Thales)
– Media companies (e.g. Winkwaves)
Lessons Learned ...
- Business Intelligence (BI) tools are NOT intelligent!
- Logs are everywhere!
- Process mining is possible and provides valuable insights.
- Process mining triggers process improvement.
- Most processes do not conform.
- Reality is much more complicated than people like to believe!
Useful Links
• http://www.processmining.org
• http://www.workflowpatterns.com
• http://www.workflowcourse.com
• http://www.vdaalst.com
• http://www.win.tue.nl/is/
• http://is.tm.tue.nl/staff/wvdaalst
