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Chapter 2
Process Modeling and Analysis

The plethora of process modeling notations available today illustrates the relevance
of process modeling. Some organizations may use only informal process models
to structure discussions and to document procedures. However, organizations that
operate at a higher BPM maturity level use models that can be analyzed and used
to enact operational processes. Today, most process models are made by hand and
are not based on a rigorous analysis of existing process data. This chapter serves
two purposes. On the one hand, preliminaries are presented that will be used in
later chapters. For example, various process modeling notations are introduced and
some analysis techniques are reviewed. On the other hand, the chapter reveals the
limitations of classical approaches, thus motivating the need for process mining.

2.1 The Art of Modeling

Since the industrial revolution, productivity has been increasing because of techni-
cal innovations, improvements in the organization of work, and the use of informa-
tion technology. Adam Smith (1723–1790) showed the advantages of the division
of labor. Frederick Taylor (1856–1915) introduced the initial principles of scientific
management. Henry Ford (1863–1947) introduced the production line for the mass
production of “black T-Fords”. Around 1950 computers and digital communica-
tion infrastructures started to influence business processes. This resulted in dramatic
changes in the organization of work and enabled new ways of doing business. To-
day, innovations in computing and communication are still the main drivers behind
change in business processes. So, business processes have become more complex,
heavily rely on information systems, and may span multiple organizations. There-
fore, process modeling has become of the utmost importance. Process models assist
in managing complexity by providing insight and documenting procedures. Infor-
mation systems need to be configured and driven by precise instructions. Cross-
organizational processes can only function properly if there is a common agreement
on the required interactions. As a result, process models are widely used in today’s
organizations.
W.M.P. van der Aalst, Process Mining, 29
DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-19345-3_2, © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011