Process Map Analyzer Overview

Overview

Process mining transforms event log data into an interactive diagram: a process map. 

Double-clicking on an event log automatically navigates to the Process Map Analyzer tab which houses the event log's process map. 

The process map composes of a green start node, a red end node, activities, and handovers. All branches in a process are represented.

Activities and Handovers

Activities are chronologically organized from left to right. It is represented as a pentagonal shape with a diamond inside.

In addition to the activity's name, the shape changes its appearance based on the following information:

Handovers are transitions from one activity to another and represented as arcs between the start and end nodes.

Similar to activities, handovers also display primary and secondary information; however, thickness of the handover symbolizes frequency instead assuming frequency is not selected in the primary information dropdown menu.

Altering the Process Map View

Process maps offer a variety of options to customize the process map view to highlight infrequent behavior, discover relations between elements, etc.

Interaction Drop Down Menu

These options alter the Process Map by displaying interactions between different resources, roles, or any other process involved element.

Sliders

The Activity and Handover sliders above the map adjust how much/little infrequence activities and/or handovers are displayed on the process map. 

Reducing the slider removes the number of elements in the graph.

Toggle Buttons

The toggles buttons above the Process Map alter the Process Map. The following table describes their functions ordered from left to right.

Primary and Secondary Information Drop Down Menu

These drop down menus change which primary and/or secondary information is displayed for the activities and handovers.

Map Drop Down Menu

Expanding this drop down menu presents further options to customize the Process Map:

Corner Box - Resize Map

The corner-box icon automatically adjusts the Process Map to fit the dimensions of its containing window,

Bar Chart - Duration and Frequency View

The bar chart icon opens the duration and frequency statistics of the process.

Play Button > Diamond - Log Animation

All entries within the event log may be replayed within the map to provide a chronological, dynamic representation of each execution in a process. The animation's bird's-eye-view allows for easier detection of process hotspots and bottlenecks as well as for easier comparison of executions with multiple variants. 

Upon selecting the diamond icon, the Log Animation Settings window appears allowing for animations to show one or multiple variants and to what color represents them.

The Synchronize Cases checkbox toggles the timelines of the executions so the animation of all cases starts at the same time.

The Synchronize Variants checkbox toggles the timelines of the executions so the animation of all variants start at the same time.

Play Button > Computer - Process Simulation

Process simulation enables simulation of multiple process improvement scenarios to discover the most optimal outcome(s). Starting the simulation directly from the map automatically extracts the simulation parameter values, such as duration distribution of activities, from the event log to populate the corresponding fields in the Simulator.

File > Save

Saves the changes to the Process Map.

File > Download Icon > Download Map as Image

Downloads the Process Map as either a PNG or a JPEG image file. The file's resolution and dimensions can be manually configured.

Side Panel

The right panel displays distributions of execution, activity, or handover durations. Double-clicking on an activity or handover will open its duration distribution while double clicking on either the start or end node displays the execution's instead.

By default, the event log's side panel shows a top chart displaying execution duration and a bottom chart displaying frequency/duration distribution of activities. Users may return to this view by double clicking the start node.

Double clicking on an activity displays the duration distribution of an activity at the top chart while the bottom chart displays frequency distribution of resources performing that activity.

Double clicking on a handover displays the duration distribution of a handover while the bottom chart displays frequency distribution of resource performing its target activity if available. Otherwise, it will be blank.

The default SLA is set to the average case/activity/handover duration depending on what the duration distribution chart is displaying. 

Users may change the SLA by expanding the distribution charts panel by clicking on the expand arrow icon. In the new window, SLA may be configured under the Case Duration Section.