Discovering hierarchical process models: an approach based on events partitioning

Abstract

Process mining is a field of computer science that deals with the discovery and analysis of process models based on automatically generated event logs. Currently, many companies are using this technology to optimize and improve their business processes. However, a discovered process model may be too detailed, sophisticated, and difficult for experts to understand. In this paper, we consider a problem of discovering the hierarchical business process model from a low-level event log, i. e., the problem of the automatic synthesis of more readable and understandable process models based on the data stored in the event logs of information systems. The discovery of better-structured and more readable process models is extensively studied in the framework of process mining research from different perspectives. In this paper, we present an algorithm for discovering hierarchical process models represented as two-level workflow Petri nets. The algorithm is based on predefined event partitioning so that this partitioning defines a sub-process corresponding to a high-level transition at the top level of a two-level net. In contrast to existing solutions, our algorithm does not impose restrictions on the process control flow and allows for concurrency and iterations.