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8 1 Introduction

Fig. 1.3 The BPM life-cycle showing the different uses of process models

As Fig. 1.3 shows, process models play a dominant role in the (re)design and
configuration/implementation phases, whereas data plays a dominant role in the
enactment/monitoring and diagnosis/requirements phases. The figure also lists the
different ways in which process models are used (as identified in Sect. 1.2). Until
recently, there were few connections between the data produced while executing
the process and the actual process design. In fact, in most organizations the diag-
nosis/requirements phase is not supported in a systematic and continuous manner.
Only severe problems or major external changes will trigger another iteration of the
life-cycle, and factual information about the current process is not actively used in
redesign decisions. Process mining offers the possibility to truly “close” the BPM
life-cycle. Data recorded by information systems can be used to provide a better
view on the actual processes, i.e., deviations can be analyzed and the quality of
models can be improved.
Process mining is a relative young research discipline that sits between machine
learning and data mining on the one hand and process modeling and analysis on
the other hand. The idea of process mining is to discover, monitor and improve real
processes (i.e., not assumed processes) by extracting knowledge from event logs
readily available in today’s systems.
Figure 1.4 shows that process mining establishes links between the actual pro-
cesses and their data on the one hand and process models on the other hand.
As explained in Sect. 1.1, the digital universe and the physical universe become
more and more aligned. Today’s information systems log enormous amounts of
events. Classical WFM systems (e.g., Staffware and COSA), BPM systems (e.g.,
BPM|one by Pallas Athena, SmartBPM by Pegasystems, FileNet, Global 360, and
Teamwork by Lombardi Software), ERP systems (e.g., SAP Business Suite, Ora-
cle E-Business Suite, and Microsoft Dynamics NAV), PDM systems (e.g., Wind-
chill), CRM systems (e.g., Microsoft Dynamics CRM and SalesForce), middleware
(e.g., IBM’s WebSphere and Cordys Business Operations Platform), and hospital
information systems (e.g., Chipsoft and Siemens Soarian) provide detailed infor-
mation about the activities that have been executed. Figure 1.4 refers to such data
as event logs. All of the PAISs just mentioned directly provide such event logs.